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027 - Homily 14 Part 3 - Romans 812-13 · Homilies on Romans

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Speaker 1: Section twenty seven 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 fourteen, Part three, Romans eight, Verses
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Speaker 1: twelve and thirteen, Verse twenty seven. But he that searcheth
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Speaker 1: the hearts, you see that it is not about the
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Speaker 1: comforter that he is speaking, but about the spiritual heart.
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Speaker 1: Since if this were not so, he ought to have said,
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Speaker 1: he that searcheth the spirit, But that thou mayst learn
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Speaker 1: that the language is meant of a spiritual man who
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Speaker 1: has the gift of prayer. He proceeds, and he that
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Speaker 1: searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit,
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Speaker 1: that is of the spiritual man, because he maketh intercession
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Speaker 1: for the saints according to the will of God nort
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Speaker 1: He means that informs God as if ignorant. But this
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Speaker 1: is done that we may learn to pray for proper
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Speaker 1: things and to ask of God what is pleasing to Him.
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Speaker 1: For this is what the according to God is. And
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Speaker 1: so this was with a view to solace those that
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Speaker 1: came to him and to yield them excellent instruction. For
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Speaker 1: he that furnished the gifts and gave besides blessings without number.
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Speaker 1: Was the comforter. Hence it says, all these things worketh
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Speaker 1: one and the self same Spirit. And it is for
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Speaker 1: our instruction that this takes place. And to show the
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Speaker 1: love of the Spirit. It condescendeth even to this. And
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Speaker 1: it is from this that the person praying getteth heard,
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Speaker 1: because the prayer is made according to the will of God.
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Speaker 1: You see from how many points he instructs them in
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Speaker 1: the love that was shown them and the honor that
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Speaker 1: was done them. And what is there that God hath
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Speaker 1: not done for us? The world he hath made corruptible
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Speaker 1: for us, and again for us incorruptible. He suffered his
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Speaker 1: profits to be ill treated for our sake, sent them
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Speaker 1: into captivity for us. Let them fall into the furnace
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Speaker 1: for us, and undergo ills without number. Nay, he made
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Speaker 1: them profits for us. And the apostles also he made
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Speaker 1: for us. He gave up for us his only begotten.
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Speaker 1: He Punisheth the devil for us. He hath seated us.
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Speaker 1: On the right hand, he was reproached for us. For
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Speaker 1: the reproaches of them that reproached thee It says, fell
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Speaker 1: upon me. Yet still, when we are drawing back after
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Speaker 1: so great favor, he leaveth us not, but again entreats us,
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Speaker 1: And on our account inciteth others to entreat for us,
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Speaker 1: that he may show us favor. And so it was
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Speaker 1: with Moses. For to him he says, let me alone,
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Speaker 1: that I may blot them out, that he might drive
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Speaker 1: him upon supplicating on their behalf. And now he doth
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Speaker 1: the same thing. Hence he gave the gift of prayer.
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Speaker 1: But this he did not as himself standing in need
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Speaker 1: of entreaty, but that we might not, from being saved
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Speaker 1: without effort, grow indifferent. For this cause, it is on
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Speaker 1: account of David and of this person, and that he
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Speaker 1: often says that he is reconciled to them, to establish
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Speaker 1: again this very thing, that the reconciliation may be with
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Speaker 1: all due formality. Still, he would have looked more loving
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Speaker 1: toward man if it had not been through this and
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Speaker 1: the other prophet. But of himself that he told them
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Speaker 1: that he ceased to be wrath. But the reason of
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Speaker 1: his not holding to that point was that this ground
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Speaker 1: of reconciliation might not become an occasion for listlessness. Wherefore,
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Speaker 1: to Jeremiah. Also he sayth pray not for this people,
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Speaker 1: for I will not hear thee, not as wishing to
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Speaker 1: stop his praying, for he earnestly longeth for our salvation,
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Speaker 1: but to terrify them. And this the prophet also seeing,
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Speaker 1: did not cease praying. And that you may see that
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Speaker 1: it was not through a wish to turn him from
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Speaker 1: it about to shame them, that he said this hear
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Speaker 1: what it says, seest thou not what these are doing.
