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2 COR. XII. 16--18.
But be it so, I myself did not burden you:
but being crafty, I caught you with guile.
Did I take advantage of you by any one of them
whom I have sent unto you? I exhorted Titus,
and with him I sent the brother. Did Titus
take any advantage of you? Walked we not by the
same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?
Paul has spoken these words very obscurely, but
not without a meaning or purpose. For seeing he
was speaking about money, and his defence on
that score, it is reasonable that what he says
must be wrapt in obscureness. What then is the
meaning of what he says? He had said, 'I
received not, nay I am ready even to give
besides, and to spend;' and much discourse is
made on this subject both in the former Epistle
and in this. Now he says something else,
introducing the subject in the form of an
objection and meeting it by anticipation. What
he says is something like this; 'I indeed have
not made a gain of you: but perhaps some one has
it to say that I did not receive [of you]
indeed myself, but, being crafty, I procured
those who were sent by me to ask for something of
you as for themselves, and through them I
myself received, yet keeping myself clear of
seeming to receive, by receiving through
others. But none can have this to say either;
and you are witnesses.' Wherefore also he
proceeds by question, saying, "I exhorted
Titus, and with him I sent the brother. Did
Titus make a gain of you?" 'walked he not
just as I walked.' That is to say, neither
did he receive. Seest thou how intense a
strictness [is here], in that he not only
keeps himself clear of that receiving, but so
modulates those also who are sent by him that he
may not give so much as a slight pretence to
those who were desirous of attacking him. For
this is far greater than that which the
Patriarch did. (Gen. xiv. 24.) For he
indeed, when he had returned from his victory,
and the king would have given him the 'spoil,
refused to accept aught save what the men had
eaten; but this man neither himself enjoyed
[from them] his necessary food, nor allowed
his partners to partake of such: thus abundantly
stopping the mouths of the shameless. Wherefore
he makes no assertion, nor does he say that they
did not receive either; but what was far more
than this, he cites the Corinthians themselves
as witnesses that they had received nothing,
that he may not seem to be witnessing in his own
person, but by their verdict; which course we
are accustomed to take in matters fully admitted
and about which we are confident. 'For tell
me,' he says, 'Did any one of those who were
sent by us make unfair gain of you?' He did
not say, 'Did any one receive aught from
you?' but he calls the things 'unfair gain;
'attacking them and shaming them exceedingly,
and showing that to receive of an unwilling
[giver] is 'unfair gain.' And he said not
'did Titus?' but, "did any?" 'For ye
cannot say this either,' he says, 'that such
an one certainly did not receive, but another
did. No single one of those who came did so.
'"I exhorted Titus." This too is severely
said. For he did not say, 'I sent Titus,'
but, 'I exhorted' him; showing that if he
had received even, he would have done so
justly; but, nevertheless, even so he remained
pure. Wherefore he asks them again, saying,
"Did Titus take any advantage of you? Walked
we not by the same spirit?" What means, "by
the same spirit?" He ascribes the whole to
grace and shows that the whole of this praise is
the good result not of our labors, but of the
gift of the Spirit and of Grace. For it was a
very great instance of grace that although both
in want and hunger they would receive nothing for
the edification of the disciples. "Walked we
not in the same steps?" That is to say, they
did not depart the least from this strictness,
but preserved the same rule entire.
Ver. 19. "Again, think ye that we are
excusing ourselves unto you? "
Seest thou how he is continually in fear, lest
he should incur the suspicion of flattery?
Seest thou an Apostle's prudence, how
constantly he mentions this? For he said
before, "We commend not ourselves again, but
give you occasion to glory;" (2 COR. V.
12.) and in the commencement of the
Epistle, "Do we need letters of
commendation?" (ib. iii. 1.)
"But all things are for your edifying."
Again he is soothing them. And he does not
here either say clearly, 'on this account we
receive not, because of your weakness;' but,
'in order that we may edify you;' speaking out
indeed more clearly than he did before, and
revealing that wherewith he travailed; but yet
without severity. For he did not say,
'because of your weakness;' but, 'that ye
may be edified.'
Ver. 20. "For I fear, lest by any means
when I come, I should not find you such as I
would, and should myself be found of you such as
ye would not."
