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2 TIMOTHY iii. 1-7.
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors,
heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such
turn away. For of this sort are they, which creep into houses, and
lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts
and pleasures, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth."
HE had said in the former Epistle, that "the Spirit speaketh
expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith"
(1 Tim. iv. 1, 2); and elsewhere in this Epistle he foretells
that something of this kind will afterwards happen; and here again he
does the same thing: "This know, that in the last days perilous
times shall come." And this he pronounces not only from the future,
but from the past; "As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses." And
again from reasoning; "In a great house there are not only vessels of
gold and of silver." But why does he do this? In order that
Timothy may not be troubled, nor any one of us, when there are evil
men. If there were such in the time of Moses, and will be
hereafter, it is no wonder that there are such in our times.
"In the last days perilous times shall come," he says, that is,
exceeding bad times. How shall times be perilous? He says it not
blaming the days, nor the times, but the men of those times. For
thus it is customary with us to speak of good times or evil times, from
the events that happen in them, caused by men. Immediately he sets
down the root and fountain, whence these and all other evils spring,
that is, overweeningness. He that is seized with this passion is
careless even of his own interests. For when a man overlooks the
concerns of his neighbor, and is careless of them, how should he
regard his own? For as he that looks to his neighbor's affairs will
in them order his own to advantage, so he that looks down upon his
neighbor's concerns will neglect his own. For if we are members one
of another, the welfare of our neighbor is not his concern only, but
that of the whole body, and the injury of our neighbor is not confined
to him, but distracts with pains all else as well. If we are a
building, whatever part is weakened, it affects the whole whilst that
which is solid gives strength and support to the rest. So also in the
Church, if thou hast slighted thy neighbor, thou has injured
thyself. How? In that one of thy own members hath suffered no small
hurt. And if he, who does not impart of hid possessions, goes into
Hell, much more will he be condemned, who sees a neighbor suffering
severer evils, and does not stretch out his hand, since in this case
the loss is more grievous.
"For men shall be lovers of their own selves." He that loves
himself may be said not to love himself, but he that loves his
brother, loves himself in the truest sense. From self-love springs
covetousness. For the wretched niggardly temper of self-love
contracts that love which should be widely extended, and diffused on
every side. "Covetous." From covetousness springs boastfulness,
from boastfulness pride, from pride blasphemy, from blasphemy defiance
and disobedience. For he who exalts himself against men, will easily
do it against God. Thus sins are produced. Often they ascend from
below. He that is pious towards men, is still more pious towards
God. He who is meek to his fellow-servants, is more meek to his
Master. He that despises his fellow-servants, will end with
despising God Himself. MORAL. Let us not then despise one
another for that is an evil training which teaches us to despise God.
And indeed to despise one another is in effect to despise God, Who
commanded us to show all regard to one another. And this may be
otherwise manifested by an example. Cain despised his brother, and
so, immediately after, he despised God. How despised Him? Mark
his insolent answer to God; "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen.
iv. 9.) Again, Esau despised his brother, and he too despised
God. Wherefore God said, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated." (Rom. ix. 13; Mal. i. 2, 3.) Hence Paul
says, "Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau."
(Heb. xii. 16.) The brethren of Joseph despised him, and they
also despised God. The Israelites despised Moses, and they also
despised God. So too the sons of Eli despised the people, and they
too despised God. Would you see it also from the contrary?
Abraham, who was tender of his brother's son, was obedient to God,
as is manifest in his conduct with respect to his son Isaac, and in
all his other virtues. Again, Abel was meek to his brother, and he
also was pious towards God. Let us not therefore despise one
another, lest we learn also to despise God. Let us honor one
another, that we may learn also to honor God. He that is insolent
with respect to men, will also be insolent with respect to God. But
when covetousness and selfishness and insolence meet together, what is
wanting to complete destruction? Everything is corrupted, and a foul
flood of sins bursts in. "Unthankful," he says. For how can the
covetous man be thankful? To whom will he feel gratitude? To no
one. He considers all men his enemies, and desires the goods of all.
Though you spend your whole substance upon him, he will feel no
gratitude. He is angry that you have not more, that you might bestow
it upon him. And if you made him master of the whole world, he would
still be unthankful, and think that he had received nothing. This
desire is insatiable. It is the craving of disease; and such is the
nature of the cravings of disease.