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Speaker 1: And when he says to the city, though thou wash
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Speaker 1: thee with knight, and take thee much soap, yet thou
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Speaker 1: art stained before me. It is not that he may
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Speaker 1: cast them into despair that he so speaks, but that
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Speaker 1: he may rouse them to repentance. For as in the
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Speaker 1: case of the Ninevites, by giving the sentence without limitation
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Speaker 1: and holding out no good hope, he scared them the
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Speaker 1: more and led them to repentance. So he doth hear also,
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Speaker 1: both to rouse them and to render The prophet more
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Speaker 1: venerated that in this way at least they may hear him. Then,
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Speaker 1: since they kept on in a state of incurable madness
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Speaker 1: and were not to be sobered even by the rest
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Speaker 1: being carried away, he first exhorts them to remain there.
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Speaker 1: But when they kept not up to this, but deserted
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Speaker 1: to Egypt. This indeed he allowed them, but requires of
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Speaker 1: them not to desert to irreligion as well as to Egypt.
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Speaker 1: But when they did not comply in this either, he
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Speaker 1: sendeth the prophet along with them, so that they might not,
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Speaker 1: after all suffer total wreck. For since they did not
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Speaker 1: follow him when he called, he next followeth them to
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Speaker 1: discipline them and hinder their being hurried further into vice.
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Speaker 1: And as a father full of affection does a child
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Speaker 1: who takes all treatment in the same peevish way, conducting
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Speaker 1: him about everywhere with himself and following about with him.
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Speaker 1: This was the reason why he sent not Jeremiah only
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Speaker 1: into Egypt, but also Ezekiel into Babylon. And they did
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Speaker 1: not refuse to go, for when they found their master
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Speaker 1: loved the people exceedingly, they continued themselves to do so, likewise,
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Speaker 1: much as if a right minded servant were to take
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Speaker 1: compassion upon an intractable son when he saw his father
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Speaker 1: grieving and lamenting about him. And what was there that
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Speaker 1: they did not suffer? For them they were soorn asunder,
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Speaker 1: they were driven out, they were reproached, they were stoned,
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Speaker 1: they underwent numberless grievances, and after all this they would
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Speaker 1: run back to them. Samuel, for instance, ceased not to
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Speaker 1: mourn for Saul, miserably insulted as he was by him,
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Speaker 1: and injured irreparably. Still he held none of these things
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Speaker 1: in remembrance. And for the people of the Jews. Jeremiah
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Speaker 1: has composed lamentations in writing. And when the general of
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Speaker 1: the Persians had given him liberty to dwell securely and
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Speaker 1: with perfect freedom wherever he pleased, he preferred above dwelling
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Speaker 1: at home, the affliction of the people and their hard
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Speaker 1: durance in a strange land. So Moses left the palace
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Speaker 1: and the sort of living therein, and hasted to be
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Speaker 1: among their calamities. And Daniel abode for twenty days, following
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Speaker 1: without food, pinching himself with a very severe fast, that
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Speaker 1: he might reconcile God to them, and the three children too,
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Speaker 1: when in the firmness and so fears a fire, put
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Speaker 1: up a supplication for them. For it was not on
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Speaker 1: their own account that they were grieved, as they were saved,
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Speaker 1: but since they considered that, then was the time for
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Speaker 1: the greatest boldness of speech. They consequently prayed in their behalf.
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Speaker 1: Hence too they said, in a contrite heart and an
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Speaker 1: humble spirit, let us be accepted for them. Joshua also
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Speaker 1: rent his garments for them. Ezekiel too wailed and lamented
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Speaker 1: when he saw them cut down, and Jeremiah said, let
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Speaker 1: me alone, I will weep bitterly. And before this, when
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Speaker 1: he did not venture openly to pray for a remittance
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Speaker 1: of their sad estate, he sought for some limited period.
