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001 - Homily I · Three Homilies on the Devil

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Speaker 1: Homily one from Three Homilies on the Devil by Saint
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Speaker 1: John Cursaustom. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. I indeed was hoping that
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Speaker 1: from the continuance of my discourse, you would have a
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Speaker 1: surfeit of my words. But I see that the contrary
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Speaker 1: is happening, that no surfeit is taking place from this continuance,
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Speaker 1: but that your desire is increased, and that an addition
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Speaker 1: is made not to your saiety, but to your pleasure.
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Speaker 1: That the same thing is happening which the winebibbers ad
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Speaker 1: heathen drinking abouts experience. For they the more they pour
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Speaker 1: down unmixed wine, so much rather they kindle their thirst.
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Speaker 1: And in your case, the more teaching we inculcate so much,
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Speaker 1: the rather do we kindle your desire. We make your
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Speaker 1: long and greater, your love for it stronger. On this account,
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Speaker 1: although I am conscious of extreme poverty, I do not
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Speaker 1: cease to imitate the ostentatious entertainers whole, setting before you
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Speaker 1: my table continuously and placing on it the cup of
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Speaker 1: my teaching filled full. For I see that after having
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Speaker 1: drunk it all, you retire again thirsting. And this indeed
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Speaker 1: has become evident during the whole time, but especially since
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Speaker 1: the last Lord's Day, for that ye partake of the
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Speaker 1: divine oracles insatiably. That day particularly showed whereupon I discoursed
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Speaker 1: about the unlawfulness of speaking ill one of another, when
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Speaker 1: I furnished you with a sure subject for self accusation,
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Speaker 1: suggesting that you should speak ill of your own sins,
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Speaker 1: but should not busy yourselves about those of other people.
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Speaker 1: When I brought forward the saints as accusing themselves indeed,
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Speaker 1: but sparing others. Paul saying I am the chief of sinners,
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Speaker 1: and that God had compassion on him who was a blasphemer,
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Speaker 1: or a persecutor, or injurious, and calling himself one born
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Speaker 1: out of due time, and not even thinking himself worthy
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Speaker 1: of the title of apostle. Peterson saying, depart from me,
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Speaker 1: because I am a sinful man. Matthew styling himself a
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Speaker 1: publican even in the days of his apostle ship. David
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Speaker 1: crying out and saying, my iniquities have gone over my head,
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Speaker 1: and as a heavy burden have become burdensome to me,
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Speaker 1: and Isaiah lamenting and bewailing I am unclean and have
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Speaker 1: unclean lips. The three children in the furnace of fire,
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Speaker 1: confessing and saying that they have sinned and transgressed, and
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Speaker 1: have not kept the commandments of God. Daniel again makes
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Speaker 1: the same lamentation, when after the enumeration of these saints,
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Speaker 1: I called their accusers flies, and introduced the right reason
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Speaker 1: for the comparison, saying that just as they fasten themselves
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Speaker 1: upon the wounds of others, so also the accusers bite
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Speaker 1: at other people's sins, collecting disease therefrom for their acquaintance,
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Speaker 1: and those who do the opposites I designated bees, not
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Speaker 1: gathering together diseases, but building honeycombs with the grint devotion,
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Speaker 1: and so flying to the meadow of the virtue of
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Speaker 1: the saint. Then accordingly then he showed your insatiable longing.
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Speaker 1: For when my discourse was extended to some length, ye,
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Speaker 1: to an indeterminable length such as never was, many indeed
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Speaker 1: expected that your eagerness would be quenched by the abundance
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Speaker 1: of what was said. But the contrary happened, For your
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Speaker 1: heart was rather warmed your desire was the rather kindled.
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Speaker 1: And whence was this evident, the acclamations, at least, which
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Speaker 1: took place at the end, were greater, and the shouts
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Speaker 1: more clear. And the same thing took place as at
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Speaker 1: the forge. For as there at the beginning, indeed, the
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Speaker 1: light of the fire is not very clear. But when
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Speaker 1: the flame has caught the whole of the wood that
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Speaker 1: is laid upon it, it is raised to a great height.
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Speaker 1: So also accordingly, this happened on the occasion of that day.
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Speaker 1: At the beginning, indeed, this assembly was not vehemently stirred
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Speaker 1: by me. But when the discourse was extended to some
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Speaker 1: light and gradually took hold of all the subjects, and
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Speaker 1: the teaching spread more widely than accordingly, then the desire
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Speaker 1: of listening was kindled in you, and the applause broke
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Speaker 1: forth more vehemently. On this accounts, although I had been
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Speaker 1: prepared to say less than was spoken, I then exceeded
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Speaker 1: the measure. Nay, rather, I never exceeded the measure. Where
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Speaker 1: I am wanted to measure the amounts of the teaching
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Speaker 1: not by the multitude of words spoken, but by the
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Speaker 1: disposition of the audience. For he who meets with a
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Speaker 1: disgusted audience, even if he abridges teaching, seems to be vexatious.
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Speaker 1: But he who meets with eager and wide awake and
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Speaker 1: attentive years, though he extends his discourse to some length,
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Speaker 1: not even thus fulfills their desire. But since it happens
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Speaker 1: that there are in so great a congregation certain weak
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Speaker 1: ones unable to follow the length of the discourse, I
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Speaker 1: wish to suggest this to them, that they should hear
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Speaker 1: and receive as much as they can, and, having received enough,
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Speaker 1: should retire, if no one who forbids or compels them
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Speaker 1: to remain beyond their natural strength. Let them, not, however,
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Speaker 1: necessitate the abridgments of the discourse before the time and
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Speaker 1: the proper hours. Thou art repletes, but thy brother still hungers.
