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044 - Homily 26 - Romans 1414 · Homilies on Romans

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  Speaker 1: Section forty four 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 twenty six, Romans fourteen, verse fourteen.
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  Speaker 1: I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that
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  Speaker 1: there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that
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  Speaker 1: esteemeth anything to be unclean. To him, it is unclean.
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  Speaker 1: After first rebuking the person who judgeth his brother, and
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  Speaker 1: moving him to leave off this reproaching, he then explains
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  Speaker 1: himself further upon the doctrinal part and instructs in a
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  Speaker 1: dispassionate tone the weaker sort, displaying in this case too
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  Speaker 1: a great deal of gentleness, for he does not say
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  Speaker 1: he shall be punished, nor anything of the sort, but
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  Speaker 1: merely disburdens him of his fears in the matter, and
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  Speaker 1: that with a view to his being more easily persuaded
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  Speaker 1: with what he tells him. And he says, I know
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  Speaker 1: and am persuaded, And then to prevent any of those
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  Speaker 1: who did not trust him, saying, and what is it
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  Speaker 1: to us if thou art persuaded? For thou art no
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  Speaker 1: trustworthy evidence to set in competition with so great a lure,
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  Speaker 1: and with oracles brought down from above, he proceeds in
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, that is, as having learnt from him, as
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  Speaker 1: having my confidence from him. The judgment, then, is not
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  Speaker 1: one of the mind of man. What is it that
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  Speaker 1: thou art persuaded of and knowest tell us that there
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  Speaker 1: is nothing unclean of itself by nature? He says, nothing
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  Speaker 1: is unclean, But it becomes so by the spirit in
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  Speaker 1: which a man uses it. Therefore it becomes so to
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  Speaker 1: himself only, and not to all. For to him that
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  Speaker 1: esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. What, then,
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  Speaker 1: why not correct thy brother, that he may think it
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  Speaker 1: not unclean? Why not, with full authority, call him away
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  Speaker 1: from this habit of mind and conception of things, that
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  Speaker 1: he may never make it common? My reason is, he says,
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  Speaker 1: I am afraid to grieve him, wherefore he proceeds verse fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now
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  Speaker 1: walkest thou not charitably. You see how far he goes
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  Speaker 1: in affection for him, showing that he makes so great
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  Speaker 1: account of him, that, with a view not to grieve him,
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  Speaker 1: he does not venture even to enjoin things of great urgency.
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  Speaker 1: But by yieldingness, would rather draw him to himself and
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  Speaker 1: by charity. For even when he has freed him of
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  Speaker 1: his fears, he does not drag him and force him,
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  Speaker 1: but leaves him to his own master. For keeping a
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  Speaker 1: person from meats is no such matter as overwhelming him
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  Speaker 1: with grief. You see how much he insists upon charity,
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  Speaker 1: and this is because he is aware that it can
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  Speaker 1: do everything. And on this ground he makes somewhat larger
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  Speaker 1: demand upon them. For so far he says, from its
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  Speaker 1: being proper for them to distress you at all they ought,
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  Speaker 1: even if need be, not to hesitate at condescending to you.
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  Speaker 1: Whence he proceeds to say, destroy not him with thy
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  Speaker 1: meat for whom Christ died, Or dost thou not value
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  Speaker 1: thy brother enough even to purchase his salvation at the
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  Speaker 1: price of abstinence from meats? And yet Christ refuse not
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  Speaker 1: to become a slave, give, nor yet to die for him.
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  Speaker 1: But thou dost not despise even food for him, that
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  Speaker 1: thou mayst save him. And yet it was not all
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  Speaker 1: that Christ was to gain. Yet still he died for all,
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  Speaker 1: so fulfilling his own part. But art thou aware that
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  Speaker 1: by meat thou art overthrowing him in more important matters.
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  Speaker 1: And yet make stay disputing, and him who is the
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  Speaker 1: object of such care. And to Christ, dost thou consider
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  Speaker 1: so contemptible and dishonor one whom he loveth Yet he
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  Speaker 1: died not for the weak only, but even for an enemy.
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  Speaker 1: And twilt not thou refrain from meats, even for him
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  Speaker 1: that is weak. Yet Christ did what was greatest, even
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  Speaker 1: but thou not even the less, and he was master
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  Speaker 1: Thou a brother. These words then were enough to tongue
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  Speaker 1: tie him, for they show him to be of a
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  Speaker 1: little spirit, and, after having the benefit of great things
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  Speaker 1: from God, not to give in return even little ones.