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Speaker 1: When he says, how long o Lord, for full of
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Speaker 1: affectionateness as the whole race of the saints. Wherefore also
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Speaker 1: Saint Paul Saith put on therefore as the elect saints
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Speaker 1: of God, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind. You
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Speaker 1: see the strict propriety of the word, And how he
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Speaker 1: would have us continually merciful. For he does not say
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Speaker 1: show mercy only, but put it on that like as
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Speaker 1: our garment is always with us, so may mercy be.
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Speaker 1: And he does not say merely mercy, but bowels of mercy,
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Speaker 1: that we may imitate the natural affection of relations, but
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Speaker 1: we do just the contrary. And if any one comes
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Speaker 1: to ask a single penny of us, We insult them,
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Speaker 1: abuse them, call them impostors. Dost thou not shudder, man
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Speaker 1: and blush to call him an impostor for bread? Why,
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Speaker 1: even supposing he is a practicing imposture, he deserves to
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Speaker 1: be pitied for it, because he is so pressed with
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Speaker 1: famine as to put on such a character. This then
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Speaker 1: is a reproach to our cruelty. For since we had
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Speaker 1: not the heart to bestow with readiness, they are compelled
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Speaker 1: to practice a great many arts, so as to put
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Speaker 1: a cheat off upon our inhumanity, and to soften down
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Speaker 1: our harshness. Now, if it was gold and silver that
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Speaker 1: he asked of Thee, then there would be some reason
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Speaker 1: in thy suspicions. But if it is necessary food that
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Speaker 1: he comes to THEE, for why be showing wise so unseasonably,
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Speaker 1: and take so over exact an account of him, accusing
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Speaker 1: him of idleness and sloth. For if we must talk
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Speaker 1: in this way, it is not others but ourselves that
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Speaker 1: we ought to address. When therefore thou art going to
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Speaker 1: God to ask forgiveness for thy sins, then call these
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Speaker 1: words to mind, and thou wilt know thou deservest to
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Speaker 1: have these things said to THEE by God, much more
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Speaker 1: than THEE poor man by THEE. And yet God hath
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Speaker 1: never said such words to THEE as stand off. Since
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Speaker 1: thou art an impostor, always coming to church and hearing
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Speaker 1: my laws, but when abroad setting gold and pleasure and friendship,
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Speaker 1: and in fact anything above my commandments. And now thou
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Speaker 1: makest thyself humble. But when thy prayers are over, thou
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Speaker 1: art bold and cruel and inhuman. Yet THEE hence therefore
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Speaker 1: and never come to me any more. Yet this and
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Speaker 1: more than this, we deserve to have said to us.
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Speaker 1: But still he never did reproach us in any such
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Speaker 1: way about his long suffering, and fulfills everything on his
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Speaker 1: own part, and gives us more than we ask. For.
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Speaker 1: Calling this to mind, then let us relieve the poverty
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Speaker 1: of those that beg of us, And if they do
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Speaker 1: impose upon us, let us not be over exact about it.
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Speaker 1: For such a salvation is it that we ourselves require,
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Speaker 1: one with pardon, with kindness, with much mercy along with it,
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Speaker 1: For it is not possible. It certainly is not, if
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Speaker 1: our estate were searched into strictly, that we should ever
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Speaker 1: be saved, but we must needs all be punished and
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Speaker 1: brought to ruin. Let us not then be as bitter
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Speaker 1: judges of others as we can, lest we also get
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Speaker 1: a strict account demanded of us. For we have sins
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Speaker 1: that are too great to plead any excuse. And therefore
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Speaker 1: let us show more mercy towards those who have committed
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Speaker 1: inexcusable sins, that we also may lay up for ourselves
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Speaker 1: the like mercy beforehand. And yet be as large hearted
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Speaker 1: as we may, we shall never be able to contribute
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Speaker 1: such love towards man as we stand and in need
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Speaker 1: of at the hand of a God that loveth man.
