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ROM. VI. 5.
"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death,
we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,"
What I had before occasion to remark, that I mention here too, that
he continually digresseth into exhortation, without making any twofold
division as he does in the other Epistles, and setting apart the
former portion for doctrines, and the latter for the care of moral
instruction. Here then he does not do so, but blends the latter with
the subject throughout, so as to gain it an easy admission. Here then
he says there are two mortifyings, and two deaths, and that one is
done by Christ in Baptism, and the other it is our duty to effect by
earnestness afterwards. For that our former sins were buried, came of
His gift. But the remaining dead to sin after baptism must be the
work of our own earnestness, however much we find God here also giving
us large help. For this is not the only thing Baptism has the power
to do, to obliterate our former transgressions; for it also secures
against subsequent ones. As then in the case of the former, thy
contribution was faith that they might be obliterated, so also in those
subsequent to this, show thou forth the change in thine aims, that
thou mayest not defile thyself again. For it is this and the like that
he is counselling thee when he says, "for if we have been planted
together in the likeness of His Death, we shall be also in the
likeness of His Resurrection." Do you observe, how he rouses the
hearer by leading him straightway up to his Master, and taking great
pains to show the strong likeness? This is why he does not say "in
death," lest you should gainsay it, but, "in the likeness of His
Death." For our essence itself hath not died, but the man of sins,
that is, wickedness. And he does not say, "for if we have been"
partakers of "the likeness of His Death;" but what? "If we
have. been planted together," so, by the mention of planting,
giving a hint of the fruit resulting to us from it. For as His
Body, by being buried in the earth, brought forth as the fruit of it
the salvation of the world; thus ours also, being buried in baptism,
bore as fruit righteousness, sanctification, adoption, countless
blessings. And it will bear also hereafter the gift of the
resurrection. Since then we were buried in water, He in earth, and
we in regard to sin, He in regard to His Body, this is why he did
not say, "we were planted together in His Death," but "in the
likeness of His Death." For both the one and the other is death,
but not that of the same subject. If then he says, "we have been
planted together in His Death, we shall be in that of His
Resurrection," speaking here of the Resurrection which (Gr. be of
His Resurrection) is to come. For since when he was upon the
subject of the Death before, and said, "Know ye not, brethren,
that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His
Death?" he had not made any clear statement about the Resurrection,
but only about the way of life after baptism, bidding men walk in
newness of life; therefore he here resumes the same subject, and
proceeds to foretell to us clearly that Resurrection. And that you
may know that he is not speaking of that resulting from baptism, but
about the other, after saying, "for if we were planted together in
the likeness of His Death," he does not say that we shall be in the
likeness of His Resurrection, but we shall belong to the
Resurrection. For to prevent thy saying, and how, if we did not die
as He died, are we to rise as He rose? when he mentioned the
Death, he did not say, "planted together in the Death," but,
"in the likeness of His Death." But when he mentioned the
Resurrection, he did not say, "in the likeness of the
Resurrection," but we shall be "of the Resurrection" itself. And
he does not say, We have been made, but we shall be, by this word
again plainly meaning that Resurrection which has not yet taken place,
but will hereafter. Then with a view to give credibility to what he
says, he points out another Resurrection which is brought about here
before that one, that from that which is present thou mayest believe
also that which is to come. For after saying, "we shall be planted
together in the Resurrection," he adds, Ver. 6. "Knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed."
So putting together both the cause and the demonstration of the
Resurrection which is to come. And he does not say is crucified, but
is crucified with Him, so bringing baptism near to the Cross. And
on this score also it was that he said above, "We have been planted
together in the likeness of His Death that the body of sin might be
destroyed," not giving that name to this body of ours, but to all
iniquity. For as he calls the whole sum of wickedness the old man,
thus again the wickedness which is made up of the different parts of
iniquity he calls the body of that man. And that what I am saying is
not mere guesswork, hearken to Paul's own interpretation of this very
thing in what comes next. For after saying, "that the body of sin
might be destroyed," he adds, "that henceforth we should not serve
sin." For the way in which I would have it dead is not so that ye
should be destroyed and die, but so that ye sin not. And as he goes
on he makes this still clearer.
Ver. 7. "For he that is dead," he says, "is freed (Gr.
justified) from sin."