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  Speaker 1: Thus sixteen and seventeen, let not then your good be
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  Speaker 1: evil spoken of, For the Kingdom of God is not
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  Speaker 1: meat and drink. By their good He means here either
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  Speaker 1: their faith or the hope of rewards hereafter, or the
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  Speaker 1: perfectness of their religious state. For it is not only
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  Speaker 1: that you fail to profit your brother, he means, but
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  Speaker 1: the doctrine itself, and the grace of God and His gift.
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  Speaker 1: Your cause to be evil spoken of now when thou fightest,
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  Speaker 1: when thou quarrelest, when thou art vexatious. When thou makest
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  Speaker 1: schism in the church and reproachest thy brother, and are
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  Speaker 1: distant with him, those that are without will speak evil
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  Speaker 1: of you. And so good is so far from coming
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  Speaker 1: of this, that just the opposite is the case. For
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  Speaker 1: your good is charity, love of the brotherhood, being united,
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  Speaker 1: being bound together, living at peace, living in gentleness. He again,
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  Speaker 1: to put an end to his fears and the other's disputatiousness, says,
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  Speaker 1: for the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink?
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  Speaker 1: Is it? By these he means that we are to
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  Speaker 1: be approved. As he says in another passage, too, neither
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  Speaker 1: if we eat are we the better? Neither if we
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  Speaker 1: eat not, are we the worse. And he does not
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  Speaker 1: need any proof, but is content with stating it. And
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  Speaker 1: what he says is nearly this. If thou eatest, does
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  Speaker 1: this lead thee to the kingdom? And this was why,
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  Speaker 1: by way of satirizing them as mightily pleased with themselves
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  Speaker 1: herein he said, not meet only by drink? What then
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  Speaker 1: are the things that do bring us there? Righteousness and
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  Speaker 1: peace and joy, and virtuous life and peace with our brethren.
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  Speaker 1: Where to this quarrelsomeness is opposed the joy from unanimity,
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  Speaker 1: which this rebuking puts an end to. But this he
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  Speaker 1: said not to one party only, but to both of them,
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  Speaker 1: it being a fit season for saying it to both. Then,
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  Speaker 1: as he had mentioned peace and joy, but there is
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  Speaker 1: a peace and joy over bad actions. Also, he adds
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  Speaker 1: in the holy ghost. Since he that ruins his brother
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  Speaker 1: hath at once subverted peace and joy and committed greater
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  Speaker 1: injustice than he that plunders money. And what is worse
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  Speaker 1: is that another saved him, and thou wrongest and ruinest him.
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  Speaker 1: Since then, eating the supposed perfect state does not bring
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  Speaker 1: in these virtues, but the thing subversive of them it
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  Speaker 1: does bring in. How can it be else than right
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  Speaker 1: to make light of little things in order to give
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  Speaker 1: firmness to great ones. Then, since this rebuking took place
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  Speaker 1: in some degree out of vanity, he proceeds to say
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  Speaker 1: verse eighteen. For he that in these things serveth Christ
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  Speaker 1: is acceptable to God and approved of men. For they
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  Speaker 1: will not admire THEE so much for thy perfect state,
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  Speaker 1: as all will for peace and amity. For this is
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  Speaker 1: a goodly thing that all will have the benefit of.
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  Speaker 1: But of that not one even will verse nineteen. Let
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  Speaker 1: us therefore follow after these things which make for peace,
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  Speaker 1: and things wherewith one may edify one another. This applies
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  Speaker 1: to the other, that he may grow peaceable, but the
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  Speaker 1: other to the latter two, that he may not destroy
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  Speaker 1: his brother. Still he has made both apply to either again,
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  Speaker 1: by saying one another and showing that without peace it
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  Speaker 1: is not easy to edify Verse twenty. For meat destroy
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  Speaker 1: not the work of God, giving this name to the
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  Speaker 1: salvation of a brother, and adding to the fears, and
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  Speaker 1: showing that he is doing the opposite of that he desires.
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  Speaker 1: For thou, he says, art so far from building up,
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  Speaker 1: as thou intendest, that thou dost even destroy, And that
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  Speaker 1: a building too, not of man, but of God, and
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  Speaker 1: not for any great end either, but for a trivial thing.
