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EPHESIANS iv. 32, AND v. 1,
2.
"And be ye kind one to another, tender
hearted, forgiving each other, even as God
also in Christ forgave you. Be ye therefore
imitators of God, as beloved children; and
walk in love, even as Christ also loved you,
and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a
sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet
smell."
THE events which are past have greater force
than those which are yet to come, and appear to
be both more wonderful and more convincing. And
hence accordingly Paul founds his exhortation
upon the things which have already been done for
us, inasmuch as they, on Christ's account,
have a greater force. For to say,
"Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven" (Matt.
vi. 14), and "if ye forgive not, ye shall
in nowise be forgiven" (Matt. vi.
15),-this addressed to men of
understanding, and men who believe in the things
to come, is of great weight; but Paul appeals
to the conscience not by these arguments only,
but also by things already done for us. In the
former way we may escape punishment, whereas in
this latter we may have our share of some
positive good. Thou imitatest Christ. This
alone is enough to recommend virtue, that it is
"to imitate God." This is a higher principle
than the other, "for He maketh His sun to
rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain
on the just and the unjust." (Matt. v.
45.) Because he does not merely say that we
are "imitating God," but that we do so in
those things wherein we receive ourselves such
benefits. He would have us cherish the tender
heart of fathers towards each other. For by
heart, here, is meant lovingkindness and
compassion. For inasmuch as it cannot be that,
being men, we shall avoid either giving pain or
suffering it, he does the next thing, he
devises a remedy,-that we should forgive one
another. And yet there is no comparison. For
if thou indeed shouldest at this moment forgive
any one, he will forgive thee again in return;
whereas to God thou hast neither given nor
forgiven anything. And thou indeed art
forgiving a fellow-servant; whereas God is
forgiving a servant, and an enemy, and one that
hates Him.
"Even as God," saith he, "also in Christ
forgave you."
And this, moreover, contains a high allusion.
Not simply, he would say, hath He forgiven
us, and at no risk or cost, but at the
sacrifice of His Son; for that He might
forgive thee, He sacrificed the Son; whereas
thou, oftentimes, even when thou seest pardon
to be both without risk and without cost, yet
dost not grant it.
"Be ye therefore imitators of God as beloved
children; and walk in love, even as Christ
also loved you, and gave Himself up for us an
offering and sacrifice to God for an odor of a
sweet smell."
That thou mayest not then think it an act of
necessity, hear how He saith, that "He gave
Himself up." As thy Master loved thee, love
thou thy friend. Nay, but neither wilt thou be
able so to love; yet still do so as far as thou
art able. Oh, what can be more blessed than a
sound like this! Tell me of royalty or whatever
else thou wilt, there is no comparison.
Forgive: another, and thou art "imitating
God," thou art made like unto God. It is
more our duty to forgive trespasses than debts of
money; for if thou forgive debts, thou hast not
"imitated God"; whereas if thou shalt forgive
trespasses, thou art "imitating God." And
yet how shalt thou be able to say, "I am
poor, and am not able to forgive it," that
is, a debt, when thou forgivest not that which
thou art able to forgive, that is, a trespass?
And surely thou dost not deem that in this case
there is any loss. Yea, is it not rather
wealth, is it not abundance, is it not a
plentiful store?
And behold yet another and a nobler
incitement:-" as beloved children," saith
he. Ye have yet another cogent reason to
imitate Him, not only in that ye have received
such good at His hands, but also in that ye are
called His children. And since not all
children imitate their fathers, but those which
are beloved, therefore he saith, "as beloved
children."
Ver. 2. "Walk in love."
