Latest / Sermon on the Mount - Commentary / 012 - Homily 23 Part 1 - MT 71-12 On Judging Others On Seeking
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Homily twenty three, Part one, Saint John Chrysostom Homili's on
- 0:06Speaker 1: the Gospel of Saint Matthew, translated by the Reverend Sir
- 0:10Speaker 1: George Previst m A. This LibriVox recording is in the
- 0:15Speaker 1: public domain. Homily twenty three, Part one, Matthew seven one
- 0:22Speaker 1: through twelve. Judge not that ye be not judged? What
- 0:28Speaker 1: then ought we not to blame them that sin? Because
- 0:33Speaker 1: Paul also saith the self same thing, Or rather there
- 0:37Speaker 1: too it is Christ speaking by Paul and saying, wattst
- 0:42Speaker 1: thou judge thy brother, And thou wadest thou said it
- 0:47Speaker 1: not thy brother? And who art thou that judgest another
- 0:51Speaker 1: man's servant? And again therefore judge nothing before the time
- 0:57Speaker 1: until the Lord come. So then doth he say elsewhere, reprove, rebuke,
- 1:04Speaker 1: exhort and them that sin rebuke before all? And Christ
- 1:10Speaker 1: too to Peter go and tell him his fault between
- 1:15Speaker 1: THEE and him alone. And if he neglect to hear,
- 1:18Speaker 1: add to thyself another also, And if not even so,
- 1:22Speaker 1: doth he yield declare it to the church likewise? And
- 1:27Speaker 1: how hath he set over us so many to reprove,
- 1:31Speaker 1: and not only to reprove, but also to punish for
- 1:35Speaker 1: him that hearkens to none of these, he hath commanded
- 1:38Speaker 1: to be as a heathen man and a publican, And
- 1:42Speaker 1: how gave he them the keys. Also, since if they
- 1:46Speaker 1: are not to judge, they will be without authority in
- 1:50Speaker 1: any matter, and in vain have they received the power
- 1:53Speaker 1: to bind and to lose. And besides, if this were
- 1:58Speaker 1: to obtain, all would be lost the like, whether in
- 2:02Speaker 1: churches or in states, or in houses. For except the master, judge,
- 2:07Speaker 1: the servant, and the mistress, the maid, and the father,
- 2:11Speaker 1: the son, and friends one another, there will be an
- 2:15Speaker 1: increase of all wickedness. And why say I, friends, unless
- 2:20Speaker 1: we judge our enemies, we shall never be able to
- 2:23Speaker 1: put an end to our enmity, but all things will
- 2:27Speaker 1: be turned upside down. What then, can the saying be
- 2:32Speaker 1: let us carefully attend lest the medicines of salvation and
- 2:37Speaker 1: the laws of peace be accounted by any man laws
- 2:41Speaker 1: of overthrow and confusion? First of all, then even by
- 2:46Speaker 1: what follows. He hath pointed out to them that have
- 2:49Speaker 1: understanding the excellency of this law, saying, why beholdest thou
- 2:56Speaker 1: the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerate
- 2:59Speaker 1: not the beam that is in thine own eye. But
- 3:04Speaker 1: if to many of the less attentive it seem yet
- 3:07Speaker 1: rather obscure, I will endeavor to explain it from the beginning.
- 3:12Speaker 1: In this place, Then, as it seems at least to me,
- 3:16Speaker 1: he doth not simply command us not to judge any
- 3:19Speaker 1: men's sins. Neither doth he simply forbid the doing of
- 3:23Speaker 1: such a thing. But to them that are full of
- 3:26Speaker 1: innumerable ills, and are trampling upon other men for trifles.
- 3:31Speaker 1: And I think that search and Jews too are here
- 3:34Speaker 1: hinted at, for that while they were bitter accusing their
- 3:38Speaker 1: neighbors for small faults, and such as came to nothing,
- 3:42Speaker 1: they were themselves insensibly committing deadly sins. Herewith towards the end.
