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032 - Homily 17 - Romans 101 · Homilies on Romans

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty two of Homilies on Romans by John Chrysostom,
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  Speaker 1: translated by J. B. Morris. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Homily seventeen, Romans ten, Verse one. Brethren,
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  Speaker 1: my heart's desire and prayer to guard for them is
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  Speaker 1: that they might be saved. He is now going again
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  Speaker 1: to rebuke them, more vehemently than before. Wherefore he again
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  Speaker 1: does away with every suspicion of hatred, and makes a
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  Speaker 1: great effort beforehand to correct misapprehension. Do not, then, he says,
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  Speaker 1: mind words or accusations, but observe that it is not
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  Speaker 1: in any hostile spirit that I say this, For it
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  Speaker 1: is not likely that the same person should desire their
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  Speaker 1: salvation and not desire it only, but even pray for it,
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  Speaker 1: and yet should also hate them and feel avosion to them.
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  Speaker 1: For by his heart's desire he here means exceeding great desire.
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  Speaker 1: And observe how the prayer he makes is from his soul.
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  Speaker 1: For it is not the being freed from punishment only,
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  Speaker 1: but that they may also be saved that he makes
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  Speaker 1: so great a point of and praise for, Nor is
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  Speaker 1: it from this only. Bat also from the sequel that
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  Speaker 1: he shows the good will that he hath towards them,
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  Speaker 1: For from what is open to him, as far as
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  Speaker 1: he can, he forces his way, and is contentious to
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  Speaker 1: find out some shadow at least of an excuse for them.
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  Speaker 1: And he hath not the power, being overcome by the
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  Speaker 1: nature of the facts. Verse two. For I bear them record,
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  Speaker 1: he says that they have a zeal of God, but
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  Speaker 1: not according to knowledge. Ought not this then to be
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  Speaker 1: a ground for pardoning, and not for accusing them. For
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  Speaker 1: if it is not of man that they are separated,
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  Speaker 1: but through zeal, they deserved to be pitied rather than punished.
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  Speaker 1: But observe how adroitly he favors them in the word,
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  Speaker 1: and yet shows their unseasonable obstinacy. Verse three. For they
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  Speaker 1: being ignorant, he says of God's righteousness. Again the word
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  Speaker 1: would lead to pardon, but the sequel to stronger accusation,
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  Speaker 1: and such as does away with defense of any kind.
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  Speaker 1: And going about, he says, to establish their own righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: Have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. And
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  Speaker 1: these things he says to show that it was from
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  Speaker 1: a petulancy and love of power that they erd rather
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  Speaker 1: than from ignorance, and that not even this righteousness from
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  Speaker 1: the deeds of the law did they establish, For saying,
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  Speaker 1: going about to establish is what one would do to
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  Speaker 1: show this, And in plain words. Indeed, he has not
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  Speaker 1: stated this, for he has not said that they fell
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  Speaker 1: short of both righteousnesses. But he has given a hint
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  Speaker 1: of it in a very judicious manner, and with the
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  Speaker 1: wisdom so peculiar to himself. For if they are still
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  Speaker 1: going about to establish that, it is very plain that
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  Speaker 1: they have not yet established it. If they have not
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  Speaker 1: submitted themselves to this, they have fallen short of this also.
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  Speaker 1: But he calls it their own righteousness, either because the
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  Speaker 1: law was no longer of force, or because it was
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  Speaker 1: one of trouble and toil. But this he calls God's righteousness,
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  Speaker 1: that from faith, because it comes entirely from the grace
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  Speaker 1: from above, and because men are justified in this case
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  Speaker 1: not by labors, but by the gift of God. But
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  Speaker 1: they that evermore resisted the Holy Spirit, vexatiously, trying to
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  Speaker 1: be justified by the law, came not over to the faith.