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Speaker 1: Thou art drunk with the multitude of things spoken, but
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Speaker 1: thy brother is still thirsty. Let him not then distress
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Speaker 1: thy weakness, compelling thee to receive more than thine own
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Speaker 1: power allows. Nor do thou vex is zeal by preventing
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Speaker 1: him from receiving all that he can take. In This
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Speaker 1: also happens at secular feasts. Some, indeed, are more quickly
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Speaker 1: satisfied some more tardily. And neither do these blame those,
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Speaker 1: nor do they condemn these. But there, indeed, to withdraw
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Speaker 1: more quickly is praiseworthy. But here to withdraw more quickly
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Speaker 1: is not praiseworthy but excusable. There to leave off more
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Speaker 1: slowly is gulpable and faulty. Here to withdraw it more
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Speaker 1: tardily brings the greatest commendation in good report. Pray, why
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Speaker 1: is this? Because there, indeed the tardiness arises from greediness,
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Speaker 1: and here the endurance and patience are made up of
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Speaker 1: spiritual desire and divine longing. But enough of preamble, and
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Speaker 1: we will proceed hereupon to the business which remained over
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Speaker 1: to us from that day. What then was that which
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Speaker 1: was then spoken that all men had one speech, just
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Speaker 1: as also they had one nature, and no one was
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Speaker 1: different in speech or in tongue. Whence then comes so
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Speaker 1: great a distinction in speech from the carelessness of those
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Speaker 1: who received the gift, both of which matters. We then spoke,
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Speaker 1: showing both the loving kindness of the Master through the
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Speaker 1: unity of speech, and the senselessness of the servants through
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Speaker 1: their distinction of speech. For he indeed foreseeing that we
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Speaker 1: should waste the gift, nevertheless give it, and they to
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Speaker 1: whom it was entrusted waxed evil over their charge. This
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Speaker 1: is then one way of explanation, not that God rested
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Speaker 1: the gift from us, but that we wasted what had
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Speaker 1: been given. Then next after that that we received afterwards
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Speaker 1: gifts great later than those lost. In place of temporal toil,
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Speaker 1: He honored us with eternal life, in place of thorns
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Speaker 1: and thistles, He prepared the fruit of the spirits to
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Speaker 1: grow in our souls. Nothing was more insignificance than man,
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Speaker 1: and nothing became more honored than man. He was the
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Speaker 1: last item of the reasonable creature, but the feet became
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Speaker 1: the head, and by means of the first fruits were
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Speaker 1: raised to the royal throne. For just as some generous
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Speaker 1: and opulent man, who has seen someone escape from shipwreck,
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Speaker 1: and only able to save his bare body from the wave,
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Speaker 1: cradles him in his hands and casts about him a
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Speaker 1: bright garment and conducts him to the highest honors, so
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Speaker 1: also God has done in the case of our nature.
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Speaker 1: Man cast aside all that he had his right to
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Speaker 1: speak clearly, his communion with God, his sojourn in paradise
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Speaker 1: his unclouded life, and as from a shipwreck, went forth bare.
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Speaker 1: But God received him and straightway clothed him, and taking
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Speaker 1: by the hand, gradually conducted him to heaven. And yet
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Speaker 1: the shipwreck was quite unpardonable, for this tempest was due
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Speaker 1: entirely not to the force of the winds, but to
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Speaker 1: the carelessness of the sailor. And yet God did not
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Speaker 1: look at this, but had compassion for the magnitude of
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Speaker 1: the calamity. And him who had suffered the shipwreck in
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Speaker 1: harbor he received as lovingly as if he had undergone
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Speaker 1: this in the midst of the open sea. For to
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Speaker 1: fall in paradise is to undergo shipwreck in harbor. Why so,
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Speaker 1: because when no sadness or care, or labors or toil,
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Speaker 1: or countless waves of desire assaulted our nature, it was
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Speaker 1: upset and it fell. And as the miscreants who sail
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Speaker 1: the sea often bore through the ship with a small
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Speaker 1: iron tool and let the whole sea to the ship
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Speaker 1: from below, so accordingly, then when the devil saw the
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Speaker 1: ship of Adam, that is his soul full of many
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Speaker 1: good things, he came and boarded through with his mere voice,
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Speaker 1: as with some small iron tool, and emptied him of
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Speaker 1: all his wealth, and sank the ship itself. But God
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Speaker 1: made the greater gain than the loss, and brought our
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Speaker 1: nature to the royal throne. Wherefore Paul cries out and says,
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Speaker 1: he raised us up with him and made us to
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Speaker 1: sit with him on his right hand in the heavenly places,
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Speaker 1: that in the ages to come, he might show the
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Speaker 1: exceeding riches of his grace and kindness towards us. What
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Speaker 1: dost thou say, The thing has already happened and has
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Speaker 1: an end, And dost thou say, in order that he
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Speaker 1: might show to the ages to come? Has he not shown?
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Speaker 1: He has already shown, but not to all men, but
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Speaker 1: to me, who am faithful. But the unbelieving has not
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Speaker 1: yet seen the wonder. But then in that day the
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Speaker 1: whole nature of man will come forward and will wonder
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Speaker 1: at that which has been done. But especially will it
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Speaker 1: be more manifest to us, For we believe even now,
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Speaker 1: But hearing and sights not put a wonder before us.
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Speaker 1: In the same way, But just as in the case
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Speaker 1: of kings, when we hear of the purple robe and
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Speaker 1: the diadem, in the golden raiment, and the royal throne.
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Speaker 1: We wonder, indeed, but experience this in greater degree when
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Speaker 1: the curtains are drawn aside and we see him seated
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Speaker 1: on the lofty judgment seat. So also in the case
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Speaker 1: of the only Begotten, when we see the curtains of
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Speaker 1: Heaven drawn aside, in the King of Angels descending thence
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Speaker 1: and with his bodyguards of the heavenly hosts, then we
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Speaker 1: perceive the wonder to be greater from our sight of it.
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Speaker 1: For consider with me what it is to see our
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Speaker 1: nature born upon the Cherubim and the whole angelic force
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Speaker 1: surrounding it. But look with me too at the wisdom
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Speaker 1: of Paul, how many expressions he seeks for us, so
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Speaker 1: as to present to us the loving kindness of God.
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Speaker 1: For he did not speak merely the word grace nor riches.
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Speaker 1: But what did he say the exceeding riches of his
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Speaker 1: great kindness. But notwithstanding even so he is below the mark.
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Speaker 1: And even as the slippery bodies, when grasped by countless hands,
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Speaker 1: escape our hold and slip through easily, so also are
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Speaker 1: we unable to get hold of the loving kindness of
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Speaker 1: God in whatever expressions we may try to grasp it.
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Speaker 1: But the exceeding magnitude of it baffles the feebleness of
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Speaker 1: our utterances. And Paul, therefore, experiencing this and seeing the
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Speaker 1: force of words defeated by its magnitude, does this after
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Speaker 1: saying one word, and what is this? Thanks be to
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Speaker 1: God for his unspeakable gift, For neither speech nor any
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Speaker 1: mind is able to set forth the tender care of God.
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Speaker 1: On this account. He then says that it is past
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Speaker 1: finding out and elsewhere. The peace of God, which paths
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Speaker 1: all understanding, shall keep your hearts. But as I was saying,
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Speaker 1: these two ways of explanation are found in the meantime.
