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Ephesians iv. 31, 32.
"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger,
and clamor, and railing be put away from you,
with all malice And be ye kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving each other, even as
God also in Christ forgave you."'
If we are to attain to the kingdom of Heaven,
it is not enough to abandon wickedness, but
there must be abundant practice of that which is
good also. To be delivered indeed from hell we
must abstain from wickedness; but to attain to
the kingdom we must cleave fast to virtue? Know
ye not that even in the tribunals of the
heathen, when examination is made of men's
deeds, and the whole city is assembled, this is
the case?
Nay, there was an ancient custom amongst the
heathen, to crown with a golden crown,-not
the man who had done no evil to his country, for
this were in itself no more than enough to save
him from punishment;-rebut him who had
displayed great public services. It was thus
that a man was to be advanced to this
distinction. But what I had especial need to
say, had, I know not how, well nigh escaped
me. Accordingly having made some slight
correction of what I have said, I retract the
first portion of this division.
For as I was saying that the departure from
evil is sufficient to prevent our falling into
hell, whilst I was speaking, there stole upon
me a certain awful sentence, which does not
merely bring down vengeance on them that dare to
commit evil, but which also punishes those who
omit any opportunity of doing good. What
sentence then is this? When the day, the
dreadful day, He saith, was arrived, and the
set time was come, the Judge, seated on the
judgment seat set the sheep on the right hand and
the goats on the left; and to the sheep He
said, "Come, ye blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world: for I was an
hungered, and ye gave me meat." (Matt.
xxv. 34.) So far, well. For it was meet
that for such compassion they should receive this
reward. That those, however, who did not
communicate of their own possessions to them that
were in need, that they should be punished, not
merely by the loss of blessings, but by being
also sent to hell-fire, what just reason, I
say, can there be in this? Most certainly this
too will have a fair show of reason, no less
than the other case: for we are hence
instructed, that they that have done good shall
enjoy those good things that are in heaven, but
they, who, though they have no evil indeed to
be charged with, yet have omitted to do good,
will be hurried away with them that have done
evil into hell-fire. Unless one might indeed
say this, that the very not doing good is a part
of wickedness, inasmuch as it comes of
indolence, and indolence is a part of vice, or
rather, not a part, but a source and baneful
root of it. For idleness is the teacher of all
vice. Let us not then foolishly ask such
questions as these, what place shall he occupy,
who has done neither any evil nor any good? For
the very not doing good, is in itself doing
evil. Tell me, if thou hadst a servant, who
should neither steal, nor insult, nor
contradict thee, who moreover should keep from
drunkenness and every other kind of vice, and
yet should sit perpetually in idleness, and not
doing one of those duties which a servant owes to
his master, wouldest thou not chastise him,
wouldest thou not put him to the rack? Tell
me. And yet forsooth he has done no evil.
No, but this is in itself doing evil. But let
us, if you please, apply. this to other cases
in life. Suppose then that of an husbandman.
He does no damage to our property, he lays no
plots against us, and he is not a thief, he
only ties his hands behind him, and sits at
home, neither sowing, nor cutting a single
furrow, nor harnessing oxen to the yoke, nor
looking after a vine, nor in fact discharging
any one of those other labors required in
husbandry. Now, I say, should we not punish
such a man? And yet he has done no wrong to any
one; we have no charge to make against him.
No, but by this very thing has he done wrong.
He does wrong in that he does not contribute his
own share to the common stock of good. And what
again, tell me, if every single artisan or
mechanic were only to do no harm, say to one of
a different craft,-nay, were to do no harm,
even to one of his own, but only were to be
idle, would not our whole life at that rate be
utterly at an end and perish? Do you wish that
I yet further extend the discourse with
reference to the body also? Let the hand then
neither strike the head, nor cut out the
tongue, nor pluck out the eye, nor do any evil
of this sort, but only remain idle, and not
render its due service to the body at large;
would it not be more fitting that it should be
cut off, than that one should carry it about in
idleness, and a detriment to the whole body?
And what too, if the mouth, without either
devouring the hand, or biting the breast,
should nevertheless fail in all its proper
duties; were it not far better that it should be
stopped up? If therefore both in the case of
servants, and of mechanics, and of the whole
body, not only the commission of evil, but also
the omission of what is good, is great
unrighteousness, much more will this be the case
in regard to the body of Christ.