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  Speaker 1: But as they did not come over to the faith
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  Speaker 1: nor receive the righteousness, thereupon ensuing and were not able
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  Speaker 1: to be justified by the law either they were thrown
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  Speaker 1: out of all resources. Verse four. For Christ is the
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  Speaker 1: end of the law for righteousness to every one that
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  Speaker 1: believeth see the judgment of Paul. For as he had
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  Speaker 1: spoken of a righteousness and a righteousness, lest they of
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  Speaker 1: the Jews which believed, should seem to have the one,
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  Speaker 1: but be excluded from the other and be accused of lawlessness.
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  Speaker 1: For even these there was no less cause to fear about,
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  Speaker 1: as being still newly come in. And lest Jews should
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  Speaker 1: again expect to achieve it, and should say, though we
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  Speaker 1: have not at present fulfilled it, yet we certainly will
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  Speaker 1: fulfill it. See what ground he takes. He shows that
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  Speaker 1: there is but one righteousness, and that that has its
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  Speaker 1: full issue in this, and that he that hath taken
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  Speaker 1: to himself this the one by faith, hath fulfilled that also.
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  Speaker 1: But he that rejects this falls short as well of that. Also,
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  Speaker 1: For if Christ be the end of the law, he
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  Speaker 1: that hath not Christ, even if he seemed to have
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  Speaker 1: that righteousness, hath it not? But he that hath not Christ,
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  Speaker 1: even though he hath not fulfilled the law aright, hath
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  Speaker 1: received the whole for the end of the physician's art
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  Speaker 1: is health. As then he that can make whole, even
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  Speaker 1: though he hath not the physician's art, hath everything. But
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  Speaker 1: he that knows not how to heal, though he seemed
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  Speaker 1: to be a follower of the art, comes short of everything.
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  Speaker 1: So is it also in the case of the law
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  Speaker 1: and of faith. He that hath this hath the end
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  Speaker 1: of that. Likewise, but he that is without this is
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  Speaker 1: an alien from both. For what was the object of
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  Speaker 1: the law to make men righteous? But it had not
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  Speaker 1: the power, for no one fulfilled it. This then was
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  Speaker 1: the end of the law, and to this it looked throughout.
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  Speaker 1: And for this all its parts were made, its feasts
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  Speaker 1: and commandments, and sacrifices, and all besides that man might
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  Speaker 1: be justified. But this end Christ gave a fuller accomplishment
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  Speaker 1: of through faith. Be not then afraid, he says, as
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  Speaker 1: if transgressing the law in having come over to the faith.
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  Speaker 1: For then dost thou transgress it, when for it thou
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  Speaker 1: dost not believe Christ. If thou believest in Him, then
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  Speaker 1: thou hast fulfilled it also, and much more than it commanded,
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  Speaker 1: For thou hast received a much greater righteousness. Next, since
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  Speaker 1: this was an assertion, he again brings proof of it
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  Speaker 1: from the scriptures. Verse five. Moses, he says, describeth thee
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  Speaker 1: righteousness which is of the law. What he means is this,
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  Speaker 1: Moses showeth us the righteousness ensuing from the law. What
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  Speaker 1: sort it is of? And whence? What sort is it
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  Speaker 1: then of? And what does it consist in? In fulfilling
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  Speaker 1: the commandments? He that doeth these things, he says, shall
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  Speaker 1: live by them. And there is no other way of
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  Speaker 1: becoming righteous in the law save by fulfilling thee whole
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  Speaker 1: of it. But this has not been possible for any one,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore this righteousness has failed them. But tell us,
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  Speaker 1: Paul of the other righteousness, also that which is of grace?
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  Speaker 1: What is that then? And of what does it count? In?
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  Speaker 1: Here the words in which he gives a clear sketch
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  Speaker 1: of it. For after he had refuted the other, he
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  Speaker 1: next goes on to this and says Verses six, seven, eight,
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  Speaker 1: and nine. But the righteousness which is of faith, speaketh
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  Speaker 1: on this wise, say not in thine heart, who shall
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  Speaker 1: ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from above,
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  Speaker 1: Or who shall descend into the deep, that is to
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  Speaker 1: bring up Christ again from the dead. But what saith it?