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Speaker 1: How then, is it other than monstrous, when we are
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Speaker 1: in need of so many things ourselves, to be over
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Speaker 1: exact with our fellow servants and do all we can
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Speaker 1: against ourselves. For thou dost not in this way so
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Speaker 1: much prove him unworthy of thy liberality as thyself of
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Speaker 1: God's love towards man. For he that deals over exactly
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Speaker 1: with his fellow servant will be the more sure to
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Speaker 1: find the like treatment at God's hand. Let us not
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Speaker 1: speak against ourselves, but even if they come out of
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Speaker 1: idleness or wilfulness, Let us bestow. For we also do
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Speaker 1: many sins through wilfulness, or rather we do them all
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Speaker 1: through wilfulness. And yet God doth not presently call us
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Speaker 1: to punishment, but gives us a set time for penance,
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Speaker 1: nurturing us day by day, disciplining us, teaching us, supplying
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Speaker 1: us with all things other that we too may emulate
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Speaker 1: this mercy of His. Let us then quell this cruelty.
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Speaker 1: Let us cast out this brutal spirit as benefiting thereby
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Speaker 1: ourselves rather than others. For to these we give money
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Speaker 1: and bread and clothing. But for ourselves we are laying
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Speaker 1: up beforehand very great glory, and such as there is
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Speaker 1: no putting into woods, For we receive again. Our body
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Speaker 1: is incorruptible, and are glorified together and reign together with Christ.
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Speaker 1: How great this is we shall see from hints, or rather,
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Speaker 1: there is no means of making us see it clearly now,
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Speaker 1: But to start from our present blessings, and to get
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Speaker 1: from them at least some kind of scanty notice of it.
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Speaker 1: I will endeavor so far as I may be able
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Speaker 1: to put before you what I have been speaking of.
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Speaker 1: Tell me, then, if when you are grown old and
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Speaker 1: were living in poverty, and any one were to promise
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Speaker 1: suddenly to make you young, and to bring you to
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Speaker 1: the very prime of life, and to render you very
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Speaker 1: strong and pre eminently beautiful, and were to give you
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Speaker 1: the kingdom of the whole oath for a thousand years,
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Speaker 1: a kingdom in a state of the deepest peace. What
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Speaker 1: is there that you would not choose to do and
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Speaker 1: to suffer to gain this promise? See then, Christ's promises
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Speaker 1: not this, but much more than this. For the distance
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Speaker 1: between old age and ye youth is not to be
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Speaker 1: compared with a difference of corruption and incorruption, nor that
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Speaker 1: of a kingdom and poverty, to that of the future,
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Speaker 1: glory and the present. But the difference is that of
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Speaker 1: dreams and a reality. Or rather, I have yet said
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Speaker 1: nothing to the purpose, since there is no language capable
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Speaker 1: of setting before you the greatness of the difference between
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Speaker 1: things to come and things present. And as for time,
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Speaker 1: there is no place for the idea of difference. For
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Speaker 1: what mode is there for a man to compare with
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Speaker 1: our present state, a life that hath no end. And
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Speaker 1: as for the peace, it is as far removed from
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Speaker 1: any present piece as peace is different from war. And
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Speaker 1: for the incorruption it is as much better as a
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Speaker 1: clear pol is than a cloud of clay. Or rather say,
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Speaker 1: as great a thing as one may, nothing can put
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Speaker 1: it before you. For were I even to compare the
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Speaker 1: beauty of our bodies than to the light of the
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Speaker 1: sunbeam or the brightest lightning, I shall not yet be
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Speaker 1: saying aught that is worthy of that brilliancy. Now for
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Speaker 1: such things as these, what money so much much that
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Speaker 1: it were not worth the while to give up? What bodies,
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Speaker 1: or rather what souls? Is it not worth one's while
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Speaker 1: to give up? At present? If any one were to
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Speaker 1: lead thee into the palace, and in the presence of all,
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Speaker 1: were to give thee an opportunity of conversing with the King,
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Speaker 1: and make thee sit at his table and join in
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Speaker 1: his fear, thou wouldst call thyself the happiest of men.