This he says of every man, that as he that is dead is henceforth freed
from sinning, lying as a dead body, so must he that has come up from
baptism, since he has died there once for all, remain ever dead to
sin. If then thou hast died in baptism, remain dead, for any one
that dies can sin no more; but if thou sinnest, thou marrest God's
gift. After requiring of us then heroism (Gr. philosophy) of this
degree, he presently brings in the crown also, in these words.
Ver. 8. "Now if we be dead with Christ.":
And indeed even before the crown, this is in itself the greater
crown, the partaking with our Master. But he says, I give even
another reward. Of what kind is it? It is life eternal. For "we
believe," he says, "that we shall also live with Him." And
whence is this clear?
Ver. 9. "That Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no
more."
And notice again his undauntedness, and how he makes the thing good
from opposite grounds. Since then it was likely that some would feel
perplexed at the Cross and the
Death, he shows that this very thing is a ground for feeling confident
henceforward.
For suppose not, he says, because He once died, that He is
mortal, for this is the very reason of His being immortal. For His
death hath been the death of death, and because He did die, He
therefore doth not die. For even that death Ver. 10. "He died
unto sin."
"What does "unto sin" mean? It means that He was not subject even
to that one, but for our sin, that He might destroy it, and cut away
its sinews and all its power, therefore He died. Do you see how he
affrighteth them? For if He does not die again, then there is no
second layer, then do thou keep from all inclinableness to sin. For
all this he says to make a stand against the "let us do evil that good
may come. Let us remain in sin that grace may abound." To take away
this conception then, root and branch, it is, that he sets down all
this. But in that "He liveth, He liveth unto God," he
says,--that is, unchangeably, so that death hath no more any
dominion over Him. For if it was not through any liability to it that
He died the former death, save only for the sin of others, much less
will He die again now that He hath done that sin away. And this he
says in the Epistle to the Hebrews also, "But now once," he
says, "in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by
the Sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to
die, and after that the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear
the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the
second time without sin unto salvation." (Heb. ix. 26-28.)
And he both points out the power of the life that is according to
God, and also the strength of sin. For with regard to the life
according to God, he showeth that Christ shall die no more. With
regard to sin, that if it brought about the death even of the
Sinless, how can it do otherwise than be the ruin of those that are
subject to it? And then as he had discoursed about His life; that
none might say, What hath that which you have been saying to do with
us? he adds, Ver. 11. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be
dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God."
He well says, "reckon," because there is no setting that, which he
is speaking of, before the eyes as yet. And what are we to reckon?
one may ask. That we "are dead unto sin, but alive unto God. In
Jesus Christ our Lord." For he that so liveth will lay hold of
every virtue, as having Jesus Himself for his ally. For that is
what, "in Christ," means, for if He raised them when dead, much
more when alive will He be able to keep them so.
Ver. 12. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that
ye should obey it in the lusts thereof."
He does not say, let not the flesh live or act, but, "let not sin
reign," for He came not to destroy our nature, but to set our free
choice aright. Then to show that it is not through any force or
necessity that we are held down by iniquity, but willingly, he does
not say, let it not tyrannize, a word that would imply a necessity,
but let it not reign. For it is absurd for those who are being
conducted to the kingdom of heaven to have sin empress over them, and
for those who are called to reign with Christ to choose to be the
captives of sin, as though one should hurl the diadem from off his
head, and choose to be the slave of a frantic woman, who came
begging, and was clothed in rags. Next since it was a heavy task to
get the upper hand of sin, see how he shows it to be even easy, and
how he allays the labor by saying, "in your mortal body." For this
shows that the struggles were but for a time, and would soon bring
themselves to a close. At the same time he reminds us of our former
evil plight, and of the root of death, as it was from this that,
contrary even to its beginning, it became mortal. Yet it is possible
even for one with a mortal body not to sin. Do you see the abundancy
of Christ's grace? For Adam, though as yet he had not a mortal
body, fell. But thou, who hast received one even subject to death,
canst be crowned. How then, is it that "sin reigns?" he says. It
is not from any power of its own, but from thy listlessness.
Wherefore after saying, "let it not reign," he also points out the
mode of this reigning, by going on to say "that ye should obey it in
the lusts thereof." For it is not honor to concede to it (i.e. to
the body) all things at will, nay, it is slavery in the extreme, and
the height of dishonor; for when it doth what it listeth, then is it
bereft of all liberties; but when it is put under restraints, then it
best keeps its own proper rank.