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  Speaker 1: The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and
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  Speaker 1: in thy heart. That is the word of faith which
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  Speaker 1: we preach. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
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  Speaker 1: God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
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  Speaker 1: To prevent the Jews, then, from saying, how came they
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  Speaker 1: who had not found the lesser righteousness to find the greater,
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  Speaker 1: he gives a reason. There was no answering that this
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  Speaker 1: way was easier than that, for that requires the fulfillment
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  Speaker 1: of all things. For when thou dost all, then thou
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  Speaker 1: shalt live. But the righteousness, which is a faith, doth
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  Speaker 1: not say this. But what if thou confess with thy
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  Speaker 1: mouth for Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in thy heart
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  Speaker 1: that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
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  Speaker 1: be saved. Then again, that we may not seem to
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  Speaker 1: be making it contemptible by showing it to be easy
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  Speaker 1: and cheap, observe how he expands his account of it.
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  Speaker 1: For he does not come immediately to the words just given.
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  Speaker 1: But what does he say the righteousness, which is a
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  Speaker 1: faith saith. On this wise, say not in thine heart,
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  Speaker 1: who shall go up into heaven, that is to bring
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  Speaker 1: Christ down, or who shall descend into the deep, that
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  Speaker 1: is to bring up Christ again from the dead. For
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  Speaker 1: as to the virtue manifested in works, there is opposed
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  Speaker 1: a listlessness and relaxedness, which relaxeth our labors. And it
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  Speaker 1: requireth a very wakeful soul not to yield to this. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: when one is required to believe, there are reasonings which
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  Speaker 1: confuse and make havoc of the minds of most men,
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  Speaker 1: and at once a soul of some vigor to shake
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  Speaker 1: them thoroughly off. And this is just why he brings
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  Speaker 1: the same before one. And as he did in Abraham's case,
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  Speaker 1: so he does here also, for having there shown that
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  Speaker 1: he was justified by faith, lest he should seem to
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  Speaker 1: have gotten so great a crown by a mere chance,
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  Speaker 1: as if it were a thing of no account. To
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  Speaker 1: extol the nature of faith, he says, who against hope,
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  Speaker 1: believed in hope that he might become the father of
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  Speaker 1: many nations, And being not weak in faith, he considered
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  Speaker 1: not his own body now dead. When he was about
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  Speaker 1: an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
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  Speaker 1: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,
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  Speaker 1: but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and
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  Speaker 1: being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was
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  Speaker 1: able also to perform. So he showed that there is
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  Speaker 1: need of vigor and a lofty soul that takes in
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  Speaker 1: things beyond expectation and stumbles not at appearances. This then
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  Speaker 1: he does here also and shows that it requires a
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  Speaker 1: wise mind and a spirit heavenly and great. And he
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  Speaker 1: does not say merely say not, but say not in
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  Speaker 1: thine heart, that is, do not so much as think
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  Speaker 1: of doubting and saying with thyself. And how can this be?
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  Speaker 1: You see that this is a chief characteristic of faith,
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  Speaker 1: to leave all the consequences of this lower world, and
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  Speaker 1: so to seek for that which is above nature, and
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  Speaker 1: to cast out the feebleness of calculation, and so to
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  Speaker 1: accept everything from the power of God. The Jews, however,
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  Speaker 1: did not merely assert this, but that it was not
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  Speaker 1: possible to be justified by faith. But himself turns even
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  Speaker 1: what had taken place to another account, that having shown
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  Speaker 1: the thing to be so great that even after it
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  Speaker 1: had taken place, it required faith, he might seem with
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  Speaker 1: good reason to bestow a crown on these. And he
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  Speaker 1: uses the words which a found in the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 1: being always at pains to keep quite clear of the
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  Speaker 1: charges of love, of novelties, and of opposition to it.