He is going to say something great and
offensive. And therefore he also inserts this
excuse [for it], both by saying, "All
things are for your edifying," and by adding,
"I fear," softening the harshness of what was
presently going to be said. For it was not here
out of arrogance nor the authority of a teacher,
but out of a father's tender concern, when he
is more fearful and trembling than the sinners
themselves at that which is likely to reform
them. And not even so does he run them down or
make an absolute assertion; but says
doubtingly, "lest by any means when I come,
I should not find you such as I would." He
did not say, 'not virtuous,' but "not such
as I would," everywhere employing the terms of
affection. And the words, "I should find,"
are of one who would express what is out of
natural expectation, as are also those, "I
shall be found by you." For the thing is not
of deliberate choice, but of a necessity
originating with you. Wherefore he says, "I
should be found such as ye would not." He said
not here, "such as I would not," but, with
more severity, "such as ye wish not." For it
would in that case become his own will, not
indeed what he would first have willed, but his
will nevertheless. For he might indeed have
said again, 'such as I would not,' and so
have showed his love: but he wishes not to relax
his hearer. Yea rather, his words would in
that case have been even harsher; but now he has
at once dealt them a smarter blow and showed
himself more gentle. For this is the
characteristic of his wisdom; cutting more
deeply, to strike more gently.
Then, because he had spoken obscurely, he
unveils his meaning, saying, "Lest there be
strife, jealousy, wraths, backbitings,
whisperings, swellings."
And what he might well put first, that he puts
last: for they were very proud against him.
Therefore, that he may not seem principally to
be seeking his own, he first mentions what was
common. For all these things were gendered of
envy, their slanderings, accusations,
dissensions. For just like some evil root,
envy produced wrath, accusation, pride, and
all thee other evils, and by them was increased
further, Vet. 21. And "lest when I come
again, my God should humble me among you."
And the word "again," too, is as smiting
them. For he means, 'What happened before is
enough;' as he said also in the beginning [of
the Epistle], "to spare you, I came not as
yet to Corinth." (Chap. i. 18, 23.)
Seest thou how he shows both indignation and
tender affection? But what means, "will
humble me?" And yet this is glorious rather,
to accuse, to take vengeance, to call to
account, to be seated in the place of judge;
howbeit he calls it a humbling. So far was he
from being ashamed of that [cause of]
humbling, because, "his bodily presence was
weak, and his speech of no account," that he
wished to be even for ever in that case, and
deprecated the contrary. And he says this more
clearly as he proceeds; and he counts this to be
especially humbling, to be involved in such a
necessity as the present, of punishing and
taking vengeance. And wherefore did he not
say, 'lest when I come I shall be humbled,'
but, "lest when I come my God will humble
me." 'Because had it not been for His sake,
I should have paid no attention nor been
anxious. For it is not as possessing authority
and for my own pleasure, that I demand
satisfaction, but because of His
commandment.' Now above, indeed, he
expressed himself thus, "I shall be found;"
here, however, he relaxes and adopts milder and
gentler language, saying, "I shall mourn for
many of them who have sinned." Not simply,
"who have sinned," but, "Who have not
repented." And he said not, 'all,' but
"many;" nor made it clear who these were
either, thereby making the return unto
repentance easy to them; and to make it plain
that a repentance is able to right
transgressions, he bewails those that repent
not, those who are incurably diseased, those
who continue in their wounds. Observe then
Apostolic virtue, in that, conscious of no
evil in himself, he laments over the evils of
others and is humbled for other men's
transgressions. For this is the especial mark
of a teacher, so to sympathize with the
calamities of his disciples, and to mourn over
the wounds of those who are under him. Then he
mentions also the specific sin.
"Of the lasciviousness and uncleanness which
they committed." Now in these words he alludes
indeed to fornication; but if one carefully
examine the subject, every kind of sin can be
called by this name. For although the
fornicator and adulterer is preeminently styled
unclean, yet still the other sins also produce
uncleanness in the soul. And therefore it is
that Christ also calls the Jews unclean, not
charging them with fornication only, but with
wickedness of other kinds as well. Wherefore
also He says that they made the outside clean,
and that "not the things which enter in defile
the man, but those which come out from him;"
(Mat. xv. 11.) and it is said in another
place, "Every one that is proud in heart is
unclean before the Lord." (Prov. xvi. 5.
