He answers,
Forasmuch
as ye did unto one of the least of Mine, ye did it unto Me.
Augustine - Exposition on the Psalms - v6
Will it be in themselves?
No; but in that
they are light. Now are ye light in the Lord, said he. Eph. s,8. Therefore see what followeth, see wherewith he concludeth.
For now we are refreshed, that we niay endure: because needs Vee.
The upright shall dwell with Thy Countenance. For ill was it with them in their own countenance; well will it be with them with Thy Countenance. For when they loved
their own countenance, in the sweat of their countenance Gen. 3, . 19
did they eat bread. Let them return : then, their sweat being wiped away, their toils finished, their groaning done,
Thy Countenance shall come to them with abundance to satisfy them. Nought more shall they seek, for nought
better have they ; no more shall they abandon Thee, nor
be abandoned by Thee. For after His Resurrection, what
was said of the Lord? Thou shalt fill me with joy withPs. 16.
Thy Countenance. Without His Countenance He would
not give us joy. For this do we cleanse our countenance,
that we may rejoice in His Countenance. For now are Uohn3, we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
12 13 --
1
The beatific Vision.
Psalm shall be ; but we know that, when He shall appear, we Cxl' shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is ; for the upright shall dwell with Thy Countenance. Think we, with the Countenance of the Father, and not with that of the Son ? or with the Countenance of the Son, and not of
the Father? or is the Countenance of Father and Son and Holy Ghost in some sense one ? Let us see whether the Son Himself do not promise us His own Countenance, to gladden us therewith. The Lord God hath just inspired us to have the following passage of the Gospel read, that it might bear witness to this Psalm. The Lord Himself saith,
John 14, He that heareth these commandments of Mine and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me : and he that loveth Me, shall
Lat. cin.
PSALM CXLI. Sermon to the People.
I will love him, and will shew him Myself. What sort of reward is this He hath promised, beloved? Did not they already see Him, to whom He promised to shew Himself? Was He not before them ?
be loved of My Father, and
Was not the Face of His flesh close before their eyes? What is it that He willed to shew to them who already saw Him ? Forasmuch as they saw Him in such form as the Jews crucified Him in, yet was He God, hidden under that flesh, because men could see the Man, but the God they could
Matt. 5, not, although in Man; because too, blessed are the pure in heartyfor they shall see God; He gave the Form of Man both to good and evil, the Form of God He preserved for the pure and good, that we may rejoice in Him, and it may be well with us for ever with His Countenance.
1. Ye have heard, brethren, our instruction and our request from the mouth of the Apostle, when his Epistle was being read just now. For he saith, Continue in prayer,
Col. 4,
2, 3- 4' and watch therein ; withal praying also for us, that God
would open unto us a door of utteranceI, to speak His
mystery, that I may make it manifest as speak. ought to
Deign to consider these words mine also. For there are in Holy Scripture deep mysteries, which are for this cause
Love, the end of the Law. 237 hidden, lest they should be held cheap; for this cause ^'r. n.
:--
2. For what will ye hear or learn, brethren, more important
or more healthful, than, Thou shall love the Lord thy God Mat. 22, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 1 ' etc' mind; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Think
not that these two commandments are little ; On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. What
soever then healthfully is either conceived in the mind, or uttered by the mouth, or is carved from any page of holy
Writ, hath no end save love. For even evil-livers are
enticed to one another by the fellowship of an evil con
science, and are said to love one another, to be unwilling
to leave one another, to be won by intercourse among themselves, to long for one another when apart, to rejoice
when they meet. This love is of hell. It hath lime, to
drag down to the abyss; not wings, to lift aloft to heaven.
But what is true love, that it may be separated and distin guished from others which are called love ? That which
is called the true love of Christians is defined by Paul, and
so marked off by its definitions, as to be entirely distinguished
from the rest. The end, saith he, of the commandments isiTim. 1, love. He might have ended here; for in other places5* where he was speaking as unto them that knew, he said no
more; Love, saith he, is the fulfilling of the Law; and he Rom. 13, said not what law. Therefore did he not say here, because 10,
he had said elsewhere. Here therefore, Love is the ful
filling of the Law. Thou askest, perhaps, what love ? what sort of love ? Thou art told in another place, The end of the commandment is love, out of a pure heart. Now see whether robbers have among themselves love out of a
pure heart. This is a pure heart in regard of love, when thou lovest man according to God's will : for thou oughtest
sought, that they may employ us; for this cause opened, that they may feed us. The Psalm which we have just sung is in many parts somewhat obscure. When by the help of the Lord what has been said shall begin to be expounded and explained, ye will see that ye are hearing things which ye knew already. But for this cause are they said in manifold ways, that variety of expression may remove all weariness of the truth.
238 The Psalms Christ's Words: some in His own
Psalm to love thyself too in such wise that the rule be not broken, MaT^i Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself. For if thou 39. lovest thyself amiss and unprofitably, by loving thy neighbour
also in the same way, what dost thou benefit him ? But in what way dost thou love thyself amiss? In the way that Scripture hinteth, which flattereth no man, and con- vinceth thee that thou lovest not thyself, yea rather con-
P<<. 11, vinceth thee that thou hatest thyself. He that lovelh
''
iniquity, it saith, hateth his own soul. If then thou lovest iniquity, thinkest thou that thou lovest thyself? Thou art mistaken. And if thou love thy neighbour in this way, thou wilt lead him to iniquity, and thy love will be the snare of him thou lovest. Love then is out of a pure heart, in agreement with God's will, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. This love then thus defined by the Apostle hath two commandments, to love God, and to love our neighbour. In no part of Scripture seek ought else, let none enjoin on you ought else; whatever is hidden in Holy Scripture, this is hidden in it; whatever is plain in Holy Scripture, this is plain in it. If it were no where plain, it would not feed thee ; if it were no where hidden, it would not exercise thee. This work crieth in these words out of a pure heart, out of the heart of them that are such as He Who here now prayeth. And who this is I will soon tell you : it is Christ.