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  Speaker 1: For this which he here says of faith, Moses says
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  Speaker 1: of the commandment itself, so showing that they had enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: a God's right hand a great benefit, for there is
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  Speaker 1: no need to say he means that one must go
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  Speaker 1: up to heaven or cross a great sea, and then
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  Speaker 1: receive the commandments. But things so great and grand hath
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  Speaker 1: God made of easy access to us? And what meaneth
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  Speaker 1: the phrase the word is nigh thee that is, it
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  Speaker 1: is easy, For in thy mind and in thy tongue
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  Speaker 1: is thy salvation. There is no long journey to go,
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  Speaker 1: nor seas to sail over, no mountains to pass to
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  Speaker 1: get saved. But if you be not minded to cross
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  Speaker 1: so much as the threshold, you may, even while you
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  Speaker 1: sit at home, be saved. For in thy mouth and
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  Speaker 1: in thy heart is the source of salvation. And then
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  Speaker 1: on another score, also he makes the word of faith easy,
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  Speaker 1: and says that God raised him from the dead. For
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  Speaker 1: just reflect upon the worthiness of the worker, and you
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  Speaker 1: will no longer see any difficulty in the thing. That
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  Speaker 1: he is laurd then is plain from the resurrection. And
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  Speaker 1: this he said at the beginning even of the epistle,
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  Speaker 1: which was declared to be the son of God with
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  Speaker 1: power by the resurrection from the dead. But that the
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  Speaker 1: resurrection is easy too, has been shown even to those
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  Speaker 1: who are very unbelieving, from the might of the work
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  Speaker 1: of it. Since then the righteousness is greater and light
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  Speaker 1: and easy to receive. Is it not a sign of
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  Speaker 1: the utmost contentiousness to leave what is light and easy
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  Speaker 1: and set about impossibilities? For they could not say that
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  Speaker 1: it was a thing they declined as burdensome. See then,
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  Speaker 1: how he deprives them of all excuse, For what do
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  Speaker 1: they deserve to have said in their defense? Who choose
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  Speaker 1: what is burdensome and impracticable, and pass by what is
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  Speaker 1: light and able to save them and to give them
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  Speaker 1: those things which the law could not give. All this
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  Speaker 1: can come only from a contentious spirit, which is in
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  Speaker 1: a state of rebellion against God. For the law is galling,
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  Speaker 1: but grace is easy the law. Though they dispute, never
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  Speaker 1: so much does not save grace yieldeth the righteousness resulting
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  Speaker 1: from itself, and that from the law. Likewise, what plea
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  Speaker 1: then is to rescue them, since they are disposed to
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  Speaker 1: be contentious against this, but cling to that to no
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  Speaker 1: purpose whatever. Then, since he had made a strong assertion,
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  Speaker 1: he again confirms it from the Scripture Verses eleven to thirteen.
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  Speaker 1: For the Scripture saith. He proceeds, whosoever believeth on him
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  Speaker 1: shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference between
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  Speaker 1: the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over
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  Speaker 1: all is rich and to all that call upon him.
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  Speaker 1: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: shall be saved. You see how he produces testimonies, whether
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  Speaker 1: to the faith or to the confession of it. For
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  Speaker 1: the words every one that believeth point out the faith.
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  Speaker 1: But the words whosoever shall call upon set forth confession.
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  Speaker 1: Then again to proclaim the universality of the grace, and
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  Speaker 1: to lay their boasting low. What he had before demonstrated
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  Speaker 1: at length, He here briefly recalls to their memory, showing
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  Speaker 1: again that there is no difference between the Jew and
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  Speaker 1: the uncircumcised, for there is he says, no difference between
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  Speaker 1: the jew and the Greek. And what he had said
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  Speaker 1: about the Father when he was arguing these points, that
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  Speaker 1: he says here too about the Son. For as before
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  Speaker 1: he said in asserting this is he the god of
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  Speaker 1: the Jews, only is he not of the gentiles? Also, yes,
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  Speaker 1: of the gentiles, also, seeing it is one god, so
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  Speaker 1: he says here also, for the same Lord over all
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  Speaker 1: is rich unto all, and upon all that call upon him.
