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011 - Homily 22 - MT 628-34 On Worrying continued · Sermon on the Mount - Commentary

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  Speaker 1: Homily twenty two Saint John Chrysostom Homily's on the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: of Saint Matthew, translated by the Reverend Sir George Previst
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  Speaker 1: m A. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Homily twenty two Matthew six twenty eight through thirty four.
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  Speaker 1: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil,
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  Speaker 1: not neither do they spin. And yet I say unto
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  Speaker 1: you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not
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  Speaker 1: a reed like one of these. Having spoken of our
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  Speaker 1: necessary food, and having signified that not even for this
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  Speaker 1: should we take thought, he passes on in what follows
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  Speaker 1: to that which is more easy for raymond is not
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  Speaker 1: so necessary as food. Why then did he not make
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  Speaker 1: use here also of the same example that of the
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  Speaker 1: birds neither mentioned to us, the peacock, and the swan,
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  Speaker 1: and the sheep. For surely there were many such examples
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  Speaker 1: to take from. Thence because he would point out how
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  Speaker 1: very far the argument may be carried both ways, both
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  Speaker 1: from the vileness of the things that partake of such elegance,
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  Speaker 1: and from the munificence vouchsafed to the lilies in respect
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  Speaker 1: of their adorning. For this cause, when he hath decked
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  Speaker 1: them out, he doth not so much as call them
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  Speaker 1: lilies any more, but grass of the field. And he
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  Speaker 1: is not satisfied even with this name, but again adds
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  Speaker 1: another circumstance of vileness, saying, which to day is, and
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  Speaker 1: he did not say, and tomorrow is not. But what
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  Speaker 1: is much baser yet is cast into the oven. And
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  Speaker 1: he said, not clothe, but so clothe seest thou everywhere,
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  Speaker 1: how he abounds in amplifications and intensities. And this he
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  Speaker 1: doth that he may touch them home. And therefore he
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  Speaker 1: hath also added, shall he not much more clothe you?
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  Speaker 1: For this too hath much emphasis, the force of the
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  Speaker 1: word you, being no other than to indicate covertly the
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  Speaker 1: great value set upon our race and the concern shown
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  Speaker 1: for it, As though he had said, you to whom
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  Speaker 1: he gave a soul, for whom he fashioned a body,
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  Speaker 1: for whose sake he made all the things that are seen,
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  Speaker 1: for whose sake he sent profits, and gave the law,
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  Speaker 1: and wrought those innumerable good works, for whose sake he
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  Speaker 1: gave up his only begotten son. And not till he
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  Speaker 1: hath made his proof clear, doth he proceed also to
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  Speaker 1: rebuke them, saying, O, ye of little faith. For this
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  Speaker 1: is the quality of an adviser. He doth not admonish only,
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  Speaker 1: but reproves also that he may awaken men the more
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  Speaker 1: to the persuasive power of his words. Hereby he teaches
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  Speaker 1: us not only to take no thought, but not even
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  Speaker 1: to be dazzled at the costliness of men's apparel. Why
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  Speaker 1: such comeliness is of grass, such beauty of the green herb,
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  Speaker 1: Or rather, the grass is even more precious than the apparelling.
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  Speaker 1: Why then, pride thyself on things whereof the prize rests
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  Speaker 1: with the mere plant, with a great balance in its favor.
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  Speaker 1: And see how from the beginning he signifies the injunction
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  Speaker 1: to be easy by the contraries again and by the
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  Speaker 1: things of which they were afraid, leading them away from
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  Speaker 1: these cares. Thus, when he had said, consider the lilies
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  Speaker 1: of the field, he added they toil. Not so that,
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  Speaker 1: in desire to set us free from toils did he
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  Speaker 1: give us these commands. In fact, the labor lies not
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  Speaker 1: in taking no thought, but in taking thought for these things,
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  Speaker 1: And as in saying they sow not. It was not
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  Speaker 1: the sewing that he did away with, but the anxious thought.