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  Speaker 1: For it was for meat. He says, Then, lest so
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  Speaker 1: many indulgences should confirm the weaker brother in his misconception,
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  Speaker 1: he again becomes doctrinal, as follows. All things indeed are pure,
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  Speaker 1: but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence,
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  Speaker 1: who does it, that is, with a bad conscience. And
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  Speaker 1: so if he should force him and he should eat,
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  Speaker 1: there would be nothing gained. For it is not the
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  Speaker 1: eating that maketh unclean, but the intention with which a
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  Speaker 1: man eats. If then thou dost not set that right,
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  Speaker 1: thou hast done all to no purpose, and hast made
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  Speaker 1: things worse. For thinketh a thing unclean is not so
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  Speaker 1: bad as tasting it when one thinks it unclean. Here
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  Speaker 1: then you are committing two errors, one by increasing his
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  Speaker 1: prejudice through your quarrelsomeness, and another by getting him to
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  Speaker 1: taste of what is unclean. And so, as long as
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  Speaker 1: you do not persuade him, do not force him Verse
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  Speaker 1: twenty one. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor
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  Speaker 1: to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth or
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  Speaker 1: is offended or is made weak again. He requires the
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  Speaker 1: greater alternative, that they should not only force him, but
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  Speaker 1: even condescend to him. For he often did this himself,
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  Speaker 1: also as when he circumcised, when he was shorn, when
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  Speaker 1: he sacrificed that Jewish sacrifice. And he does not say
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  Speaker 1: to the man do so, but he states it in
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  Speaker 1: the form of a sentiment, to prevent again making the
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  Speaker 1: other the weaker man too listless. And what are his words?
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  Speaker 1: It is good not to eat flesh. And why do
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  Speaker 1: I say flesh, if it be wine or any other
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  Speaker 1: thing of the sort besides which gives offense refrain, For
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  Speaker 1: nothing is so important as thy brother's salvation. And this
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  Speaker 1: Christ shows us, since he came from heaven and suffered
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  Speaker 1: all that he went through for our sakes. And let
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  Speaker 1: me beg you to observe how he also drives it
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  Speaker 1: home upon the other by the words stumbleth or is
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  Speaker 1: offended or is made weak, and do not tell me
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  Speaker 1: he means that he is so without reason, since thou
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  Speaker 1: hast the power to set it right, for the other
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  Speaker 1: has a sufficient claim to be helped in his weakness.
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  Speaker 1: And to THEE, this wire no loss, it not being
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  Speaker 1: a case of hypocrisy, but of edification and economy. For
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  Speaker 1: if thou force him, he is at once destroyed, and
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  Speaker 1: will condemn THEE and fortify himself the more in not eating.
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  Speaker 1: But if thou condescend to him, then he will love
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  Speaker 1: THEE and will not suspect THEE as a teacher, and
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  Speaker 1: thou wilt afterwards gain the power of sowing imperceptibly in
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  Speaker 1: him the right views. But if he at once hate THEE,
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  Speaker 1: then thou hast closed him the entrance for thy reasoning,
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  Speaker 1: do not then compel him, but even thyself refrain for
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  Speaker 1: his sake, not refraining from it as unclean, but because
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  Speaker 1: he is offended, and he will thee the more so
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  Speaker 1: Paul also advises when he says it is good not
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  Speaker 1: to eat flesh, not because it was unclean, but because
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  Speaker 1: the brother is offended and is weak Verse twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: Hast thou faith have it to thyself? Here he seems
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  Speaker 1: to me to be giving a gentle warning to the
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  Speaker 1: vanity of the more advanced. And what he says is
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  Speaker 1: nearly this. Dost thou wish to show me that thou
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  Speaker 1: art perfect and fully furnished? Do not show it to me,
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  Speaker 1: but let thy conscience suffice. And by faith He here
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  Speaker 1: means that concerned not with doctrine, but with the subject
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  Speaker 1: in hand. For of the former, it says with the
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  Speaker 1: mouth confession is made unto salvation. And whosoever shall deny
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  Speaker 1: me before men him, will I also deny? For the
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  Speaker 1: former by not being confessed ruins us. And so does
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  Speaker 1: this by being confessed unseasonably happy is he that condemneth
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  Speaker 1: not himself in the thing which he alloweth Again, he
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  Speaker 1: strikes at the weaker one, and gives him a sufficient
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  Speaker 1: crown in that of his conscience. Even if no man
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  Speaker 1: see that, is thou art able to be happy in thyself?