He who has a fever can never be satisfied, but with constant desire of
drinking, is never filled, but suffers a continual thirst; so he who
is mad after wealth never knows the fulfillment of his desire; whatever
is bestowed upon him, he is still unsatisfied, and will therefore
never be thankful. For he will feel no gratitude to him, who does not
give him as much as he wishes, and this no one can ever do. And as
there is no limit to his wishes, he will feel no gratitude. Thus no
one is so unthankful as the covetous, so insensible as the lover of
money. He is the enemy of all the world. He is indignant that there
are men. He would have all one vast desert, that he might have the
property of all. And many wild imaginations does he form. "O that
there were an earthquake," he says, "in the city, that all the rest
being swallowed up, I might be left alone, to have, if possible,
the possessions of all! O that a pestilence would come and destroy
everything but gold! O that there might be a submersion, or an
eruption of the sea!" Such are his imaginations. He prays for
nothing good, but for earthquakes, and thunderbolts, for wars, and
plagues, and the like. Well, tell me now, thou wretched man, more
servile than any slave, if all things were gold, wouldest thou not be
destroyed by thy gold, and perish with hunger? If the world were
swallowed up by an earthquake, thou also wouldest perish by thy fatal
desire. For if there were no other men than thyself, the necessaries
of life would fail thee. For suppose that the other inhabitants of the
earth were destroyed at once, and that their gold and silver came of
its own accord to thee. (For such men fancy to themselves
absurdities, and impossibilities.) But if their gold and silver,
their vests of silk and cloth of gold, came into thy hands, what would
it profit thee? Death would only the more certainly overtake thee,
when there were none to prepare bread or till the earth for thee; wild
beasts would prowl around, and the devil agitate thy soul with fear.
Many devils indeed now possess it, but then they would lead thee to
desperation, and plunge thee at once into destruction. But you say,
"I would wish there should be tilling of the land and men to prepare
food." Then they would consume somewhat. "But I would not have
them consume anything." So insatiable is this desire! For what can
be more ridiculous than this? Seest thou the impossibility of the
thing? He wishes to have many to minister to him, yet he grudges them
their share of food, because it diminishes his substance! What then?
Wouldest thou then have men of stone? This is all a mockery; and
waves, and tempest, and huge billows, and violent agitation, and
storm, overwhelm the soul. It is ever hungry, ever thirsty. Shall
we not pity and mourn for him? Of bodily diseases this is thought a
most painful one, and it is called by physicians bulimy, when a man
being filled, is yet always hungry. And is not the same disorder in
the soul more lamentable? For avarice is the morbid hunger of the
soul, which is always filling, never satisfied, but still craving.
If it were necessary to drink hellebore, or submit to anything a
thousand times worse, would it not be worth our while to undertake it
readily, that we might be delivered from this passion? There is no
abundance of riches that can fill the belly of greediness. And shall
we not be ashamed, that men can be thus transported with the love of
money, whilst we show not any proportion of such earnestness in love to
God, and honor Him not as bullion is honored? For money men will
undergo watchings, and journeyings and continual perils, and hatred,
and hostility, and, in short, everything.
But we do not venture to utter a mere word for God, nor incur an
enmity, but if we are required to assist any of those who are
persecuted, we abandon the injured person, withdrawing ourselves from
the hatred of the powerful, and the danger it involves. And though
God has given us power that we might succor him, yet we suffer him to
perish, from our unwillingness to incur men's hatred and displeasure.
And this many profess to justify, saying, "Be loved for nothing,
but be not hated for nothing." But is this to be hated for nothing?
Or what is better than such hatred? For to be hated on account of
God is better than to be loved on His account: for when we are loved
for God's sake, we are debtors for the honor, but when we are hated
for His sake, He is our debtor to reward us. The lovers of wealth
know no limit to their love, be it never so great; but we, if we have
done ever so little, think that we have fulfilled everything. We love
not God as much, no, not by many times over so much, as they love
gold. Their inordinate rage for gold is a heavy accusation against
them. It is our condemnation that we are not so beside ourselves for
God; that we do not bestow upon the Lord of all as much love as they
bestow upon mere earth, for gold from the mine is no better.
