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040 - Homily 23 - Romans 131 · Homilies on Romans

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  Speaker 1: Section forty of Homilies on Romans by John Chrysostom, translated
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  Speaker 1: by J. B. Morris. This LibriVox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. Homily twenty three, Romans thirteen, Verse one. Let
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  Speaker 1: every soul be subject under the higher powers of this subject.
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  Speaker 1: He makes much account in other epistles, also setting subjects
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  Speaker 1: under their rulers, as household servants are under their masters.
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  Speaker 1: And this he dounes to show that it was not
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  Speaker 1: for the subversion of the commonwealth that Christ introduced his laws,
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  Speaker 1: but for the better ordering of it, and to teach
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  Speaker 1: men not to be taking up unnecessary and unprofitable wars.
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  Speaker 1: For the plots that are formed against us for the
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  Speaker 1: truth's sake are sufficient, and we have no need to
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  Speaker 1: be adding temptations superfluous and unprofitable. And observe too, how
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  Speaker 1: well timed his entering upon this subject is, for when
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  Speaker 1: he had demanded that great spirit of heroism, and made
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  Speaker 1: men fit to deal either with friends or foes, and
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  Speaker 1: rendered them serviceable alike to the prosperous and those in
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  Speaker 1: adversity and need, and in fact to all, had had
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  Speaker 1: planted a conversation worthy of angels, and had discharged anger
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  Speaker 1: and taken down recklessness, and had in every way made
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  Speaker 1: their mind even. He then introduces his exhortation upon these matters. Also,
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  Speaker 1: for if it be right to requite those that injure
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  Speaker 1: us with the opposite, much more is it our duty
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  Speaker 1: to obey those that are benefactors to us. But this
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  Speaker 1: he states towards the end of his exhortation, and hitherto
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  Speaker 1: does not enter on those reasonings which I mention, but
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  Speaker 1: those only that enjoin one to do this as a
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  Speaker 1: matter of debt, and to show that these regulations are
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  Speaker 1: for all, even for priests and monks, and not for
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  Speaker 1: men of secular occupations. Only. He hath made this plain
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  Speaker 1: at the outset by saying, as follows, Let every soul
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  Speaker 1: be subject unto the higher powers, if thou be an
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  Speaker 1: apostle even, or an evangelist, or a prophet, or anything whatsoever,
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  Speaker 1: inasmuch as this subjection is not subversive of religion. And
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  Speaker 1: he does not say merely obey, but be subject. And
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  Speaker 1: the first claim such an enactment has upon us, and
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  Speaker 1: that which suiteth with the minds of the faithful, is
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  Speaker 1: that all this is of God's appointment. For there is
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  Speaker 1: no power, he says but of God. What say you?
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  Speaker 1: It may be said, is every ruler then elected by God?
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  Speaker 1: This I do not say, he answers, Nor am I
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  Speaker 1: now speaking about individual rulers, but about the thing itself.
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  Speaker 1: For that there should be rulers, and some rule, and
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  Speaker 1: others be ruled, and that all things should not just
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  Speaker 1: be carried on in one confusion. The people swaying like
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  Speaker 1: waves in this direction. And that this I say, is
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  Speaker 1: the work of God's wisdom. Hence he does not say,
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  Speaker 1: for there is no ruler but of God. But it
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  Speaker 1: is the thing he speaks of, and says, there is
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  Speaker 1: no power but of God. And the powers that be
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  Speaker 1: are ordained of God. Thus, when a certain wise man saith,
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  Speaker 1: it is by the Lord that a man is matched
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  Speaker 1: with a woman. He means this God made marriage, and
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  Speaker 1: not that it is He that joineth together every man
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  Speaker 1: that cometh to be with a woman. For we see
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  Speaker 1: many that come to be with one another for evil,
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  Speaker 1: and not by the law of marriage. And this we
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  Speaker 1: should not ascribe to God. But as he said himself,
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  Speaker 1: he which made them at the beginning, made them male
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  Speaker 1: and female, and said, for this cause shall a man
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  Speaker 1: leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife,
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  Speaker 1: and they twain shall be one flesh. And this is
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  Speaker 1: what that wise man meant to explain, for sense equality
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  Speaker 1: of honor does many times lead to fightings. He hath
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  Speaker 1: made many governments and forms of subjection, as that, for
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  Speaker 1: instance of man and wife, that of son and father,
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  Speaker 1: that of old men and young, that of bond and free,
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  Speaker 1: that of ruler and rule, that of master and disciple.