- 3:48Speaker 1: Also he was upbraiding them when he said, ye bind
- 3:52Speaker 1: heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, but ye will
- 3:56Speaker 1: not move them with your finger. And ye pay tithe
- 4:00Speaker 1: mint and annis, and have omitted the weightier matters of
- 4:03Speaker 1: the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. Well, then I think
- 4:09Speaker 1: that these are comprehended in his invective, that he is
- 4:13Speaker 1: checking them beforehand. As to those things wherein they were
- 4:17Speaker 1: hereafter to accuse his disciples. For although his disciples had
- 4:22Speaker 1: been guilty of no such sin, yet in them were
- 4:25Speaker 1: supposed to be offenses, as for instance, not keeping the Sabbath,
- 4:31Speaker 1: eating with unwashed in hands, sitting at meet with publicans,
- 4:36Speaker 1: of which he saith. Also in another place, ye which
- 4:40Speaker 1: strain at the gnat and swallow the camel. But yet
- 4:44Speaker 1: it is also a general law that he is laying
- 4:46Speaker 1: down on these matters. And the Corinthians too, Paul did
- 4:51Speaker 1: not absolutely command not to judge, but not to judge
- 4:55Speaker 1: their own superiors, and upon grounds that are not acknowledged,
- 5:00Speaker 1: not absolutely to refrain from correcting them that sin. Neither
- 5:05Speaker 1: indeed was he then rebuking all without distinction. But disciples
- 5:11Speaker 1: doing so to their teachers were the object of his reproof.
- 5:16Speaker 1: And they, who, being guilty of innumerable sins, bring an
- 5:19Speaker 1: evil report upon the guiltless. This then, is the sort
- 5:24Speaker 1: of thing which Christ also in this place intimated, not
- 5:28Speaker 1: intimated merely, but guarded it too with a great terror,
- 5:32Speaker 1: and the punishment from which no prayers can deliver. For
- 5:37Speaker 1: with what judgment ye judge, saith, he ye shall be judged.
- 5:42Speaker 1: That is, it is not the other saith Christ, that
- 5:47Speaker 1: thou condemnest but thyself, and thou art making the judgment
- 5:51Speaker 1: sy dreadful to thyself and the account strict. As then
- 5:56Speaker 1: in the forgiveness of our sins the beginnings are from us,
- 6:00Speaker 1: So also in this judgment it is by ourselves that
- 6:04Speaker 1: the measures of our condemnation are laid down. You see,
- 6:09Speaker 1: we ought not to upbraid nor trample upon them, but
- 6:13Speaker 1: to admonish, not to revile, but to advise, not to
- 6:18Speaker 1: assail with pride, but to correct with tenderness. For not
- 6:23Speaker 1: him but thyself, dost thou give over to extreme vengeance
- 6:27Speaker 1: by not sparing him when it may be needful to
- 6:30Speaker 1: give sentence on his offenses. Seest thou, how these two
- 6:36Speaker 1: commandments are both easy and fraught with great blessings to
- 6:40Speaker 1: the obedient, even as if evils, on the other hand,
- 6:44Speaker 1: to the regardless. For both he that forgives his neighbor
- 6:49Speaker 1: hath freed himself first of the two from the grounds
- 6:52Speaker 1: of complaint, and that without any labor, and he that,
- 6:56Speaker 1: with tenderness and indulgence, inquires into other menay offenses. Great
- 7:02Speaker 1: is the allowance of pardon, which he hath by his
- 7:05Speaker 1: judgment laid up beforehand for himself. What then, say you,
- 7:11Speaker 1: if one commit fornication? May I not say that fornication
- 7:15Speaker 1: is a bad thing, nor at all correct him that
- 7:19Speaker 1: is playing the wanton. Nay, correct him, but not as
- 7:23Speaker 1: a foe, nor as an adversary exacting a penalty, but
- 7:28Speaker 1: as a physician providing medicines. For neither did Christ say, stay,
- 7:33Speaker 1: not him that is sinning, But judge not that is
- 7:38Speaker 1: be not bitter in pronouncing sentence. And besides, it is
- 7:43Speaker 1: not of great things, as I have already observed, nor
- 7:47Speaker 1: of things prohibited that this is said, but of those
- 7:50Speaker 1: which are not even counted defenses. Wherefore he said, also,
- 7:56Speaker 1: why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eyes? Yea,
- 8:01Speaker 1: For many now do this. If they see but a
- 8:04Speaker 1: monk wearing in a necessary garment, they produce against him
- 8:09Speaker 1: the law of our Lord, while they themselves are extorting
- 8:13Speaker 1: without end and defrauding men every day. If they see
- 8:17Speaker 1: him but partaking rather largely of food, they become bitter accusers,
- 8:22Speaker 1: while they themselves are daily drinking to excess and serviting,
- 8:27Speaker 1: not knowing that besides their own sins they do hereby
- 8:31Speaker 1: gather up for themselves a greater flame, and deprive themselves
- 8:35Speaker 1: of every plea. For on this point that thine own
- 8:39Speaker 1: doings must be strictly inquired into. Thou thyself hast first
- 8:43Speaker 1: made the law by thus sentencing those of thy neighbor.