3. But the words ye are about to hear are unworthy to be understood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one who understood not would think that it is rash in me to have said, that the speaker in this Psalm was Christ. For how can it rightly be said of our Lord Jesus Christ, of that Lamb without spot, of Him in Whom alone no sin was found, Who alone could most truly say, Behold, the prince of this world cometh, and findeth nothing in Me, that is, no blame, no fault, Who alone paid that which He seized not, Who alone could offer innocent blood, the only Son of God, Who took flesh, not to decrease Himself, but to increase us; of such an one, I say, how could this be rightly understood,
John 14, 30'
v. 3. 4. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door of re straint around my lips; that Thou turn not aside my heart to wicked words, to making excuses in sins? For plainly this is the meaning. ' Guard Thou, O Lord, my mouth
Person ; some in the person of His Body. 239
with Thy commandments as with a gate and door, that my Ver.
heart be not turned aside to wicked words. ' What wicked
words ? Those which make excuses for sins. Let me
not choose to excuse, rather than to accuse, my sins.
These words fit not our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. For
what sins did He commit, which He ought to have confessed,
rather than defended? These are our words: and yet assuredly it is Christ that speaketh. If they be our words,
how is it Christ that speaketh ? Where is the love whereof
I was speaking? Know ye not that it maketh us one
in Christ ? Love crieth to Christ from us, love crieth from
Christ for us. How doth love cry to Christ from us?
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon Joel 2,
'
Cor 12,27.
the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How doth love cry
from Christ for us ? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me ? Acts 9,
Ye, saith the Apostle, are the Body of Christ, and members. *'
If then He be the Head, we the Body, it is one that speaketh ; whether the head speak or the members, it is one Christ that speaketh. And it is the property of the head to speak in the name of the members also. Observe our own habit: first, how none among our members can speak, save the head : then further, how the head in us speaketh in the name of all the members. Some one in some narrow place hath trod on thy foot ; thou art treading on me, saith the head : some one hath wounded thy hand; thou bast wounded me, saith the head. The tongue which is in thy head undertaketh to represent all thy members, it speaketh for them all. In the same way then let us hear Christ speaking, but let each hear therein his own voice, adhering as it were in Christ's Body. For sometimes He will speak words wherein none of us can find himself represented, but which belong to the Head alone : yet doth He not sever Himself from our words, and raise Himself aloft to those which are His own specially; nor doth He not return from His own special ones to ours.
--
For of Him and the Church it is said, And they twain Eph. s, shall be one flesh. Wherefore He Himself too saith in the31' 2-
Gpspel of this very thing, Now therefore they are no more Mat. 19, twain, but one flesh. All this is not new: ye have heard6'
it continually : but it is needful that it be mentioned as
210 The whole Church cries, through Christ, to God.
Psalm occasion serves, first, because the Scriptures themselves
Cx11'
41
and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood. What is this flowing of sweat from His whole Body, but the
ver. 2.
5. Let my prayer be setforth in Thy sight as incense, and the lifting up of my hands an evening sacrifice. That this is wont to be understood of the Head Himself, every Christian acknowledgeth. For when the day was now sinking towards
I7.
again, did not lose it against His will. Still we too are figured there. For what of Him hung upon the tree, save what He took of us ? And how can it be that the Father should leave and abandon His only-begotten Son, especially when He is one God with Him ? Yet, fixing our weakness upon
which we handle are so interwoven, that many things are repeated in many places ; and further, because it is profitable. For the cares of this world produce thorns and choke the seed : it is fitting that that be often brought to our recol lection by the Lord, which the world forceth us to forget,
have cried unto Thee, hear Thou me. This we all can say. This not I alone say : whole Christ saith it. But it is said rather in the name of the Body : for He too, when He was here and bore our flesh, prayed ; and when He prayed, drops of blood streamed down from His whole
4. Lord, I
Luke22, Body. So is it written in the Gospel : Jesus prayed earnestly,
ver. l.
suffering of martyrs from the whole Church ? Lord, I
have cried unto Thee,Ihear Thou me : listen unto the voice of my
cry unto Thee. Thou though test the business of crying already finished, when thou saidst,
prayer, while
/
not thyself safe. If tribulation be finished, crying is finished: but if tribulation remain for the Church, for the Body/of Christ, even to the end of the world, let it not only say, have cried unto Thee, but also, Listen unto the voice of my prayer, while I cry unto Thee.
have cried unto Thee. Thou hast cried ; yet think
John 10, evening, the Lord upon the Cross laid down His life to lake it
Rom. 6, the Cross, where, as the Apostle saith, our old man is
Ps. 22, \, crucified with Him, He cried out in the voice of that our
Mat. 27, old man, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
4G'
That then is the evening sacrifice, the Passion of the Lord, the Cross of the Lord, the offering of a salutary Victim, the whole burnt-offering acceptable to God. That evening
Christ confesseth sin in the name of His Body. 24 1
sacrifice produced, in His Resurrection, a morning offering. ver. Prayer then, purely directed from a faithful heart, riseth like ----- incense from a hallowed altar. Nought is more delightful
than the odour of the Lord : such odour let all have who believe.
6. Our old man, then, saith the Apostle, is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence
forth we should not serve sin. Therefore in the Psalm, after the words, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? far from my health, immediately is subjoined, the words of my sins. What sins, if thou regard the Head ? And yet that the words in the Psalms were His, He Himself testified on the Cross, He said the very words, He uttered the very verse.
There is no room left for man's conjecture ; no opportunity
for denial to any Christian whatever. What I read in the Psalms, that I hear from the Lord. In the Psalm too I recognise what I read in the Gospel, They pierced My p>>. 22, Hands and My Feet, they counted all My Bones: they\7,le-
considered and gazed upon Me : they parted My garments,
and cast lots for My vesture. All these things as they were foretold, so did they come to pass ; like as we have heard, Ps. 48,8. so have we also seen. Therefore if our Lord Jesus Christ, figuring us in the love of His Body, though He was Himself without sin, yet said, The words of My sins, and said this
in the name of His Body, who among His members dareth
to say that he hath no sin, save he who dareth to puff himself up under the name of a false righteousness, and to accuse Christ of falsehood ? Confess then, O member, that
for thee thy Head uttered it. And that we may confess
this, do this, not justify ourselves in the sight of Him Who
alone is righteous, Who juslifieth the ungodly, He hath Rom. 4, added at once the words of His Body, Set, O Lord, a ualch5ver 3
before my mouth, and a door of restraint around my lips. He said not a barrier of restraint, but a door of restraint. A door is opened as well as shut. If then it be a door, let it be both opened and shut; opened, to confession of sin; closed, to excusing sin. So will it be a door of restraint, not
of ruin.