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  Speaker 1: And why are you surprised if it be so among mankind,
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  Speaker 1: when even in the body he hath done the same thing.
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  Speaker 1: For even here he hath not made all parts of equal,
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  Speaker 1: but he hath made one less and another greater. And
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  Speaker 1: some of the limbs hath he made to rule, and
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  Speaker 1: some to be ruled. And among the unreasoning creatures one
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  Speaker 1: may notice this same principle, as amongst bees, amongst cranes,
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  Speaker 1: amongst hoods of wild cattle. And even the sea itself
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  Speaker 1: is not without this goodly subordination. For there too, many
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  Speaker 1: of the clans are arranged under one among the fishers,
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  Speaker 1: and are lad as an army, and thus make long
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  Speaker 1: expeditions from home. For anarchy be where it may, is
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  Speaker 1: an evil and a cause of confusion. After having said,
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  Speaker 1: then whence governments come, he proceeds, whosoever therefore resisteth the power,
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  Speaker 1: resisteth the ordinance of God. See what he has led
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  Speaker 1: the subject on to, and how fearful he makes it,
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  Speaker 1: and how he shows this to be a matter of debt.
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  Speaker 1: For lest the believers should say, you are making us
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  Speaker 1: very cheap and despicable when you put us, who are
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  Speaker 1: to enjoy the kingdom of Heaven under subjection to rulers,
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  Speaker 1: he shows that it is not the rulers but to
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  Speaker 1: God again, that he is subjected, who doth this, For
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  Speaker 1: it is to Him that he who subjects himself to
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  Speaker 1: authorities is obedient. Yet he does not say this, for instance,
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  Speaker 1: that it is God to whom a man who listens
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  Speaker 1: to authorities is obedient. But he uses the opposite case
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  Speaker 1: to awe them, and gives it a more precise form
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  Speaker 1: by saying that he who listeneth not thereto is fighting
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  Speaker 1: with God, who framed these laws. And this he is.
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  Speaker 1: In all cases It pains to show that it is
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  Speaker 1: not by way of favor that we obey them, but
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  Speaker 1: by way of debt. And in this way too, he
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  Speaker 1: was more likely to draw the governors who are unbelievers
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  Speaker 1: to religion and the believers to obedience. For there was
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  Speaker 1: quite a common report in those days which malign to
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  Speaker 1: the apostles as guilty of a seditious and revolutionary scheme,
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  Speaker 1: and as aiming in all they did and said at
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  Speaker 1: the subversion of the received institutions. When then you show
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  Speaker 1: our common master giving this in charge to all his
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  Speaker 1: you will at once stop the mouths of those that
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  Speaker 1: maligna says revolutionists, and with great boldness wilt speak for
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  Speaker 1: the doctrines of truth. Be not then ashamed, he says
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  Speaker 1: at such subjection. For God hath laid down this law
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  Speaker 1: and is a strong avenger of them if they be despised.
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  Speaker 1: For it is no common punishment that He will exact
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  Speaker 1: of THEE if thou disobey, but the very greatest. And
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  Speaker 1: nothing will exempt thee that thou canst say to the contrary.
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  Speaker 1: But both of men, thou shalt undergo the most severe vengeance,
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  Speaker 1: and there shall be no one to defend thee. And
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  Speaker 1: thou wilt also provoke God the more. And all this
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  Speaker 1: he intimates when he says, and they that resist shall
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  Speaker 1: receive to themselves damnation. Thus three, for rulers are not
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  Speaker 1: a terror to good works, but to the evil. Since
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  Speaker 1: he has given a deep wound and stricken them down,
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  Speaker 1: he again uses gentler treatment, like a wise physician who
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  Speaker 1: applies soothing medicines, and he comforts them and says, why
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  Speaker 1: be afraid? Why shudder? He would not punish a person
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  Speaker 1: that was doing well. Surely there is no fear to
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  Speaker 1: a person who lives in the practice of virtue. Wherefore,
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  Speaker 1: also he proceeds, wilt thou then not be afraid of
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  Speaker 1: the power, do that which is good, and thou shalt
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  Speaker 1: have praise of the same. You see how he has
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  Speaker 1: made him friends with the ruler by showing that he
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  Speaker 1: even praises him from his throne. You see how he
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  Speaker 1: has made wrath unmeaning verse four. For he is the
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  Speaker 1: minister of God to THEE for good. So far is
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  Speaker 1: he from terrifying THEE, that he even praises THEE, so
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  Speaker 1: far from being a hindrance to THEE, that he even
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  Speaker 1: works with THEE. When then thou hast his praise and
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  Speaker 1: his succor, how is it that thou art not in
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  Speaker 1: subjection to him? For he maketh virtue easier for THEE.