Behold, here, the groundwork of all! So then
where this is, there is no "wrath, no anger,
no clamor, no railing," but all are done
away. Accordingly he puts the chief point
last. Whence wast thou made a child? Because
thou wast forgiven. On the same ground on which
thou hast had so vast a privilege vouch-safed
thee, on that selfsame ground forgive thy
neighbor. Tell me, I say, if thou wert in
prison, and hadst ten thousand misdeeds to
answer for, and some one were to bring thee into
the palace; or rather to pass over this
argument, suppose thou wert in a fever and in
the agonies of death, and some one were to
benefit thee by some medicine, wouldest thou not
value him more than all, yea and the very name
of the medicine? For if we thus regard
occasions and places by which we are benefited,
even as our own souls, much more shall we the
things themselves. Be a lover then of love;
for by this art thou saved, by this hast thou
been made a son. And if thou shalt have it in
thy power to save another, wilt thou not use the
same remedy, and give the advice to all,
"Forgive, that ye may be forgiven"? Thus to
incite one another, were the part of grateful,
of generous, and noble spirits.
"Even as Christ also," he adds, "loved
you."
Thou art only sparing friends, He enemies.
So then far greater is that boon which cometh
from our Master. For how in our case is the
"even as" preserved. Surely it is clear that
it will be, by our doing good to our enemies.
"And gave Himself up for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet
smell."
Seest thou that to suffer for one's enemies is
"a sweet-smelling savor," and an "acceptable
sacrifice"? And if thou shalt die, then wilt
thou be indeed a sacrifice. This it is to
"imitate God."
Ver. 3. "But fornication, and all
uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be
named among you, as becometh saints."
He has spoken of the bitter passion, of wrath;
he now comes to the lesser evil: for that lust
is the lesser evil, hear how Moses also in the
law says, first, "Thou shalt do no murder"
(Ex. xx. 13), which is the work of
wrath, and then, "Thou shalt not commit
adultery" (Ex. xx. 14), which is of
lust. For as "bitterness," and "clamor,"
and "all malice," and "railing," and the
like, are the works of the passionate man, so
likewise are "fornication, uncleanness,
covetousness," those of the lustful; since
avarice and sensuality spring from the same
passion. But just as in the former case he took
away "clamor" as being the vehicle of"
anger," so now does he "filthy talking" and
"jesting" as being the vehicle of lust; for he
proceeds, Ver. 4. "Nor filthiness, nor
foolish talking, or jesting, which are not
befitting; but rather giving of thanks."
Have no witticisms, no obscenities, either in
word or in deed, and thou wilt quench the
flame-"let them not even be named," saith
he, "among you," that is, let them not
anywhere even make their appearance. This he
says also in writing to the Corinthians. "It
is actually reported that there is fornication
among you" ( 1 Cor. v. 1 ); as much as
to say, Be ye all pure. For words are the way
to acts. Then, that he may not appear a
forbidding kind of person and austere, and a
destroyer of playfulness, he goes on to add the
reason, by saying, "which are not
befitting," which have nothing to do with
us-"but rather giving of thanks." What
good is there in uttering a witticism? thou only
raisest a laugh. Tell me, will the shoemaker
ever busy himself about anything which does not
belong to or befit his trade? or will he
purchase any tool of that kind? No, never.
Because the things we do not need, are nothing
to us.
MORAL. Let there not be one idle word;
for from idle words we fall also into foul
words. The present is no season of loose
merriment, but of mourning, of tribulation,
and lamentation: and dost thou play the jester?
What wrestler on entering the ring neglects the
struggle with his adversary, and utters
witticisms? The devil stands hard at hand,
"he is going about roaring" (1 Pet. v.
8) to catch thee, he is moving everything,
and turning everything against thy life, and is
scheming to force thee from thy retreat, he is
grinding his teeth and bellowing, he is
breathing fire against thy salvation; and dost
thou sit uttering witticisms, and "talking
folly," and uttering things "which are not
befitting." Full nobly then wilt thou be able
to overcome him! We are in sport, beloved.
Wouldest thou know the life of the saints?
Listen to what Paul saith. "By the space of
three years I ceased not to admonish every one
night and day with tears." (Acts xx.