Ver. 13. "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin . . . .but as instruments of
righteousness."
The body then is indifferent between vice and virtue, as also
instruments (or arms) are. But either effect is wrought by him that
useth it. As if a soldier fighting in his country's behalf, and a
robber who was arming against the inhabitants, had the same weapons for
defence. For the fault is not laid to the suit of armor, but to those
that use it to an ill end. And this one may say of the flesh too which
becomes this or that owing to the mind's decision, not owing to its
own nature. For if it be curious after the beauty of another, the eye
becomes an instrument of iniquity, not through any agency of its own
(for what is of the eye, is but seeing, not seeing amiss), but
through the fault of the thought which commands it. But if you bridle
it, it becomes an instrument of righteousness. Thus with the tongue,
thus with the hands, thus with all the other members. And he well
calls sin unrighteousness. For by sinning a man deals unrighteously
either by himself or by his neighbor, or rather by himself more than by
his neighbor. Having then led us away from wickedness, he leads us to
virtue, in these words:
"But yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the
dead."
See how by his bare words he exhorts them, on that side naming "sin"
and on this "God." For by showing what a difference there is
between the rulers, he casts out of all excuse the soldier that leaveth
God, and desireth to serve under the dominion of sin. But it is not
only in this way, but also by the sequel, that he establishes this;
by saying, "as alive from the dead." For by these he shows the
wretchedness of the other, and the greatness of God's gift. For
consider, he says, what you were, and what you have been made. What
then were ye? Dead, and ruined by a destruction which could not from
any quarter be repaired. For neither was there any one who had the
power to assist you. And what have ye been made out of those dead
ones? Alive with immortal life. And by whom? By the all-powerful
God. Ye ought therefore to marshal yourselves under Him with as much
cheerful readiness, as men would who had been made alive from being
dead.
"And your members as instruments of righteousness."
Hence, the body is not evil, since it may be made an arm of
righteousness. But by calling it an arm, he makes it clear that there
is a hard warfare at hand for us. And for this reason we need strong
armor, and also a noble spirit, and one acquainted too with the ways
of this warfare; and above all we need a commander. The Commander
however is standing by, ever ready to help us, and abiding
unconquerable, and has furnished us with strong arms likewise.
Farther, we have need of a purpose of mind to handle them as should
be, so that we may both obey our Commander, and take the field for
our country. Having then given us this vigorous exhortation, and
reminded us of arms, and battle, and wars, see how he encourages the
soldier again and cherishes his ready spirit.
Ver. 14. "For sin shall no more have dominion over you; for ye
are not under the Law, but under grace."
If then sin hath no more dominion over us, why does he lay so great a
charge upon them as he does in the words, "Let not sin reign in your
mortal body," and, "yield not ye your members as instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin?" What does that here said mean then? He
is sowing a kind of seed in this statement, which he means to develop
afterwards, and to cultivate in a powerful argument. What then is
this statement? It is this; that our body, before Christ's
coming, was an easy prey to the assaults of sin. For after death a
great swarm of passions entered also. And for this cause it was not
lightsome for running the race of virtue. For there was no Spirit
present to assist, nor any baptism of power to mortify. (John vii.
39.) But as some horse (Plato Phaedr. to 74) that answereth
not the rein, it ran indeed, but made frequent slips, the Law
meanwhile announcing what was to be done and what not, yet not
conveying into those in the race anything over and above exhortation by
means of words. But when Christ had come, the effort became
afterwards more easy, and therefore we had a more distant goal
(meizona ta skammata) set us, in that the assistance we had given us
was greater. Wherefore also Christ saith, "Except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and
Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
(Matt. v. 20.) But this he says more clearly in the sequel.
But at present he alludes here briefly to it, to show that unless we
stoop down very low to it, sin will not get the better of us. For it
is not the Law only that exhorteth us, but grace too which also
remitted our former sins, and secures us against future ones. For it
promised them crowns after toils, but this (i.e. grace) crowned
them first, and than led them to the contest. Now it seems to me that
he is not signifying here the whole life of a believer, but instituting
a comparison between the Baptism and the Law. And this he says in
another passage also "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth
life." (2 Cor. iii. 6.) For the Law convinceth of
transgression, but grace undoes transgression. As then the former by
convincing establisheth sin so the latter by forgiving suffereth us not
to be under sin. And so thou art in two ways set free from this
thraldom; both in thy not being under the Law, and in thy enjoying
grace. After then he had by these words given the hearer a breathing
time, he again furnishes him a safeguard, by introducing an
exhortation in reply to an objection, and by saying as follows.
