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036 - Homily 19 Part 2 - Romans 117 · Homilies on Romans

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty six of Homily is 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 nineteen, Part two, Romans eleven, verse seven,
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  Speaker 1: verse seventeen. And if some of the branches be broken off,
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  Speaker 1: and yet above thou didst say that the more part
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  Speaker 1: perished and a few were saved. Only how came it then, that,
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  Speaker 1: speaking of those that perished, thou hast used a sum
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  Speaker 1: which is indicative of fewness. It is not, he replies,
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  Speaker 1: in opposition to myself, but out of a desire to
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  Speaker 1: court and recover those that are distressed. Observe how in
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  Speaker 1: the whole of the passage one finds him working at
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  Speaker 1: this object the wish to solace them. If you deny it,
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  Speaker 1: many contradictions will follow. But let me beg you to
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  Speaker 1: notice his wisdom. How while he seems to be speaking
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  Speaker 1: for them and devising a solace for them, he aims
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  Speaker 1: a secret blow at them and shows that they are
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  Speaker 1: devoidable excuse even from the root from the first fruit.
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  Speaker 1: For consider the badness of the branches, which, when they
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  Speaker 1: have a sweet root, still do not imitate it. And
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  Speaker 1: the foldiness of the lump, when it is not altered
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  Speaker 1: even by the first fruit. And if some of the
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  Speaker 1: branches were broken off, however the greater part were broken off. Yet,
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  Speaker 1: as I said, he wishes to comfort them. And this
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  Speaker 1: is why it is not in his own person, but
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  Speaker 1: in theirs that he brings in the words used, And
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  Speaker 1: even in this gives a secret stroke at them, and
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  Speaker 1: shows them to have fallen from being Abraham's kinsman. For
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  Speaker 1: what he was desirous of saying was that they had
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  Speaker 1: nothing in common with him. For if the root be holy,
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  Speaker 1: and these be not wholly, then these are far away
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  Speaker 1: from the root. Then, under the appearance of solacing the Jews,
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  Speaker 1: he again, by his accusations, smiteth them of the Gentiles.
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  Speaker 1: For after saying and if some of the branches were
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  Speaker 1: broken off, he proceeds, And thou being a wild olive
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  Speaker 1: word grafted in for the less esteem the man of
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  Speaker 1: the Gentiles is of the more the Jew is vexed
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  Speaker 1: at seeing him enjoy his goods. And to the other
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  Speaker 1: the disgrace of the little esteem he was of is
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  Speaker 1: nothing to the honor of the change. And consider his skillfulness,
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  Speaker 1: does not say thou wert planted in. But thou Wert
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  Speaker 1: grafted in by this, again cutting the jew to the heart,
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  Speaker 1: as showing that the gentile man was standing in his
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  Speaker 1: own tree, and himself lying on the ground. Wherefore he
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  Speaker 1: does not stop even here, nor after he had spoken
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  Speaker 1: of grafting in, does he leave off. And yet in
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  Speaker 1: this he declared the whole matter. But still he dwells
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  Speaker 1: over the prosperous state of the gentile and enlarges upon
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  Speaker 1: his fair fame in the words, and with them partakest
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  Speaker 1: of the root and fatness of the olive tree. And
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  Speaker 1: he seems, indeed to have viewed him in the light
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  Speaker 1: of an addition. But he shows that he was no
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  Speaker 1: whit the worse on that account, but in possession of
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  Speaker 1: everything that the branch which had come up out of
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  Speaker 1: the root had lest. Then, on hearing the woods and
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  Speaker 1: thou Wert grafted in, thou should suppose him to be
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  Speaker 1: lacking when compared with the natural branch. See how he
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  Speaker 1: makes him equal to it by saying that with them
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  Speaker 1: thou partakest of the root and fatness of the olive,
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  Speaker 1: that is, has been poured into the same noble rank,
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  Speaker 1: the same nature. Then, in rebuking him, and saying verse eighteen,
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  Speaker 1: boast not against the branches. He seems indeed to be
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  Speaker 1: comforting the Jew, but points out his vileness and extreme dishonour.