LXX.)
For nothing is purer than virtue, nothing
uncleaner than vice; for the one is brighter
than the sun, the other more stinking than
mire. And to this they will themselves bear
witness, who are wallowing in that mire and
living in that darkness; at any rate, when one
prepares them a little to see clearly. For as
long as they are by themselves, and inebriate
with the passion, just as if living in darkness
they lie in unseemly wise to their much infamy,
conscious even then where they are, although not
fully; but after they have seen any of those who
live in virtue reproving them or even showing
himself, then they understand their own
wretchedness more clearly; and as if a sunbeam
had darted upon them, they cover up their own
unseemliness and blush before those who know of
their doings, yea, though the one be a slave
and the other free, though the one be a king and
the other a subject. Thus when Ahab saw
Elijah, he was ashamed, even when he had as
yet said nothing; standing convicted by the mere
sight of him; and when his accuser was silent,
he pronounced a judgment condemnatory of
himself; uttering the language of such as are
caught, and saying, "Thou hast found me, O
mine enemy!" (1 Kings xxi. 20.) Thus
Elijah himself conversed with that tyrant then
with great boldness. Thus Herod, unable to
bear the shame of those reproofs, (which
[shame] the sound of the prophet's tongue with
mighty and transparent clearness exposed more
evidently,) cast John into the prison: like
one who was naked and attempting to put out the
light, that he might be in the dark again; or
rather he himself dared not put it out, but, as
it were, placed it in the house under a bushel;
and that wretched and miserable woman compelled
it to be done. But not even so could they cover
the reproof, nay, they lit it up the more.
For both they that asked, 'Wherefore doth
John dwell in prison?' learnt the reason, and
all they that since have dwelt on land or sea,
who then lived, or now live, and who shall be
hereafter, both have known and shall know
clearly these wicked tragedies, both that of
their lewdness and that of their
bloodguiltiness, and no time shall be able to
wipe out the remembrance of them.
So great a thing is virtue: so immortal is its
memory, so completely even by words only cloth
it strike down its adversaries. For wherefore
did he cast him into the prison? Wherefore did
he not despise him? Was he going to drag him
before the judgment-seat? Did he demand
vengeance upon him for his adultery? Was not
what he said then simply a reproof? Why then
doth he fear and tremble? Was it not words and
talk merely? But they stung him more than
deeds. He led him not to any judgment-seat,
but he dragged him before that other tribunal of
conscience; and he sets as judges upon him all
who freely gave their verdicts in their thought.
Therefore the tyrant trembled, unable to endure
the lustre of virtue. Seest thou how great a
thing is philosophy? It made a prisoner more
lustrous than a king, and the latter is afraid
and trembles before him. He indeed only put him
in bonds; but that polluted woman rushed on to
his slaughter also, although the rebuke was
leveled rather against him, [than herself.]
For he did not then meet "her" and say,
'Why cohabitest thou with the king?' not that
she was guiltless, (how should she be so?)
but he wished by that other means to put all to
rights. Wherefore he blamed the king, and yet
not him with violence of manner. For he did not
say, 'O polluted and all-polluted and lawless
and profane one, thou hast trodden under foot
the law of God, thou hast despised the
commandments, thou hast made thy might law.
'None of these things; but even in his
rebukings great was the gentleness of the man,
great his meekness. For, "It is not lawful
for! thee," lie says, "to have thy brother
Philip's wife." The words are those of one
who teacheth rather than reproveth, instructeth
rather than chasteneth, who composeth to order
rather than exposeth, who amendeth rather than
trampleth on him. But, as I said, the light
is hateful to the thief, and the mere sight of
the just man is odious to sinners; "for he is
grievous unto us even to behold." (Wisd.
ii. 15.) For they cannot bear his
radiance, even as diseased eyes cannot bear the
sun's. But to many of the wicked he is
grievous not to behold only, but even to hear
of. And therefore that polluted and
all-polluted woman, the procuress of her girl,
yea rather her murderess, although she had never
seen him nor heard his voice, rushed on to his
slaughter; and prepareth her whom she brought up
in lasciviousnss to proceed also to murder, so
extravagantly did she fear him.