31.) And if so great was the zeal he exerted
in behalf of them of Miletus and Ephesus, not
making pleasant speeches, but introducing his
admonition with tears, what should one say of
the rest? But hearken again to what he says to
the Corinthians. "Out of much affliction and
anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many
tears." (2 Cor. ii. 4.) And again,
"Who is weak, and I am not weak?" "Who is
made to stumble, and I burn not?" (2 Cor.
xi. 29.) And hearken again to what he says
elsewhere, desiring every day, as one might
say, to depart out of the world. "For indeed
we that are in this tabernacle do groan" (2
Cor. v. 4); and dost thou laugh and play?
It is war-time, and art thou handling the
dancers' instruments? Look at the countenances
of men in battle, their dark and contracted
mien, their brow terrible and full of awe.
Mark the stern eye, the heart eager and beating
and throbbing, their spirit collected, and
trembling and intensely anxious. All is good
order, all is good discipline, all is silence
in the camps of those who are arrayed against
each other. They speak not, I do not say, an
impertinent word, but they utter not a single
sound. Now if they who have visible enemies,
and who are in nowise injured by words, yet
observe so great silence, dost thou who hast thy
warfare, and the chief of thy warfare in words,
dost thou leave this part naked and exposed? Or
art thou ignorant that it is here that we are
most beset with snares? Art thou amusing and
enjoying thyself, and uttering witticisms and
raising a laugh, and regarding the matter as a
mere nothing? How many perjuries, how many
injuries, how many filthy speeches have arisen
from witticisms! "But no," ye will say,
"pleasantries are not like this." Yet hear
how he excludes all kinds of jesting. It is a
time now of war and fighting, of watch and
guard, of arming and arraying ourselves. The
time of laughter can have no place here; for
that is of the world. Hear what Christ saith:
"The world shall rejoice, but ye shall be
sorrowful." (John xvi. 20.) Christ was
crucified for thy ills, and dost thou laugh?
He was buffeted, and endured so great
sufferings because of thy calamity, and the
tempest that had overtaken thee; and dost thou
play the reveler? And how wilt thou not then
rather provoke Him?
But since the matter appears to some to be one
of indifference, which moreover is difficult to
be guarded against, let us discuss this point a
little, to show you how vast an evil it is.
For indeed this is a work of the devil, to make
us disregard things indifferent. First of all
then, even if it were indifferent, not even in
that case were it right to disregard it, when
one knows that the greatest evils are both
produced and increased by it, and that it
oftentimes terminates in fornication. However,
that it is not even indifferent is evident from
hence. Let us see then whence it is produced.
Or rather, let us see what sort of a person a
saint ought to be:-gentle, meek,
sorrowful, mournful, contrite. The man then
who deals in jests is no saint. Nay, were he
even a Greek, such an one would be scorned.
These are things allowed to those only who are
on the stage. Where filthiness is, there also
is jesting; where unseasonable laughter is,
there also is jesting. Hearken to what the
Prophet saith, "Serve the Lord in fear, and
rejoice with trembling." (Ps. ii. II.)
Jesting renders the soul soft and indolent. It
excites the soul unduly, and often it teems with
acts of violence, and creates wars. But what
more? In fine, hast thou not come to be among
men? then "put away childish things." (I
Cor. xiii. II.) Why, thou wilt not allow
thine own servant in the market place to speak an
impertinent word: and dost thou then, who
sayest thou art a servant of God, go uttering
thy witticisms in the public square? It is well
if the soul that is "sober" be not stolen
away; but one that is relaxed and dissolute,
who cannot carry off? It will be its own
murderer, and will stand in no need of the
crafts or assaults of the devil.