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  Speaker 1: You see how he sets him forth as exceedingly desiring
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  Speaker 1: our salvation. Since he even reckons this to be riches
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  Speaker 1: to himself, so that they are not even now to despair,
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  Speaker 1: or fancy that, provided they would repent, they were unpardonable.
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  Speaker 1: For he who considereth it as riches to himself to
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  Speaker 1: save us, ceaseth not to be rich, since even this
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  Speaker 1: is riches the fact of the gift being shed forth
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  Speaker 1: unto all. For since what distresseth him the most was
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  Speaker 1: that they who were in the enjoyment of a prerogative
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  Speaker 1: over the whole world, should now by the faith be
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  Speaker 1: degraded from these thrones, and be no whit better off
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  Speaker 1: than others. He brings the prophets in constantly as foretelling
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  Speaker 1: that they would have equal honor with them. For whosoever
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  Speaker 1: he says, believeth on him shall not be ashamed, and
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  Speaker 1: whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
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  Speaker 1: be saved. And whosoever is put in all cases that
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  Speaker 1: they might not say aught in reply. But there is
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  Speaker 1: nothing worse than vain glory. For it was this, this
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  Speaker 1: most especially, which proved their ruin. Whence Christ also said
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  Speaker 1: to them, how can ye believe, which receive glory one
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  Speaker 1: of another, and seek not the glory which cometh of God?
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  Speaker 1: Only this with ruin exposes men also to much ridicule,
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  Speaker 1: and before the punishment in the other world involves them
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  Speaker 1: in ills unnumbered in this. And if it seem good
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  Speaker 1: that ye may learn this clearly, leaving for the present
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  Speaker 1: the heavens which that puts us out of, and the
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  Speaker 1: hell which it thrusts us into, let us investigate the
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  Speaker 1: whole matter as here before us, What then, can be
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  Speaker 1: more wasteful than this? What more disgraceful or more offensive?
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  Speaker 1: For that this disorder is a wasteful one is plain
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  Speaker 1: from the people who spend to no purpose whatsoever on theaters,
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  Speaker 1: horse races, and other such irrelevant expenditures from those that
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  Speaker 1: build the fine and expensive houses and fit up everything
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  Speaker 1: in a useless style of extravagance, on which I must
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  Speaker 1: not enter in this discourse, but that a person diseased
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  Speaker 1: in this way must needs be extravagant and expensive, and
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  Speaker 1: rapacious and covetous. Anybody can see for that he may
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  Speaker 1: have food to give the brute he thrusteth his hand
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  Speaker 1: into the substance of others. And why do I talk
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  Speaker 1: of substance. It is not money only, but souls also
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  Speaker 1: that this fire devoureth, and it worketh not death here only,
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  Speaker 1: but also hereafter. For vanity is the mother of hell,
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  Speaker 1: and greatly kindleth that fire, and the venomous worm. One
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  Speaker 1: may see that it hath power even over the dead.
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  Speaker 1: And what can be worse than this? For the other
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  Speaker 1: passions are put an end to by death. But this,
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  Speaker 1: even after death, shows its force and strives to display
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  Speaker 1: its nature even in the dead corpse. For when men
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  Speaker 1: give orders on their death bed to raise them to
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  Speaker 1: fine monuments, which will waste all their substance, and take
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  Speaker 1: pains to lay out beforehand a vast extravagance in their
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  Speaker 1: funeral and in their lifetime, insult the poor that come
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  Speaker 1: to them for a penny and a single loaf, but
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  Speaker 1: when they are dead, give a rich banquet to the womb.