- 8:48Speaker 1: Account it not then to be a grievous thing, if
- 8:51Speaker 1: thou art also thyself to undergo the same kind of trial,
- 8:56Speaker 1: Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam of thine own eye.
- 9:02Speaker 1: Here his will is to signify the great wrath which
- 9:06Speaker 1: he hath against them that do such things. For so
- 9:11Speaker 1: whensoever he would indicate that the sin is great, and
- 9:14Speaker 1: the punishment and wrath in store for it grievous, he
- 9:18Speaker 1: begins with a reproach, as then unto him that was
- 9:21Speaker 1: exacting the hundred pence. He said, in his deep displeasure,
- 9:26Speaker 1: thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt. Even
- 9:31Speaker 1: so here also, thou hypocrite, for not of protecting care
- 9:37Speaker 1: comes such a judgment, but of ill will to man.
- 9:41Speaker 1: And while a man puts forward a mask of benevolence,
- 9:45Speaker 1: he is doing a work of the utmost wickedness, causing
- 9:49Speaker 1: reproaches without ground and accusations to cleave unto his neighbors,
- 9:55Speaker 1: and usurping a teacher's rank when he is not worthy
- 9:59Speaker 1: to be so much as a disciple. On account of this,
- 10:03Speaker 1: he called him hypocrite. For thou, who in other men's
- 10:07Speaker 1: doings art so bitter as is to see even the
- 10:10Speaker 1: little things, how hast thou become so remiss in thine
- 10:14Speaker 1: own as, that even the great things are hurried over
- 10:17Speaker 1: by THEE? First cast out the beam out of thine
- 10:22Speaker 1: own eye. Seest thou that he forbids not judging, but
- 10:27Speaker 1: commands to cast out first the beam from thine eye,
- 10:30Speaker 1: and then to set right the doings of the rest
- 10:33Speaker 1: of the world. For indeed, each one knows his own
- 10:36Speaker 1: things better than those of others, and sees the greater
- 10:40Speaker 1: rather than the less, and lovest himself more than his neighbor. Wherefore,
- 10:47Speaker 1: if thou doest it out of guardian care, I bid
- 10:50Speaker 1: THEE care for thyself first, in whose case the sin
- 10:54Speaker 1: is both more certain and greater. But if thou neglect thyself,
- 10:59Speaker 1: it is quite ever, that neither dost thou judge thy
- 11:01Speaker 1: brother in care for him, but in hatred and wishing
- 11:06Speaker 1: to expose him for what if he ought to be judged,
- 11:10Speaker 1: it should be by one who commits no such sin,
- 11:13Speaker 1: not by thee. Thus, because he had introduced great and
- 11:19Speaker 1: high doctrines of self denial, lest any man should say,
- 11:23Speaker 1: it is easy to practice it. In words, he willing
- 11:27Speaker 1: to signify his entire confidence, and that he was not
- 11:31Speaker 1: chargeable with any of the things that had been mentioned,
- 11:35Speaker 1: but had duly fulfilled all spake this parable, and that
- 11:40Speaker 1: because he too was afterwards to judge, saying, woe unto
- 11:45Speaker 1: you scribes and pharisees, hypocrites. Yet was not he chargeable
- 11:51Speaker 1: with what hath been mentioned? For neither did he pull
- 11:54Speaker 1: out a moat, nor had he a beam on his eyes.