7. For what doth this door of restraint profit us ? What
doth Christ pray in the name of His Body ? That Thou ver. 4. vol. vt. R
242 He identifies Himself with His Members.
I'sai. m turn not aside My heart to wicked words. What is, My JETMl. heart ? The heart of My Church ; the heart, that is, of My Body. Observe those words where this rule is laid
Acts 9, down for us: Saul, Saul, why perseculest thou Me? yet
liat. 25 nad no one touched Him. 35. &c. meat : and
/ was hungry, and ye gave Me
I
Me drink : and the rest. Then they ask, When saw we Thee hungry or thirsty ?
He answers, Forasmuch as ye did unto one of the least of Mine, ye did it unto Me. These passages ought not to be strange
was thirsty,
ye gave
to Christians, especially since in them are rules established for understanding all other Scriptures too, and either they will not be disturbed, or, if they are, will soon be set right. Just as then in that passage the righteous are to say, Lord,
I
eat? when saw we Thee hungry? and He is to answer,
wherefore hast Thou said,
was hungry, and ye gave Me to
Forasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of Mine,
ye have done it unto Me; so in this passage too let us speak 1Mss. in 1to Christ inwardly, in our inner man, for there He deigneth Chnsto, to dwell by faith. For He is not far from us, and so not Christ. sneh that we can speak to Him ; since He Himself hath
denieth, The lifting up of My Hands is an evening sacrifice. So thou go then and say, Set, O Lord, a watch upon my mouth, and a door of restraint around my lips, that Thou turn not aside my heart to wicked words, to making excuses in sins. Wherefore prayest Thou thus, Lord ? What sins of Thine canst Thou make excuses for? He answereth,
When one of My members thus prayeth, I pray thus: just as in the other place He answered, Forasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of Mine, ye have done it unto Me.
8. But when thine heart hath not been turned aside, O member of Christ, when thy heart hath not been turned aside to wicked words, to making excuses in sins, with men that work in iniquity, thou shalt also not unite with their elect. For this followeth, And I will not unite with their elect. Who are their elect? Those who justify them-
Lukel8, selves. Who are their elect? Those who trust in them- 11.
said, Lo, I
am with you alway, even unto the end
the world. Let us then too speak to Him, since He hath given us His Voice in this Psalm. For that is His Voice, as none
of
The Pattern of the ' Woman that was a sinner. ' 243
selves that they are righteous, andIdespise others, as the Ver.
He were a prophet, would know what manner of woman 39' this is that touched His feet. Here thou recognisest the words of that other Pharisee, who invited our Lord to his house ; when the woman of that city, who was a sinner, came and approached His Feet. She, the unchaste one, who once went unabashed after fornication, but now came yet more un abashed after salvation, forced her way into a strange house. But He Who there sat at meat was not a stranger. She was not a strange woman following any chance guest, but a hand maid her Lord. She drew near to His Feet, because she desired to follow His Footsteps; she washed them with her tears, she wiped them with the hairs of her head. What are
the Feet of Christ, save they by whom He hath traversed
the whole world? How beautiful are the feet of them that U. 52,7. publish peace, that bring glad tidings of good things! How
many then have received the feet of the Lord, so as by Mat. 10, receiving a righteous man in the^iame of a righteous man,41' 42' to receive a righteous man's reward; and received a prophet
in the name of a prophet, so as to receive a prophet's reward! And whosoever, saith He, shall give to drink unto
Pharisee said in the temple, Lord,
not as other men are. Who are their elect ? This Man, i/ Luke 7,
of a disciple, verily
thank Thee that
I
am ----
one of these little onesIa cup of cold water only in the name
say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. He then who with such kindness received the
Feet of the Lord, what did He expend save the superfluities he had in his house ? Rightly, since the hair is as it were a superfluity, did she with it wipe the Lord's Feet. Thy superfluities become necessaries to thee, if thou with them follow the Feet of the Lord. She then desired to be healed, conscious of the greatness of her wound. But surely it was not a great wound, a mean Physician. The Pharisees were loth to be touched by the unclean, they shunned all contact with sinners, and if it happened that they could not avoid their touch, they washed themselves. And almost every hour they washed not only themselves, but also their vessels, their couches, their cups, their platters, as the Lord recordeth in the Gospel. Inasmuch then as the Pharisee knew this woman, and certainly, had she drawn near to his feet, would
11 -2
244 The Pharisee s want of love.
Psalm have repelled her, lest his sanctity should be defiled ; for it xl-L was in his body, not in his heart; (and because he had it not in his heart, clearly it was but a false sanctity that he had in his body ;) forasmuch, I say, as he would himself have repelled her, when the Lord did not so, he thought that He Luke 7, knew not who she was, and said within himself, This man,
39. &c. y jje were a pfolihet, would know what manner of woman this is which hath approached His Feet. He said not, ' would have repelled her,' but, ' would have known who she was;' as though it followed that, if He knew, He would repel. From the fact then that He did not repel her, he felt sure further that He did not know her. But the Lord so had His eyes fixed on that woman, as to have His ears fixed upon the heart of the Pharisee : and so, when He heard his thought, He set before him the parable, which ye know. A certain creditor had two debtors : the one owed him five hundred pence, and the other fifty: and when they had
nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.
I
ask of thee, saith He, which of them will love him most? Then answered he, now compelled by truth to give sentence against
fhimself, / suppose, saith he, Lord, that he to whom he orgave most. * And He turned to the woman, and said unto
Simon, Seest thou this woman ?
thou gavest Me no kiss, but she hath not ceased to kiss My Feet : thou gavest Me no water to My Feet, she hath washed My Feet with her tears : thou gavest Me Ino oil, she hath anointed Me with ointment.
her sins, which ate many, are forgiven, for she loved much. Wherefore ? Because she confessed, because "she wept, because her heart was not turned aside to wicked words,' to offering excuses in sins ; because she united not herself with their elect; that is, with those that defend themselves.