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Speaker 1: One indeed, that God has not rested the gift that
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Speaker 1: we have lost, and next that the good things which
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Speaker 1: have been given to us are even greater than those
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Speaker 1: which we have lost. And I wish also to mention
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Speaker 1: the third two. What then is the third that even
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Speaker 1: if He had not given the things after these which
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Speaker 1: were greater than those which we had lost, but had
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Speaker 1: only taken away what had been given to us as
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Speaker 1: we furnished. The reason why for let this be added,
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Speaker 1: Even this is enough of itself to show His tender
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Speaker 1: care towards us, For not only to give, but also
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Speaker 1: to take away. What is given is the mark of
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Speaker 1: the greatest loving kindness. And if you will let us
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Speaker 1: lay bear the matter in the case of paradise, he
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Speaker 1: give paradise this of his own tender care. We were
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Speaker 1: seen to be unworthy of the gift, This of our
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Speaker 1: own senselessness. He took away the gift from those who
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Speaker 1: became unworthy of it. This came of his own goodness.
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Speaker 1: And what kind of goodness is it? Says one to
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Speaker 1: take a wakay the gifts waits, and thou shall fully
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Speaker 1: hear forthink what Cain would have been dwelling in Paradise
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Speaker 1: after his blood guiltiness. For if when he was expelled
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Speaker 1: from that abode, if one condemned to toil and labor
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Speaker 1: and beholding the threat of danger hanging over his head,
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Speaker 1: if seeing the calamnity of his father before his eyes,
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Speaker 1: and holding the traces of the wrath of God still
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Speaker 1: in his hands, and encompassed with so great horrors, he
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Speaker 1: lashed out into such great wickedness as to ignore nature,
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Speaker 1: to forget one born from the same birth pains, and
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Speaker 1: to slay him who had done him no wrong, to
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Speaker 1: lay hold on his brother's person and to die his
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Speaker 1: right hand with blood, and when God wanted him to
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Speaker 1: be still, to refuse submission, and to affront his maker,
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Speaker 1: to dishonor his parents. If this man had continued to
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Speaker 1: dwell in Paradise, look into how great evil he would
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Speaker 1: have rushed. For if when so many restraints were laid
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Speaker 1: upon him, he leapt with fatal leaps, And if these
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Speaker 1: walls were set at naught, whether would he not have
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Speaker 1: participated himself? Wouldst thou learned too from the mother of
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Speaker 1: this man, what a good result the expulsion from the
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Speaker 1: life of Paradise had, Compared what Eve was before this
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Speaker 1: and what she became afterwards. For this indeed, she considered
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Speaker 1: that deceiving devil, that wickedemon, to be more worth believing
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Speaker 1: than the commandments of God. And at the mere sight
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Speaker 1: of the tree she trampled underfoot the law which had
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Speaker 1: been laid down by him. And when the expulsion from
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Speaker 1: Paradise came, consider how much better and wiser she grew.
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Speaker 1: For when she bare a son, she says, I have
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Speaker 1: gotten a man through the Lord. She straightway flew to
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Speaker 1: the Master, who before this had despised the Master. And
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Speaker 1: she neither ascribes the matter to nature, nor puts the
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Speaker 1: birth down to the laws of marriage. But she recognizes
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Speaker 1: the Lord of Nature and acknowledges thanks to him for
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Speaker 1: the birth of the little child. And she who before
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Speaker 1: this deceived her husband, afterwards even trained the little child
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Speaker 1: and gave him a name, which of itself was able
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Speaker 1: to bring the gift of God to her remembrance. And again,
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Speaker 1: when she bear another, she says, God hath raised up
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Speaker 1: seed to me in place of Abel, whom Cain slew.
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Speaker 1: The woman remembers her calamity and does not become impatient,
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Speaker 1: but she gives thanks to God and calls the little
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Speaker 1: child after his gift, furnishing it with constant material for instruction. Thus,
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Speaker 1: even in his very deprivation, God conferred greater benefit. The
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Speaker 1: woman suffered expulsion from paradise, but by means of her rejection,
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Speaker 1: she was led to a knowledge of God, so that
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Speaker 1: she found a greater than she lost. And if it
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Speaker 1: were profitable, says one to suffer expulsion from paradise, for
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Speaker 1: what cause did God give paradise to the beginning? This
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Speaker 1: turned out profitably to man on account of our carelessness,
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Speaker 1: Since if at least they had taken heed to themselves,
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Speaker 1: and had acknowledged their master, and had known how to
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Speaker 1: be self restrained and to keep within bounds, they would
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Speaker 1: have remained in honor. But when they treated the gifts
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Speaker 1: which had been given them with insolence, then it became
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Speaker 1: profitable that they should be ejected. For what cause, then
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Speaker 1: did God give at first? In order that he might
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Speaker 1: show forth his loving kindness, because he himself was prepared
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Speaker 1: to bring us even to greater honor. But we were
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Speaker 1: the cause of chastisement and punishment on all sides, ejecting
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Speaker 1: ourselves through our indifference to goods which were given to us.
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Speaker 1: Just as therefore, an affectionate father at first indeed suffers
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Speaker 1: his own son to dwell in his home and to
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Speaker 1: enjoy all his father's goods. But when he sees that
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Speaker 1: he has become worthless of honor, he leads him away
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Speaker 1: from his table, and puts him far from his own site,
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Speaker 1: and often casts him forth from his paternal home, in
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Speaker 1: order that he, suffering expulsion and becoming better by this
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Speaker 1: slight and this dishonor, may again show himself worthy of restoration,
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Speaker 1: and may succeed to his father's inheritance. So has God done,
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Speaker 1: He give paradise to man. He cast him out when
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Speaker 1: he appeared unworthy, in order that by his dwelling outside
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Speaker 1: and through his dishonor, he might become better and more
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Speaker 1: self restrained, and might appear worthy again of restoration. Since
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Speaker 1: after those things he did not become better, he brings
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Speaker 1: him back again and says, today, shalt thou be with
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Speaker 1: me in paradise. Dost thus see that not the gift
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Speaker 1: of paradise, but even the ejection of paradise, was a
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Speaker 1: token of the greatest tender care. For had he not
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Speaker 1: suffered expulsion from paradise, he would not again have appeared
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Speaker 1: worthy of paradise. This argument, therefore, let us maintain throughout.