Ver. 15. "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the
Law, but under grace? God forbid."
So he first adopted a form of adjuration, because it was an absurb
thing he had named. And then he makes his discourse pass on to
exhortation, and shows the great facility of the struggle, in the
following words.
Ver. 16. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants
to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto
death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
I do not, he would say, mention hell as yet, nor that great (Ms.
Bodl. long) punishment, but the shame it is in this world, when ye
become slaves, and slaves of your own accord too, and sin's slaves,
and when the wages are such as a second death. For if before baptism,
it wrought death of the body, and the wound required so great
attendance, that the Lord of all came down to die, and so put a stop
to the evil; if after so great a gift, and so great liberty, it seize
thee again, while thou bendest down under it willingly, what is there
that it may not do? Do not then run into such a pit, or willingly
give thyself up. For in the case of wars, soldiers are often given up
even against their will. But in this case, unless thou desertest of
thyself, there is no one who will get the better of thee. Having then
tried to shame them by a sense of duty, he alarms them also by the
rewards, and lays before them the wages of both; righteousness, and
death, and that a death not like the former, but far worse. For if
Christ is to die no more, who is to do away with death? No one! We
must then be punished, and have vengeance taken upon us forever. For
a death preceptible to the senses is not still to come in this case, as
in the former, which gives the body rest, and separates it from the
soul. "For the last enemy, death, is destroyed" (1 Cor. xv.
26), whence the punishment will be deathless. But not to them that
obey, for righteousness, and the blessings springing from it, will be
their rewards.
Ver. 17. "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of
sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered unto you." (Lit. "into which ye were delivered.")
After shaming them by the slavery, after alarming them by the
rewards, and so exhorting them, he again rights them by calling the
benefits to mind. For by these he shows that they were great evils
from which they were freed, and that not by any labors of their own,
and that things henceforth would be more manageable. Just as any one
who has rescued a captive from a cruel tyrant, and advises him not to
run away back to him, reminds him of his grievous thraldom; so does
Paul set the evils passed away most emphatically before us, by giving
thanks to God. For it was no human power that could set us free from
all those evils, but, "thanks be to God," who was willing and able
to do such great things. And he well says, "Ye have obeyed from the
heart." Ye were neither forced nor pressed, but ye came over of your
own accord, with willing mind. Now this is like one that praises and
rebukes at once. For after having willingly come, and not having had
any necessity to undergo, what allowance can you claim, or what excuse
can you make, if you run away back to your former estate? Next that
you may learn that it came not of your own willing temper only, but the
whole of it of God's grace also, after saying, "Ye have obeyed
from the heart," he adds," that form of doctrine which was delivered
you." For the obedience from the heart shows the free will. But the
being delivered, hints the assistance from God. But what is the form
of doctrine? It is living aright, and in conformity with the best
conversation.
Ver. 18. "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants
of righteousness."
There are two gifts of God which he here points out. The "freeing
from sin," and also the "making them servants to righteousness,"
which is better than any freedom. For God hath done the same as if a
person were to take an orphan, who had been carried away by savages
into their own country, and were not only to free him from captivity,
but were to set a kind father ever him, and bring him to very great
dignity. And this has been done in our case. For it was not our old
evils alone that He freed us from, since He even led us to the life
of angels, and paved the way for us to the best conversation, handing
us over to the safe keeping of righteousness, and killing our former
evils, and deadening the old man, and leading us to an immortal life.
Let us then continue living this life; for many of those who seem to
breathe and to walk about are in a more wretched plight than the dead.
For there are different kinds of deadness; and one there is of the
body, according to which Abraham was dead, and still was not dead.
For "God," He says, "is not a God of the dead, but of the
living." (Matt. xxii. 32.) Another is of the soul which
Christ alludes to when He says, "Let the dead bury their dead."