- 11:58Speaker 1: But being clean from all these, he so corrected the
- 12:02Speaker 1: faults of all. For it is not at all meet
- 12:06Speaker 1: saith he to judge others when one is chargeable with
- 12:10Speaker 1: the same things. And why marvel at his establishing this law,
- 12:15Speaker 1: when even the very thief knew it upon the cross,
- 12:18Speaker 1: saying to the other thief, dost not thou fear God?
- 12:22Speaker 1: Sing we are in the same condemnation, expressing the same
- 12:26Speaker 1: sentiments with Christ. But thou so far from casting out
- 12:32Speaker 1: thine own beam, dost not even see it, but another's mode,
- 12:36Speaker 1: Thou not only seest, but also judgest and essayest to
- 12:41Speaker 1: cast it out, As if any one seized with a
- 12:45Speaker 1: grievous dropsy, or indeed with any other incurable disease, were
- 12:50Speaker 1: to neglect this and find fault with another who was
- 12:53Speaker 1: neglecting a slight swelling. And if it be an evil
- 12:57Speaker 1: not to see one's own sins, it is a twofold
- 13:01Speaker 1: and threefold evil to be even sitting in judgment on others,
- 13:05Speaker 1: while men themselves, as if past feeling, are bearing about
- 13:10Speaker 1: beams in their own eyes, since no beam is so
- 13:13Speaker 1: heavy as sin. His injunction, therefore, in these words, is
- 13:18Speaker 1: as follows, that he was chargeable with countless evil deeds,
- 13:23Speaker 1: should not be a bitter censor of other men's offenses,
- 13:27Speaker 1: and especially when these are trifling. He is not overthrowing
- 13:32Speaker 1: reproof nor correction, but forbidding men to neglect their own
- 13:37Speaker 1: faults and exalt over those of other men. For indeed,
- 13:42Speaker 1: this was the cause of men's going unto great vice,
- 13:46Speaker 1: bringing in a twofold wickedness. For he whose practice it
- 13:50Speaker 1: had been to slight his own faults, great as they were,
- 13:54Speaker 1: and to search bitterly into those of others, being slight
- 13:58Speaker 1: and of no account, was spoiling himself two ways, first
- 14:03Speaker 1: by thinking lightly of his own faults, next by incurring
- 14:07Speaker 1: enmities and feuds with all men, and training himself every
- 14:11Speaker 1: day to extreme fierceness and want of feeling for others.
- 14:17Speaker 1: Having then put away all these things by this his
- 14:21Speaker 1: excellent legislation, he added yet another charge, saying, give not
- 14:27Speaker 1: that which is wholly unto the dogs. Neither cast ye
- 14:31Speaker 1: your pearls before swine. Yet surely further on it will
- 14:36Speaker 1: be said, he commanded, which he have heard in the ear,
- 14:41Speaker 1: that preachy upon the housetops. But this is in no
- 14:45Speaker 1: wise contrary to the former. For neither in that place
- 14:49Speaker 1: did he simply command to tell all men, but to
- 14:52Speaker 1: whom it should be spoken to them, he bade speak
- 14:56Speaker 1: with freedom, and by dogs. Here he figuratively describe them
- 15:01Speaker 1: that are living in incurable ungodliness and affording no hope
- 15:05Speaker 1: of change for the better, and by swine, them that
- 15:09Speaker 1: abide continually in an unchaste life, all of whom he
- 15:14Speaker 1: hath pronounced unworthy of hearing such things. Paul, also, it
- 15:19Speaker 1: may be observed, declared this when he said, but a
- 15:23Speaker 1: natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit, for
- 15:26Speaker 1: they are foolishness unto him. And in many other places too.