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  Speaker 1: In other ways, also by chastising the wicked, by benefiting
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  Speaker 1: and honoring the good, and by working together with the
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  Speaker 1: will of God. Whence, too, he has even given him
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  Speaker 1: the name of minister. And consider, I give you counsel
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  Speaker 1: to be sober minded, and he, by the laws, speaks
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  Speaker 1: the same language. I exhort you now to be rapacious
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  Speaker 1: and grasping. And he sits in judgment in such cases.
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  Speaker 1: And so is a worker together with us, and an
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  Speaker 1: assistant to us, and has been commissioned by God for
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  Speaker 1: this end. Hence there are both reasons for reverencing him,
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  Speaker 1: both because he was commissioned by God and because it
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  Speaker 1: was for such an object. But if thou do that
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  Speaker 1: which is evil, be afraid. It is not then the
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  Speaker 1: ruler that maketh for fear, but our own wickedness. For
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  Speaker 1: he beareth not the sword in vain. You see how
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  Speaker 1: he hath furnished him with arms and set him on
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  Speaker 1: guard like a soldier, for a terror to those that
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  Speaker 1: commits sin. For he is the minister of God to
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  Speaker 1: execute wrath a revenger upon him that doeth evil. Now,
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  Speaker 1: lest you should start off at hearing again of punishment
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  Speaker 1: and vengeance and a sword. He says again that it
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  Speaker 1: is God's law his carrying out. For what if he
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  Speaker 1: does not know it himself? Yet it is God that
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  Speaker 1: hath so shaped things. If then, whether in punishing or
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  Speaker 1: in honoring, he be God's minister, in avenging virtue's cause,
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  Speaker 1: in driving vice a way way as God willeth. Why
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  Speaker 1: be captious against him when he is the cause of
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  Speaker 1: so many good doings and paves the way for thine too,
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  Speaker 1: Since there are many who first practiced virtue through the rulers,
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  Speaker 1: and afterwards held on with it through the fear of God.
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  Speaker 1: For there are a duller sort whom things to come
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  Speaker 1: have not such a hold upon as things present. He then, who,
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  Speaker 1: by fear and rewards, gives the soul of the majority
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  Speaker 1: a preparatory turn towards its becoming more suited. For the
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  Speaker 1: word of doctrine, is with good reason called the minister
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  Speaker 1: of God Verse five. Wherefore we must needs be subject
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  Speaker 1: not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. What
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  Speaker 1: is the meaning of not only for wrath? It means
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  Speaker 1: not only because thou dost resist God by not being subject,
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  Speaker 1: nor only because thou art procuring great evils for thyself,
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  Speaker 1: both from God and man, but also because he is
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  Speaker 1: a benefactor to THEE in things of the greatest importance,
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  Speaker 1: as he procures peace to thee and the blessings of
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  Speaker 1: civil insight institutions. For there are countless blessings to states
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  Speaker 1: through these authorities. And if he were to remove them,
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  Speaker 1: all things would go to ruin, and neither cities, nor
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  Speaker 1: landed property, nor private nor public buildings, nor anything else
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  Speaker 1: would stand. But all the world will be turned upside down,
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  Speaker 1: while the more powerful devour the weaker. And so even
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  Speaker 1: if some wrath were not to follow a man's disobedience,
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  Speaker 1: even on this ground, thou orderst to be subject, that
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  Speaker 1: thou mayst not seem devoid of conscience and feeling towards
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  Speaker 1: the benefactor verse six. For this course, pay ye tribute also,
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  Speaker 1: for they are God's ministers, attending continually on this very thing.