(ib. viii. 22. Another, which is even the subject of praise,
which is brought about by religion (filosofias), of which Paul
saith, "Mortify your members which are upon the earth." (Col.
iii. 5.) Another, which is the cause even of this, the one which
takes place in baptism. "For our old man," he says, "has been
crucified" (ver. 6), that is, has been deadened. Since then we
know this, let us flee from the deadness by which, even though alive,
we die. And let us not be afraid of that with which common death comes
on. But the other two, whereof one is blissful, having been given by
God, the other praiseworthy (cf. Ar. Eth. i. 12), which is
accomplished by ourselves together with God, let us both choose and be
emulous of. And of those two, one doth David pronounce blessed,
when he says, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven"
(Ps. xxxii. 1); and the other, Paul holds in admiration,
saying, and writing to the Galatians, "They that be Christ's have
crucified the flesh." (Gal. v. 24.) But of the other couple,
one Christ declares to be easy to hold in contempt, when He says,
"Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul:" and the other fearful, for, "Fear" (He says) "Him
that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell." (Matt. x.
28.) And therefore let us flee from this, and choose that deadness
which is held blessed and admirable; that of the other two, we may
escape the one and not fear the other: for it is not the least good to
us to see the sun, and to eat and drink, unless the life of good words
be with us. For what would be the advantage, pray, of a king dressed
in a purple robe and possessed of arms, but without a single subject,
and exposed to all that had a mind to attack and insult him? In like
manner it will be no advantage to a Christian to have faith, and the
gift of baptism, and yet be open to all the passions. In that way the
disgrace will be greater, and the shame more. For as such an one
having the diadem and purple is so far from gaining by this dress any
honor to himself, that he even does disgrace to that by his own shame:
so the believer also, who leadeth a corrupt life, is so far from
becoming, as such, an object of respect, that he is only the more one
of scorn. "For as many," it says, "as sinned without law, shall
also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall
be judged by the law." (Rom. ii. 12). And in the Epistle to
the Hebrews, he says, "He that despised Moses' law died without
mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who had trodden under foot the
Son of God?" (Heb. x. 28, 29.) And with reason. For I
placed (He might say) all the passions in subjection to thee by
baptism. How then comes it that thou hast disgraced so great a gift,
and hast become one thing instead of another? I have killed and buried
thy former transgressions, like worms--how is it that thou hast bred
others?--for sins are worse than worms, since these do harm to the
body, those to the soul; and those make the more offensive stench.
Yet we perceive it not, and so we are at no pains to purge them out.
Thus the drunkard knows not how disgustful the stale wine is, but he
that is not drunken has a distinct perception of it. So with sins
also, he that lives soberly knows thoroughly that other mire, and the
stain. But he that gives himself up to wickedness, like a man made
drowsy with drunkenness, does not even know the very fact that he is
ill. And this is the most grievous part of vice, that it does not
allow those who fall into it even to see the greatness of their own
bane, but as they lie in the mire, they think they are enjoying
perfumes. And so they have not even the power of getting free, but
when full of worms, like men that pride themselves in precious stones.
so do they exult in these. And for this reason they have not so much
as the will to kill them, but they even nourish these up, and multiply
them in themselves, until they send them on to the worms of the world
to come. For these are providers for those, and are not only
providers, but even the fathers of those that never die; as it says,
"their worm shall not die." (Mark ix. 44.) These kindle the
hell which never extinguishes. To prevent this from happening then,
let us do away with this fountain of evil, and extinguish the furnace,
and let us draw up the root of wickedness from beneath, since you will
do no good by cutting the tree off from above, if the root remains
below, and sends up fresh shoots of the same kind again. What then is
the root of the evils? Learn from the good husbandman (i.e. St.
Paul 1 Cor. iii. 6-9), who has an accurate knowledge of such
things, and tends the spiritual vine and cultivates the whole world.
Now what does he say is the cause of all the evils? The love of
money. For the "love of money is the root of all evils." (1
Tim. vi. 10). Hence come fightings, and enmities and wars;
hence emulations, and railings, and suspicions, and insults; hence
murders, and thefts, and violations of sepulchres. Through this,
not cities and countries only, but roads and habitable and inhabitable
parts, and mountains, and groves, and hills, and, in a word, all
places are filled with blood and murder. And not even from the sea has
this evil withdrawn, but even there also with great fury hath it
revelled, since pirates beset it on all sides, thus devising a new
mode of robbery.
Through this have the laws of nature been subverted, and the claims of
relationship set aside, and the laws of piety itself broken through.