Moral. And therefore the blessed Paul also,
in leading us away from sin, leads us on to
virtue. For where, tell me, is the advantage
of all the thorns being cut out, if the good
seeds be not sown? For our labor, remaining
unfinished, will come round and end in the same
mischief. And therefore Paul also, in his
deep and affectionate anxiety for us, does not
let his admonitions stop at eradicating and
destroying evil tempers, put urges us at once to
evidence the implanting of good ones. For
having said, "Let all bitterness, and wrath,
and clamor, and railing be put away from you,
with all malice," he adds, "And be ye kind
one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving each
other." For all these are habits and
dispositions. And our abandonment of the one
thing is not sufficient to settle us in the
habitual practice of the other, but there is
need again of some fresh impulse, and of an
effort not less than that made in our avoidance
of evil dispositions, in order to our acquiring
good ones. For so in the case of the body, the
black man, if he gets rid of this complexion,
does not straightway become white. Or rather
let us not conduct our discourse with an argument
from physical subjects, but draw our example
from those which concern moral choice. He who
is not our enemy, is not necessarily our
friend; but there is an intermediate state,
neither of enmity nor of friendship, which is
perhaps that in which the greater part of mankind
stand toward us. He that is not crying is not
therefore necessarily also laughing, but there
is a state between the two. And so, I say,
is the case here. He that is not "bitter" is
not necessarily "kind," neither is he that is
not "wrathful" necessarily
"tender-hearted"; but there is need of a
distinct effort, in order to acquire this
excellence. And now look how the blessed Paul
according to the rules of the best husbandry,
thoroughly cleans and works the land entrusted to
him by the Husbandman. He has taken away the
bad seeds; he now exhorts us to retain the good
plants. "Be ye kind," saith he, for if,
when the thorns are plucked up, the field
remains idle, it will again bear unprofitable
weeds. And therefore there is need to preoccupy
its unoccupied and fallow state by the setting of
good seeds and plants. He takes away
"anger," he puts in "kindness"; he takes
away "bitterness," he puts in
"tender-heartedness"; he extirpates
"malice" and "railing," he plants
"forgiveness" in their stead. For the
expression, "forgiving one another," is
this; be disposed, he means, to forgive one
another. And this forgiveness is greater than
that which is shown in money-matters. For he
indeed who forgives a debt of money to him that
has borrowed of him, does, it is true, a noble
and admirable deed, but then the kindness is
confined to the body, though to himself indeed
he repays a full recompense by that benefit which
is spiritual and concerns the soul; whereas he
who forgives trespasses will be benefiting alike
his own soul, and the soul of him who receives
the forgiveness. For by this way of acting, he
not only renders himself, but the other also,
more charitable. Because we do not so deeply
touch the souls of those who have wronged us by
revenging ourselves, as by pardoning them, and
thus shaming them and putting them out of
countenance. For by the other course we shall
be doing no good, either to ourselves or to
them, but shall be doing harm to both by seeking
ourselves for retaliation, like the rulers of
the Jews, and by kindling up the wrath that is
in them; but if we return injustice with
gentleness, we shall disarm all his anger, and
shall be setting up in his breast a tribunal
which will give a verdict in our favor, and will
condemn him more severely than we ourselves
could. For he will convict and will pass
sentence upon himself, and will look for every
pretext for repaying the share of long-suffering
granted him with fuller measure, knowing that,
if he repay it in equal measure, he is thus at a
disadvantage, in not having himself made the
beginning, but received the example from us.
He will strive accordingly to exceed in
measure, in order to eclipse, by the excess of
his recompense, the disadvantage he himself
sustains in having been second in making advances
towards requital; and the disadvantage again
which accrues to the other from the time, if he
was the first sufferer, this he will make up by
excess of kindness. For men, if they are
right-minded, are not so affected by evil as by
the good treatment they may receive at the hands
of those whom they have injured. For it is a
base sin, and it is matter of reproach and scorn
for a man who is well-treated not to return it;
whilst for a man who is ill-treated, not to go
about to resent it, this has the praise and
applause, and the good word of all. And
therefore they are more deeply touched by this
conduct than any.