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Speaker 1: Let us apply to the case of the subject lying
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Speaker 1: before us. God give us speech common to all. This
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Speaker 1: is part of his loving kindness to men. They did
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Speaker 1: not use the gift rightly, but they lapsed to utter folly.
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Speaker 1: He took away again that which had been given. For
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Speaker 1: if when they had one speech they fell into so
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Speaker 1: great folly as to wish to build a tower to heaven,
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Speaker 1: had they not immediately been chastised, would they not have
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Speaker 1: desired to lay holds on the height of heaven? Itself.
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Speaker 1: For why, if indeed that were impossible for them, Yet,
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Speaker 1: notwithstanding their impious thoughts, are made out from their plan
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Speaker 1: all which things God foresaw. And since they did not
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Speaker 1: use their oneness of speech rightly, he rightly divided them
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Speaker 1: by difference of speech. And see with me his loving kindness. Behold,
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Speaker 1: saith He, they all have one speech, and this they
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Speaker 1: have begun to do. For what reason did he not
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Speaker 1: at once proceed to the division of tongues, but first
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Speaker 1: of all defend himself as if about to be judged
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Speaker 1: in a law court. And yet at least no one
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Speaker 1: can say to him, why hast thou thus done? Yea,
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Speaker 1: he is at liberty to do all things as he wills,
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Speaker 1: but still as one about to give account. He thus
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Speaker 1: sets up a defense, teaching us to be gentle and loving.
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Speaker 1: For if the Master defends himself to his servants, even
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Speaker 1: when they have done him this wrong, much more ought
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Speaker 1: we to defend ourselves to one another, as if we
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Speaker 1: are wronged to the highest degree. See at least how
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Speaker 1: he defends himself. Behold, they have all one mouth and
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Speaker 1: one speech, saith He, And this they have begun to do,
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Speaker 1: as if he said, let no one accuse me of
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Speaker 1: this when he sees the division of tongues. Let no
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Speaker 1: one consider that this difference of speech was made over
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Speaker 1: to men from the beginning. Behold, they all have one
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Speaker 1: mouth in one speech, and they did not use the
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Speaker 1: gift to right. And in order that thou mayst understand
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Speaker 1: that he does not chastise for what has taken place,
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Speaker 1: so much as he provides for improvement in the future.
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Speaker 1: Here the sequel, and now, none of all the things
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Speaker 1: will fail them which they set on foot to do.
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Speaker 1: Now what he says is of such a kind as this.
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Speaker 1: If they do not pay the penalty now and be
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Speaker 1: restrained from the very root of their sins, they will
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Speaker 1: never cease from wickedness. For this is what. None of
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Speaker 1: the things will fail them which they set on foot
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Speaker 1: to do, means as if he said, they will add
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Speaker 1: other deeds yet more monstrous, or such a thing as wickedness,
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Speaker 1: If when it has taken a start, it be not
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Speaker 1: hindered as fire catching wood, so it rises to an
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Speaker 1: unspeakable height. Dost thou see that the deprivation of oneness
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Speaker 1: of speech was a work of much loving kindness. He
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Speaker 1: inflict a difference of speech upon them in order that
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Speaker 1: they might not fall into greater wickedness. Hold fast this argument,
21:13
Speaker 1: then with me, and let it be ever fixed and
21:15
Speaker 1: immovable in your minds, that not only when he confers benefits,
21:20
Speaker 1: but even when he chastises, God is good and loving,
21:24
Speaker 1: For even his chastisements and his punishments are the greatest
21:27
Speaker 1: part of his beneficence, the greatest form of his providence. Whenever,
21:32
Speaker 1: therefore thou seest that famines have taken place, in pestilences,
21:36
Speaker 1: and droughts, in immoderate reigns, and irregularities in the atmosphere,
21:40
Speaker 1: or any other of the things which chasten human nature,
21:43
Speaker 1: be not distressed, nor be despondent, but worship Him who
21:46
Speaker 1: caused them. Marvel at him for his tender care. For
21:51
Speaker 1: he who does these things is such that he even
21:54
Speaker 1: chastens the body, that the soul may become sound. Then
21:59
Speaker 1: does God these things? Saith one, God does these things.
22:03
Speaker 1: And even if the whole city, nay, even if the
22:05
Speaker 1: whole universe were here, I will not shrink from saying this.
22:09
Speaker 1: Would that my voice were clearer than a trumpet, and
22:12
Speaker 1: that it were possible to stand in a lofty place
22:15
Speaker 1: and to cry aloud to all men, and to testify
22:18
Speaker 1: that God does these things. I do not say these
22:21
Speaker 1: things in arrogance, but I have the prophets standing at
22:25
Speaker 1: my side, crying and saying, there is no evil in
22:29
Speaker 1: the city which the Lord hath not done. Now, evil
22:32
Speaker 1: is an ambiguous term, and I wish that you shall
22:35
Speaker 1: learn the exact meaning of each expression, in order that
22:38
Speaker 1: on account of ambiguity you may not confound the nature
22:42
Speaker 1: of the things and fall into blasphemy. There is then evil,
22:47
Speaker 1: which is really evil, fornication, adultery, covidnus, and the countless
22:51
Speaker 1: dreadful things which are worthy of the utmost reproach and punishment. Again,
22:56
Speaker 1: there is evil, which rather is not evil, but called
22:59
Speaker 1: so famine, pestilence, death, disease, and others of like kind.
23:04
Speaker 1: For these would not be evils on this account, I
23:07
Speaker 1: said they are called so. Only why then, because were
23:12
Speaker 1: they evils, they would not have become the sources of
23:15
Speaker 1: good to us, chastening our pride, goading our slot, and
23:19
Speaker 1: leading us on too zeal, making us more attentive. For
23:22
Speaker 1: when Sayethuan, he slew them, then they sought him, and
23:27
Speaker 1: they returned and came early to God He calls this
23:31
Speaker 1: evil therefore, which chastens them, which makes them purer, which
23:35
Speaker 1: renders them more zealous, which leads them on too love
23:38
Speaker 1: of wisdom, not that which comes under suspicion and is
23:42
Speaker 1: worthy of reproach, for that is not a work of God,
23:45
Speaker 1: but an invention of our own will. But this is
23:49
Speaker 1: for the destruction of the other. He calls, then, by
23:52
Speaker 1: the name of evil, the affliction which arises from our punishment,
23:57
Speaker 1: thus naming it not in regard to his own nature,
23:59
Speaker 1: but accord to that view which men take of it.