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  Speaker 1: Why seek any more exorbitant thralldom to the disease? From
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  Speaker 1: this mischief, Also irregular loves are conceived, For there are
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  Speaker 1: many whom It is not the beauty of the appearance,
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  Speaker 1: nor the desire of lying with her, but the wish
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  Speaker 1: to boast that I have made conquest of such an
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  Speaker 1: one hath even drawn into adultery. And why need I
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  Speaker 1: mention the other mischiefs that spring of this? For I
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  Speaker 1: had rather belong the slave of a thousand savages than
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  Speaker 1: of vanity once, for even they do not put such
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  Speaker 1: commands upon their captives as this vice lays upon its votaries.
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  Speaker 1: Because it says, be thou everyone's slave, be he nobler
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  Speaker 1: or be he lower than thyself. Despise thy soul, neglect virtue,
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  Speaker 1: laugh at freedom, immolate thy salvation. And if thou doest
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  Speaker 1: any good thing, do it not to please God, but
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  Speaker 1: to display it to the many. That for these things
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  Speaker 1: thou mayst even lose thy crown. And if thou give alms,
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  Speaker 1: or if thou fast undergo the pains, but take care
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  Speaker 1: to lose the gain. What can be more cruel than
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: these commands? Hence grudging beareth sway, hence haughtiness, hence covetousness,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: the mother of evils, for the swarm of domestics, and
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: the black servants liveried in gold, and the hangers on,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: and the flatterers, and the silver tinseled chariots, and the
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: other absurdities greater than these are not had for any
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: pleasure's sake or necessity, by for mere vanity. Yes, one
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: will say, but that this affliction is an evil anybody
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: can see. But how we are to keep quite clear
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: of it? This is what you should tell us. Well, then,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: if you thoroughly persuade yourself that this disorder is a
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: baneful one, you will have made a very good beginning
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: towards correcting it. For when a man is sick, he
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: speedily sends for thee physician, if he be first made
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: acquainted with the fact that he is sick. But if
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: thou seekest for another way besides to escape from hence,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: look to God continually and be content with glory from him.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: And if thou find the passion tickling, thee, and stirring
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: thee to tell thy well doings to thy fellow servants.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Bethink thyself next, that after telling them, thou gainest nothing,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: quench the absurd desire, and say to thy soul, Lo,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: thou hast been so long big with thy own well
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: doings to tell them, And thou hast not had the
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: courage to tell them to thyself, but has blabbed them
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: out to all. What good then hast thou gotten from
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: this none at all, but lost to the utmost and
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: avoidance of all that had been gathered together with much labor.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: And after this, consider another thing also, which is that
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: most men's opinion is perverted, and not perverted only, but
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: that it withers away so soon. For supposing they do
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: admire you, for the time when the occasion has gone by,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: they will have forgotten at all and have taken away
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: from thee the crown God had given, and have been
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: unable to secure to THEE that from themselves. And yet,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: if this were abiding, it were a most desirable thing
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: to exchange that for this. But when even this hath gone,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: what defense shall we be able to make for betraying
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: the abiding one? For the sake of the unabiding one,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: for losing such blessings for the sake of credit with
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: a few. And indeed, if they who praise were numerous,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: even for this, they were to be pitied, And the
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: more so the more numerous those who do it. But
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: if thou art surprised at what I have said here,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Christ giving his sentence in this way, woe unto you
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: when all men speak well of you? And so indeed
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: it should seem. For if in every art you look
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: to the workmen in it to be judges of it,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: how come you to trust thee proving of virtue to
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: the many, and not most of all to him who
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: knoweth it more surely than any, and is best able
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: to applaud and to crown it. This saying, then, let
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: us inscribe both on our walls and our doors and
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: our mind, and let us keep constantly saying to ourselves,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: woe unto us when all men speak well of us.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: For even they that so speak slander one afterward as
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: a vain person and fond of honor, and covetous of
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: their good word. But God doth not so, but when
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: he seeth THEE coveting the glory that cometh of him,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: then he will praise THEE most and respect THEE, and
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: proclaim THEE conqueror not so man, For when he finds
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: THEE slavish instead of free, by gratifying THEE, often by
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: bare words, with false praise, he snatches from THEE thy