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  Speaker 1: And this is why he says, not boast not, but
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  Speaker 1: both not against. Do not boast against them so as
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  Speaker 1: to sunder them. For it is into their place that
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  Speaker 1: he hath been set, and their goods that ye enjoy.
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  Speaker 1: Do you observe how he seems to be rebuking the
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  Speaker 1: one while he is sharp upon the other. But if
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  Speaker 1: thou boast, he says, thou bearest not the root, but
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  Speaker 1: the root thee. Now what is this to the branches
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  Speaker 1: that are cut off? Nothing? For as I said before,
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  Speaker 1: while seeming to devise a sort of weak shadow of consolation,
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  Speaker 1: and in the very midst of his aiming at the gentile,
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  Speaker 1: he gives them a mortal blow. For by saying, boast
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  Speaker 1: not against them, And if thou boast, thou bearest not
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  Speaker 1: the root, by the root thee, he has shown the
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  Speaker 1: Jew that the things done deserved boasting of, even if
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  Speaker 1: it was not right to boast, Thus at once rousing
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  Speaker 1: him and provoking him to faith, and a smiting at him,
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  Speaker 1: thou as an advocate, and pointing out to him the
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  Speaker 1: punishment he was undergoing, and that other men had possession
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  Speaker 1: of what were their goods Verse nineteen. Thou wilt say,
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  Speaker 1: then the branches were broken off, that I might be
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  Speaker 1: grafted in. Again, he establishes, by way of objection, the
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  Speaker 1: opposite to the former position, to show that what he
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  Speaker 1: said before he had not said as directly belonging to
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  Speaker 1: the subject, but to draw them to him. For it
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  Speaker 1: was no longer by their fall that salvation came to
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  Speaker 1: the gentiles, nor was it their fall that was the
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  Speaker 1: riches of the world, nor was it by this that
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  Speaker 1: we were saved because they had fallen, but the reverse,
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  Speaker 1: And he shows that the providence in regard to the
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  Speaker 1: gentiles was a main object, even though he seems to
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  Speaker 1: put what he says into another form. And the whole
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  Speaker 1: passage is a ti issue of objections, in which he
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  Speaker 1: clears himself of the suspicion of hatred and makes his
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  Speaker 1: language such as will be acceptable Verse twenty. Well he
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  Speaker 1: praises what they said, then he alarms them again by saying,
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  Speaker 1: because of unbelief, they were broken off, and thou art
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  Speaker 1: grafted in by faith. So here another encomium and for
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  Speaker 1: the other party and accusation. But he again lays their
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  Speaker 1: pride low by proceeding to say, be not high minded,
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  Speaker 1: but fear, for the thing is not matter of nature,
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  Speaker 1: but of belief and unbelief. And he seems to be
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  Speaker 1: again bridling the gentile. But he is teaching the jew
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  Speaker 1: that it is not right to cling to a natural kinsmanship.
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  Speaker 1: Hence he goes on with be not high minded, And
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  Speaker 1: he does not say, but be humble, but fear, for
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  Speaker 1: haughtiness genders a contempt and listlessness. Then, as he is
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  Speaker 1: going into all the sorrows of their calamity. In order
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  Speaker 1: to make the statement less offensive, he states it in
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  Speaker 1: the way of a rebuke given to other as follows
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty one. For if God spared not the natural branches,
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  Speaker 1: and then he does not say, neither will he spare thee,
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  Speaker 1: but take heed, lest he also spare not thee. So
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  Speaker 1: powring away thee distasteful from his statement and representing the
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  Speaker 1: believer as in the struggle, he at once draws the
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  Speaker 1: others to him and humbles these Also verse twenty two. Behold,
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  Speaker 1: therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which
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  Speaker 1: fell severity that toward THEE goodness if thou continue in
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  Speaker 1: his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And
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  Speaker 1: he does not say, behold thy well doing, behold thy labors,
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  Speaker 1: but behold the goodness of God toward man, to show
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  Speaker 1: that the whole comes of grace from above, and to
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  Speaker 1: make us tremble for this reason, for boasting makes thee
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  Speaker 1: to fear, Since the Lord hath been good unto thee.