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  Speaker 1: So in saying they toil, not neither do they spin,
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  Speaker 1: he put an end not to the work, but to
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  Speaker 1: the care. But if Solomon was surpassed by their beauty,
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  Speaker 1: and that not once nor twice, but throughout all his reign.
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  Speaker 1: For neither can one say that at one time he
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  Speaker 1: was clothed with such apperil, but after that he was
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  Speaker 1: so no more, rather not so much as on on one
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  Speaker 1: day did he array himself so beautifully. For this Christ
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  Speaker 1: declared by saying, in all his reign, and if it
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  Speaker 1: was not that he was surpassed by this flower, but
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  Speaker 1: vied with that, but he gave place to all alike.
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  Speaker 1: Wherefore he also said, as one of these, for such
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  Speaker 1: is between the truth and the counterfeit, So great is
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  Speaker 1: the interval between those robes and these flowers. If then
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  Speaker 1: he acknowledged his inferiority, who was more glorious than all
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  Speaker 1: kings that ever were, When wilt thou be able to surpass,
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  Speaker 1: or rather to approach even faintly to such perfection of form?
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  Speaker 1: After this he instructs us not to aim at all
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  Speaker 1: at such ornament. See at least the end thereof after
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  Speaker 1: its triumph, it is cast into the oven. And if
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  Speaker 1: of things mean and worthless and of no great use,
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  Speaker 1: God displayed so great care, how shall he give up
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  Speaker 1: thee of all living creatures, the most important? Wherefore, then
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  Speaker 1: did he make them so beautiful that he might display
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  Speaker 1: his own wisdom and the excellency of his power, that
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  Speaker 1: from everything we might learn his glory. For not the
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  Speaker 1: heavens only declare the glory of God, but the earth too.
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  Speaker 1: And this David declared when he said, praise the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: ye fruitful trees and all cedars. For some by their fruits,
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  Speaker 1: some by their greatness, some by their beauty, send up
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  Speaker 1: praise to Him who made them, this too being a
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  Speaker 1: sign of great excellency of wisdom. When even upon things
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  Speaker 1: that are very vile, and what can be viler than
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  Speaker 1: that which to day is and tomorrow is not, he
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  Speaker 1: pours out such great beauty. If then to the grass
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  Speaker 1: he hath given that which it needs, not, for what
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  Speaker 1: doth the beauty thereof help to the feeding of the fire.
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  Speaker 1: How shall he not give unto thee that which thou needest.
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  Speaker 1: If that which is the vilest of all things he
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  Speaker 1: hath lavishly adorned, and that is doing it not for need,
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  Speaker 1: but for munificence. How much more will he honor thee,
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  Speaker 1: the most honorable of all things, in matters which are
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  Speaker 1: of necessity. Now, when as you see, he had demonstrated
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  Speaker 1: the greatness of God's providential care, and they were, in
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  Speaker 1: what follows to be rebuked. Also, even in this he
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  Speaker 1: was sparing, laying to their charge not want, but poverty
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  Speaker 1: of faith. Thus, if God saith, he so clothe the
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  Speaker 1: grass of the field. Much more you, o, ye of
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  Speaker 1: little faith. And yet surely all these things he himself works.
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  Speaker 1: For all things were made by him, and without him
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  Speaker 1: was not so much as one thing made. But yet
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  Speaker 1: he nowhere as yet makes mention of himself, it being
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  Speaker 1: sufficient for the time to indicate his full power. That
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  Speaker 1: he said at each of the commandments, he have heard
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  Speaker 1: that it hath been said to them of old time.