- 15:30Speaker 1: He sayth that corruption of life is the cause of
- 15:34Speaker 1: men's not receiving the more perfect doctrines. Wherefore he commands
- 15:39Speaker 1: not to open the doors to them, for indeed they
- 15:42Speaker 1: become more insolent after learning. For as to the well
- 15:46Speaker 1: disposed and intelligent, things appear venerable when revealed, so to
- 15:52Speaker 1: the insensible when they are unknown. Rather, since then from
- 15:57Speaker 1: their nature they are not able to learn them, let
- 16:01Speaker 1: the thing be hidden, saith he, that at least for
- 16:04Speaker 1: ignorance they may reverence them. For neither doth the swine
- 16:09Speaker 1: know at all what a pearl is. Therefore, since he
- 16:12Speaker 1: knows not, neither let him see it, lest he trample
- 16:16Speaker 1: underfoot what he knows not, For nothing results beyond greater
- 16:22Speaker 1: mischief to them that are so disposed when they hear.
- 16:27Speaker 1: For both the holy things are profaned by them not
- 16:30Speaker 1: knowing what they are, and they are the more lifted
- 16:33Speaker 1: up and armed against us. For this is meant by
- 16:37Speaker 1: lest they trample them under their feet and turn again
- 16:41Speaker 1: and rend you. Nay, surely, saith one. They ought to
- 16:47Speaker 1: be so strong as to remain equally impregnable after men's
- 16:51Speaker 1: learning them, and not to yield to other people occasions
- 16:55Speaker 1: against us. But it is not the things that yield it,
- 16:59Speaker 1: but that these men are swine. Even as when the
- 17:02Speaker 1: pearl is trampled underfoot, it is not so trampled because
- 17:07Speaker 1: it is really contemptible, but because it fell among swine.
- 17:12Speaker 1: In full well did he say, turn again and renge o.
- 17:17Speaker 1: For they feign gentleness so as to be taught. Then
- 17:22Speaker 1: after they have learned, quite changing from one sort to another,
- 17:26Speaker 1: they jeer, mock and deride us as deceived persons. There
- 17:32Speaker 1: For Paul also said to Timothy, of whom be thou
- 17:36Speaker 1: were also, for he hath greatly withstood our words. And
- 17:41Speaker 1: again in another place from such turn away, and a
- 17:47Speaker 1: man that is in heretic after the first and second
- 17:50Speaker 1: admonition reject It is not you see that those truths
- 17:56Speaker 1: furnish them with armor. But they become fools in this
- 17:59Speaker 1: way of their own accord, being filled with more wilfulness.
- 18:04Speaker 1: On this account, it is no small gain for them
- 18:07Speaker 1: to abide in ignorance, For so they are not such
- 18:11Speaker 1: entire scorners, but if they learn the mischief is twofold,
- 18:16Speaker 1: for neither will they themselves be it all profited thereby,
- 18:20Speaker 1: but rather the more damaged, and to thee they will
- 18:24Speaker 1: cause endless difficulties. Let them hearken, who shamelessly associate with all,
- 18:31Speaker 1: and make the awe inspiring things contemptible. For the mysteries.