Let us then behold their madness, and be ashamed of ourselves. For
what though we are not inflamed with the love of gold, while we are not
earnest in our prayers to God? For in their case men despise wife,
children, substance, and their own safety, and that when they are not
certain that they shall increase their substance. For often, in the
very midst of their hopes, they lose at once their life and their
labor. But we, though we know that, if we love Him as we ought to
love Him, we shall obtain our desire, yet love Him not, but are
altogether cold in our love both to our neighbor and to God; cold in
our love to God, because cold in our love to our neighbor. For it is
not, indeed it is not possible that a man, who is a stranger to the
feeling of love, should have any generosity or manly spirit, since the
foundation of all that is good is no other than love. "On this," it
is said, "hang all the law and the prophets." (Matt. xxii.
40.) For as fire set to a forest is wont to clear away everything,
so the fire of love, wherever it is received, consumes and makes way
through everything that is hurtful to the divine harvest, and renders
the soil pure and fit for the reception of the seed. Where there is
love, all evils are removed. There is no love of money, the root of
evil, there is no self-love: there is no boasting; for why should
one boast over his friend? Nothing makes a man so humble as love. We
perform the offices of servants to our friends, and are not ashamed;
we are even thankful for the opportunity of serving them. We spare not
our property, and often not out persons; for dangers too are
encountered at times for him that is loved. No envy, no calumny is
there, where there is genuine love. We not only do not slander our
friends, but we stop the mouth of slanderers. All is gentleness and
mildness. Not a trace of strife and contention appears. Everything
breathes peace. For "Love," it is said, "is this fulfilling of
the law." (Rom. xiii. 10.) There is nothing offensive with
it. How so?
Because where love exists, all the sins of covetousness, rapine,
envy, slander, arrogance, perjury, and falsehood are done away.
For men perjure themselves, in order to rob, but no one would rob him
whom he loved, but would rather give him his own possessions. For we
are more obliged than if we received from him. Ye know this, all you
that have friends, friends, I mean, in reality, not in name only,
but whoever loves as men ought to love, whoever is really linked to
another. And let those who are ignorant of it learn from those who
know.
I will now cite you from the Scriptures a wonderful instance of
friendship. Jonathan, the son of Saul, loved David, and his soul
was so knit to him, that David in mourning over him says, "Thy love
to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. Thou wast wounded
unto death." (2 Sam. i. 25, 26.) What then? did he envy
David? Not at all, though he had great reason. How? Because, by
the events he perceived that the kingdom would pass from himself to
him, yet he felt nothing of the kind. He did not say, "This is he
that is depriving me of my paternal kingdom," but he favored his
obtaining the sovereignty; and he spared not his father for the sake of
his friend. Yet let not any one think him a parricide, for he did not
injure his father, but restrained his unjust attempts. He rather
spared than injured him. He did not permit him to proceed to an unjust
murder. He was many times willing even to die for his friend, and far
from accusing him, he restrained even his father's accusation.
Instead of envying, he joined in obtaining the kingdom for him. Why
do I speak of wealth? He even sacrificed his own life for him. For
the sake of his friend, he did not even stand in awe of his father,
since his father entertained unjust designs, but his conscience was
free from all such. Thus justice was conjoined with friendship.
Such then was Jonathan. Let us now consider David. He had no
opportunity of returning the recompense, for his benefactor was taken
away before the reign of David, and slain before he whom he had served
came to his kingdom. What then? As far as it was allowed him and
left in his power, let us see how that righteous man manifested his
friendship. "Very pleasant," he says, "hast thou been to me,
Jonathan; thou wast wounded unto death." (2 Sam. i. 25,
Gr.) Is this all? This indeed was no slight tribute, but he also
frequently rescued from danger his son and his grandson, remembrance of
the kindness of the father, and he continued to support and protect his
children, as he would have done those of his own son. Such friendship
I would wish all to entertain both towards the living and the dead.
Let women listen to this (for it is on their account especially that
I refer to the departed) who enter into a second marriage, and defile
the bed of their deceased husband, though they have loved him. Not
that I forbid a second marriage, or pronounce it a proof of
wantonness, for Paul does not allow me, stopping my mouth by saying
to women, "If she marry she hath not sinned." (1 Cor. vii.