9. For even this woman 'herself, if her heart had turned aside to wicked words, would not have lacked wherewith to defend her sins. Do not women daily, her equals in de filement, but not her equals in confession, harlots, teresses, doers of shameful deeds, defend their sins ?
If they have not been seen, they deny them: if they have been caught and convicted, or have done their deeds openly,
they defend them. And how easy is their defence, how
I entered into thine house,
Wherefore
unto
say Lthee,
adul
The folly of making excuses for sin. 245
ready, yet how headlong; how common, yet how blas- Vfr. phemous ! Had God not willed had not done it: God ------ willed it: fortune willed it: fate willed it. She saith not,
said, Lord, have mercy upon me; she saith not, like that sinner coming to the feet of her Physician, Heal my soul, for have sinned against Thee. And from whom do they
get this defence, my brethren not only from the unlearned, but from the learned also. They sit and count the stars, their distances, their orbits, their speed, their positions, their movements: they observe all these, describe them, form conjectures. Men think them learned, and great. All this learning and greatness defence of sin. Thou wilt be an adulterer, because Venus in particular quarter for thee thou wilt be murderer, because Mars is. Mars then
murderer, not thou Venus an adulteress, not thou. Beware, lest for both Mars and Venus thou be condemned. For God, Who to condemn, knoweth that thou art the man, thou that sayest, It not to the Judge that knoweth. Further, the very astrologer himself who selleth to thee the very fables that ensnare thee, that thou shouldest not obtain even thy death for nothing --(for thou buyest death of the astrologer for price, who hast spurned life from Christ without price --the very astrologer, say, he see his wife behave herself somewhat wantonly, or pay more than due regard to any strangers, or often to betake herself to the window, doth he not seize her, beat her, administer discipline to her in his own house Let his wife reply,
If thou canst, beat Venus, not me will not he answer,
Fool, that which belongeth to the lord and master one thing, what displayed to the purchaser another thing Who then are their elect? The elect of the evil, the elect of the wicked, with whom we must not unite, that is, with whom we must have no dealings. But who are they
Ps. 41,4.
They that think themselves righteous, and despise others^aMH, as sinners, as were the Pharisees or who, because their
sins are manifest, being either detected, or done publicly, defend and maintain them, that nothing may be laid to their charge, and that men may judge that they have done no
evil, but that God has done all, because He has either, as they say, created man so, or so ordered the stars, or
it
;
is
is is
?
is ? ? '
is
is
I if
''
is I/
;)
a
'
;
is
a
a
:
is
:'? a I
I,' ;
it,
246 The Manichees by their excuses
Psalm because He neglects the affairs of men. These are the defences of the elect of this world. But let the members of Christ, the Body of Christ, say, let Christ say in the name of His Body, Turn not Thou aside, My Heart, to wicked words, to offering excuses in sins, with men that work iniquity, and I will not unite with their elect.
10. Ye know, my brethren, what 1 must not pass by, that among the Manichees" certain seeming righteous ones, more exalted than the rest, who have reached as it were the highest step of righteousness, are called ' elect. ' Let those who know this, recall it ; those who knew it not, hear it. Elect indeed of God are all the saints, and this we have in the Scriptures: but they have usurped this name to themselves, and applied it to themselves, so to speak, in a more familiar manner, as though they were now called in some special sense, ' elect. ' Who are these 'elect? ' Men, to whom if you say, 'Thou hast sinned,' immediately bring forward that defence of theirs, an impious one, worse and more blasphemous than all others, ' It is not I that have sinned, but the race of darkness. ' What is this race of darkness ? That which waged war with God.
And doth it sin, when thou sinnest? It doth, saith he, because I am mixed with it. Well then, what did God, Who mixed thee with fear For they say, that that race of darkness rebelled against God, before the world was made and He, to guard against His dominions being laid waste by the invasion of an enemy, sent hither His members,
His substance, that which He Himself is; gold, He be gold; light, He be light whatever be, He sent and mixed with the vitals of the race of darkness, and whatever sins we are said to commit, that race committeth. They seem indeed to excuse themselves from sin, but they do not excuse
their God from the charge of fear, nor the very substauce of their God from the charge of being corruptible. For God incorruptible, incommutable, incapable of pollution or stain, impenetrable, what could that race have done to Him It might have made what onset would yet bow
The tenets of the Manichees al- explained in a note at the end of the luded to in this and the two following translation of St. Augustine's Con- sections will be found illustrated and fessions.
*
?
is
if
:
it ;
it, if it
if
;
it
it, ?
blaspheme God. 247
could it frighten One Who was impenetrable, inviolable, Ver. incapable of pollution, or change, or corruption ? If God ------ then be such, He is cruel, for sending you hither without
cause, seeing that nothing could harm Him. Wherefore
sent He you ? Behold, the race of darkness could not harm Him ; but He hath grievously harmed you, aud He hath been more your enemy than though too could harm you. was possible for you to be oppressed, to be led captive, to be defiled, to be corrupted; so therefore could He. For fragment, so to speak, and portion ever so small of His Nature, convicteth the whole mass. Such as that
which He hath sent hither, such also That Which remained there. This they themselves say; themselves confess that they are two substances, one on this side, the other on that. This their books contain they deny they are read and convicted.
11. What then? To say no more on this one subject, will not mention worse things, things yet more wicked
in this one argument, wherein they make war, see how they are conquered, and when they say that the race of darkness wages war against God, how they are caught in the battle of their own words. For nought have they to say, nothing to which to betake themselves. But thou wishest, wicked one, false elect, to defend thy sin, that when thou hast done any evil, thou be not thought to have done thou seekest on whom to cast back thy sin, and thou flingest
back upon the race of darkness. But consider God, whether thou art not flinging back upon Him. For that race of darkness, which thou imaginest, could speak,
would say to thee, Why dost thou accuse me Had the power to do ought to thy God, or had not? If could,
am stronger than He; not, why did He fear me? He feared me not, why did He send thee hither to suffer so much, seeing thou art Member of Him, seeing thou art His own Substance? If He feared not, He envied: He did not through fear, He did through cruelty. How unjust then He, Who could receive no hurt, yet caused that His members should thus receive hurt here Or could He be hurt? Then He not incorruptible. When then thou wishest to defend thyself from thy sin, thou canst not
is
!
it is
Iitit I O
a
if
it
; if
it
I
is
I
if I
O :
?
it is
it
ifif :
it,
a
It
it,
i i. e.