So that if thou hast a wish to revenge thyself,
revenge thyself in this manner. Return good for
evil, that thou mayest render him even thy
debtor, and achieve a glorious victory. Hast
thou suffered evil? Do good; thus avenge thee
of thine enemy. For if thou shalt go about to
resent it, all will blame both thee and him
alike. Whereas if thou shall endure it, it
will be otherwise. Thee they will applaud and
admire; but him they will reproach. And what
greater punishment can there be to an enemy,
than to behold his enemy admired and applauded by
all men? What more bitter to an enemy, than to
behold himself reproached by all before his
enemy's face? If thou shalt avenge thee on
him, thou wilt both be condemned perhaps
thyself, and wilt be the sole avenger;
whereas, if thou shalt forgive him, all will be
avengers in thy stead. And this will be far
more severe than any evil he can suffer, that
his enemy should have so many to avenge him. If
thou openest thy mouth, they will be silent;
but if thou art silent, not with one tongue
only, but with ten thousand tongues of others,
thou smitest him, and art the more avenged.
And on thee indeed, if thou shalt reproach
him, many again will cast imputations (for they
will say that thy words are those of passion);
but when others who have suffered no wrong from
him thus overwhelm him with reproaches, then is
the revenge especially clear of all suspicion.
For when they who have suffered no mischief, in
consequence of thy excessive forbearance feel and
sympathize with thee, as though they had been
wronged themselves, this is a vengeance clear of
all suspicion. "But what then," ye will
say, "if no man should take vengeance?" It
cannot be that men will be such stones, as to
behold such wisdom and not admire it. And
though they wreak not their vengeance on him at
the time; still, afterwards, when they are in
the mood, they will do so, and they will
continue to scoff at him and abuse him. And if
no one else admire thee, the man himself will
most surely admire thee, though he may not own
it. For our judgment of what is right, even
though we be come to the very depth of
wickedness, remains impartial and unbiased.
Why, suppose ye, did our Lord Christ say,
"Whosoever smiteth thee on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also"? (Matt. v.
39.) Is it not because the more
long-suffering a man is, the more signal the
benefit he confers both on himself and on the
other? For this cause He charges us to "turn
the other also," to satisfy the desire of the
enraged. For who is such a monster as not to be
at once put to shame? The very dogs are said to
feel it; for if they bark and attack a man, and
he throws himself on his back and does nothing,
he puts a stop to all their wrath. If they then
reverence the man who is ready to suffer evil
from them, much more will the race of man do
so, inasmuch as they are more rational.
However, it is right not to overlook what a
little before came into my recollection, and was
brought forward for a testimony. And what then
was this? We were speaking of the Jews, and
of the chief rulers amongst them, how that they
were blamed, as seeking retaliation. And yet
this the law permitted them; "eye for eye, and
tooth for tooth." (Lev. xxiv. 20.)
True, but not to the intent that men should
pluck out each other's eyes, but that they
should check boldness in aggression, by fear of
suffering in return, and thus should neither do
any evil to others, nor suffer any evil from
others themselves. Therefore it was said,
"eye for eye," to bind the hands of the
aggressor, not to let thine loose against him;
not to ward off the hurt from thine eyes only,
but also to preserve his eyes safe and sound.
But, as to what I was enquiring
about,-why, if retaliation was allowed,
were they arraigned who practiced it? Whatever
can this mean? He here speaks of
vindictiveness; for on the spur of the moment he
allows the sufferer to act, as I was saying,
in order to check the aggressor; but to bear a
grudge he permits no longer; because the act
then is no longer one of passion, nor of boiling
rage, but of malice premeditated. Now God
forgives those who may be carried away, perhaps
upon a sense of outrage, and rush out to resent
it.
Hence He says, "eye for eye"; and yet
again, "the ways of the revengeful lead to
death." Now, if, where it was permitted to
put out eye for eye, so great a punishment is
reserved for the revengeful, how much more for
those who are bidden even to expose themselves to
ill-treatment. Let us not then be revengeful,
but let us quench our anger, that we may be
counted worthy of the lovingkindness, which
comes from God ("for with what measure,"
saith Christ, "ye mete, it shall be measured
unto you, and with what judgment ye judge, ye
shall be judged") (Matt. vii. 2), and
that we may both escape the snares of this
present life, and in the day that is at hand,
may obtain pardon at His hands, through the
grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus
Christ, with whom, to the Father, together
with the Holy Ghost, be glory, power,
honor, both now and forever and ever. Amen.
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