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Speaker 1: But when you are to go up to heaven and
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Speaker 1: stand by the King of the universe himself, and to
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Speaker 1: vie with angels in brightness, and to enjoy even that
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Speaker 1: unutterable glory, do you hesitate? And suppose one must needs
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Speaker 1: give up property, or put off even life itself. One
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Speaker 1: ought to leap and exult and mount on wings of pleasure,
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Speaker 1: but you that you may get an office as a
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Speaker 1: place to pill it from. For call a thing of
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Speaker 1: this sort. Gain, I cannot put all you have to hazard,
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Speaker 1: and after borrowing of others, will, if need be, pawn
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Speaker 1: your wife and children too without hesitation. But when the
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Speaker 1: Kingdom of Heaven is set before you, that office which
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Speaker 1: hath none to supersede you in it, and God bids
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Speaker 1: you take not a part of a corner of the earth,
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Speaker 1: but the whole of Heaven entirely, are you hesitating and
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Speaker 1: reluctant and gaping after money, and forgetful that if the
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Speaker 1: parts of that heaven which we see are so fair
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Speaker 1: and delightful, how greatly so must the upper heaven be,
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Speaker 1: and the heaven of heaven. But since we have as
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Speaker 1: yet no means of seeing this with our bodily eyes,
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Speaker 1: ascend in thy thought and stand above this heaven, look
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Speaker 1: up under that heaven, beyond this, into that height without
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Speaker 1: a bound, into that light so charged with awe, into
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Speaker 1: the crowds of the angels, into the endless ranks of archangels,
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Speaker 1: into the rest of the incorporeal powers. And then they
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Speaker 1: hold again of the image thereof we have after coming
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Speaker 1: down from above, and make a sketch of the estate
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Speaker 1: of a king, with us as his men in gold armor,
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Speaker 1: and his pairs of white mules proudly decked with gold,
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Speaker 1: and his chariots set with jewels, and his snow like cushions,
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Speaker 1: and the spangles that flutter about the chariot, and the
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Speaker 1: dragons shaped out in the silken hangings, and the shields
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Speaker 1: with their gold bosses, and the straps that reach up
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Speaker 1: from thee to the rims of them through so many gems,
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Speaker 1: and the horses with the gilded trappings and the gold bits.
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Speaker 1: But when we see the King we immediately lose sight
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Speaker 1: of all these, for he alone turns our eyes to him,
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Speaker 1: and to the purple robe, and the diadem, and the throne,
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Speaker 1: and the clasp, and the shoes, all that splendor of
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Speaker 1: his appearance. After gathering all these things together, then with accuracy,
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Speaker 1: then again remove your thought from these things to things
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Speaker 1: above and to that awful day in which Christ is coming.
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Speaker 1: For then you will not see any pairs of mules,
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Speaker 1: nor golden chariots, nor dragons and shields, but things that
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Speaker 1: are big with a mighty oar, and strike such amazement
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Speaker 1: that the very incorporeal powers are astonied, for the powers
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Speaker 1: of the heavens, he says, shall be shaken. Then is
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Speaker 1: the whole heaven thrown open, and the gates of those
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Speaker 1: concaves unfold themselves, And the only begotten Son of God
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Speaker 1: cometh down, not with twenty, not with a hundred men
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Speaker 1: for his bodyguard, but with thousands and ten thousands of
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Speaker 1: angels and archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim, and other powers, and
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Speaker 1: with fear and tremors shall everything be filled. Whilst the
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Speaker 1: earth is bursting itself up, and the men that ever
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Speaker 1: were born from Adam's birth up to that day are
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Speaker 1: rising from the earth, and all are caught up. When
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Speaker 1: himself appears with such great glory as that the moon
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Speaker 1: and the sun, and all light whatever is cast into
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Speaker 1: the shade being outshone by that radiance. What language is
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Speaker 1: to set before us that blessedness, brightness, glory alas my soul,
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Speaker 1: for weeping comes upon me, and great groaning as I
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Speaker 1: reflect what good things we have fallen from, what blessedness
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Speaker 1: we are estranged from? For estranged we are I am
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Speaker 1: now speaking of my own case. Still unless we do
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Speaker 1: some great and astonishing work speak not then of hell
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Speaker 1: to me now, For more grievous than any hill is
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Speaker 1: the fall from this glory, worse than punishments, unnumbered the
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Speaker 1: estrangement from that lot. But still we are gaping after
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Speaker 1: this present world, and we take no thought of the
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Speaker 1: devil's cunning, who, by little things bereaves us of those
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Speaker 1: great ones, and gives us clay, that he may snatch
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Speaker 1: us from gold, or rather that he may snatch heaven
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Speaker 1: from us, and showeth us a shadow, that he may
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Speaker 1: dispossess us of the reality, and puts phantoms before us
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Speaker 1: in dreams. For such is the wealth of this world,
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Speaker 1: that at daybreak he may prove us the poorest of men.