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  Speaker 1: Do thou therefore fear for the blessings do not abide
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  Speaker 1: by THEE unmovable if thou turnst listless, as neither do
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  Speaker 1: the evils with them if they alter. For thou also,
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  Speaker 1: he says, unless thou continue in the faith, wilt be
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  Speaker 1: cut off verse twenty three. And they, also, if they
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  Speaker 1: abide not in unbelief, shall be grafted in. For it
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  Speaker 1: was not God that cut them off. But they have
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  Speaker 1: broken themselves off and fallen. And he did well to
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  Speaker 1: say have broken themselves off, for He hath never yet
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  Speaker 1: cast them off, though they have sinned so much and
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  Speaker 1: so often. You see what a great thing a man's
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  Speaker 1: free choice is, how great the efficacy of the mind is.
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  Speaker 1: For none of these things is immutable. Neither thy good
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  Speaker 1: nor his evil. You see too how he raises up
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  Speaker 1: even him in his despondency, and humbles the other in
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  Speaker 1: his confidence. And do not thou be faint at hearing
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  Speaker 1: of severity, nor thou be confident at hearing of goodness.
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  Speaker 1: The reason why he cut Thee off in severity was
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  Speaker 1: that thou mightst long to come back. The reason why
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  Speaker 1: he showed goodness to Thee was that thou mightst continue in.
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  Speaker 1: He does not say the faith, but his goodness, that is,
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  Speaker 1: if thou do things worthy of God's love toward man,
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  Speaker 1: For there is need of something more than faith. You
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  Speaker 1: see how he suffers neither these to lie low, nor
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  Speaker 1: those to be elated. But he also provokes them to
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  Speaker 1: jealousy by giving through them a power to the Jew
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  Speaker 1: to be set again in this one's place, as he
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  Speaker 1: also had first taken the other's ground. And the Gentile
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  Speaker 1: he put in fear by the Jews and what had
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  Speaker 1: happened to them, lest they should feel elated over them.
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  Speaker 1: But the Jew he tries to encourage by what had
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  Speaker 1: been afforded to the Greek. For thou, also, he says,
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  Speaker 1: wilt be cut off if thou growest listless, for the
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  Speaker 1: jew was cut off, and he will be grafted in
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  Speaker 1: if he be earnest. For thou also wert grafted in.
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  Speaker 1: But it is very judicious in him to direct all
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  Speaker 1: he says to the gentile, as he is always in
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  Speaker 1: the habit of doing correcting the feeble by rebuking the stronger.
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  Speaker 1: This he does in the end of this epistle too,
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  Speaker 1: when he is speaking of the observance of meats. Then
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  Speaker 1: he grounds this on what had already happened, not upon
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  Speaker 1: what was to come. And this was more likely to
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  Speaker 1: persuade his hearer. And as he means to keep consecutiveness
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  Speaker 1: of reasonings could not be spoken against, he first uses
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  Speaker 1: a demonstration drawn from the power of God. For if
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  Speaker 1: they were cut off and cast aside, and others took
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  Speaker 1: precedence of them in what was theirs still even now
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  Speaker 1: to spare not, for God is able, he says, to
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  Speaker 1: graft them in again, since he doeth things beyond expectation.
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  Speaker 1: But if thou wishest for things to be in order
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  Speaker 1: and reasons to be consecutive, you have from yourselves a
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  Speaker 1: demonstration which more than meets your warrants. Thus twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree,
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  Speaker 1: which is wild by nature, that were grafted contrary to
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  Speaker 1: nature into a good olive tree. How much more shall
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  Speaker 1: these which be their natural branches be grafted into their
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  Speaker 1: own olive tree. If then faith was able to do
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  Speaker 1: what was contrary to nature, much more will it that
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  Speaker 1: which is according to nature. For if this person, who
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  Speaker 1: was cut off from those by nature his fathers, came
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  Speaker 1: contrary to nature unto Abraham, much more wilt thou be
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  Speaker 1: able to recover thine own. For the gentile his evil
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  Speaker 1: lot is according to nature, he being by nature a
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  Speaker 1: wild olive and the good contrary to nature, it being
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  Speaker 1: contrary to nature for him to be grafted into Abraham.