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  Speaker 1: But I say unto you, marvel not then when in
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  Speaker 1: subsequent instances also he conceals himself or speak something lowly
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  Speaker 1: of himself, Since for the present he had but one object,
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  Speaker 1: that his word might prove such as they would readily receive,
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  Speaker 1: and might in every way demonstrate that he was not
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  Speaker 1: a sort of adversary of God, but of one mind
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  Speaker 1: and in agreement with the Father, which accordingly he doth
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  Speaker 1: here also, for through so many words as he had spent,
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  Speaker 1: he ceases not to set him before us, admiring his wisdom,
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  Speaker 1: his providence, his tender care, extending through all things both
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  Speaker 1: great and small. Thus, both when he was speaking of
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem he called it the city of the Great King,
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  Speaker 1: and when he mentioned Heaven, he spake of it again
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  Speaker 1: is God's Throne. And when he was discoursing of his
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  Speaker 1: economy in the world to him, again he attributes it all, saying,
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  Speaker 1: he maketh his son to rise on the evil and
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  Speaker 1: on the good, and sendeth reign on the just and
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  Speaker 1: on the unjust. And in the prayer too he taught
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  Speaker 1: us to say His is the kingdom, and the power
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  Speaker 1: and the glory. And here in discoursing of his providence,
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  Speaker 1: in signifying how even in little things he is the
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  Speaker 1: most excellent of artists, he saith that he clothes the
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  Speaker 1: grass of the field. And know where doth he call
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  Speaker 1: him his own father, but theirs, in order that by
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  Speaker 1: the very honor he might reprove them, and that when
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  Speaker 1: he should call him his father, they might no more
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  Speaker 1: be displeased. Now if forbear necessities. One is not to
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  Speaker 1: take thought. What pardon can we deserve who take thought
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  Speaker 1: for the things expensive? Or rather, what pardon can they deserve,
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  Speaker 1: who do even without sleep, that they may take the
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  Speaker 1: things of others? Therefore, take no thought saying what shall
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  Speaker 1: we eat, or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall
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  Speaker 1: we be clothed? For after all these things do the
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  Speaker 1: nations of the world seek? Seest thou. How again he
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  Speaker 1: hath beshamed them the more, and hath also shown by
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  Speaker 1: the way that he had commanded. Nothing grievous nor burdensome
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  Speaker 1: is there. For when he said, if he loved them
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  Speaker 1: which love you, it is nothing great which he practice,
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  Speaker 1: For the very gentiles do the same. By the mention
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  Speaker 1: of the gentiles, he was stirring them up to something greater.
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  Speaker 1: So now also he brings them forward to reprove us
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  Speaker 1: and to signify that it is a necessary debt which
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  Speaker 1: he is requiring of us. For if we must show
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  Speaker 1: forth something more than the scribes or pharisees, what can
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  Speaker 1: we deserve, who so far from going beyond these to
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  Speaker 1: even abide did the mean estate of the gentiles and
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  Speaker 1: emulate their littleness of soul. He doth, not, however, stop
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  Speaker 1: at the rebuke, but having by this reproved and roused them,
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  Speaker 1: and shamed them with all strength of expression. By another argument,
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  Speaker 1: he also comforts them, saying, for your heavenly father knoweth
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  Speaker 1: that ye have need of all these things. He said,
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  Speaker 1: not God knoweth, but your father knoweth to lead them
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  Speaker 1: to a greater hope. For if he be a father,
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  Speaker 1: and such a father, he will not surely be able
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  Speaker 1: to overlook his children in extremity of evils, seeing that
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  Speaker 1: not even men being fathers, bear to do so. And
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  Speaker 1: he adds along with this yet another argument, of what kind,
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  Speaker 1: then is it that ye have need of them? What
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  Speaker 1: he saith is like this? What are these things superfluous
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  Speaker 1: that he should disregard them? Yet not even in superfluities
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  Speaker 1: did he show himself wanting in regard in the instance
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  Speaker 1: of the grass. But now are these things even necessary?