248 Their heresy concerning the members of Christ.
Psai upraise God. Thou wouldest not fail in the praise of ? *l1, God, unless thou wert puffed up in thine own. Change, and blame thyself; thou shalt then praise God. Come
P9. 4 1,4. back to the words of the Psalms which ye curse; say, I said,
Lord, have mercy upon me; heal my soul, for I
have sinned against Thee. I said, I have sinned : not fortune, not fate, not the race of darkness. If then thou hast sinned, see how
enlarged is the praise of God, wherein thou wast straitened, while thou wouldest defend thyself. Better for thee to be straitened in thine own sins, and enlarged in His praise. Now then when thou hast confessed thy sin, see how God is praised thereby ; for He is both just, in punishing thee while thou didst persevere ; and merciful, in freeing thee now thou dost confess. Do not thou, therefore, he saith, turn aside my heart to wicked words, to making excuses in sins, so as to say that the race of darkness hath done what 1 have done.
12. With men that work wickedness. What wickedness? Let me mention some sinful wickedness of theirs. Let me tell you one open sinful wickedness, which they acknowledge. They say, it is better for a man to be an usurer than a husbandman. Thou askest the reason, and they assign one. See whether their reason ought not to be called madness : for they say, ' He that employs his money in usury, injureth not the cross of light :' (this many understand not, but I will explain :) ' but he that is an husbandman, much injureth the cross of light. ' Thou askest, 'What cross of light? ' Those members, he saith, of God, which were taken captive in
that battle, are mixed with the universe, and are in trees, in herbs, in apples, in fruits. He vexeth the members of Christ, who cleanseth the earth with a furrow : he vexeth the members of Christ, who pulleth grass from the earth : he vexeth the members of Christ, who plucketh an apple from a tree. To avoid committing their imaginary murders in the farm, he committeth real murders in usury. He dealeth no bread
to the needy. See whether there can be greater unrighteous-
ness than this righteousness'. He dealeth not bread to the consider hungry. Thou askest, wherefore ? Lest the beggar receive it. the life which is in the bread, which they call a member of
God, the substance of God, and bind it in flesh. What
Christ convicteth in Mercy. 249
then do ye? why do ye eat? Have ye not flesh? Yes; Van.
S" * ,
but we, they say, forasmuch as we are enlightened by faith in Manes, by our prayers and our Psalms, forasmuch as we are elect, we cleanse thereby that bread, and transmit it into the treasure-house of the heavens. Such are the elect, that they are not to be saved by God, but saviours of God. And this is Christ, they say, crucified in the whole universe. I received in the Gospel Christ a Saviour, but ye are in your books the saviours of Christ. Plainly ye are blas phemers of Christ, and therefore not to be saved by Christ. Therefore lest a crumb be given to the hungry, and in the crumb a member of Christ suffer, is the hungry to die of hunger? False mercy to a crumb causeth true murder of a man. But who are their elect? Turn not thou aside,
my heart, to wicked words, and elect.
13. The righteous One shall amend me in mercy, andver. B. convict me. Behold the sinner confessing. He desireth
to be amended in mercy, rather than praised deceitfully.
The righteous One shall amend me in mercy, and convict
me, if He is just, if He is merciful, when He seeth me sinning. This verily certain members of Christ say, of certain members of Christ they say in one body they say
it. The Lord deigneth to speak in the character of an amender, yet despiseth not the character of him that amended or to be amended. For all His members are in
Him, and He saith, the righteous One shall amend me. What righteous One shall amend thee The Head amend-
eth all the members. The righteous One shall amend me
in mercy, and shall convict me. Shall convict me, but in mercy shall convict, yet hateth not yea, shall all the
more convict, because He hateth not. And why doth he therefore give thanks? Because, rebuke a wise man, andProv. he will love thee. The righteous One shall amend me. 8' Because He persecuteth thee God forbid. He requireth rather amending himself, who amendeth in hate. Wherefore
then doth He amend In mercy. And shall convict me. Wherein In mercy. For the oil of a sinner shall not Ter- 6. enrich my head. My head shall not grow by flattery.
they are light. Now are ye light in the Lord, said he. Eph. s,8. Therefore see what followeth, see wherewith he concludeth.
For now we are refreshed, that we niay endure: because needs Vee.
The upright shall dwell with Thy Countenance. For ill was it with them in their own countenance; well will it be with them with Thy Countenance. For when they loved
their own countenance, in the sweat of their countenance Gen. 3, . 19
did they eat bread. Let them return : then, their sweat being wiped away, their toils finished, their groaning done,
Thy Countenance shall come to them with abundance to satisfy them. Nought more shall they seek, for nought
better have they ; no more shall they abandon Thee, nor
be abandoned by Thee. For after His Resurrection, what
was said of the Lord? Thou shalt fill me with joy withPs. 16.
Thy Countenance. Without His Countenance He would
not give us joy. For this do we cleanse our countenance,
that we may rejoice in His Countenance. For now are Uohn3, we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
12 13 --
1
The beatific Vision.
Psalm shall be ; but we know that, when He shall appear, we Cxl' shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is ; for the upright shall dwell with Thy Countenance. Think we, with the Countenance of the Father, and not with that of the Son ? or with the Countenance of the Son, and not of
the Father? or is the Countenance of Father and Son and Holy Ghost in some sense one ? Let us see whether the Son Himself do not promise us His own Countenance, to gladden us therewith. The Lord God hath just inspired us to have the following passage of the Gospel read, that it might bear witness to this Psalm. The Lord Himself saith,
John 14, He that heareth these commandments of Mine and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me : and he that loveth Me, shall
Lat. cin.
PSALM CXLI. Sermon to the People.