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  Speaker 1: But thy lot, on the contrary, is the good by nature.
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  Speaker 1: For it is not upon another route as the gentile
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  Speaker 1: that thou art to be fixed. If thou art minded
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  Speaker 1: to come back, what pardon then dost thou deserve? When
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  Speaker 1: after the gentile had been able to do what was
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  Speaker 1: contrary to nature, thou art not able to do that
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  Speaker 1: which is according to nature, but has given up even
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  Speaker 1: this then, as he had said, contrary to nature, and
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  Speaker 1: work grafted in that he may not suppose the jew
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  Speaker 1: to have the advantage. He again corrects this by saying
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  Speaker 1: that he also is grafted in. How much more shall these,
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  Speaker 1: he says, which be the natural branches, be grafted into
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  Speaker 1: their own olive And again God is able to graft
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  Speaker 1: them in. And before this he says that if they
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  Speaker 1: abide not still in unbelief, they shall be also grafted in.
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  Speaker 1: And when you hear that he keeps speaking of according
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  Speaker 1: to nature and contrary to nature, do not suppose that
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  Speaker 1: he means the nature that is unchangeable. But he tells
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  Speaker 1: us in these words of the probable and the consecutive,
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  Speaker 1: and on the other hand of the improbable, for the
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  Speaker 1: good things and the bad are not such as are
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  Speaker 1: by nature, but by temper and determination alone. And consider
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  Speaker 1: also how inoffensive he is. For after saying that thou
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  Speaker 1: also wilt be cut off if thou dost not abide
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  Speaker 1: in the faith, and these will be grafted in if
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  Speaker 1: they abide not still in unbelief, he leaves that of
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  Speaker 1: harsh aspect and insists on that of kindlier sound, And
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  Speaker 1: in it he ends putting great hopes before the Jews
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  Speaker 1: if they were minded not to abide. So wherefore he
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  Speaker 1: goes on to save us twenty five. For I would
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  Speaker 1: not brethren that he should be ignorant of this mystery,
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  Speaker 1: lest you should be wise in your own conceits meaning
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  Speaker 1: by mystery here that which is unknown and unutterable, and
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  Speaker 1: hath much of what one should not expect about it.
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  Speaker 1: As in another passage too, he says, behold, I tell
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  Speaker 1: you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
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  Speaker 1: shall all be changed. While then is the mystery that
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  Speaker 1: blindness in part hath happened unto Israel. Here again he
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  Speaker 1: levels a blow at the jew while seeming to take
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  Speaker 1: down the gentile. But his meaning is nearly this, And
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  Speaker 1: he had said it before that the unbelief is not universal,
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  Speaker 1: but only in part, as when he says, but if
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  Speaker 1: any hath caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but
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  Speaker 1: in part that I may not overcharge you all. And
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  Speaker 1: if I be first somewhat or in part filled with
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  Speaker 1: your company. So here too he says what he had
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  Speaker 1: said above, God hath not cast off his people whom
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  Speaker 1: he fore knew. And again, what then have they stumbled
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  Speaker 1: that they should fall? God forbid this? Then he says
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  Speaker 1: here also that it is not the whole people that
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  Speaker 1: is pulled up, but many have already believed, and more
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  Speaker 1: are likely to believe. Then, as he had promised a
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  Speaker 1: great thing, he adduces the prophet in evidence, speaking as follows. Now,
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  Speaker 1: it is not for the fact of a blindness having
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  Speaker 1: happened that he quotes the passage, for every one could
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  Speaker 1: see that, but that they shall believe and be saved.