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: true mead, and makes THEE more of a menial than
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: a purchased slave. For those last men get to obey
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: them after their orders. But thou, even without orders, makest
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: thyself a slave, for thou dost not even wait to
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: hear something from them. But if thou merely knowest wherein
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: thou mayst gratify them even without their command, doest all
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: what hell? Then should we not deserve for giving the
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: wicked pleasure and courting their service before they give orders.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: While we will not hearken to God even when He
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: every day commands and exhorts us. And Yet if thou
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: art covetous of glory and praise, avoid the praise that
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: cometh of men, and then thou wilt attain to glory,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: turn aside from fair speeches, and then thou wilt obtain
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: praises both from God and from men. For there is
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: no one we are used to give so much glory
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: to as the man who looks down upon glory, or
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: to praise and respect so much as the man who
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: thinks scorn of getting respected and praised. And if we
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: do so much more will the God of the universe.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: And when he glorifieth thee and praiseth Thee, what man
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: can be more justly pronounced blessed? For there is not
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: a greater difference between glory and disgrace than between the
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: glory from above and that of men. Or rather there
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: is a much greater, i an infinite difference. For if this,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: even when it does not get put beside any other,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: is but a base and uncomely one. When we come
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: to scrutinize it by the other side, just consider how
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: great its baseness will be found to be. For as
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: a prostitute stands at her place and lets herself out
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: to any one, so are they that be slaves of vanity?
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Or rather these be more base than she. For that
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: sort of woman do in many instances treat those enamored
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: of them with scorn. But you prostitute yourself to every body,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: whether runaway slaves or thieves, or cut purses for It
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: is of these, and such as these that the play
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: houses that applaud you consist, and those whom, as individuals
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: you hold to be nothing worth when in the body
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: you honor more than your own salvation, and show yourself
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: less worthy of honor than any of them. For how
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: can you be else than less worthy when you stand
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: in need of their good word? And fancy that you
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: have not enough by yourself unless you receive the glory
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: that cometh of others? Do you not perceive? Pray? Besides
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: what I have said, that as you are an object
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: of notice and known to everybody, if you should commit
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: a fault, you will have accusers unnumbered. But if unknown,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: you will remain in security. Yes, a man may say,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: but then if I do well, I shall have admirers unnumbered. Now,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: the fearful thing is that it is not only when
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: you sin, but even when you do a right, that
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the disorder of vanity does you mischief, in the former case,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: subvoting thousands in the present bereaving the entirely of thy reward.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: It is then a sad thing and replete with disgrace
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: of every kind. To be in love with glory even
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: in civil matters. But when even in spiritual you are
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: in the same plight. What excuses they are left remaining
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: for you when you are not minded to yield God
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: even as much honor as you have yourself from your servants.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: For even the slave looketh to the eyes of his master,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: and the hireling to his employer, who is to pay
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: him wages, and the disciple to his master. But you
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: do just the contrary, having left the God that hired thee.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Even thy master, Thou lookest to thy fellow servants, and
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: this knowing that God remembers thy well doings even after
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: this life. But man only for the present. And when
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: thou hast spectators assembled in heaven, thou art gathering together
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: spectators upon earth, and where the restless struggles there, he
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: would be honored. But thou, while thy wrestling is above art,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: anxious to gain thee a crown below. And what can
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: be worth than madness like this? But let us look
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: if it seem proper, and THEE crowns also. For one
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: is formed by haughtiness, and a second by grudging against another,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: and a third by dissimulation and flattery, another again by wealth,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: and another by servile obsequiousness and like as children at
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: their childish play put crowns of grass upon one another,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: and many a time laugh at him that is crowned
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: behind his back. Thus, now also they that pass their
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: praises upon thee many a time joke by themselves that
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: they are putting the grass upon us, and ward it
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: were grass only. But now the crown is laden with