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  Speaker 1: Without going one by one into the benefits done to
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  Speaker 1: states by the rulers, as that of good order and peace,
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  Speaker 1: the other's services as regarding the soldiery, and to those
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  Speaker 1: over the public business. He shows the whole of this
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  Speaker 1: by a single case, For that thou art benefited by him,
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  Speaker 1: He means thou bearest witness thyself by paying him a salary,
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  Speaker 1: observe the word, wisdom and judgment of the blessed pool
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  Speaker 1: for that which seemed to be burdensome and annoying the
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  Speaker 1: system of imposts. This he turns into a proof of
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  Speaker 1: their care for men. What is the reason, he means,
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  Speaker 1: that we pay tribute to a king? Is it not
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  Speaker 1: as providing for us and presiding over us, that we
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  Speaker 1: pay him a recompense for his concern for us? And
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  Speaker 1: yet we should not have paid it unless we had
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  Speaker 1: known in the first instance that we were gainers from
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  Speaker 1: this superintendence. Yet it was for this that from of
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  Speaker 1: old all men came to an agreement that governors should
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  Speaker 1: be maintained by us, because to the neglect of their
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  Speaker 1: own affairs, they take charge of the public, and on
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  Speaker 1: this they spend their whole leisure, whereby our goods also
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  Speaker 1: are kept safe. After saying then what the external goods are,
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  Speaker 1: he again reverts to the former line of argument, for
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  Speaker 1: in this way he was more likely to attract the
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  Speaker 1: believer to him, and he shows again that this is
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  Speaker 1: God's decree and honored. He makes his advice rest finally
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  Speaker 1: in these words, they are God's ministers. Then, to show
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  Speaker 1: the pains they take, and their hearts life. He proceeds
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  Speaker 1: waiting continually upon this very thing, for this is their life,
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  Speaker 1: this their business, that thou mayst enjoy peace. Wherefore, in
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  Speaker 1: another epistle he bids them not only be subject, but
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  Speaker 1: also prey in their behalf. And he adds there too
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  Speaker 1: that the advantage was common to all, And as showing
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  Speaker 1: there too that the advantage was common to all, he
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  Speaker 1: adds that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.
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  Speaker 1: For it is in no small degree that they contribute
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  Speaker 1: to the settled state of the present life, by keeping God,
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  Speaker 1: beating off enemies, hindering those who are for sedition in
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  Speaker 1: the cities, putting an end to differences among any. For
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  Speaker 1: do not tell me of some one who makes an
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  Speaker 1: ill use of the thing, But look to the good
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  Speaker 1: order that is in the institution itself, and you will
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  Speaker 1: see the great wisdom of him who enacted this law
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  Speaker 1: from the first verses seven and eight. Render therefore to
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  Speaker 1: all their dues, tribute to whom, tribute, custom to whom, custom,
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  Speaker 1: fear to whom, fear honor, to whom honor. Oh, no
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  Speaker 1: man anything but to love one another. He still keeps
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  Speaker 1: upon the same line, bidding them pay not money only,
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  Speaker 1: but honor and fear. And how is it when he
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  Speaker 1: said above, wilt thou not be afraid of the power,
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  Speaker 1: Do that which is good that he here says, render fear,
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  Speaker 1: He does it meaning exceeding honor, and not the fear
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  Speaker 1: which comes from a bad conscience, which he alluded to before.
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  Speaker 1: And it is not give that he says, but render,
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  Speaker 1: and then adds to it the dues. For it is
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  Speaker 1: not favor that you confer by so doing, since the
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  Speaker 1: thing is matter of due, And if you do it not,
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  Speaker 1: you will be punished as obstinate. Do not suppose that
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  Speaker 1: you are lowering yourself and attracting from the dignity of
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  Speaker 1: your own philosophy if you rise up at the presence
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  Speaker 1: of a ruler, or if you uncover your head. For
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  Speaker 1: if he laid these laws down at that time when
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  Speaker 1: the rulers were gentiles, much more ought this to be
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  Speaker 1: done with them. Now they are believers. But if you
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  Speaker 1: mean to say that you are entrusted with greater privileges,
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  Speaker 1: be informed that this is not thy time. For thou
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  Speaker 1: art a stranger and a sojourner. A time will be
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  Speaker 1: when thou shalt appear brighter than all. Now that life
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  Speaker 1: is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear,
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  Speaker 1: then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Seek
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  Speaker 1: not then, in this life of accidents thy change. But
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  Speaker 1: even if thou hast to be with fear in a
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  Speaker 1: ruler's presence, do not think that this is unworthy thy
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  Speaker 1: noble birth. For so God with us that the ruler,
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  Speaker 1: who has his place marked by him should have his
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  Speaker 1: own power. And when he who is conscious of no
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  Speaker 1: evil in himself stands with fear in a ruler's presence,
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  Speaker 1: much more will he who doth evil things be affrighted.