I will love him, and will shew him Myself. What sort of reward is this He hath promised, beloved? Did not they already see Him, to whom He promised to shew Himself? Was He not before them ?
be loved of My Father, and
Was not the Face of His flesh close before their eyes? What is it that He willed to shew to them who already saw Him ? Forasmuch as they saw Him in such form as the Jews crucified Him in, yet was He God, hidden under that flesh, because men could see the Man, but the God they could
Matt. 5, not, although in Man; because too, blessed are the pure in heartyfor they shall see God; He gave the Form of Man both to good and evil, the Form of God He preserved for the pure and good, that we may rejoice in Him, and it may be well with us for ever with His Countenance.
1. Ye have heard, brethren, our instruction and our request from the mouth of the Apostle, when his Epistle was being read just now. For he saith, Continue in prayer,
Col. 4,
2, 3- 4' and watch therein ; withal praying also for us, that God
would open unto us a door of utteranceI, to speak His
mystery, that I may make it manifest as speak. ought to
Deign to consider these words mine also. For there are in Holy Scripture deep mysteries, which are for this cause
Love, the end of the Law. 237 hidden, lest they should be held cheap; for this cause ^'r. n.
:--
2. For what will ye hear or learn, brethren, more important
or more healthful, than, Thou shall love the Lord thy God Mat. 22, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 1 ' etc' mind; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Think
not that these two commandments are little ; On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. What
soever then healthfully is either conceived in the mind, or uttered by the mouth, or is carved from any page of holy
Writ, hath no end save love. For even evil-livers are
enticed to one another by the fellowship of an evil con
science, and are said to love one another, to be unwilling
to leave one another, to be won by intercourse among themselves, to long for one another when apart, to rejoice
when they meet. This love is of hell. It hath lime, to
drag down to the abyss; not wings, to lift aloft to heaven.
But what is true love, that it may be separated and distin guished from others which are called love ? That which
is called the true love of Christians is defined by Paul, and
so marked off by its definitions, as to be entirely distinguished
from the rest. The end, saith he, of the commandments isiTim. 1, love. He might have ended here; for in other places5* where he was speaking as unto them that knew, he said no
more; Love, saith he, is the fulfilling of the Law; and he Rom. 13, said not what law. Therefore did he not say here, because 10,
he had said elsewhere. Here therefore, Love is the ful
filling of the Law. Thou askest, perhaps, what love ? what sort of love ? Thou art told in another place, The end of the commandment is love, out of a pure heart. Now see whether robbers have among themselves love out of a
pure heart. This is a pure heart in regard of love, when thou lovest man according to God's will : for thou oughtest
sought, that they may employ us; for this cause opened, that they may feed us. The Psalm which we have just sung is in many parts somewhat obscure. When by the help of the Lord what has been said shall begin to be expounded and explained, ye will see that ye are hearing things which ye knew already. But for this cause are they said in manifold ways, that variety of expression may remove all weariness of the truth.
238 The Psalms Christ's Words: some in His own
Psalm to love thyself too in such wise that the rule be not broken, MaT^i Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself. For if thou 39. lovest thyself amiss and unprofitably, by loving thy neighbour
also in the same way, what dost thou benefit him ? But in what way dost thou love thyself amiss? In the way that Scripture hinteth, which flattereth no man, and con- vinceth thee that thou lovest not thyself, yea rather con-
P<<. 11, vinceth thee that thou hatest thyself. He that lovelh
''
iniquity, it saith, hateth his own soul. If then thou lovest iniquity, thinkest thou that thou lovest thyself? Thou art mistaken. And if thou love thy neighbour in this way, thou wilt lead him to iniquity, and thy love will be the snare of him thou lovest. Love then is out of a pure heart, in agreement with God's will, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. This love then thus defined by the Apostle hath two commandments, to love God, and to love our neighbour. In no part of Scripture seek ought else, let none enjoin on you ought else; whatever is hidden in Holy Scripture, this is hidden in it; whatever is plain in Holy Scripture, this is plain in it. If it were no where plain, it would not feed thee ; if it were no where hidden, it would not exercise thee. This work crieth in these words out of a pure heart, out of the heart of them that are such as He Who here now prayeth. And who this is I will soon tell you : it is Christ.
3. But the words ye are about to hear are unworthy to be understood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one who understood not would think that it is rash in me to have said, that the speaker in this Psalm was Christ. For how can it rightly be said of our Lord Jesus Christ, of that Lamb without spot, of Him in Whom alone no sin was found, Who alone could most truly say, Behold, the prince of this world cometh, and findeth nothing in Me, that is, no blame, no fault, Who alone paid that which He seized not, Who alone could offer innocent blood, the only Son of God, Who took flesh, not to decrease Himself, but to increase us; of such an one, I say, how could this be rightly understood,
John 14, 30'
v. 3. 4. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door of re straint around my lips; that Thou turn not aside my heart to wicked words, to making excuses in sins? For plainly this is the meaning. ' Guard Thou, O Lord, my mouth
Person ; some in the person of His Body. 239
with Thy commandments as with a gate and door, that my Ver.
heart be not turned aside to wicked words. ' What wicked
words ? Those which make excuses for sins. Let me
not choose to excuse, rather than to accuse, my sins.
These words fit not our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. For
what sins did He commit, which He ought to have confessed,
rather than defended? These are our words: and yet assuredly it is Christ that speaketh. If they be our words,
how is it Christ that speaketh ? Where is the love whereof
I was speaking? Know ye not that it maketh us one
in Christ ? Love crieth to Christ from us, love crieth from
Christ for us. How doth love cry to Christ from us?
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon Joel 2,
'
Cor 12,27.
the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How doth love cry
from Christ for us ? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me ? Acts 9,
Ye, saith the Apostle, are the Body of Christ, and members. *'
If then He be the Head, we the Body, it is one that speaketh ; whether the head speak or the members, it is one Christ that speaketh. And it is the property of the head to speak in the name of the members also. Observe our own habit: first, how none among our members can speak, save the head : then further, how the head in us speaketh in the name of all the members. Some one in some narrow place hath trod on thy foot ; thou art treading on me, saith the head : some one hath wounded thy hand; thou bast wounded me, saith the head. The tongue which is in thy head undertaketh to represent all thy members, it speaketh for them all. In the same way then let us hear Christ speaking, but let each hear therein his own voice, adhering as it were in Christ's Body. For sometimes He will speak words wherein none of us can find himself represented, but which belong to the Head alone : yet doth He not sever Himself from our words, and raise Himself aloft to those which are His own specially; nor doth He not return from His own special ones to ours.