But, moreover, in order to understand this,
look too at the very name. It means the
versatile man, the man of all complexions, the
unstable, the pliable, the man that can be
anything and everything. But far is this from
those who are servants to the Rock. Such a
character quickly turns and changes; for he must
needs mimic both gesture and speech, and laugh
and gait, and everything, aye, and such an one
is obliged to invent jokes: for he needs this
also. But far be this from a Christian, to
play the buffoon. Farther, the man who plays
the jester must of necessity incur the signal
hatred of the objects of his random ridicule,
whether they be present, or being absent hear of
it.
If the thing is creditable, why is it left to
mountebanks? What, dost thou make thyself a
mountebank, and yet art not ashamed? Why is it
ye permit not your gentlewomen to do so? Is it
not that ye set it down as a mark of an
immodest, and not of a discreet character?
Great are the evils that dwell in a soul given
to jesting; great is the ruin and desolation.
Its consistency is broken, the building is
decayed, fear is banished, reverence is gone.
A tongue thou hast, not that thou mayest
ridicule another man, but that thou mayest give
thanks unto God. Look at your
merriment-makers, as they are called, those
buffoons. These are your jesters. Banish from
your souls, I entreat you, this graceless
accomplishment. It is the business of
parasites, of mountebanks, of dancers, of
harlots; far be it from a generous, far be it
from a highborn soul, aye, far too even from
slaves. If there be any one who has lost
respect, if there be any vile person, that man
is also a jester. To many indeed the thing
appears to be even a virtue, and this truly
calls for our sorrow. Just as lust by little
and little drives headlong into fornication, so
also does a turn for jesting. It seems to have
a grace about it, yet there is nothing more
graceless than this. For hear the Scripture
which says, "Before the thunder goeth
lightning, and before a shamefaced man shall go
favor." Now there is nothing more shameless
than the jester; so that his mouth is not full
of favor, but of pain. Let us banish this
custom from our tables. Yet are there some who
teach it even to the poor! O monstrous! they
make men in affliction play the jester. Why,
where shall not this pest be found next?
Already has it been brought into the Church
itself. Already has it laid hold of the very
Scriptures. Need I say anything to prove the
enormity of the evil? I am ashamed indeed, but
still nevertheless I will speak; for I am
desirous to show to what a length the mischief
has advanced, that I may not appear to be
trifling, or to be discoursing to you on some
trifling subject; that even thus I may be
enabled to withdraw you from this delusion. And
let no one think that I am fabricating, but I
will tell you what I have really heard. A
certain person happened to be in company with one
of those who pride themselves highly on their
knowledge (now I know I shall excite a smile,
but still I will say it notwithstanding); and
when the platter was set before him, he said,
"Take and eat, children, lest your belly be
angry!" And again, others say, "Woe unto
thee, Mammon, and to him that hath thee not"
and many like enormities has jesting introduced;
as when they say, "Now is there no
nativity." And this I say to show the
enormity of this base temper; for these are the
expressions of a soul destitute of all
reverence. And are not these things enough to
call down thunderbolts? And one might find many
other such things which have been said by these
men.
Wherefore, I entreat you, let us banish the
custom universally, and speak those things which
become us. Let not holy mouths utter the words
of dishonorable and base men. "For what
fellowship have righteousness and iniquity, or
what communion hath light with darkness?" (2
Cor. vi. 14.) Happy will it be for us,
if, having kept ourselves aloof from all such
foul things, we be thus able to attain to the
promised blessings; far indeed from dragging
such a train after us, and sullying the purity
of our minds by so many. For the man who will
play the jester will soon go on to be a railer,
and the railer will go on to heap ten thousand
other mischiefs on himself. When then we shall
have disciplined these two faculties of the
soul, anger and desire (vid. Plat. Phaedr.
cc. 25, 34), and have put them like
well-broken horses under the yoke of reason,
then let us set over them the mind as
charioteer, that we may "gain the prize of our
high calling" (Phil. iii. 14); which
God grant that we may all attain, through
Jesus Christ our Lord, with Whom, together
with the Holy Ghost, be unto the Father,
glory, might, and honor, now, and ever, and
throughout all ages. Amen.
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