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  Speaker 1: For after saying, have it to thyself to prevent his
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  Speaker 1: thinking this a contemptible tribunal, He tells him, this is
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  Speaker 1: better to THEE than the world. And if all accuse THEE,
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  Speaker 1: and thou condemn not thyself and thy conscience, lay no
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  Speaker 1: charge against THEE, Thou art happy. But this is a
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  Speaker 1: statement he did not make to apply to any person whatever,
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  Speaker 1: For there are many that condemn not themselves, and yet
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  Speaker 1: are great transgresses. And these are the most miserable of men.
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  Speaker 1: But he still keeps to the subject in hand those
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  Speaker 1: twenty three. For he that doubteth is damned if he
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  Speaker 1: eat again. It is to exhort him to spare the
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  Speaker 1: weaker that he says this. For what good is it
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  Speaker 1: if he eat in doubt and condemn himself. For I
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  Speaker 1: approve of him who both eateth and doeth it not
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  Speaker 1: with doubting. See how he induces him not to eating only,
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  Speaker 1: but to eating with a good conscience too. Then he
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  Speaker 1: mentions likewise the reason why he is condemned, continuing in
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  Speaker 1: these words, because he eateth not of faith, not because
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  Speaker 1: it is unas clean, but because it is not of faith.
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  Speaker 1: For he did not believe that it is clean, but
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  Speaker 1: though unclean, he touched it. But by this he shows
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  Speaker 1: them also what great harm they do by compelling men
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  Speaker 1: and not persuading them to touch things which had hitherto
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  Speaker 1: appeared unclean to them. That for this, at all events,
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  Speaker 1: they might leave rebuking. For whatsoever is not of faith
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  Speaker 1: is sin. For when a person does not feel sure
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  Speaker 1: nor believe that a thing is clean, how can he
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  Speaker 1: do else than sin. Now all these things have been
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  Speaker 1: spoken by Paul of the subject in hand, not of everything.
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  Speaker 1: And observe what care he takes not to offend any
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  Speaker 1: And he had said before, if thy brother be grieved
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  Speaker 1: with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. But if
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  Speaker 1: one should not grieve him, much less ought one to
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  Speaker 1: give him offense. And again, for meat destroy not the
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  Speaker 1: work of God. For if it were a grievous act
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  Speaker 1: of iniquity to throw down a church, much more so
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  Speaker 1: is it to do so in the spiritual house. Since
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  Speaker 1: a man is more dignified than a church. For it
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  Speaker 1: was not for walls that Christ died, but for these temples.
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  Speaker 1: Let us then watch our own conduct on all sides,
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  Speaker 1: and afford to no one ever so little handle. For
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  Speaker 1: this life present is a race course, and we ought
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  Speaker 1: to have thousands of eyes on every side. And not
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  Speaker 1: even to fancy that ignorance will be an adequate excuse,
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  Speaker 1: For there is such a thing. There certainly is as
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  Speaker 1: being punished for ignorance when the ignorance is inexcusable. Since
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  Speaker 1: the Jews too were ignorant, yet not ignorant in an
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  Speaker 1: excusable way. And the Gentiles were ignorant, but they are
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  Speaker 1: without excuse. For when thou art ignorant of those things
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  Speaker 1: which it is not possible to know, thou wilt not
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  Speaker 1: be subject to any charge for it. But when of
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  Speaker 1: things easy and possible, thou wilt be punished with the
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  Speaker 1: utmost rigor. Else, if we be not excessively super and
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  Speaker 1: but contribute our own share to its full amount, God
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  Speaker 1: will also reach forth his hand unto us in those
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  Speaker 1: things which we are ignorant of. And this is what
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  Speaker 1: Paul said to the Philippians. Likewise, if in anything ye
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  Speaker 1: be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
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  Speaker 1: But when we are not willing to do even what
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  Speaker 1: we are masters of, we shall not have the benefit
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  Speaker 1: of his assistance in this either. And this was the
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  Speaker 1: case with the Jews too. For this cause, he says,
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  Speaker 1: speak I unto them in parables, because seeing they see
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  Speaker 1: not in what sense was it that? Seeing? They saw not?