--
For of Him and the Church it is said, And they twain Eph. s, shall be one flesh. Wherefore He Himself too saith in the31' 2-
Gpspel of this very thing, Now therefore they are no more Mat. 19, twain, but one flesh. All this is not new: ye have heard6'
it continually : but it is needful that it be mentioned as
210 The whole Church cries, through Christ, to God.
Psalm occasion serves, first, because the Scriptures themselves
Cx11'
41
and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood. What is this flowing of sweat from His whole Body, but the
ver. 2.
5. Let my prayer be setforth in Thy sight as incense, and the lifting up of my hands an evening sacrifice. That this is wont to be understood of the Head Himself, every Christian acknowledgeth. For when the day was now sinking towards
I7.
again, did not lose it against His will. Still we too are figured there. For what of Him hung upon the tree, save what He took of us ? And how can it be that the Father should leave and abandon His only-begotten Son, especially when He is one God with Him ? Yet, fixing our weakness upon
which we handle are so interwoven, that many things are repeated in many places ; and further, because it is profitable. For the cares of this world produce thorns and choke the seed : it is fitting that that be often brought to our recol lection by the Lord, which the world forceth us to forget,
have cried unto Thee, hear Thou me. This we all can say. This not I alone say : whole Christ saith it. But it is said rather in the name of the Body : for He too, when He was here and bore our flesh, prayed ; and when He prayed, drops of blood streamed down from His whole
4. Lord, I
Luke22, Body. So is it written in the Gospel : Jesus prayed earnestly,
ver. l.
suffering of martyrs from the whole Church ? Lord, I
have cried unto Thee,Ihear Thou me : listen unto the voice of my
cry unto Thee. Thou though test the business of crying already finished, when thou saidst,
prayer, while
/
not thyself safe. If tribulation be finished, crying is finished: but if tribulation remain for the Church, for the Body/of Christ, even to the end of the world, let it not only say, have cried unto Thee, but also, Listen unto the voice of my prayer, while I cry unto Thee.
have cried unto Thee. Thou hast cried ; yet think
John 10, evening, the Lord upon the Cross laid down His life to lake it
Rom. 6, the Cross, where, as the Apostle saith, our old man is
Ps. 22, \, crucified with Him, He cried out in the voice of that our
Mat. 27, old man, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
4G'
That then is the evening sacrifice, the Passion of the Lord, the Cross of the Lord, the offering of a salutary Victim, the whole burnt-offering acceptable to God. That evening
Christ confesseth sin in the name of His Body. 24 1
sacrifice produced, in His Resurrection, a morning offering. ver. Prayer then, purely directed from a faithful heart, riseth like ----- incense from a hallowed altar. Nought is more delightful
than the odour of the Lord : such odour let all have who believe.
6. Our old man, then, saith the Apostle, is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence
forth we should not serve sin. Therefore in the Psalm, after the words, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? far from my health, immediately is subjoined, the words of my sins. What sins, if thou regard the Head ? And yet that the words in the Psalms were His, He Himself testified on the Cross, He said the very words, He uttered the very verse.
There is no room left for man's conjecture ; no opportunity
for denial to any Christian whatever. What I read in the Psalms, that I hear from the Lord. In the Psalm too I recognise what I read in the Gospel, They pierced My p>>. 22, Hands and My Feet, they counted all My Bones: they\7,le-
considered and gazed upon Me : they parted My garments,
and cast lots for My vesture. All these things as they were foretold, so did they come to pass ; like as we have heard, Ps. 48,8. so have we also seen. Therefore if our Lord Jesus Christ, figuring us in the love of His Body, though He was Himself without sin, yet said, The words of My sins, and said this
in the name of His Body, who among His members dareth
to say that he hath no sin, save he who dareth to puff himself up under the name of a false righteousness, and to accuse Christ of falsehood ? Confess then, O member, that
for thee thy Head uttered it. And that we may confess
this, do this, not justify ourselves in the sight of Him Who
alone is righteous, Who juslifieth the ungodly, He hath Rom. 4, added at once the words of His Body, Set, O Lord, a ualch5ver 3
before my mouth, and a door of restraint around my lips. He said not a barrier of restraint, but a door of restraint. A door is opened as well as shut. If then it be a door, let it be both opened and shut; opened, to confession of sin; closed, to excusing sin. So will it be a door of restraint, not
of ruin.
7. For what doth this door of restraint profit us ? What
doth Christ pray in the name of His Body ? That Thou ver. 4. vol. vt. R
242 He identifies Himself with His Members.
I'sai. m turn not aside My heart to wicked words. What is, My JETMl. heart ? The heart of My Church ; the heart, that is, of My Body. Observe those words where this rule is laid
Acts 9, down for us: Saul, Saul, why perseculest thou Me? yet
liat. 25 nad no one touched Him. 35. &c. meat : and
/ was hungry, and ye gave Me
I
Me drink : and the rest. Then they ask, When saw we Thee hungry or thirsty ?
He answers, Forasmuch as ye did unto one of the least of Mine, ye did it unto Me. These passages ought not to be strange
was thirsty,
ye gave
to Christians, especially since in them are rules established for understanding all other Scriptures too, and either they will not be disturbed, or, if they are, will soon be set right. Just as then in that passage the righteous are to say, Lord,
I
eat? when saw we Thee hungry? and He is to answer,
wherefore hast Thou said,
was hungry, and ye gave Me to
Forasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of Mine,
ye have done it unto Me; so in this passage too let us speak 1Mss. in 1to Christ inwardly, in our inner man, for there He deigneth Chnsto, to dwell by faith. For He is not far from us, and so not Christ. sneh that we can speak to Him ; since He Himself hath
denieth, The lifting up of My Hands is an evening sacrifice. So thou go then and say, Set, O Lord, a watch upon my mouth, and a door of restraint around my lips, that Thou turn not aside my heart to wicked words, to making excuses in sins. Wherefore prayest Thou thus, Lord ? What sins of Thine canst Thou make excuses for? He answereth,
When one of My members thus prayeth, I pray thus: just as in the other place He answered, Forasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of Mine, ye have done it unto Me.