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  Speaker 1: He brings Isaiah to witness who crieth aloud and saith
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty six. They shall come out of Zion their deliverer,
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  Speaker 1: and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Then to give
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  Speaker 1: them mark that fixes its sense to salvation, to prevent
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  Speaker 1: any one from drawing it aside and attaching it to
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  Speaker 1: times gone by, he says thus twenty seven. For this
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  Speaker 1: is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away
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  Speaker 1: their sins, not when they are circumcised, not when they sacrifice,
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  Speaker 1: not when they do the other deeds of the law,
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  Speaker 1: but when they attaind to thee forgiveness of sins. If
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  Speaker 1: then this hath been promised but has never yet happened
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  Speaker 1: in their case, nor have they ever enjoyed the remission
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  Speaker 1: of sins by baptism. Certainly it will come to pass.
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  Speaker 1: Hence he proceeds verse twenty nine, for the gifts and
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  Speaker 1: calling of God are without repentance. And even this is
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  Speaker 1: not all he says to solace them, For he uses
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  Speaker 1: what had already come about and what came in of
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  Speaker 1: consequence that he states as chiefly intended, putting it in
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  Speaker 1: these words verse twenty eight, as concerning the gospel, they
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  Speaker 1: are enemies for your sex, but as touching the election,
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  Speaker 1: they are beloved for the father's sake. That the gentile
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  Speaker 1: might not then be puffed up and say, I am standing.
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  Speaker 1: Do not tell me of what would have been, but
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  Speaker 1: what has been. He uses this consideration to bring him
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  Speaker 1: down and says, as concerning the gospel, they are enemies
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  Speaker 1: for your sex, for when you are called, they became
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  Speaker 1: more captious. Nevertheless, God hath not even now cut short
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  Speaker 1: the calling of you, But he waiteth for all the
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  Speaker 1: gentiles that are to believe to come in, and then
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  Speaker 1: they also shall come. Then he does them another kind
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  Speaker 1: favor by saying, as touching election, they are beloved for
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  Speaker 1: the father's sex. And what is this? For wherein they
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  Speaker 1: are enemies, punishment is theirs, But wherein they are beloved
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  Speaker 1: the virtue of their ancestors has no influence on them
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  Speaker 1: if they do not believe. Nevertheless, as I said before,
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  Speaker 1: he ceaseth not to solace them with words, that he
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  Speaker 1: may bring them over. Wherefore, by way of fresh proof
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  Speaker 1: for his former assertain he says Verses thirty to thirty two.
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  Speaker 1: For as ye in times past have not believed God,
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  Speaker 1: yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief. Even so
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  Speaker 1: have these also now not believed that through your mercy
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  Speaker 1: they may also obtain mercy? For God hath concluded them
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  Speaker 1: all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all.
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  Speaker 1: He shows here those of the Gentiles were called first,
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  Speaker 1: then as they would not come, the Jews were elected.
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  Speaker 1: And the same result occurred again. For when the Jews
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  Speaker 1: would not believe, again the Gentiles were brought over. And
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  Speaker 1: he does not stop here, nor does he draw the
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  Speaker 1: hold to a conclusion at their rejection, but their having
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  Speaker 1: mercy shown them again. See how much he gives to
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  Speaker 1: those of the gentiles as much as he did to
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  Speaker 1: the Jews before. For when Ye, he would say, in
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  Speaker 1: times past, did not obey being of the gentiles, then
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  Speaker 1: the Jews came in again. When these did not obey
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  Speaker 1: ye have come in. However, they will not perish forever.