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Speaker 1: Laying these things to heart, late, though it be, let
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Speaker 1: us fly from this craft and past to the sight
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Speaker 1: of things to come. For we cannot say that we
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Speaker 1: were ignorant, how exposed to accidents the present life is,
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Speaker 1: Since things every day din in our ears more loudly
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Speaker 1: than a trumpet, the worthliness, the ridiculousness, the shamefulness, the dangers,
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Speaker 1: the pitfalls of the present scene. What defense, then, shall
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Speaker 1: we have to set up for pursuing things so subject
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Speaker 1: to hazards and laden with shame with so much eagerness,
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Speaker 1: and leaving things unfailing which will make us glorious and bright,
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Speaker 1: and giving our whole sales up to the thraldom of money.
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Speaker 1: For the slavery to these things is worse than any bondage.
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Speaker 1: And this they know, who have been counted worthy to
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Speaker 1: obtain their freedom from it, that ye then may also
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Speaker 1: yield this goodly liberty. Burst the bonds asunder spring out
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Speaker 1: of the snare. And let there be no gold lying
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Speaker 1: by in your houses, but that which is more precious
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Speaker 1: than millions of money, alms and love to man for
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Speaker 1: your treasure. For this gives us boldness toward God, but
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Speaker 1: the other covers us with deep shame, and causes the
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Speaker 1: devil to bear hard upon us. Why then, arm thy
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Speaker 1: enemy and make him stronger, Arm thy right hand against him,
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Speaker 1: and transfer all the splendor of thy house into thy soul,
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Speaker 1: and stow away all thy fortune in thy mind. And
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Speaker 1: instead of a chest and a house, let Heaven keep
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Speaker 1: thy gold. And let us put all our property about
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Speaker 1: our own selves, For we are much better than the walls,
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Speaker 1: and more dignified than the pavement. Why then, do we
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Speaker 1: to the neglect of our own selves bestow all our
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Speaker 1: attention upon those things which, when we are gone we
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Speaker 1: can no longer reach. And often even while we stay
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Speaker 1: here we cannot keep hold of when we might have
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Speaker 1: such riches as to be found, not in this life only,
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Speaker 1: but also in that in the easyest circumstances. For he
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Speaker 1: who carries about his farms and house and gold upon
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Speaker 1: his soul, wherever he appears, appears with all his wealth.
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Speaker 1: And how is this possible to be affected? One may ask.
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Speaker 1: It is possible, and that with the utmost ease. For
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Speaker 1: if you transfer them to heaven by the poor man's hand,
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Speaker 1: you will transfer them entire into your own soul. And
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Speaker 1: if death should afterwards come upon thee, no one will
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Speaker 1: take them from thee about thou wilt depart to be
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Speaker 1: rich in the next world too. This was the kind
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Speaker 1: of treasure Tabitha had. Hence it was not her house
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Speaker 1: that proclaimed her wealth, nor the walls, nor the stones,
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Speaker 1: nor the pillars, but the bodies of widows furnished with dress.