- 18:35Speaker 1: We too, therefore celebrate with closed doors, and keep out
- 18:39Speaker 1: the uninitiated, not for any weakness of which we have
- 18:44Speaker 1: convicted our rights, but because the many are as yet
- 18:47Speaker 1: imperfectly prepared for them. For this very reason, he himself
- 18:52Speaker 1: also discoursed much unto the Jews in parables, because they,
- 18:58Speaker 1: seeing saw not for this, Paul likewise commanded to know
- 19:04Speaker 1: how we ought to answer every man ask, and it
- 19:08Speaker 1: shall be given. You seek, and ye shall find not,
- 19:13Speaker 1: and it shall be opened unto you. For inasmuch as
- 19:17Speaker 1: he had enjoyed things great and marvelous, and had commanded
- 19:21Speaker 1: men to be superior to all their passions, and had
- 19:25Speaker 1: led them up to Heaven itself, and had enjoined them
- 19:29Speaker 1: to strive after the resemblance not of angels and archangels,
- 19:34Speaker 1: but as far as was possible, of the very Lord
- 19:38Speaker 1: of all, and had bidden his disciples not only themselves
- 19:42Speaker 1: duly to perform all this, but also to correct others,
- 19:47Speaker 1: and to distinguish between the evil and them that are
- 19:50Speaker 1: not such, the dogs and them that are not dogs.
- 19:55Speaker 1: Although there be much that is hidden in men that
- 19:59Speaker 1: they might not say these things are grievous and intolerable.
- 20:04Speaker 1: For indeed, in the sequel Peter did utter some such things, saying,
- 20:09Speaker 1: who can be saved? And again, if the case of
- 20:13Speaker 1: the man be so, it is not good to marry.
- 20:17Speaker 1: In order therefore that they might not now likewise say
- 20:21Speaker 1: so as in the first place, even by what had
- 20:24Speaker 1: gone before, he had proved it all to be easy,
- 20:28Speaker 1: setting down many reasons one upon another, of power to
- 20:32Speaker 1: persuade men. So after all he adds also the pinnacle
- 20:37Speaker 1: of all facility, devising as no ordinary relief to our toils,
- 20:43Speaker 1: the assistance derived from persevering prayers. Thus we are not
- 20:49Speaker 1: ourselves saith he to strive alone, but also to invoke
- 20:54Speaker 1: the help from above, And it will surely come and
- 20:57Speaker 1: be present with us, and will aid us in our
- 21:00Speaker 1: struggles and make all easy. Therefore, he both commanded us
- 21:06Speaker 1: to ask and pledged himself to the giving. However, not
- 21:12Speaker 1: simply to ask. Did he command us but with much
- 21:16Speaker 1: assiduity and earnestness. For this is the meaning of seek.
- 21:21Speaker 1: For so he that seeks, putting all things out of
- 21:24Speaker 1: his mind, is taken up with that alone which is sought,
- 21:29Speaker 1: and forms no idea of any of the persons present.
- 21:33Speaker 1: And this which I am saying, they know as many
- 21:37Speaker 1: as have lost either gold or servants, and are seeking
- 21:41Speaker 1: diligently after them. By seeking. Then he declared this by knocking,
- 21:48Speaker 1: that we approach with earnestness and a glowing mind. Despond
- 21:53Speaker 1: not therefore, o man, nor show less of zeal about
- 21:57Speaker 1: virtue than they do of desire for wealth, For things
- 22:02Speaker 1: of that kind thou hast often sought and not found.
- 22:06Speaker 1: But nevertheless, though thou know this that thou art not
- 22:11Speaker 1: sure to find them, thou puttest in motion every mode
- 22:14Speaker 1: of search. But here, although having a promise that thou
- 22:19Speaker 1: wilt surely receive, thou dost not show even the smallest
- 22:23Speaker 1: part of that earnestness. And if thou dost not receive
- 22:27Speaker 1: straight way, do not even thus despair. For to this
- 22:31Speaker 1: end he said knock, to signify that, even if he
- 22:35Speaker 1: should not straightway open the door, we are to continue there,
- 22:41Speaker 1: and if thou doubt my affirmation at any rate, believe
- 22:44Speaker 1: his example. For what man is there of U saieth
- 22:49Speaker 1: he whom, if his son ask bread, will he give
- 22:52Speaker 1: him a stone? Because as among men, if thou keep
- 22:58Speaker 1: on doing so, thou art even accounted troublesome and disgusting.
- 23:03Speaker 1: So with God. When thou doest not so, then thou
- 23:07Speaker 1: dost more entirely provoke him. And if thou continue asking,
- 23:13Speaker 1: though thou receive not at once, thou surely wilt receive.