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  Speaker 1: For God hath concluded them all in unbelief. That is,
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  Speaker 1: hath convinced them. Hath shown them disobedient, not that they
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  Speaker 1: may remain in disobedience, but that He may save the
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  Speaker 1: one by the captiousness of the other. These by those,
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  Speaker 1: and those by these. Now consider ye were disobedient, and
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  Speaker 1: they were saved again. They have been disobedient, and ye
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  Speaker 1: have been saved. Yet ye have not been so saved
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  Speaker 1: as to be put away again as the Jews were,
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  Speaker 1: but so as to draw them over through jealousy while
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  Speaker 1: ye abide Verse thirty three. Oh, the depth of the
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  Speaker 1: riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, How
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  Speaker 1: unsearchable are his judgments Here, after going back to former
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  Speaker 1: times and looking back to God's original dispensation of things
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  Speaker 1: whereby the world Hath existed up to the present time,
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  Speaker 1: and having considered what special provision he had made for
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  Speaker 1: all occurrences, he has stricken with awe and cries aloud,
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  Speaker 1: so making his hearers feel confident that certainly that will
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  Speaker 1: come to pass which he saith for he would not
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  Speaker 1: have cried aloud and been awe struck unless this was
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  Speaker 1: quite sure to come to pass, that it is a depth,
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  Speaker 1: then he saw, But how great he saw not, For
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  Speaker 1: the language is that of a person wondering, not of
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  Speaker 1: one that knew the whole, but admiring and being awe
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: struck at the goodliness so far forth as in him
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: lay he heralds it forth by two intensive words, riches
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: and depth, and then his awe struck at his having
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: had both the will and the power to do all this,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: and by opposites affecting opposites. How unsearchable are his judgments,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: for they are not on the impossible to be comprehended,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: but even to be searched. And his ways past finding out,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: that is, his dispensations, which are not only impossible to
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: be known, but even to be sought into. For even
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: I he means, have not found out the whole, but
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: a little part, not all. For he alone knoweth his
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: own clearly. Wherefore he proceeds Vers. Thirty four and thirty five.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: who hath been his counselor, or who hath first given
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: to him? And it shall be recompensed unto him again
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: what he means is nearly this, that though he is
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: so wise, yet he has not his wisdom from any other,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: but is himself the fountain of good things. And though
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: he hath done so great things and made us so
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: great presence, yet it was not by borrowing from any
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: other that he gave them, but by making them spring
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: forth from himself, nor as owing any a return for
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: having received from him, but as always being himself the
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: first to do the benefits. For this is a chief
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: mark of riches, to overflow abundantly and yet need no aid.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Wherefore he proceeds to say, for of him, and through him,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: and to him, are all things himself devised, himself created
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: himself holdeth together. For he is rich, and needeth not
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: to receive from another, and wise, and needeth no counselor
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: why speak I have a counselor to know the things
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: of him is no unable save himself alone, the rich
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: and wise one. For it is proof of much riches
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: that he should make them of the gentiles thus well supplied,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: and of much wisdom that he is should constitute the
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: inferiors of the Jews their teachers. Then, as he was
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: awe struck, he offers up thanksgiving also in the words
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: to whom me glory forever. Amen. For when he tells
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: of any great and unutterable thing of this kind, he
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: ends in wonder with a doxology. And this he does
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: in regard to the son also, For in that passage
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: also he went on to the very same thing that
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: he does here, of whom is Christ according to the flesh,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: who is over all God blessed forever amen him. Then
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: let us also imitate, and let us glorify God in
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: all things by a heedful way of life. And let
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: us not feel confidence in the virtues of our ancestry,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: knowing the example that has been made of the Jews.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: For this is not, certainly, it is not the relationship
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: of Christians. For theirs is the kinsmanship of the spirit.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: So the Scythian becomes Abraham's son, and his son, on
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the other hand, more of an alien to him than
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: the Scythian. Let us not then feel confidence in the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: well doings of our fathers. But if you have a
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: parent who is a marvel, even fancy not that this
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: will be enough to save you or to get you
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: honor and glory, unless you have the relationship of character
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: to him. So too, if you have a bad one,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: do not think that you will be condemned on this
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: account or be put to shame, if at least you
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: order your own doings aright. For what can be less
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: honorable than the gentiles? Still in faith, they soon became
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: related to the saints, or what more nearly connected than
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the Jews. Yet still by unbelief they were made aliens.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: For that relationship is of nature and necessity, after which
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: we are all relations. For of Adam we are all sprung,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: and none can be more a relation than another, both
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: as regards Adam, and as regards Noah, and as regards
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the Earth, the common mother of all. But the relationship
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: worthy of honors is that which does distinguish us from
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: the wicked. For it is not possible for all to
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: be relations in this way, but those of the same
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: character also, Nor would I call them brothers who have
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: come of the same labor with ourselves, but those who
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: display the same zeal In this way. Christ giveth men
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: the name of children of God, and so on the
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: other hand, children of the devil, and so too children
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: of disobedience, of hill and of perdition. Likewise, so Timothy
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: was Paul's son from goodness, and was called mine own son.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: But of his sister's son we do not know even
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the name. And yet the one was by nature related
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: to him, and still that availed him not, but the other,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: being both by nature and country far removed from him,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: as being a native of Lystra, still became most nearly related.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Let us then also become the sons of the saints,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: or rather, let us become even God's sons, for that
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: it is possible to become sons of God. Hear what
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: he says, be ye therefore perfect as your father, which
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: is in heaven. This is why we call him father
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: in prayer, and that not only to remind ourselves of
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the grace, but also of the virtue that we may
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: not do aught unworthy of such a relationship. And how
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: it may be said, is it possible to be a
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: son of God by being free from all passions and
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: showing jo gentleness to them that affront and wrong us?