For the thraldom of money hath armed, not against the living only,
but even against the departed too, the right hands of such men. And
at death even, they make no truce with them, but bursting open the
sepulchres, they put forth their impious hands even against dead
bodies, and not even him that hath let go of life will they suffer to
be let go from their plotting. And all the evils that you may find,
whether in the house or in the market-place, or in the courts of law,
or in the senate, or in the king's palace, or in any other place
whatsoever, it is from this that you will find they all spring. For
this evil it is, this assuredly, which fills all places with blood and
murder, this lights up the flame of hell, this makes cities as
wretchedly off as a wilderness, yea, even much worse. For those that
beset the high roads, one can easily be on one's guard against, as
not being always upon attack. But they who in the midst of cities
imitate them are so much the worse than them, in that these are harder
to guard against, and dare to do openly what the others do with
secrecy. For those laws, which have been made with a view to stopping
their iniquity, they draw even into alliance and fill the cities with
this kind of murders and pollutions. Is it not murder, pray, and
worse than murder, to hand the poor man over to famine, and to cast
him into prison, and to expose him not to famine only, but to tortures
too, and to countless acts of insolence? For even if you do not do
these things yourself to him, yet you are the occasion of their being
done, you do them more than the ministers who execute them. The
murderer plunges his sword into a man at once, and after giving him
pain for a short time, he does not carry the torture any farther.
But do you who by your calumnies, by your harassings, by your
plottings, make light darkess to him, and set him upon desiring death
ten thousand times over, consider how many deaths you perpetrate
instead of one only? And what is worse than all, you plunder and are
grasping, not impelled to it by poverty, without any hunger to
necessitate you, but that your horse's bridle may be spattered over
with gold enough, or the ceiling of your house, or the capitals of
your pillars. And what hell is there that this conduct would not
deserve, when it is a brother, and one that has shared with yourself
in blessings unutterable, and has been so highly honored by the Lord,
whom you, in order that you may deck out stones, and floors, and the
bodies of animals with neither reason, nor perception of these
ornaments, are casting into countless calamities? And your dog is
well attended too, while man, or rather Christ, for the sake of the
hound, and all these things I have named, is straitened with extreme
hunger. What can be worse than such confusion? What more grievous
than such lawlessness as this? What streams of fire will be enough for
such a soul? He that was made in the Image of God stands in unseemly
plight, through thy inhumanity; but the faces of the mules that draw
thy wife glisten with gold in abundance, as do the skins and woods
which compose that canopy. And if it is a seat that is to be made, or
a footstool, they are all made of gold and silver.
But the member of Christ, for whom also He came hither from
Heaven, and shed His precious Blood, does not even enjoy the food
that is necessary for him, owing to thy rapaciousness. But the
couches are mantled with silver on every side, while the bodies of the
saints are deprived even of necessary clothing.
And to thee Christ is less precious than anything else, servants, or
mules, or couch, or chair, or footstool; for I
pass over furniture of still meaner use than these, leaving it to you
to know of it. But if thou art shocked at hearing this, stand aloof
from doing it, and then the words spoken will not harm thee. Stand
aloof, and cease from this madness. For plain madness it is, such
eagerness about these things. Wherefore letting go of these things,
let us look up, late as it is, towards Heaven, and let us call to
mind the Day which is coming, let us bethink ourselves of that awful
tribunal, and the exact accounts, and the sentence incorruptible.
Let us consider that God, who sees all these things, sends no
lightnings from Heaven; and yet what is done deserves not thunderbolts
merely. Yet He neither doth this, nor doth He let the sea loose
upon us, nor doth He burst the earth in twain, He quencheth not the
sun, nor doth He hurl the heaven with its stars upon us. He doth not
move aught from its place, but suffereth them to hole their course,
and the whole creation to minister to us. Pondering all this then,
let us be awestruck with the greatness of His love toward man, and let
us return to that noble origin which belongs to us, since at present
certainly we are in no better plight than the creatures without reason,
but even in a much worse one. For they do love their kin, and need
but the community of nature to cause affection towards each other. But
thou who besides nature hast countless causes to draw thee together and
attach thee to the member: of thyself; the being honored with the
Word the partaking in one religion, the sharing in countless
blessings; art become of wilder nature than they, by displaying so
much carefulness about profitless things, and leaving the Temples of
God to perish in hunger and nakedness, and often surrounding them also
with a thousand evils. For if it is from love of glory that you do
these things, it is much more binding on you to show your brother
attention, than your horse. For the better the creature that enjoys
the act of kindness, the brighter the crown that is woven for such
carefulness. Since now while thou fallest into the contrary of all
this, thou pullest upon thyself accusers without number, yet
perceivest it not. For who is there that will not speak ill of thee?