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  Speaker 1: So that what thou considerest to cause for thy being anxious? This,
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  Speaker 1: I say, is sufficient to draw THEE from such anxiety.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, if thou sayest, therefore I must needs take
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  Speaker 1: thought because they are necessary. On the contrary, I say, nay,
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  Speaker 1: for this self same reason, take no thought because they
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  Speaker 1: are necessary, since were they superfluities, Not even then ought
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  Speaker 1: we to despair, but to feel confident about the supply
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  Speaker 1: of them. But now that they are necessary, we must
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  Speaker 1: no longer be in doubt. For what kind of father
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  Speaker 1: is he who can endure to fail in supplying to
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  Speaker 1: his children even necessaries, so that for this cause again
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  Speaker 1: God will most surely bestow them. For indeed, he is
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  Speaker 1: the artificer of our nature, and he knows perfectly the
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  Speaker 1: wants thereof, so that neither canst thou say he is
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  Speaker 1: indeed our father, and the things we seek are necessary.
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  Speaker 1: But he knows not that we stand in need of them.
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  Speaker 1: For he that knows our nature is self, and was
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  Speaker 1: the framer of it, informed it such as it is.
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  Speaker 1: Evidently he knows its need also better than thou, who
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  Speaker 1: art placed in want of them. It having been by
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  Speaker 1: his decree that our nature is in such need. He
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  Speaker 1: will not therefore oppose himself to what he hath willed,
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  Speaker 1: first subjecting it of necessity to so great want, and
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand again depriving it of what it
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  Speaker 1: wants and of absolute necessaries. Let us not therefore be anxious,
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  Speaker 1: for we shall gain nothing by it, but tormenting ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: For whereas He gives both when we take thought and
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  Speaker 1: when we do not, and more of the two when
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  Speaker 1: we do not, what dost thou gain by thy anxiety,
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  Speaker 1: but to exact of thyself is superfluous penalty. Since one
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  Speaker 1: on the point of going to a plentiful feast will
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  Speaker 1: not surely permit himself off to take thought for food.
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  Speaker 1: Nor is he that is walking to a fountain anxious
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  Speaker 1: about drink. Therefore, seeing we have a supply more copious
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  Speaker 1: than either any fountain or innumerable banquets made ready the
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  Speaker 1: providence of God, let us not be beggars nor little minded.
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  Speaker 1: For together with what hath been said, he puts also
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  Speaker 1: yet another reason for feeling confidence about such things, saying,
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  Speaker 1: seek ye the kingdom of Heaven, and all these things
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  Speaker 1: shall be added unto you. Thus, when he had set
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  Speaker 1: the soul free from anxiety, then he made mention also
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  Speaker 1: of heaven. For indeed he came to do away with
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  Speaker 1: the old things, and to call us to a greater country.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore he doe all to deliver us from things unnecessary
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  Speaker 1: and from our affection for the earth. For this cause
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  Speaker 1: he mentioned the heathens also saying that the gentiles seek
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  Speaker 1: after these things, they whose whole labor is for their
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  Speaker 1: present life, who have no regard for the things to come,
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  Speaker 1: nor any thought of heaven. But to you not these
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  Speaker 1: present or the chief things, but other than these. For
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  Speaker 1: we were not born for this end that we should
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  Speaker 1: eat and drink and be clothed, but that we might
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  Speaker 1: please God and attain unto the good things to come. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: as things here are secondary in our labor, so also
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  Speaker 1: in our prayers, let them be secondary. Therefore he also said,
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  Speaker 1: seek ye the kingdom of Heaven, and all these things
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  Speaker 1: shall be added unto you. And he said not shall
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  Speaker 1: be given, but shall be added, that thou mightest learn
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  Speaker 1: that the things present are no great part of His gifts,
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  Speaker 1: caned with the greatness of the things to come. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: he doth not bid us so much as ask for them.
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  Speaker 1: But while we ask for other things to have confidence,
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  Speaker 1: as though these also were added to those, Seek then
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  Speaker 1: the things to come, and thou wilt receive the things present.