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: much mischief and ruins all our way. Taking then the
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: vileness of it into consideration, flee from the damage entailed.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: For how many would you have to praise you a
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: hundred or twice or thrice or four times as many,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: or rather, if you please put them at ten times
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: or twenty times as many, and let them be two
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: or four thousands, or if you will even ten thousand
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: to applaud you, Still these be no better than so
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: many doors cooring from above. Or rather, taking the assemblage
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: of the angels into consideration, these will seem more vile
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: than even worms, and their good word of not so
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: much solidity as a cobweb or a smoke or a dream.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Here then, how Paul, who saw through these things thoroughly,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: is so far from seeking after them that he even
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: deprecates them in the woods. But God forbid that I
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: should glory save in the cross of Christ. This glory.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Then be thou also emulous of that thou mayst not
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: provoke the Master, because in so doing thou art insulting God,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: and not thyself alone. For if thou even wert a
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: painter and had some pupil, and he were to omit
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: showing thee his practice of the art, but setting forth
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: his painting publicly, just to any body thy chance to
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: observe it, thou wouldst not take it quietly. But if this,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: even with fellow servants, were an insult, how much more
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: with the Master. But if you have a mind to
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: learn on other grounds to feel scorn for the thing,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: be of a lofty mind, laugh at appearances, increase thy
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: love of real glory, be filled with a spiritual temper.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Say to thy soul, as poll did knowest thou not
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: that we shall judge the angels, And having by this
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: roused it up, go on to rebuke it, and say
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: thou that judgest the angels, wilt thou let thyself be
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: judge of off scourings and be praised with dancers and mimics,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: and gladiators and horse drivers. For these men to follow
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: after applauses of this sort. But do thou poise thy
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: wing high above the din of these, and emulate that
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: citizen of the wilderness John, and learn how he was
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: above regarding the multitude, and did not turn him to
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: look at flatterers. But when he saw all the dwellers
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: in Palestine poured forth about him and wondering and astonished
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: at him, he was not puffed up with such honor
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: as this, but rose up against them, and discoursing to
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: his great concourse, as if to one youth. He thus
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: rebuked them and said, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Yet it was for him that they had run together
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: and left the cities in order to see that holy personage.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: And still none of these things unnerved him, for he
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: was far above glory and free from all vanity. So
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: also Stephen, when he saw the same people again not
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: honoring him, but mad upon him and gnashing their teeth,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: being lifted above their wrath, said he is stiff necked
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: and uncircumcised in heart. Thus, also Elias, when those armies
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: were present at the king, and all the people said,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: how long halt ye upon both your hips, But we
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: flatter all caught all with this servile obsequiousness, buying their honor.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Wherefore all things are turned upside down, and we have
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: fallen from this grace, and the business of Christianity is
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: treacherously given up, and everything neglected for the opinion of
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: the generality. Let us then banish this passion, and then
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: we shall have a right notion of liberty and of
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: the haven and the calm. For the vain man is
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: ever like persons in a storm, trembling and fearing and
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: serving a thousand masters. But he that is clear of
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: this thralldom is like men in havens, enjoying a liberty untainted.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Not so that person, but as many acquaintances as he has,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: so many masters has he, and he is forced to
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: be a slave to all of them. How then, are
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: we to get free from this hard bondage. It is
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: by growing enamored of another glory, which is really glory.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: For as with those that are enamored of persons, the
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: sight of some handsomer one doth by its being seen,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: take them off from the first, So with those that
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: caught the glory which cometh from us men, the glory
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: of heaven, if it gleameth on them, has power to
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: lead them off from this. Let us then look to
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: this and become thoroughly acquainted with it, that by feeling
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: admiration of its beauty, we may shun the hideousness of
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: the other, and have the benefit of much pleasure by
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: enjoying this continually, which may we all attain to by
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: the grace and love toward Man et cetera. End of
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Section thirty two.