And what says she? "Give me here in a charger
the head of John the Baptist." (Mat. xiv.
8.) Whither rushest thou over precipices,
wretched and miserable one? What? is the
accuser before thee? is he in sight and
troubleth thee? Others said, "He is grievous
unto us even to behold;" but to her, as I
said, he was grievous to even hear of.
Wherefore she saith, "Give me here in a
charger the head of John." And yet because of
thee he inhabits a prison, and is laden with
chains, and thou art free to wanton over thy
love and to say, 'So completely have I
subdued the king, that though publicly
reproached he yielded not, nor desisted from his
passion, nor tore asunder his adulterous
connection with me, but even put him that
reproached him in bonds. 'Why art thou mad and
rabid, when even after that reproof of his sin
thou retainest thy paramour? Why seekest thou a
table of furies, and preparest a banquet of
avenging demons? Seest thou how
nothing-worth, how cowardly, how unmanly, is
vice; how when it shall most succeed, it then
becomes more feeble? For this woman was not so
much disturbed before she had cast John into
prison, as she is troubled after he is bound,
and she is urgent, saying, "Give me here in a
charger the head of John." And wherefore so?
'I fear,' she says, lest there be any
hushing up of his murder, lest any should rescue
him from his peril.' And wherefore requirest
thou not the whole corpse, but the head? 'The
tongue,' she says, 'that pained me, that I
long to see silent. ' But the contrary will
happen, as indeed it also hath done, thou
wretched and miserable one! it will cry louder
afterwards, when it is cut out. For then
indeed it cried in Judaea only, but now it will
reach to the ends of the world; and wheresoever
thou enterest into a church, whether it be among
the Moors, or among the Persians, or even
unto the British isles themselves, thou hearest
John crying, "It is not lawful for thee to
have thy brother Phillip's wife." But she,
unknowing to reason in any such way, urges and
presses, and thrusts on the senseless tyrant to
the murder, fearing lest he change his mind.
But from this too learn thou again the power of
virtue. Not even when he was shut up and bound
and silent, does she bear the righteous man.
Seest thou how weak a thing vice is? how
unclean? For in the place of meats it bringeth
in a human head upon a charger. What is more
polluted, what more accursed, what more
immodest, than that damsel? what a voice she
uttered in that theatre of the devil, in that
banquet of demons! Seest thou this tongue and
that; the one bringing healthful medicines, the
other one with poison on it, and made the
purveyor to a devilish banquet. But wherefore
did she not command him to be murdered within
there, at the feast, when her pleasure would
have been greater? She feared lest if he should
come thither and be seen, he should change them
all by his look, by his boldness. Therefore
surely it is that she demandeth his head,
wishing to set up a bright trophy of
fornication; and give it to her mother. Seest
thou the wages of dancing, seest thou the spoils
of that devilish plot? I mean not the head of
John, but her paramour himself. For if one
examine it carefully, against the king that
trophy was set up, and the victress was
vanquished, and the beheaded was crowned, and
proclaimed victor, even after his death shaking
more vehemently the hearts of the offenders.
And that what I have said is no [mere]
boast, ask of Herod himself; who, when he
heard of the miracles of Christ, said, "This
is John, he is risen from the dead: and
therefore do these powers work in him."
(Mat. xiv. 2.) So lively was the fear,
so abiding the agony he retained; and none had
power to cast down the terror of his conscience,
but that incorruptible Judge continued to take
him by the throat, and day by day to demand of
him satisfaction for the murder. Knowing,
then, these things, let us not fear to suffer
evil, but to do evil; for that indeed is
victory, but this defeat.
Wherefore also Paul said, "Why not rather
take wrong, why not rather be defrauded. Nay,
ye yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that
your brethren." For by the suffering evil
[come] those crowns, those prizes, that
proclamation [of victory]. And this may be
seen in all the saints. Since then they all
were thus crowned, thus proclaimed, let us too
travel this road, and let us pray indeed that we
enter not into temptation; but if it should
come, let us make stand with much manliness and
display the proper readiness of mind, that we
may obtain the good things to come, through the
grace and love towards men of our Lord Jesus
Christ, with Whom to the Father, together
with the Holy Ghost, be glory, might,
honor, now and for ever, and world without
end. Amen.
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