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  Speaker 1: Also seek not the things that are seen, and thou
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  Speaker 1: shalt surely attain unto them. Yea, for it is unworthy
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  Speaker 1: of thee to approach thy Lord for such things. And thou,
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  Speaker 1: who oughtest to spend all thy zeal and thy care
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  Speaker 1: for those unspeakable blessings, dost greatly disgrace thyself by consuming
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  Speaker 1: it on the desire of transitory things. How, then, saith one,
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  Speaker 1: did he not bid us ask for bread. Nay, he
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  Speaker 1: added daily, and to this again this day, which say thing.
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  Speaker 1: In fact he doth here also, for he said, not
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  Speaker 1: take no thought, but take no thought for the morrow,
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  Speaker 1: at the same time, both affording us liberty and fastening
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  Speaker 1: our soul on those things that are more necessary to us.
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  Speaker 1: For to this end also he bade us ask even
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  Speaker 1: those not as though God needed reminding by us, but
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  Speaker 1: that we might learn that by His help we accomplished
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  Speaker 1: whatever we do accomplish, and that we might be made
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  Speaker 1: more his own by our continual prayer for these things.
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  Speaker 1: Seest thou, how by this again he would persuade them
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  Speaker 1: that they shall surely receive the things present, For he
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  Speaker 1: that bestows the greater, much more will he give the less.
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  Speaker 1: For not for this end, saith he did I tell
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  Speaker 1: you not to take thought, nor to ask, that ye
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  Speaker 1: should suffer distress and go about naked, but in order
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  Speaker 1: that ye might be in abundance of these things. Also
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  Speaker 1: in this you see, was suited above all things to
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  Speaker 1: attract them to him, so that like as an almsgiving,
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  Speaker 1: when deterring them from making a display to men, he
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  Speaker 1: won upon them chiefly by promising to furnish them with
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  Speaker 1: it more liberally for thy father, saith He who seeth
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  Speaker 1: in secret shall reward THEE openly. Even so here also
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  Speaker 1: in drawing them off from seeking these things, this is
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  Speaker 1: his persuasive topic, that he promises to bestow it on them,
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  Speaker 1: not seeking it in greater abundance. Thus to this end,
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  Speaker 1: saith he, do I bid THEE not seek, not that
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  Speaker 1: ye mayst not receive, but that thou mayst receive plentifully,
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  Speaker 1: that thou mayst receive in the fashion that becomes THEE
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  Speaker 1: with the profit which thou oughtest to do have, that thou
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  Speaker 1: mayest not, by taking thought and distracting thyself in anxiety
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  Speaker 1: about these, render thyself unworthy both of these and of
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  Speaker 1: the things spiritual, that thou mayst not undergo unnecessary distress,
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  Speaker 1: and again fall away from that which is set before THEE.
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  Speaker 1: Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for sufficient unto
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  Speaker 1: the day is the evil thereof, that is to say,
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  Speaker 1: the affliction and the bruising thereof. Is it not enough
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  Speaker 1: for thee to eat thy bread in the sweat of
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  Speaker 1: thy face? Why add the further affliction that comes of
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  Speaker 1: anxiety when thou art on the point to be delivered. Henceforth,
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  Speaker 1: even from the former toils by evil. Here he means
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  Speaker 1: not wickedness, far from it, but affliction and trouble and calamities.