- 23:18Speaker 1: For to this end was the door shut, that he
- 23:21Speaker 1: may induce thee to knock. To this end he doth
- 23:26Speaker 1: not straightway assent that thou mayst ask. Continue then to
- 23:32Speaker 1: do these things, and thou wilt surely receive, for that
- 23:37Speaker 1: thou mightst not say what? Then if I should ask
- 23:41Speaker 1: and not receive, he hath blocked up thy approach with
- 23:46Speaker 1: that similitude, again framing arguments, and by those human things,
- 23:51Speaker 1: urging us to be confident on these matters, implying by
- 23:56Speaker 1: them that we must not only ask, but ask what
- 24:00Speaker 1: we ought. For which of you is there a father
- 24:05Speaker 1: of whom, if his son shall ask bred, wilt he
- 24:08Speaker 1: give him a stone? So that if thou receivest, not
- 24:12Speaker 1: thy asking a stone is the cause of thy not receiving.
- 24:17Speaker 1: For though thou be a son, this effice is not
- 24:20Speaker 1: for thy receiving. Rather, this very thing even hinders thy receiving.
- 24:26Speaker 1: That being a son, thou askest what is not profitable.
- 24:32Speaker 1: Do thou also therefore ask nothing worldly, but all things spiritual,
- 24:38Speaker 1: and thou wilt surely receive. For so Solomon, because he
- 24:43Speaker 1: asked what he ought, behold how quickly he received two things.
- 24:49Speaker 1: Now you see, should be in him that praise, asking
- 24:53Speaker 1: earnestly and asking what he ought. Since ye too saith he,
- 24:59Speaker 1: though ye be fathers, wait for your sons to ask.
- 25:04Speaker 1: And if they should ask of you anything inexpedient, ye
- 25:07Speaker 1: refuse the gifts, just as if it be expedient, ye
- 25:13Speaker 1: consent and bestow it. Do thou, too, considering these things,
- 25:19Speaker 1: not withdraw until thou receive, until thou have found retire,
- 25:24Speaker 1: not relax, not i diligence until the door be opened.
- 25:30Speaker 1: For if thou approach with this mind and say, except
- 25:34Speaker 1: I receive, I depart, not thou wilt surely receive. Provided
- 25:41Speaker 1: thou ask such things as are both suitable for him
- 25:45Speaker 1: of whom thou askest to give, and expedient for thee
- 25:49Speaker 1: the petitioner. But what are these to seek the things spiritual,
- 25:55Speaker 1: all of them, to forgive them that have trespassed, and
- 26:00Speaker 1: so to draw nigh asking forgiveness, to lift up holy
- 26:04Speaker 1: hands without wrath and doubting. If we thus ask, we
- 26:08Speaker 1: shall receive. As it is surely our asking is a mockery,
- 26:14Speaker 1: and the act of drunken rather than of sober men.
- 26:19Speaker 1: What then, saith one, if I ask even spiritual things
- 26:23Speaker 1: and do not receive? Thou didst not surely not with earnestness,
- 26:28Speaker 1: or though made is thyself unworthy to receive? Or didst
- 26:32Speaker 1: quickly leave off? And wherefore it may be inquired, did
- 26:38Speaker 1: he not say what things we ought to ask? Nay?
- 26:42Speaker 1: Verily he hath mentioned them all in what precedes, and
- 26:46Speaker 1: hath signified for what things we ought to draw nigh?
- 26:50Speaker 1: Say not then I do nigh and did not receive.