24:02
Speaker 1: For since we are accustomed to call by the name
24:05
Speaker 1: of evil not only thefts and adulteries, but also calamities,
24:10
Speaker 1: so he has called the matter according to the estimate
24:12
Speaker 1: of mankind. This then, is that which the prophet saith.
24:17
Speaker 1: There is no evil in the city which the Lord
24:19
Speaker 1: hath not done. This too, by means of Isaiah, God
24:23
Speaker 1: has made clear, saying, I am God who maketh peace
24:26
Speaker 1: and createth evil, again naming calamities evils. This evil also
24:32
Speaker 1: Christ hints at, thus saying to the disciples, sufficient for
24:36
Speaker 1: the day is the evil thereof, that is to say,
24:40
Speaker 1: the affliction, the misery. It is manifested on all sides,
24:44
Speaker 1: that he here calls punishment evil, and himself brings these upon us,
24:49
Speaker 1: affording us the greatest view of his providence. For the
24:53
Speaker 1: physician is not only to be commended when he leads
24:56
Speaker 1: forth the patient into the gardens and meadows, or even
24:59
Speaker 1: into bass and pools of water, nor yet when he
25:03
Speaker 1: sets before him a well furnished table, but when he
25:05
Speaker 1: orders him to remain without food, when he oppresses him
25:10
Speaker 1: with hunger and lays him low with thirst, confines him
25:13
Speaker 1: to his bed, both making his house a prison and
25:17
Speaker 1: depriving him of the very light, and shadowing his room
25:22
Speaker 1: on all sides with curtains. And when he cuts, and
25:25
Speaker 1: when he cauterizes, and when he brings his bitter medicines,
25:30
Speaker 1: he is equally a physician. How is it not then
25:33
Speaker 1: preposterous to call him a physician who does so many
25:37
Speaker 1: evil things, but to blasphem God if at any time
25:40
Speaker 1: he do with one of these things, if he bring
25:43
Speaker 1: on either famine or death, and to reject his providence overall.
25:47
Speaker 1: And yet he is the only true physician, both of
25:50
Speaker 1: souls and bodies. On this account, he often seizes this
25:54
Speaker 1: nature of ours wantoning in prosperity and travailing with a
25:58
Speaker 1: fever of sin, and by want and hunger and death
26:02
Speaker 1: and other calamities. And the rest of the medicines of
26:06
Speaker 1: which he knows frees us from diseases. But the poor
26:10
Speaker 1: alone feel hunger, says one. But he does not chasten
26:14
Speaker 1: with hunger alone, but with countless other things. Him who
26:18
Speaker 1: is in poverty he has often corrected with hunger, but
26:22
Speaker 1: the rich and him who enjoys prosperity with dangers, diseases,
26:26
Speaker 1: untimely deaths, for he is full of resources, and the
26:30
Speaker 1: medicines which he has for our salvation are manifold. Thus
26:34
Speaker 1: to the judge's due. They do not honor or crown
26:38
Speaker 1: those only who dwell in cities, nor do they provide
26:41
Speaker 1: gifts alone. But they also often correct on this account.
26:45
Speaker 1: Both the sword is sharpened by them, and tortures are prepared,
26:50
Speaker 1: both the wheel and the stalks, and the executioners and
26:54
Speaker 1: countless other forms of chastisement. That which the executioner is
26:57
Speaker 1: to the judges, famine is to God as an executioner,
27:01
Speaker 1: correcting us and leading us away from vice. This, too,
27:05
Speaker 1: it is possible to see in the case of the husbandman.
27:08
Speaker 1: They do not then, only protect the root of the vine,
27:11
Speaker 1: nor hedge it around, but prune its and lop off
27:15
Speaker 1: many of the branches. On this account, not only have
27:19
Speaker 1: they a whole, but a sickle too suitable for cutting. Yet, notwithstanding,
27:23
Speaker 1: we do not find fault with them, And then above all,
27:26
Speaker 1: we admire them when we see them cutting off much
27:29
Speaker 1: that is unserviceable, so as through the rejection of what
27:34
Speaker 1: is superfluous to afford greater security to that which remains.
27:39
Speaker 1: How is it then not preposterous that we should thus
27:42
Speaker 1: approve of a father, indeed, and a physician, and a judge,
27:46
Speaker 1: and a husbandman, and should neither blame nor censor him
27:50
Speaker 1: who casts his son out of his house, nor the
27:53
Speaker 1: physician who puts his patient to torture, nor the judge
27:57
Speaker 1: who corrects, nor the husbandman who prunes. But that we
28:00
Speaker 1: shall blame and smite with countless accusations. God, if he
28:05
Speaker 1: would at any time rise us up, when we are
28:09
Speaker 1: as we were, be sotted through the great drunkenness which
28:13
Speaker 1: comes of wickedness, how great madness would it not be
28:18
Speaker 1: not even to allow God to share of the same
28:21
Speaker 1: self justification of which we allow our fellow servants to
28:24
Speaker 1: share hearing these things. For them who reproach God, I
28:29
Speaker 1: speak now in order that they may not kick against
28:32
Speaker 1: the pricks and cover their own feet with blood, that
28:36
Speaker 1: they may not throw stones to heaven and receive wounds
28:39
Speaker 1: on their own head. For I have someone else far
28:43
Speaker 1: beyond this to say, for omitting to ask. I say
28:46
Speaker 1: this by way of concession. If God took from us
28:49
Speaker 1: to our prophets, I only say this that if he
28:53
Speaker 1: took what had been given, not even thus could anyone
28:57
Speaker 1: be able to reproach him, For he was lord of
29:01
Speaker 1: his own among men. Indeed, when they entrust us with
29:05
Speaker 1: money and lend us silver, we give them our thanks
29:08
Speaker 1: for the time during which they lent us. We are
29:11
Speaker 1: not indignant at the time at which they take it back.
29:15
Speaker 1: And shall we reproach God who wishes to take back
29:17
Speaker 1: his own Indeed, now is this not the extreme of folly? Yea,
29:22
Speaker 1: the great and noble Job did not act thus, For
29:27
Speaker 1: not only when he received, but even when he was deprived.