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  Speaker 1: They saw devils cast out, and they said he hath
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  Speaker 1: a devil. They saw the dead raised, and they worshiped
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  Speaker 1: not but attempted to kill him. But not of this
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  Speaker 1: character was Cornelius. For this reason, then, when he was
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  Speaker 1: doing the whole of his duty with sincerity, God added
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  Speaker 1: unto him that which was lacking. Also say not, then
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  Speaker 1: how came God to neglect such and such a one
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  Speaker 1: who was no formalist and a good man, though a gentile.
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  Speaker 1: For in the first place, no man can possibly know
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  Speaker 1: for certain whether a person is no formalist, but he
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  Speaker 1: only who formed the hearts alone. And then there is
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  Speaker 1: this to be said too, that perchance such an one
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  Speaker 1: was neither thoughtful nor earnest. And how it may be said,
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  Speaker 1: could he as being very uninformed? Let me beg you
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  Speaker 1: to consider then, this simple and single hearted man, and
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  Speaker 1: take notice of him in the affairs of life, and
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  Speaker 1: you will see him a pattern of the utmost scrupulousness,
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  Speaker 1: such that if he would have shown it in spiritual matters,
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  Speaker 1: he would not have been overlooked. For the facts of
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  Speaker 1: the truth are clearer than the sun. And wherever a
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  Speaker 1: man may go, he might easily lay hold of his
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  Speaker 1: own salvation if he were minded, that is, to be heedful,
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  Speaker 1: and not to look on this as a bye work.
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  Speaker 1: For were the doings shut up into Palestine or in
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  Speaker 1: a little corner of the world, hast thou not heard
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  Speaker 1: the prophets say, all shall know me from the least
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  Speaker 1: even to the greatest. Do not you see the things
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  Speaker 1: themselves uttering the truth? How then are these to be excused,
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  Speaker 1: seeing as they do the doctrine of the truth spread
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  Speaker 1: far and wide, and not troubling themselves or caring to
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  Speaker 1: learn it. And dost thou require all this? It is
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  Speaker 1: asked of a rude savage. Nay, not of a rude
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  Speaker 1: savage only, but of any who is more savage than
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  Speaker 1: men of the present day. For why is it pray
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  Speaker 1: that in matters of this world men know how to
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  Speaker 1: answer when they are wronged, and to resist when they
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  Speaker 1: have violence done them, And do and devise everything to
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  Speaker 1: prevent their ever having their will thwarted, even in the
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  Speaker 1: slightest degree. But in spiritual concerns they do not use
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  Speaker 1: this same judgment. And when a man worships a stone
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  Speaker 1: and things that a god, he both keeps feasts to it,
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  Speaker 1: and spends money on it, and shows much fear towards it,
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  Speaker 1: and in no case becomes listless from his simpleness. But
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  Speaker 1: when he has to seek to the very untrue God,
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  Speaker 1: do you then mention singleness and simpleness to me? These
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  Speaker 1: things are not so? Assuredly they are not. For the
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  Speaker 1: complaints are those of mere listlessness. For which do you
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  Speaker 1: think the most simple and rude, Those in Abraham's day
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  Speaker 1: or those now? Clearly the former? And when that it
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  Speaker 1: was easiest to find religion out now or then clearly now?