who that will not indite thee as guilty of the greatest atrocity and
mis-anthrophy, when he sees that thou disregardest the human race,
and settest that of senseless creatures above men, and besides
senseless creatures, even the furniture of thy t house? Hast thou not
heard the Apostles say, that they who first received the word sold
both "houses and lands"
(Acts iv. 34), that they might support the brethren? but you
plunder both houses and lands, that you may adorn a horse, or
wood-work, or skins, or walls, or a pavement. And what is worse
is, that it is not men only, but women too are afflicted with this
madness, and urge their husbands to this empty sort of pains, by
forcing them to lay out their money upon anything rather than the
necessary things. And if any one accuse them for this, they are
practised with a defence, itself loaded with much to be accused. For
both the one and the other are done at once, says one. What say you?
are you not afraid to utter such a thing, and to set the same store by
horses and mules and couches and footstools, as by Christ an
hungered? Or rather not even comparing them at all, but giving the
larger share to these, and to Him meting out with difficulty a scant
share? Dost thou not know that all belongs to Him, both thou and
thine? Dost thou not know that He fashioned thy body, as well as
gave thee a soul, and apportioned thee the whole world? but thou art
not for giving a little recompense to Him. But if thou lettest a
little hut, thou requirest the rent with the utmost rigor, and though
reaping the whole of His creation, and dwelling in so wide a world,
thou hast not courage to lay down even a little rent, but has given up
to vainglory thyself and all thou hast. For this is that whereof all
these things come. The horse is none the better above his natural
excellence for having this ornament, neither yet is the person mounted
upon him, for sometimes he is only in the less esteem for it; since
many neglect the rider and turn their eyes to the horse's ornaments,
and to the attendants behind and before, and to the fan-bearers. But
the man, who is lackeyed by these, they hate and turn their heads
from, as a common enemy. But this does not happen when thou adornest
thy soul, for then men, and angels, and the Lord of angels, all
weave thee a crown. And so, if thou art in love with glory, stand
aloof from the things which thou art now doing, and show thy taste not
in thy house, but in thy soul, that thou mayest become brilliant and
conspicuous. For now nothing can be more cheap than thou art, with
thy soul unfurnished, and but the handsomeness of thy house for a
screen. But if thou art impatient of hearing me speak in this way,
listen to what one of those that are without did, and at all events be
shamed by their philosophy. For it is said that a certain one of
them, who went into a palace that shone with gold in abundance, and
glistened with the great beauty of the marbles and the columns, when he
saw the floor strewed with carpets in all directions, spat in the face
of the master of the house, and when found fault with for it said,
that since there was no other part of the house where he could do this,
he was obliged to do this affront to his face. See how ridiculous a
man is, who displays his taste in exteriors, and how little he is in
the eyes of all reasonable men. And with good reason. For if a
person were to leave thy wife to be clad in rags, and to be neglected,
and clothed thy maid-servants with brilliant dresses, thou wouldest
not bear it meekly, but wouldest be exasperated, and say that it was
insulting in the extreme. Reason then in this way about your soul.
When you display your taste in walls then, and pavement, and
furniture, and other things of the kind, and do not give liberally in
alms, or practise the other parts of a religious life (filosofian);
you do nothing less than this, or rather what is worse than this by
far. For the difference between servant and mistress is nothing, but
between soul and flesh, there is a great disparity. But if it be so
with the flesh, much more is it with a house or a couch or a
footstool. What kind of excuse then dost thou deserve, who puttest
silver on all these, but for it hast no regard, though it be covered
with filthy rags, squalid, hungry, and full of wounds, torn by
hounds unnumbered (Luke xvi. 20, 21); and after all this
fanciest that thou shall get thee glory by displaying thy taste in
externals wound about thee? And this is the very height of phrenzy,
while ridiculed, reproached, disgraced, dishonored, and falling into
the severest punishment, still to be vain of these things!
Wherefore, I beseech you, laying all this to heart, let us become
sober-minded, late as it is, and become our own masters, and
transfer this adorning from outward things to our souls. For so it
will abide safe from spoiling, and will make us equal to the angels,
and will entertain us with unaltering good, which may we all attain by
the grace and love toward man, etc.
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