29:31
Speaker 1: He gives the greatest thanks to God, saying the Lord
29:33
Speaker 1: give the Lord hath taken away. May the name of
29:37
Speaker 1: the Lord be blessed forever. But if it is right
29:40
Speaker 1: to give thanks for both these, even separately, And the
29:44
Speaker 1: deprivation is not the less serviceable than bestole. What excusableness
29:50
Speaker 1: should we have tell me in recompensing in a contrary
29:54
Speaker 1: spirit and being impatient with him when we ought to
29:57
Speaker 1: worship who is so gentle and loving and careful, who
30:02
Speaker 1: is wiser than every physician, and more full of affection
30:05
Speaker 1: than any father, juster than any judge, and more anxious
30:09
Speaker 1: than any husbandman in healing these souls of ours? What then,
30:13
Speaker 1: could be more insane and senseless than they, who, in
30:17
Speaker 1: the midst of so great good order, say that we
30:20
Speaker 1: are deprived of the providence of God? Were just as
30:24
Speaker 1: if someone were to contend that the soul was murky
30:28
Speaker 1: and cold, he would produce an example of extreme insanity
30:32
Speaker 1: by his opinion. So if anyone doubts about the providence
30:36
Speaker 1: of God, much rather is he liable to charges of madness?
30:43
Speaker 1: Not so manifest is the sun, as the providence of
30:46
Speaker 1: God is clear. But nevertheless, some dare to say that
30:49
Speaker 1: demons administer our affairs? What can I do? Thou hast
30:54
Speaker 1: a loving master? He chooses rather to be blasphemed by
30:58
Speaker 1: thee through these words than to commit thine affairs to
31:01
Speaker 1: the demons and persuade thee by the reality how demons administer.
31:06
Speaker 1: For then thou wouldst know their wickedness well by the
31:09
Speaker 1: experience of it. Rather, indeed, now it is possible to
31:13
Speaker 1: set it before you as it were by a certain
31:16
Speaker 1: small example, certain men possessed of demons, coming forth out
31:21
Speaker 1: of the tombs, met Christ, and the demons kept beseeching
31:24
Speaker 1: him to suffer them to enter the hardest swine. And
31:27
Speaker 1: he suffered them, and they went away and straightway precipitated
31:31
Speaker 1: them all headlong. Thus due to demons govern and yet
31:35
Speaker 1: to them the swine were of no particular account. But
31:39
Speaker 1: with thee there is ever a warfare without a truce,
31:43
Speaker 1: and an implacable fights and undying hatred. And if, in
31:47
Speaker 1: the case of those with whom they had nothing in common,
31:51
Speaker 1: they did not even endure that they should be allowed
31:54
Speaker 1: a brief breathing space of time. If they had gotten
31:57
Speaker 1: unto their power us by their enemies, who are perpetually
32:01
Speaker 1: stinging them, what would they not have done? And what
32:04
Speaker 1: incurable mischief would they not have accomplished? For for this reason,
32:10
Speaker 1: God let them fall upon the herd of swine, in
32:13
Speaker 1: order that in the case of the bodies of irrational animals,
32:17
Speaker 1: thou mayst learn their wickedness, and that they would have
32:21
Speaker 1: done to the possessed the things which they did to
32:24
Speaker 1: the swine, had not the demoniacs, in their madness experienced
32:28
Speaker 1: the providence of God is evident to all. And now, therefore,
32:33
Speaker 1: when thou seest a man excited by a demon worship
32:36
Speaker 1: the Master, learn the wickedness of the demons, For it
32:39
Speaker 1: is possible to see both things in the case of
32:42
Speaker 1: these demons, the loving kindness of God and the evil
32:46
Speaker 1: of the demons. The evil of the demons when they
32:48
Speaker 1: harass and disturb the soul of the demented, and the
32:52
Speaker 1: loving kindness of God whenever he restrains and hinders so
32:55
Speaker 1: savage a demon who is taken up his abode within
32:58
Speaker 1: and desires to hurl the man headlong, and does not
33:02
Speaker 1: allow him to use his own power to the full,
33:04
Speaker 1: but suffers him to exhibit just so much strength as
33:07
Speaker 1: both to bring the man to his senses and to
33:09
Speaker 1: make his own wickedness apparent. Dost thou wish to form
33:12
Speaker 1: another example to see once more how a demon arranges
33:15
Speaker 1: matters when God allows him to use his own power.
33:18
Speaker 1: Consider the herds, the flocks of job, how in one
33:21
Speaker 1: instant of time he annihilated all. Consider the pitible death
33:26
Speaker 1: of the children, the blow that was dealt to his body,
33:29
Speaker 1: And thou shalt see the savage and inhuman and unsparing
33:32
Speaker 1: character of the wickedness of the demons. And from these
33:35
Speaker 1: things thou shall know clearly that if God had entrusted
33:39
Speaker 1: the whole of this world to their authority, they would
33:42
Speaker 1: have confused and disturbed everything, and would have assigned to
33:45
Speaker 1: us their treatments of the swine and of those herds,
33:49
Speaker 1: Since not even for a little breathing space of time
33:52
Speaker 1: could they have endured to spare us our salvation. If
33:56
Speaker 1: demons were to arrange affairs, we should be in no
33:58
Speaker 1: better condition than possessed men. Yea, Rather, we should be
34:03
Speaker 1: worse than they, for God did not give them over
34:06
Speaker 1: entirely to the tyranny of the demons, and otherwise they
34:09
Speaker 1: would suffer far worse things than these which they now suffer.
34:13
Speaker 1: And I would ask this of those who say these things,
34:16
Speaker 1: what kind of disorder they behold in the presence that
34:20
Speaker 1: they set down all our affairs to the arrangement of demons.
34:23
Speaker 1: And yet we behold the sun for so many years,
34:26
Speaker 1: preceding day by day in regular order, a manifold band
34:29
Speaker 1: of stars keeping their own order, the courses of the
34:32
Speaker 1: moon unimpeded, an invariable succession of night and day, all
34:37
Speaker 1: things both above and below, as it were, in a
34:40
Speaker 1: certain fitting harmony. Yea rather even far more and more accurately,
34:45
Speaker 1: each keeping his own place, and not departing from the
34:49
Speaker 1: order which God, who made them, ordained from the beginning.
34:54
Speaker 1: And what is the use of all this, says one?
34:56
Speaker 1: When the heaven, indeed, and sun and moon, and the
34:59
Speaker 1: band of stars and all the rest keep much good order,
35:02
Speaker 1: But our affairs are full of confusion and disorder. What
35:06
Speaker 1: kind of confusion, o man? And disorder? A certain one says,
35:10
Speaker 1: he is rich and overbearing, he is rapacious and covetous.
35:14
Speaker 1: He drains the substance of the poor day by day,
35:16
Speaker 1: and suffers no terrible affliction. Another lives in forbearance, self restraint,
35:21
Speaker 1: and uprightness, and is adorned with all other good qualities,
35:25
Speaker 1: and is chastened with poverty and disease and extremely terrible afflictions.