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  Speaker 1: And Thou, in this way wilt be the more respected.
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  Speaker 1: For it is not from honoring that the lowering of
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  Speaker 1: self comes, but from dishonoring him. And the ruler too
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  Speaker 1: will treat THEE with greater respect, and he will glorify
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  Speaker 1: Thy master. Owing to this, even if he be an unbeliever,
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  Speaker 1: owe no man anything but to love one another. Again,
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  Speaker 1: he has recourse to THEE, mother of good deeds and
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  Speaker 1: the instructress of the things spoken of, who is also
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  Speaker 1: productive of every virtue, and says that this is a debt.
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  Speaker 1: Also not, however, such as the tribute or the custom,
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  Speaker 1: but a continuous one, for he does not wish it
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  Speaker 1: ever to be paid off, or rather he would have
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  Speaker 1: it always rendered, yet never fully so, but to be
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  Speaker 1: always owing. For this is the character of the debt,
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  Speaker 1: that one keeps giving and owing always. Having said, then,
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  Speaker 1: how we ought to love, he also shows the gain
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  Speaker 1: of it, saying, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled
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  Speaker 1: the law, and do not pray consider even this a favor,
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  Speaker 1: For this too is a debt. For thou owest love
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  Speaker 1: to thy brother through thy spiritual relationship, for not for
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  Speaker 1: this only, but also because we are members one of another,
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  Speaker 1: and if love leave us, the whole body is rent
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  Speaker 1: in pieces. Love therefore, thy brother, For if from his
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  Speaker 1: friendship thou gainest so much as to fulfill the whole law,
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  Speaker 1: thou owest him love as being benefited by him. Thus
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  Speaker 1: nine for this, thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt
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  Speaker 1: not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear
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  Speaker 1: false witness, Thou shalt not covet. And if there be
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  Speaker 1: any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying,
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  Speaker 1: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. He does not
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  Speaker 1: say merely it is fulfilled, but it is briefly comprehended.
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  Speaker 1: That is, the whole work of the commandments is concisely
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  Speaker 1: and in a few words completed. For the beginning and
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  Speaker 1: the end of virtue is love. This it has for
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  Speaker 1: its root, this for its groundwork, this for its summit.
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  Speaker 1: If then it be both beginning and fulfillment, what is
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  Speaker 1: there equal to it? But he does not seek love merely,
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  Speaker 1: but intense love. For he does not say merely love
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  Speaker 1: thy neighbor, but as thyself. Hence, also Christ said that
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  Speaker 1: the law and the prophets hang upon it. And in
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  Speaker 1: making two kinds of love, see how he has raised this.
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  Speaker 1: For after saying that the first commandment is thou shalt
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  Speaker 1: love the Lord thy God, he added, and the second,
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  Speaker 1: and he did not stay, but added, is like unto it,
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  Speaker 1: and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. What can
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  Speaker 1: be equal to this love to man, or this gentleness
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  Speaker 1: that when we were at an infinite distance from him.