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  Speaker 1: Much is in another place. Also, he saith, is there
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  Speaker 1: evil in a city which the Lord hath not done,
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  Speaker 1: nor anything like these, but the scourges which are borne
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  Speaker 1: from above? And again I saith he make peace and
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  Speaker 1: create evils, For neither in this place doth he speak
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  Speaker 1: of wickedness, but of famines and pestilences, things accounted evil
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  Speaker 1: by most men, the generality being wont to call these
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  Speaker 1: things evil. Thus, for example, the priests and prophets of
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  Speaker 1: those five lordships, when having yoped the kind to the ark,
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  Speaker 1: they let them go without their calves, gave the name
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  Speaker 1: of evil to those heaven sent plagues and the dismay
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  Speaker 1: and anguish which thereby spring up within them. This, then,
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  Speaker 1: is his meaning here also when he saith sufficient unto
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  Speaker 1: the day is the evil thereof, for nothing so pains
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  Speaker 1: the soul is carefulness and anxiety. Thus did Paul, also,
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  Speaker 1: when urging to celibacy, give counsel, saying, I would have
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  Speaker 1: you without carefulness. But when he saith the morrow shall
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  Speaker 1: take thought for itself, he saith it not as though
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  Speaker 1: the day took thought for these things, but forasmuch as
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  Speaker 1: he had to speak to a people somewhat imperfect. Willing
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  Speaker 1: to make what he sayeth more expressive, he personifies the
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  Speaker 1: time speaking unto them according to the custom of the generality.
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  Speaker 1: And here indeed he advises. But as he proceeds he
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  Speaker 1: even makes it a law, saying, provide neither gold nor
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  Speaker 1: silver nor scrip for your journey. Thus having shown it
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  Speaker 1: all forth in his actions, then after that he introduces
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  Speaker 1: the verbal enactment of it more determinately, the precept, too,
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  Speaker 1: having then become more easy of acceptance, confirmed as it
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  Speaker 1: had been previously by his own actions. Where then did
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  Speaker 1: he confirm it by his actions? Hear him saying, the
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: son of Man hath not where to lay his head.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Neither is he satisfied with this only. But in his
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: disciples also he exhibits his full proof of these things
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: by fashioning them too in like manner, yet not suffering
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: them to be in want of anything, but mark his
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: tender care. Also how he surpasses the affection of any father.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Thus this I command saith he for nothing else but
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: that I may deliver you from superfluous anxieties. For even
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: if to day thou hast taken thought for tomorrow, thou
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: wilt also have to take thought again tomorrow. Why then,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: what is over and above? Why force the day to
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: receive more than the distress which is allotted to it,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: and together with its own troubles, add to it also
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: the burden of the following day. And this when there
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: is no chance of lightening the other by the addition
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: so taking place. But thou art merely to exhibit thyself
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: as coveting superfluous troubles, thus that he may reprove them.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: The more he doth all but give life to the
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: very time and brings it in is one injured and
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: exclaiming against them for their causeless despite why thou hast
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: received the day to care for the things thereof, wherefore
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: then add unto it the things of the other day.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Also hath it not then burden enough in its own anxiety.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Why now I pray, dost thou make it yet heavier?
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Now when the lawgiver saith these things, he that is
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: to pass judgment on us. Consider the hopes that he
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: suggests to us. How good they are, he himself testifying
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: that this life is wretched and wearisome, so that the
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: anxiety even of the one day is enough to hurt
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: and afflict us. Nevertheless, after so many and so grave words,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: we take thought for these things, but for the things
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: in heaven no longer. Rather we have reversed his order
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: on either side, fighting against his sayings. For mark seek ye,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: not the things present saith He at all. But we
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: are seeking these things forever. Seek the things in heaven
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: saith He. But those things we seek not so much
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: as for a short hour. But according to the greatness
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: of the anxiety we display about the things of the world,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: is the carelessness we entertain in things spiritual, or rather
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: even much greater. But this doth not prosper forever. Neither
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: can this be forever. What if for ten days we
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: think scorn, if for twenty, if for one hundred, must
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: we not, of absolute necessity depart and fall into the
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: hands of the judge. But the delay hath comfort? And
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: what sort of comfort to be every day looking for
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: punishment and vengeance. Nay, if thou wouldst have some comfort
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: from this delay, take it by gathering for thyself the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: fruit of amendment after repentance. Since if the mere delay
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: of vengeance seemed to thee a sort of refreshment, far
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: more is it gain not to fall into the vengeance.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Let us then make full use of this delay in
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: order to have a full deliverance from the dangers that
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: press upon us. For none of the things enjoying is
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: either burdensome nor grievous. But all are so light and easy,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: that if we only bring a genuine purpose of heart,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: we may accomplish all, though we be chargeable with countless offenses.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: For so Manassas had perpetrated innumerable pollutions, having both stretched
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: out his hands against the scenes, and brought abominations into
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: the temple, and filled the city with murders, and wrought
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: many other things beyond excuse. Yet nevertheless, after so long
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: and so great wickedness, he washed away from himself all
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: these things. How and in what manner, by repentance and consideration,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: For there is not yea, there is not any sin
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: that doth not yield and give way to the power
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: of repentance, or rather to the grace of Christ. Since
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: if we would but only change, we have him to
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: assist us. And if thou art desirous to become good,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: there is none to hinder us, or rather there is
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: one to hinder us. The devil get hath he no
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: power so long as thou choosest what is best, and
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: so attractest God to thine aid. But if thou art
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: not thyself willing, but startest decide, how shall he protect thee?