35:31
Speaker 1: Are these, then, the matters which offend thee yes, these
35:34
Speaker 1: says he. If then thou seest both of the rapacious
35:39
Speaker 1: many chastised, and of those living virtuously yea, some even
35:43
Speaker 1: enjoying countless goods. Why dost thou not abandon thine opinion
35:47
Speaker 1: and be content with the almighty? Because it is this
35:51
Speaker 1: very thing which offends me more. For why, when there
35:55
Speaker 1: are two evil men, is one chastened and the other
35:58
Speaker 1: gets off and escapes. And when there are two good men,
36:01
Speaker 1: one is honored and the other continues under punishment. And
36:06
Speaker 1: this very thing is a very great work of God's providence.
36:10
Speaker 1: For if he were to chasten all the evil men here,
36:13
Speaker 1: and were to honor here all the good men a
36:16
Speaker 1: day of judgment, were superfluous. Again, if he were to
36:20
Speaker 1: chasen no wicked man, nor were to honor any of
36:23
Speaker 1: the good, then the base would become baser and worse,
36:28
Speaker 1: as being more careless than the excellent. And they who
36:32
Speaker 1: were minded to blespheme would accuse God all the more
36:36
Speaker 1: and say that our affairs were altogether deprived of his providence.
36:40
Speaker 1: For if when certain evil men are chastened and certain
36:44
Speaker 1: good men punished, they likewise say that human affairs are
36:47
Speaker 1: subject to no providence. If even this did not happen,
36:54
Speaker 1: what would they not say? And what words would they
36:57
Speaker 1: not send forth? On this account, some of the wicked
36:59
Speaker 1: he chase, and some he does not chasen. And some
37:02
Speaker 1: of the good he honors, and some he does not honor.
37:07
Speaker 1: He does not chasen all in order that he may
37:11
Speaker 1: persuade thee that there is a resurrection. But he chastens
37:14
Speaker 1: some in order that he may make the more careless
37:18
Speaker 1: through fear, by means of the punishment of others, or
37:21
Speaker 1: in earnest. Again, he honors certain of the good, in
37:24
Speaker 1: order that he may lead on others by his honors,
37:28
Speaker 1: to emulate their virtue. But he does not honor all,
37:31
Speaker 1: in order that thou mayst learn that there is another
37:34
Speaker 1: season for rendering to all the recompense. For if indeed
37:39
Speaker 1: all were to receive the deserts here, they would disbelieve
37:42
Speaker 1: the account of the resurrection. But if no one were
37:45
Speaker 1: to receive his desert here, the majority would become more careless.
37:49
Speaker 1: On this account, some he chasens, and others he does
37:52
Speaker 1: not chase, in profiting both those who are chastened and
37:55
Speaker 1: those who are not chastened. For he separates their wickedness
37:58
Speaker 1: from those, He makes the others, by their punishment, more
38:02
Speaker 1: self restrained. And this is manifest from what Christ himself said.
38:07
Speaker 1: For when they announced to him that a tower had
38:10
Speaker 1: been brought to the ground and had buried certain men,
38:13
Speaker 1: he saith to them, what think ye that these men
38:16
Speaker 1: were sinners? Only? I say to you nay. But if
38:20
Speaker 1: ye do not repent, ye also shall suffer the same thing.
38:25
Speaker 1: Dost thou see how those perished on account of their sin,
38:29
Speaker 1: and the rest did not escape on account of the righteousness,
38:32
Speaker 1: but in order that they might become better by the
38:35
Speaker 1: punishment of others, were not then the chastened unjustly dealt with,
38:39
Speaker 1: says one. For they could, without being chasten themselves, become
38:43
Speaker 1: better by the punishment of others. But if he had
38:46
Speaker 1: known that they would become better from penitents, God would
38:50
Speaker 1: not have chastened them. For if when he foresaw that
38:53
Speaker 1: many would profit nothing from his long suffering, he nevertheless
38:57
Speaker 1: bears with them with much tolerance, fulfilling his own part
39:00
Speaker 1: in affording to them an opportunity of coming out of
39:04
Speaker 1: their own senselessness to their sober senses. One day, How
39:07
Speaker 1: could he deprive those who were about to become better
39:11
Speaker 1: from the punishment of others of the benefit of repentance,
39:15
Speaker 1: so that they are in no way unjustly treated. Both
39:19
Speaker 1: their evil being cut off by their punishment, and their
39:22
Speaker 1: chastening is to be lighter there because they suffered here beforehand. Again,
39:27
Speaker 1: they who were not chastened are in no way unjustly treated,
39:32
Speaker 1: For it was possible for them, had they wished to
39:35
Speaker 1: have used the long suffering of God to accomplish a
39:38
Speaker 1: most excellent charge, and wondering at his tolerance, to have
39:42
Speaker 1: become ashamed at his exceeding forbearance, and one day to
39:46
Speaker 1: have gone over to virtue, and to have gained their
39:48
Speaker 1: own salvation by the punishment of others. But if they
39:52
Speaker 1: remain in wickedness, God is not to blame who, on
39:56
Speaker 1: this account was long suffering that he might recover them.
40:00
Speaker 1: But they are unworthy of pardon who did not rightly
40:03
Speaker 1: use the long suffering of God. And it is not
40:06
Speaker 1: only possible to use this argument as a reason why
40:08
Speaker 1: all the wicked are not chastened here, but another also,
40:12
Speaker 1: not less than this. Of what kind, then, is this
40:16
Speaker 1: that if God brought upon all the chastenings which their
40:19
Speaker 1: sins deserved. Our race would have been carried off and
40:23
Speaker 1: would have failed to come down to proposterity. And in
40:28
Speaker 1: order that thou mayst learn that this is true, here
40:30
Speaker 1: the prophet saying, if thou observest iniquity, O Lord, who
40:34
Speaker 1: shall stand, and if it seems good to THEE to
40:37
Speaker 1: investigate this saying, leaving the accurate inquiry into the life
40:41
Speaker 1: of each alone, for it is not possible even to
40:44
Speaker 1: know all that has been accomplished by each man. Let
40:47
Speaker 1: us bring forward those sins which all, without contradiction commit,
40:51
Speaker 1: And from these it will be plain and manifest to
40:54
Speaker 1: us that if we were chastened for each of our sins,
40:56
Speaker 1: we should long ago have perished. He who has called
41:00
Speaker 1: his brother fool is liable to the hell of fire saith.