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  Speaker 1: He brings the love to us into comparison with that
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  Speaker 1: towards himself, and says that that is like unto this. Hence,
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  Speaker 1: then to put the measures of either as nearly the
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  Speaker 1: same of the one, he says, with all thy heart
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  Speaker 1: and with all thy might. But of this towards one's neighbor,
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  Speaker 1: he says, as thyself. But Paul said that when this
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: did not exist, even the other was of no great
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: profit to us. As then we, when we are fond
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: of any one, say, if you love him, then you
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: love me. So he also to show this saith is
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: like unto it, and to Peter, if thou lovest me
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: feed my sheep verse ten, love worketh no ill to
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Observe how it has both virtues, both abstinence from evil,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: for it worketh no ill, he says, and the working
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: of good deeds, for it is, he says, the fulfilling
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: of the law, not bringing before us instruction only on
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: moral duties in a concise form, but making the accomplishment
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: of them easy. Also, for that we should become acquainted
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: with things profitable to us. Was not all that he
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: was careful for, which is the law's care, but also
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: with a view to the doing of them, it brought
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: us great assistance accomplishing not some part of the commandments,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: but the whole sum of virtue in us. Let us
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: then love one another as sins. In this way we
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: shall also love God, who loveth us. For in the
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: case of men, if you love a man who is beloved,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: he that loveth him is contentious at it. But here
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: he deemeth THEE worthy to share his love, and hateth
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: THEE when thou shareest not, for man's love is laden
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: with envy and grudging. But God is free from all passion.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Whence also he seeketh for those to share his love.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: For he says, love thou with me, and then thyself
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: also will I love? The more you see the words
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: of a vehement lover. If thou love my beloved, then
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: will I also reckon myself to be greatly beloved of THEE.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: For he vehemently desireth thy salvation. And this he showeth
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: from of old. Now hear what he saith when he
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: was forming the man. Let us make man in our image,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: and again let us make an help meet for him.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: It is not good for him to be alone. And
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: when he had transgressed, he rebuked him. Observe how gently,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: And he does not say, wretch, thou, very wretch. After
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: receiving so great benefits, hast thou, after all, trusted to
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: the devil, and left thy benefactor to take up with
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: the evil spirit. But what saith he who told thee
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: that thou art naked, unless thou hast eaten of the
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: tree from which alone I commanded thee not to eat,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: as if a father were to say to a child
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: who was ordered not to touch a sword, and then disobeyed,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: and God wounded? How camest thou wounded? Thou camest so
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: by not listening to me. You see, they are the
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: words of a friend, rather than a master, of a
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: friend despised, and not even then forsaking, let us then
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: imitate him. And when we rebuke, let us preserve this
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: moderation for even the woman. He also rebuketh again with
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the same gentleness. Or rather, what he said was not
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: so much rebuke as admonition and correction and security against
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: the future. This is why he saith nothing to the serpent,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: for he was the designer of the mischiefs, and had
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: it not in his power to put off the accusation
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: on any one else. Wherefore he punished him severely, And
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: even here he did not come to a pause. But
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: made the earth also to share in the curse. But
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: if he cast them out of paradise and condemned them
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: to labor, even for this we ought to adore and
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: reverence him the most, For since self indulgence issues in listlessness,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: he trenches upon the pleasure by building a fort of
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: pain against listlessness, that we may return to the love
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: of him. And what of Kain's case, doth he not
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: meet with the same gentleness, For being by him also insulted,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: he doth not reproach in return, but entreats him and says,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: why has thy countenance fallen? And yet what he had
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: done allowed of no excuse whatever, And this the younger
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: brother shows. But still even then he doth not rebuke him.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: But what saith he hast thou sinned? Keep peace? Do
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: so no more to THEE shall his turning be, And
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: thou shalt rule over him, meaning his brother. For if
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: thou art afraid lest for this sacrifice, he means I
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: should deprive THEE of the pre eminence of the first born,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: be of good cheer for the entire command over him?