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Since not of necessity or compulsion, but of thine own
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: will he wills THEE to be saved. For if thou thyself,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: having a servant full of hatred and aversion for THEE,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: and continually going off fleeing away from THEE, wouldst not
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: choose to keep him in this though needing his services
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: much less will God, who do with all things not
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: for his own profit but for thy salvation, choose to
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: retain THEE by compulsion. Is on the other hand, if
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: thou show forth the right intention only, he would not
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: choose ever to give THEE up. No, not whatever the
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: devil may do so that we are ourselves to blame
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: for our own destruction, because we do not approach, nor beseech,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: nor entreat him as we ought. But even if we
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: do draw nigh, it is not as persons who have
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: need to receive. Neither is it with the proper faith,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: nor is making demand. But we do all in a
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: gaping and listless way. And yet God would have us
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: demand things of him, And for this accounts himself greatly
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: bound to thee. For he alone of all debtors, when
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: the demand is made, counts it a favor, and gives
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: what we have not lent him. And if he should
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: see him pressing earnestly, that makes the demand. He pays
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: down even what he hath not received of us. But
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: if sluggishly, he too keeps on making delays, not through
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: unwillingness to give, but because he is pleased to have
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: the demand made upon him by us. For this cause,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: he told the also the example of that friend who
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: came by night and asked a loaf, and of the
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: judge that feared not God nor regarded men. And he
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: stayed not at similitudes, but signified it also in his
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: very actions, when he dismissed that Phoenician woman, having filled
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: her with his great gift. For through her he signified
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: that he gives to them that ask earnestly, even the
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: things that pertain not to them, For it is not
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: meet saith he to take the children's bread and to
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: give it unto the dogs. But for all that he
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: gave because she demanded of him earnestly. But by the
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Jews he showed that to them that are careless he
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: gives not even their own. They accordingly received nothing but
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: lost what was their own. And while these, because they
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: asked not, did not receive so much as their very own, she,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: because she assailed him with earnestness, had power to obtain
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: even what pertained to others, And the dog received what
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: was the children's. So great a good is importunity. For
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: though thou be a dog, yet being importunate, thou shalt
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: be preferred to the child, being negligent. For what things
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: affection accomplishes, not these all of them importunity did accomplish.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: Say not, therefore God is an enemy to me, and
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: will not hearken. He doth straightway answer thee continually troubling him.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: If not, because as thou art his friend. Yet because
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: of thine importunity, and neither the enmity, nor the unseasonable time,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: nor anything else becomes a hindrance. Say not I am
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: unworthy and do not pray. For such was the Sirophoenician
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: woman too, Say not, I have sinned much and am
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: not able to entreat him whom I have angered. For
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: God looks not at the desert, but at the disposition.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: For if the ruler that feared not God, neither was
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: ashamed of men, was overcome by the widow, much more
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: will he that is good be won over by continual entreaty,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: So that though thou be no friend, though thou be
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: not demanding thy due, though thou hast devoured thy father's substance,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: and have been a long time out of sight, though
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: without honor. Though last of all, though thou approach him angry,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: though much displeased, be willing only to pray and to
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: return in thou shalt receive all, and shall quickly extinguish
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: the wrath and the condemnation. But behold, I pray, saith one,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: and there is no result. Why thou prayest not like
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: those such I mean, as the Syrophenician woman the friend
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: that came late at night, and the widow that is
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: continually troubling the judge, and the son that consumed his
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: father's goods. For didst thou so pray thou wouldst quickly obtain?