41:02
Speaker 1: He is there, then, any one of us who has
41:06
Speaker 1: never sinned this sin? What then ought he to be
41:09
Speaker 1: straightway carried off? Therefore we should have been all carried
41:14
Speaker 1: off and would have disappeared long ago, indeed, very long ago. Again,
41:19
Speaker 1: he who swear saith, he, even if he fulfill his oath,
41:23
Speaker 1: do it the works of the wicked one? Who is
41:26
Speaker 1: there then, who has not sworn yea Rather, who is
41:29
Speaker 1: there who has never sworn falsely, he who looketh on
41:33
Speaker 1: a woman saith he with unchaste eyes, is holy an adulter.
41:38
Speaker 1: And of this sin anyone would find many guilty. When
41:42
Speaker 1: then these acknowledged sins are such and so insufferable, and
41:46
Speaker 1: each of these of itself brings upon us inevitable chastisement.
41:51
Speaker 1: If we were to reckon up the secret sins committed
41:53
Speaker 1: by us, then we shall see especially that the providence
41:56
Speaker 1: of God does not bring upon us the punishment for each.
42:00
Speaker 1: So that when thou seest anyone rapacious, covetous, and not chastened,
42:05
Speaker 1: then do not thou unfold thine own conscience, reckon up
42:08
Speaker 1: thine own life, go over the sins which have been committed,
42:12
Speaker 1: and thou shall learn rightly that in thine own case, first,
42:16
Speaker 1: it is not expedient to be chastened for each of
42:18
Speaker 1: thy sins. On this account, the majority make reckless utterances,
42:23
Speaker 1: since they do not look on their own case before
42:26
Speaker 1: that of others. But we, all, leaving our own alone,
42:31
Speaker 1: examine that of the rest. But let us no longer
42:34
Speaker 1: do this, but the reverse. If thou seest any righteous man, chastened,
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Speaker 1: remember job, For if anyone be righteous, you will not
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Speaker 1: be more righteous than that man, nor within a small
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Speaker 1: distance of approaching him. And if he suffers countless ills,
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Speaker 1: he has not yet suffered so much as that man.
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Speaker 1: Taking this, then into mind, cease charging the master, learning
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Speaker 1: that it is not by way of deserting him does
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Speaker 1: God let such a one suffer ill, but through desire
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Speaker 1: to crown him and make him more distinguished. And if
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Speaker 1: thou seest to sinner punished, remember the paralytic who passed
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Speaker 1: thirty eight years on his bed. For that that man
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Speaker 1: was delivered over then to that disease through sin. Here
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Speaker 1: Christ saying behold, thou art made whole sin no more
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Speaker 1: at least the worst thing happen to thee. For either
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Speaker 1: when we are chastened, we pay the penalty of our sins,
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Speaker 1: or else we receive the occasion of crowning. If when
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Speaker 1: we live in rectitude we suffer ill, So that whether
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Speaker 1: we live in righteousness or in sins, chastening is a
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Speaker 1: useful thing for us, sometimes making us more distinguished, sometimes
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Speaker 1: rendering us more self controlled, enlightening our punishment to come
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Speaker 1: for us. For that, it is possible that one chastened
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Speaker 1: here and bearing it thankfully, should experience milder punishment there,
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Speaker 1: you're saint Paul, saying, for this reason many are weak
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Speaker 1: and sickly, and some sleep. For if we judge ourselves,
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Speaker 1: we should not be judged. But when we are judged,
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Speaker 1: we are corrected by the Lord, that we should not
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Speaker 1: be condemned. With the world knowing all these things. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: let us both moralize in this way on the providence
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Speaker 1: of God, and stop the mouths of gainsayers. And if
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Speaker 1: any of the events which happen past our understanding, let
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Speaker 1: us not from misconsider that our affairs are not governed
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Speaker 1: by providence, but perceiving his providence in part in things incomprehensible,
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Speaker 1: let us yield to the unsearchableness of His wisdom. For
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Speaker 1: if it is not possible for one not conversant with
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Speaker 1: it to understand a man's arts, much rather is it
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Speaker 1: impossible for the human understanding to comprehend the infinity of
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Speaker 1: the providence of God. For his judgments are unsearchable, and
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Speaker 1: his ways past finding out. But nevertheless, from small portions
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Speaker 1: we gain a clear and manifest faith about the whole.
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Speaker 1: We give thanks to Him for all that happens. For
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Speaker 1: there is even another consideration that cannot be contradicted for
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Speaker 1: those who wish to moralize about the providence of God.
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Speaker 1: For we would ask the gainsayers, is there then a God?
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Speaker 1: And if they should say there is not, let us
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Speaker 1: answer them, For just as it is worthless to answer madmen,
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Speaker 1: so to those who say there is no God. For
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Speaker 1: if a ship having few sailors and passengers would not
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Speaker 1: be conducted safely for one mile, even without the hand
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Speaker 1: which guides it, much more, such a world as this,
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Speaker 1: having so many persons in it, composed of different elements,
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Speaker 1: would not have continued so long a time, were there
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Speaker 1: not a certain providence presiding over it, both covering and
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Speaker 1: continually maintaining this whole fabric. And if in shame, through
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Speaker 1: the common opinion of all men and the experience of affairs,
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Speaker 1: they confess that there is a God, let us say
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Speaker 1: this to them. If there is a God, as indeed
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Speaker 1: there is, it follows that he is just. For he
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Speaker 1: is not just, neither is he God. And if he
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Speaker 1: is just, he recompenses to each according to their deserts.
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Speaker 1: But we do not see all here receiving according to
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Speaker 1: their deserts. Therefore, it is necessary to hope for some
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Speaker 1: other requital awaiting us, in order that, by each one
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Speaker 1: receiving according to his deserts, the justice of God may
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Speaker 1: be made manifest. Or this consideration does not only contribute
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Speaker 1: to our wisdom about providence alone, but about the resurrection.
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Speaker 1: And let us teach others, and let us do all
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Speaker 1: diligence to shut the mouths of them who rave against
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Speaker 1: the Master, and let us glorify him in all things,
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Speaker 1: For thus shall we win more of his care and
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Speaker 1: enjoy much of his influence. And thus shall we be
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Speaker 1: able to escape from real evil and obtain future reward
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Speaker 1: through the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 1: by whom and with whom be glory to the Father
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Speaker 1: with the Holy Spirit, now and always, forever and ever Amen.
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Speaker 1: End of Homily one.