- 26:54Speaker 1: For in no case is it owing to God that
- 26:57Speaker 1: we receive, Not God, who loves us so much as
- 27:01Speaker 1: to surpass even fathers, to surpass them. As far as
- 27:05Speaker 1: goodness doth this evil nature? For if ye, being evil,
- 27:11Speaker 1: know how to give good gifts unto your children, how
- 27:14Speaker 1: much more your heavenly father. Now this he said, not
- 27:20Speaker 1: to bring an evil name on man's nature, nor to
- 27:24Speaker 1: condemn our race's bad But in contrast to his own goodness,
- 27:29Speaker 1: he calls paternal tenderness evil. So great is the excess
- 27:34Speaker 1: of his love to man. See is that an argument
- 27:38Speaker 1: unspeakable of power to arouse to good hopes even him
- 27:43Speaker 1: that hath become utterly desperate. Now Here, indeed he signifies
- 27:48Speaker 1: his goodness by means of our fathers, but in what
- 27:52Speaker 1: proceeds by the chief, among his gifts, by the soul,
- 27:56Speaker 1: by the body. And nowhere doth he set down the
- 27:59Speaker 1: chief of all good things, nor bring forward his own coming.
- 28:04Speaker 1: For he who thus made speed to give up his
- 28:07Speaker 1: son to the slaughter, how shall he not freely give
- 28:10Speaker 1: us all things? Because it did not yet come to pass?
- 28:15Speaker 1: But Paul indeed sets it forth, thus saying, he that
- 28:19Speaker 1: spared not his own son, how shall he not also
- 28:23Speaker 1: with him freely give us all things? But his discourse
- 28:28Speaker 1: with them is still from the things of men. After this,
- 28:33Speaker 1: to indicate that we ought neither to feel confidence in
- 28:36Speaker 1: prayer while neglecting our own doings, nor when taking pains,
- 28:41Speaker 1: trust only to our own endeavors, but both to seek
- 28:45Speaker 1: after the help from above and contribute withal our own part.
- 28:50Speaker 1: He sets forth the one in connection with the other.
- 28:54Speaker 1: For so, after much exhortation, he taught also how to pray.
- 28:59Speaker 1: And when he had told how to pray, he proceeded
- 29:02Speaker 1: again to his exhortation concerning what we are to do.
- 29:06Speaker 1: Then from that again to the necessity of praying, continually saying, ask,
- 29:13Speaker 1: and seek and knock, And thence again to the necessity
- 29:18Speaker 1: of being also diligent ourselves. For all things, saith he,
- 29:24Speaker 1: whatsoever ye would that men should do to you? Do
- 29:28Speaker 1: ye also to them, summing up all in brief and
- 29:33Speaker 1: signifying that virtue is compendious and easy and readily known
- 29:40Speaker 1: of all men. And he did not merely say all
- 29:45Speaker 1: things whatsoever ye would, But therefore all things whatsoever ye would?
- 29:52Speaker 1: For this word, therefore he did not add without purpose,
- 29:56Speaker 1: but with a concealed meaning. If ye desire cohen ire,
- 30:00Speaker 1: saith he to be heard? Together with what I have said?
- 30:05Speaker 1: Do these things also? What then are these? Whatsoever ye
- 30:10Speaker 1: would that men should do to you? Seest thou how
- 30:14Speaker 1: he hath hereby also signified that together with prayer, we
- 30:19Speaker 1: need exact conversation. And he did not say whatsoever things
- 30:25Speaker 1: thou would'st to be done unto thee of God? Those
- 30:28Speaker 1: do unto thy neighbor. Lest thou should say, but how
- 30:32Speaker 1: is it possible? He is God and I am Man.
- 30:36Speaker 1: But whatsoever thou wouldst to be done unto thee of
- 30:40Speaker 1: thy fellow servant? These things do thou also thyself show
- 30:45Speaker 1: forth towards thy neighbor. What is less burdensome than this?
- 30:50Speaker 1: What fairer? Then the praise also before the rewards is
- 30:55Speaker 1: exceeding great. For this is the law and the prophets.
- 31:00Speaker 1: Whence it is evident that virtue is according to our nature,
- 31:05Speaker 1: that we all of ourselves know our duties, and that
- 31:09Speaker 1: it is not possible for us ever to find refuge
- 31:12Speaker 1: in ignorance. End of Homily twenty three, Part one,