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: For though despite having been done unto him, yet he
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: is a father, And though he have been provoked to anger,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Yet is he fond of his children? And one thing
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: only doth he seek? Not to take vengeance for our affronts,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: but to see THEE repenting and entreat him? Would that
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: we were warmed in like measure? Is those bowels are
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: moved to the love of us. But this fire seeks
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: a beginning only. And if thou afford it a little spark,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: thou kindlest a full flame of beneficence. For not because
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: he hath been insulted is he sore vexed, but because
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: it is thou who art insulting him and so becoming frenzied.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: For if we, being evil, when our children molest us,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: grieve on their account, much more is God, who cannot
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: so much as suffer insult soar vexed on account of
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: THEE who has committed it. If we who love by
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: nature much more he who is kindly affectioned beyond nature.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: For thou saith he a woman should forget the fruits
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: of her womb, Yet will I not forget thee Let
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: us therefore draw nigh unto him, and say, truth, Lord,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: For even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: from their master's table. Let us draw nigh in season
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: out of season. Or rather, one can never draw nigh
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: out of season, for it is unseasonable not to be
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: continually approaching. For of him who desires to give, it
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: is always seasonable to ask yea, as breathing is never
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: out of season, so neither is praying unseasonable, But rather
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: not praying, Since as we need this breath, so do
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: we also the help that comes from him. And if
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: we be willing, we shall easily draw him to us
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: and the prophet to manifest this, and to point out
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: the constant readiness of his beneficence. Said, we shall find
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: him prepared as the mourning, For as often as we
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: may draw nigh, we shall see him awaiting our movements.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: And if we fail to draw from out of his
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: ever springing goodness, the blame is all ours. This, for example,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: was his complaint against search and Jews. When he said,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: my mercy as a morning cloud, and as the early doo,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: it goeth away. And his meaning is like this, I
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: indeed have supplied all my part. But ye, as the
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: hot sun coming over scatters both the cloud and the
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: dew and makes them vanish, so have ye, by your
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: great wickedness restrained the unspeakable beneficence, which also itself again
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: is an instance of providential care, that even when he
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: sees us unworthy to receive good, he withholds his benefits
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: lest he render us careless. But if we change a little,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: even but so much as to know that we have sinned,
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: he gush is out beyond the fountains. He is poured
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: forth beyond the ocean. And the more thou receivest so much,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: the more doth he rejoice. And in this way is
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: stirred up again to give us more. For indeed he
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: accounts it as his own wealth that we should be saved,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: and that he should give largely to them that ask.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: And this it may seem Paul was declaring when he
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: said that he is rich unto all and over all
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: the call upon him, Because when we pray not, then
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: he is wroth. When we pray not, then doth he
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: turn away from us? For this cause He became poor,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: that he might make us rich. For this cause, he
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: underwent all those sufferings that he might incite us to ask.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: Let us not therefore despair, but having so many motives
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: and good hopes, though we sin every day, let us
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: approach him entreating, beseeching, asking the forgiveness of our sins,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: For thus we shall be more backward to sin for
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: the time to come. Thus shall we drive away the devil,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: and shall call forth the loving kindness of God, and
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: attain under the good things to come by the grace
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: and love towards men of our Lord Jesus Christ, to
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: whom be glory and might forever and ever Amen. End
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: of Homily twenty two.