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Speaker 1: And they are tears that were shed, and death that
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Speaker 1: played the runaway, and life that came back again. Let
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Speaker 1: us also make unto ourselves such like treasures. Let us
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Speaker 1: build up for ourselves such like houses. In this way
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Speaker 1: we shall have God for our fellow worker, and we
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Speaker 1: ourselves shall be workers together with him. For himself brought
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Speaker 1: the poor from not being into being, And you will
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Speaker 1: prevent them, after they have been brought into life and being,
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Speaker 1: from perishing with hunger and other distress, by tending them
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Speaker 1: and setting them upright, and staying up the temple of
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Speaker 1: God in every quarter. And what can be equal to
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Speaker 1: this in respect of utility and creditableness? Or if as
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Speaker 1: yet you have not gained any clear notion of the
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Speaker 1: great adornment He bestowed upon THEE when he bade THEE
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Speaker 1: relieve poverty, consider this point with thyself. If He had
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Speaker 1: given THEE so great power that thou woult able to
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Speaker 1: mend the breaches even of heaven, if it were falling,
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Speaker 1: wouldst thou not think the thing and honor far too
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Speaker 1: great for THEE? See? Now he hath held THEE worthy
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Speaker 1: of a greater honor, For that which is his esteem
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Speaker 1: is more precious than the heaven he hath trusted THEE
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Speaker 1: to repair. For of all things visible, there is nothing
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Speaker 1: in God's esteem equal to man. For heaven and earth
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Speaker 1: and seed did he make for him, and finds more
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Speaker 1: pleasure in dwelling with him than in the heaven. And
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Speaker 1: yet we, though with a knowledge of this, bestow no
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Speaker 1: attention nor forethought upon the temples of God, by leaving
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Speaker 1: them in a neglected state, provide houses splendid and large
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Speaker 1: for ourselves. This is why we are devoid of all
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Speaker 1: good things, and greater beggars than the poorest poor, because
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Speaker 1: we pride ourselves in these houses, which we cannot take
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Speaker 1: away with us when we go hence, and leave those
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Speaker 1: alone which we might move away along with our own selves.
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Speaker 1: For the body of the poor, after dissolution must needs
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Speaker 1: rise again. And God, who hath given this change, will
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Speaker 1: bring them forth and praise those who have taken care
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Speaker 1: of them, and treats such with regard. Because when they
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Speaker 1: were on the point of falling to ruin at one
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Speaker 1: time by starvation, at another by nakedness and cold, these
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Speaker 1: repaired them by all means in their power. But still,
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Speaker 1: even with all these praises set before us, we loiter
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Speaker 1: yet and decline undertaking this honorable charge. And Christ, indeed
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Speaker 1: hath not wear at a lodge, but goeth about a
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Speaker 1: stranger and naked and hungry, and you set up houses
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Speaker 1: out of town, and baths and terraces, and chambers without number,
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Speaker 1: in thoughtless vanity, And to Christ you give not even
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Speaker 1: a share of a little hut, while for doors and
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Speaker 1: vultures you deck out upper chambers. What can be worse
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Speaker 1: than such insanity as this? What more grievous than such madness?
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Speaker 1: For madness it is in the last stage of it,
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Speaker 1: or rather, one has no name to suit it. Use
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Speaker 1: whatever one may. Yet, still, if we be so minded,
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Speaker 1: it is possible to beat off the disorder tenacious as
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Speaker 1: it is, and not possible only, but even easy, and
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Speaker 1: not easy merely, but even easier is it to get
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Speaker 1: rid of this pest than of the sufferings of the body.
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Speaker 1: Since the physician is so much greater, let us then
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Speaker 1: draw him to ourselves and invite him to aid us
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Speaker 1: in the attempt, And let us contribute our share good will,
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Speaker 1: I mean, and energy. For he will not require anything further.
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Speaker 1: But if he can meet with this only, he will
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Speaker 1: confer all that is his part. Let us then contribute
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Speaker 1: our share, that in this world we may enjoy a
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Speaker 1: genuine health, and may attain to the good things to
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Speaker 1: come by the grace and love towards Man et cetera.
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Speaker 1: End of Section twenty seven