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: For thy Father is so to them that blaspheme him. Wherefore,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: though he says various things at various times, yet in
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: no case does he say that ye may be like
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: your father. But when he says, pray for them that
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: despite for they use you, do good to them that
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: hate you. Then he brings in this as the reward.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: For there is nothing that brings us so near to
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: God and makes us so like Him as this well doing. Therefore,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Paul also when he says, be ye, followers of God,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: means them to be so in this respect, for we
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: have need of all good deeds, chiefly, however, of love
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: to man and gentleness, since we need so much of
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: His love to man ourselves, for we commit many transgressions
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: every day. Wherefore also we have need to show much mercy.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: But much and little is not measured by the quantity
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: of things given, but by the amount of a giver's means.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Let not then the rich be high minded, nor the
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: poor dejected, as giving so little, for the latter often
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: gives more than the former. We must not then make
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: ourselves miserable because we are poor, since it makes alms
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: giving the easier for us. For he that has got
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: much together is seized with haughtiness, as well as a
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: greater affection that he has. But he that hath but
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: a little is quit of either of these domineering passions.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Hence he finds more occasions for doing well. For this
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: man will go cheerfully into a prison house, and will
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: visit the sick, and will give a cup of cold water.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: But the other will not take upon him any office
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: of this sort, as pampered up by his riches. Be
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: not then, out of heart at thy poverty, For thy
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: poverty makes thy traffic for heaven the easier to thee.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: And if thou have nothing, but have a compassionating soul,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: even this will be laid up as a reward for thee. Hence, too,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Paul bade us weep with them that weep, and exhorted
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: us to be prisoners, as though bound with them. For
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: it is not to them that weep, only that it
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: yieldeth some solace, that there be many that compassionate them,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: but to them who are in other afflicting circumstances. For
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: there are cases where conversation has as much power to
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: recover him that is cast down as money. For this,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: then God exhorts us to give money to them that ask,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: not merely with a view to relieve their poverty, but
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: that He may teach us to compassionate the misfortunes of
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: our neighbors. For this also the covetous man is odious
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: in in that he not only disregards men in a
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: beggarth state, but because he gets himself trained for cruelty
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and great inhumanity. And so he that for their sakes
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: thinks little of money, is even on this account an
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: object of love. That he is merciful and kind to
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: man and Christ. When he blesseth, the merciful blesseth and praiseth,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: not those only that give the alms of money, but
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: those also who have the will to do so. Let
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: us then be so inclinable to mercy, and all other
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: blessings will follow. For he that hath a spirit of
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: love and mercy, if he have money, will give it away,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: or if he see any in distress, will weep and
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: bewail it. If he fall in with a person wronged,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: will stand up for him. If he sees one spitefully entreated,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: will reach out his hand to him. For as he
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: has that treasure house of blessings, a loving and merciful soul,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: he will make it a fountain for all his brethren's needs,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: and will enjoy all the rewards that are laid up
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: with God, that we then may attain to these let
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: us of all things, frame our souls accordingly, for so
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: while in this world we shall do good deeds without number,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: and shall enjoy the crowns to come, to which may
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: we all attain by the grace and love towards Man
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: et cetera. End of Section thirty six