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Do I put into thy hands? Only keep improving and
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: love him that hath done THEE no wrong, for I
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: have an interest in you both. And what maketh me
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: most glad is that ye be not at variance one
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: with another. For as a devoted mother, so doth God
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: do and plan everything to keep one from being torn
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: from another. But that you may get a clearer view
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: by an example of my meaning, called your mind, prayed Rebecca,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: in her trouble and running about everywhere, when the eldest
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: son was at enmity with the younger. For if she
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: loved Jacob, still she did not feel a verse to Esau.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: And therefore she said, lest by any means, I be
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: deprived of both of you my children, in one day. Therefore,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: also God, upon that occasion, said, thou sinned be at
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: peace unto thee shall his turning be so, repressing the
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: murder beforehand, and aiming at the peace of them both.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: But when he had murdered him, he did not even
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: then bring his care for him to a close. But
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: again answers the fratricide in gentle terms, saying where is
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: thy brother? Abel, that even now, if he would, he
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: might make a full confession. But he struggled in defense
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: of his former misdeeds with a greater and sadder shamelessness.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: But even then God doth not leave him, but again
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: speaks the language of an injured and despised lover, and says,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me. And
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: again he rebukes the oath, with the murderer, turning his
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: wrath after it, and saying, curse be the oath which
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood. And like
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: those who lament, as David also did when Saul was fallen,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: for he made an address to the mountains which received
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: him as he died, in the words, ye mountains of Gilboa,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: let therefall on you, neither rain nor dew, because there
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: were ye shields of Mighty cast away. And thus God also,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: as though singing some solitary dirge, saith the voice of
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: thy brother's blood crieth unto me. And now art thou
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: cursed from the oath which hath opened her mouth to
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. And this he
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: said to humble his fiery passion, and to persuade him
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: to love him. At least now he was gone, Hast
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: thou extinguished his life? He would say, why dost thou
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: not now extinguish the hatred also, But what doth he
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: do He loveth both the one and the other, since
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: he made them both. What then doth he let the
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: murderer go unpunished? Nay he would, but have grown word.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Will he punish him? Then? Nay, he hath more tenderness
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: than a father. See then, how he at once punisheth,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: and also displays even in this his love. Or rather,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: he doth not so much as punish, but only corrects.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: For he doth not kill him, but only fetters him
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: with trembling, that he may divest himself of the crime,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: that so at least he may come back to a
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: natural tenderness for the other. And that so at least
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: he may make a truce with him. Now he hath gone,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: for he were fain, he should not go away to
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: the other world in enmity with him that was deceased.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: This is the way wherein they that love, when in
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: doing acts of kindness they meet with no love in return,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: are led on to be vehement and to threaten, not
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: with their will, indeed, but led by their love to
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: do this, that at least in this way they may
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: win over those that scorn them. Yet affection of this
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: sort is one of compulsion. And still this even solaces
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: them through the vehemency of their love. And so punishment
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: itself comes from affection, since unless pained at being hated,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: they would not choose to punish either. Now observe how
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: this is what Paul says to the Corinthians. For who
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: is he says, he that maketh me glad, but the
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: same which is made sorry by me. And so when
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: he is going to the full extent of punishment, then
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: he shows his love. Thus the Egyptian woman, too, from
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: her vehement love, has vehemently punished Joseph, and she indeed
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: did so for mischief, the love being unchaste, but God
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: for good, since the love was worthy of him who loved.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: This is why he does not refuse even to condescend
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: to grosser words and to speak their names of human passions,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: and to call himself jealous, For I am a jealous God.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: He saith that he may learn the intenseness of the love.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Let us then love him as he would have us,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: for he sets great store thereby, and if we turn away,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: he keepeth inviting us. And if we will not be converted,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: he chasteneth us through his affection, nor through a wish
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: to exact punishment of us. And see what he saith
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: in Ezekiel, to the city that was yet it despised him.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I will bring thy lovers against THEE, and will deliver
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: thee into their hands, and they shall stone thee and
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: shall slay thee. And my jealousy shall be taken away
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: from THEE, and I will rest, and I will not
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: trouble myself any more. What more than this could a
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: vehement lover have said, when despised by his beloved, and
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: after all again ardently loving her. For God doth everything
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: that he may be loved by us, And owing to
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: this he spared not even his son. But we are
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: unbending and savage. Yet let us become gentle at last,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: and love God as we ought to love him, that
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: we may with pleasure enjoy virtue. For if any that
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: hath a beloved wife does not perceive any of the
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: vexations that come day by day, he that loveth with
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: this divine and pure love, only consider what great pleasure
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: he will have to enjoy. For this is, indeed, it
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: is the kingdom of heaven. This is fruition of good
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: things and pleasure and cheerfulness, and joy and blessedness. Or
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: rather say as many things as I may, I shall
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: still be unable to give you any so representation of
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: it as should be. But the trial of it alone
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: can give a knowledge of this goodly thing. Wherefore also
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: the prophet saith, indulge thyself in the Lord and taste,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: and see that the Lord is gracious. Let us then
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: be persuaded and indulge ourselves in His love. For in
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: this way we shall both see His kingdom even from
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: out of this life, and shall be living the life
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: of angels. And while we abide on earth, we shall
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: be in as goodly a condition as they that dwell
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: in heaven, And after our departing, hence shall stand the
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: brightest of beings by the judgment seat of Christ, and
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: shall enjoy that glory unutterable, which may we all attain unto,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: by the grace and love towards man of our Lord,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. For to him is the glory forever our men.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: End of Section forty