28 and 40.) Yet let us attend to what follows, "But she is
happier if she so abide." This state is much better than the other.
Wherefore? for many reasons. For if it is better not to marry at all
than to marry, much more in this case. "But some, you say, could
not endure widowhood, and have fallen into many misfortunes." Yes;
because they know not what widowhood is. For it is not widowhood to be
exempt from a second marriage, as neither is it virginity to be
altogether unmarried. For as "that which is comely," and "that ye
may attend upon the Lord without distraction," is the mark of the one
state, so it is the mark of the other to be desolate, to "continue in
supplications and prayers," to renounce luxury and pleasure. For
"she that liveth in pleasure is dead whilst she liveth." (1 Tim.
v. 6.) If remaining a widow, thou wouldest have the same pomp,
the same show, the same attire, as thou hadst while thy husband was
living, it were better for thee to marry. For it is not the union
that is objectionable, but the multitude of cares that attend it. But
that which is not wrong, thou dost not: but that which is not
indifferent, which is liable to blame, in that thou involvest
thyself. On this account "some have turned aside after Satan,"
because they have not been able to live properly as widows.
Wouldest thou know what a widow is, and what a widow's dignity, hear
Paul's account of it. "If she have brought up children, if she
have lodged strangers, if she have washed the Saints' feet, if she
have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good
work." (1 Tim. v. 10.) But when after the death of thy
husband, thou art arrayed in the same pomp of wealth, no wonder if
thou canst not support widowhood. Transfer this wealth, therefore,
to heaven, and thou wilt find the burden of widowhood tolerable.
But, thou sayest, what if I have children to succeed to their
father's inheritance? Instruct them also to despise riches.
Transfer thy own possessions, reserving for them just a sufficiency.
Teach them too to be superior to riches. But what if besides my
silver and gold, I am surrounded by a crowd of slaves, oppressed by a
multitude of affairs, how shall I be equal to the care of all these
things, when deprived of the support of my husband? This is but an
excuse, a pretense, as appears from many causes.
For if thou dost hot deserve wealth, nor seek to increase thy present
possessions, thy burden will be light. To get riches is much more
laborious than to take care of them. If therefore thou cuttest off
this one thing, accumulating, and suppliest the needy out of thy
substance, God will hold over thee His protecting hand. And if thou
sayest this from a real desire to preserve the inheritance of thy
fatherless children, and art not, under this pretense, possessed with
covetousness; He who searches the heart knows how to secure their
riches, even He who commanded thee to bring up children.
For it is not possible, indeed it is not, that a house established by
almsgiving should suffer any calamity. If it should be unfortunate for
a time, in the end it will prosper. This will be more than spear and
shield to all the household. Hear what the devil says concerning
Job. "Hast not thou made an hedge about him and about his house,
and about all that he hath on every side?" (Job i. 10.)
Wherefore? Hear Job himself saying, "I was eyes to the blind,
and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the orphans." (Job
xxix. 15.) As he who does not turn aside from the calamities of
others, will not suffer even in his own misfortunes, because he has
learnt to sympathize; so he who will not bear the griefs of sympathy,
will learn all sorrow in his own person. And, as in the case of a
bodily disease, if, when the foot is mortified, the hand does not
sympathize by cleansing the wound, washing away the discharge, and
applying a plaster, it will suffer the like disease of its own; so she
who will not minister to another when she is not herself afflicted,
will have to bear sufferings of her own. For the evil spreading from
the other part will reach to this also, and the question will not be of
ministering to the other, but of its own cure and relief. So it is
here also. He that will not relieve others, will be a sufferer
himself. "Thou hast hedged him in," saith Satan, "within and
without," and I dare not attack him! But he suffered afflictions,
you say. True. But those afflictions were the occasion of great
good. His substance was doubled, his reward increased, his
righteousness enlarged, his crown was splendid, his prize glorious.
Both his spiritual and temporal blessings were augmented. He lost his
children, but he received, not these restored, but others in their
room, and those too he had safe for the Resurrection. Had they been
restored, the number would have been diminished, but now having given
others in their stead, He will present them also at the
Resurrection. All these things happened to him, because of his
openhandedness in almsgiving. Let us then do likewise, that we may
obtain the same rewards by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.
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