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  Speaker 1: For now the name of God is proclaimed even by
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  Speaker 1: all men, and the prophets have preached the things come
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  Speaker 1: to pass. The gentle been convinced. But at that date
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  Speaker 1: the majority was still in an uninstructed state, and sin
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  Speaker 1: was dominant, and there was no law to instruct, nor prophets,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: nor miracles, nor doctrine, nor multitude of men acquainted with it.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Nor aught else of the kind. But all things then lay,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: as it were, in a deep darkness and a knight,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: moonless and stormy. And yet even then, that wondrous and
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: noble man, though the obstacles were so great, still knew
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: God and practiced virtue, and led many to the same
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: zeal And this though he had not even the wisdom
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: of those without, for how should he when there were
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: no letters even yet invented. Yet still he brought his
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: own share in, and God joined to bring in what
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: was lacking to him. For you cannot say even this
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: that Abraham received his religion from his father's because he
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: was an idolator. But still, though he was from such forefathers,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: and was uncivilized, and lived amongst uncivilized people, and had
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: no instructor in religion, yet he attained to a knowledge
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: of God. And in comparison with all his descendants, who
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: had the advantage both of the law and the prophets,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: he was so much more illustrious, as no words can express.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Why was it? Then? It was because in things of
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: this world he did not give himself any great anxiety.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: But in things of the spirit he applied his whole attention.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: And what of Melchizedek, was not he also born about
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: those times it was so bright as to be called
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: even a priest of God. For it is impossible in
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the extreme that the sober minded should ever be overlooked.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: And let not these things be a trouble to us,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: But knowing that it is the mind with which in
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: each case the power lies, let us look on our
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: own duties that we may grow better. Let us not
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: be demanding an account of God, or inquire why he
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: let such an one alone, but called such an one.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: For we are doing the same as if a servant
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: that had given offense were to pry into his master's housekeeping,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: wretched and miserable man, when thou oughtest to be thoughtful
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: about the account thou hast to give, and how thou
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: wilt reconcile thy master, dost thou call him to account
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: for things that thou art not to give, an account
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: of passing over those things of which thou art to
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: give a reckoning. What am I to say to the gentiles?
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: He asks, why the same that I have been saying.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: And look not merely to what thou shalt say to
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: the gentile, but also to the means of amending him
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: when he is offended by examining into thy life, Then
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: consider what thou wilt say. For if he be offended,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: thou wilt not be called to a reckoning for him.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: But if it be thy way of life by which
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: he is injured, thou wilt have to undergo the greatest danger.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: When he seeth THEE philosophizing about the Kingdom and fluttering
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: at the things of this life, and at once afraid
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: about hell and trembling at the calamities of this life,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: then lay it to mind when he sees this and
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: accuses THEE and says, if thou art in love with
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: the Kingdom, how is it thou dost not look down
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: upon the things of this life? If thou art expecting
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: the awful judgment, Why dost thou not despise the terrors
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: of this world? If thou hopest for immortality, why dost
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: thou not think scorn of death? When he says this,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: be thou anxious. What defense thou wilt make when he
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: sees THEE trembling at the thought of losing thy money,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: THEE that expectest the heavens and exceedingly glad about a
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: single penny, and selling thy soul again for a little money.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Then lay it to mind. For these are the things,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: just these that make the gentiles stumble. And so if
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: thou art thoughtful about thine own salvation, make thy defense
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: on these heads, not by words, but by actions. For
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: it is not through that question that anybody ever blasphemed God,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: but through men's bad lives. It is that there are
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: thousands of blasphemers in all quarters. Set this right, then,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: for the gentile will next ask THEE how am I
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: to know that God's commands are feasible? For thou that
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: art of Christian extraction, and hast been brought up in
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: this fine religion, do not do anything of the kind?
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: And what will you tell him? You will be sure
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: to say, I will show you others that do, monks
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: that dwell in the desert, And art thou not ashamed
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: to confess to being a Christian and yet to send
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: to others as unable to show that you display the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: temper of a Christian. For he also will say directly,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: what need have I to go to the mountains and
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: to hunt up the deserts? For if there is no
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: possibility for a person who is living in the midst
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: of cities to be a disciple. This is a sad
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: imputation on this rule of conduct, that we are to
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: leave the cities and run to the deserts. But show
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: me a man who has a wife and children and family,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: and yet pursueth wisdom. What are we then to say
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: to all? This? Must we not hang down our heads
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: and be ashamed? For Christ did not so order things.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: But how let your light shine before men, not mountains
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: and deserts and wildernesses and out of the way places.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: And this I say not as abusing those who have
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: taken up with the mountains, but as bewailing those that
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: dwell in cities, because they have banished virtue from thence,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: wherefore I beseech you let us introduce the discipline they
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: have there here also, that the cities may become cities. Indeed,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: this will improve the gentile, This will free him from
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: countless offenses. And so if thou wouldt set him free
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: from scandal, and thyself enjoy rewards without number, set thy
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: own life in order and make it shine forth upon
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: all sides. According to that which hath been said, men
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: may see your good works and glorify your father which
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: is in heaven. For so we also shall enjoy that
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: unutterable and great glory which God grant, that we may
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: all attend to by the grace and love towards Man
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: et cetera. End of Section forty four.