8. But when thine heart hath not been turned aside, O member of Christ, when thy heart hath not been turned aside to wicked words, to making excuses in sins, with men that work in iniquity, thou shalt also not unite with their elect. For this followeth, And I will not unite with their elect. Who are their elect? Those who justify them-
Lukel8, selves. Who are their elect? Those who trust in them- 11.
said, Lo, I
am with you alway, even unto the end
the world. Let us then too speak to Him, since He hath given us His Voice in this Psalm. For that is His Voice, as none
of
The Pattern of the ' Woman that was a sinner. ' 243
selves that they are righteous, andIdespise others, as the Ver.
He were a prophet, would know what manner of woman 39' this is that touched His feet. Here thou recognisest the words of that other Pharisee, who invited our Lord to his house ; when the woman of that city, who was a sinner, came and approached His Feet. She, the unchaste one, who once went unabashed after fornication, but now came yet more un abashed after salvation, forced her way into a strange house. But He Who there sat at meat was not a stranger. She was not a strange woman following any chance guest, but a hand maid her Lord. She drew near to His Feet, because she desired to follow His Footsteps; she washed them with her tears, she wiped them with the hairs of her head. What are
the Feet of Christ, save they by whom He hath traversed
the whole world? How beautiful are the feet of them that U. 52,7. publish peace, that bring glad tidings of good things! How
many then have received the feet of the Lord, so as by Mat. 10, receiving a righteous man in the^iame of a righteous man,41' 42' to receive a righteous man's reward; and received a prophet
in the name of a prophet, so as to receive a prophet's reward! And whosoever, saith He, shall give to drink unto
Pharisee said in the temple, Lord,
not as other men are. Who are their elect ? This Man, i/ Luke 7,
of a disciple, verily
thank Thee that
I
am ----
one of these little onesIa cup of cold water only in the name
say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. He then who with such kindness received the
Feet of the Lord, what did He expend save the superfluities he had in his house ? Rightly, since the hair is as it were a superfluity, did she with it wipe the Lord's Feet. Thy superfluities become necessaries to thee, if thou with them follow the Feet of the Lord. She then desired to be healed, conscious of the greatness of her wound. But surely it was not a great wound, a mean Physician. The Pharisees were loth to be touched by the unclean, they shunned all contact with sinners, and if it happened that they could not avoid their touch, they washed themselves. And almost every hour they washed not only themselves, but also their vessels, their couches, their cups, their platters, as the Lord recordeth in the Gospel. Inasmuch then as the Pharisee knew this woman, and certainly, had she drawn near to his feet, would
11 -2
244 The Pharisee s want of love.
Psalm have repelled her, lest his sanctity should be defiled ; for it xl-L was in his body, not in his heart; (and because he had it not in his heart, clearly it was but a false sanctity that he had in his body ;) forasmuch, I say, as he would himself have repelled her, when the Lord did not so, he thought that He Luke 7, knew not who she was, and said within himself, This man,
39. &c. y jje were a pfolihet, would know what manner of woman this is which hath approached His Feet. He said not, ' would have repelled her,' but, ' would have known who she was;' as though it followed that, if He knew, He would repel. From the fact then that He did not repel her, he felt sure further that He did not know her. But the Lord so had His eyes fixed on that woman, as to have His ears fixed upon the heart of the Pharisee : and so, when He heard his thought, He set before him the parable, which ye know. A certain creditor had two debtors : the one owed him five hundred pence, and the other fifty: and when they had
nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.
I
ask of thee, saith He, which of them will love him most? Then answered he, now compelled by truth to give sentence against
fhimself, / suppose, saith he, Lord, that he to whom he orgave most. * And He turned to the woman, and said unto
Simon, Seest thou this woman ?
thou gavest Me no kiss, but she hath not ceased to kiss My Feet : thou gavest Me no water to My Feet, she hath washed My Feet with her tears : thou gavest Me Ino oil, she hath anointed Me with ointment.
her sins, which ate many, are forgiven, for she loved much. Wherefore ? Because she confessed, because "she wept, because her heart was not turned aside to wicked words,' to offering excuses in sins ; because she united not herself with their elect; that is, with those that defend themselves.
9. For even this woman 'herself, if her heart had turned aside to wicked words, would not have lacked wherewith to defend her sins. Do not women daily, her equals in de filement, but not her equals in confession, harlots, teresses, doers of shameful deeds, defend their sins ?
If they have not been seen, they deny them: if they have been caught and convicted, or have done their deeds openly,
they defend them. And how easy is their defence, how
I entered into thine house,
Wherefore
unto
say Lthee,
adul
The folly of making excuses for sin. 245
ready, yet how headlong; how common, yet how blas- Vfr. phemous ! Had God not willed had not done it: God ------ willed it: fortune willed it: fate willed it. She saith not,
said, Lord, have mercy upon me; she saith not, like that sinner coming to the feet of her Physician, Heal my soul, for have sinned against Thee. And from whom do they
get this defence, my brethren not only from the unlearned, but from the learned also. They sit and count the stars, their distances, their orbits, their speed, their positions, their movements: they observe all these, describe them, form conjectures. Men think them learned, and great. All this learning and greatness defence of sin. Thou wilt be an adulterer, because Venus in particular quarter for thee thou wilt be murderer, because Mars is. Mars then
murderer, not thou Venus an adulteress, not thou. Beware, lest for both Mars and Venus thou be condemned. For God, Who to condemn, knoweth that thou art the man, thou that sayest, It not to the Judge that knoweth. Further, the very astrologer himself who selleth to thee the very fables that ensnare thee, that thou shouldest not obtain even thy death for nothing --(for thou buyest death of the astrologer for price, who hast spurned life from Christ without price --the very astrologer, say, he see his wife behave herself somewhat wantonly, or pay more than due regard to any strangers, or often to betake herself to the window, doth he not seize her, beat her, administer discipline to her in his own house Let his wife reply,
If thou canst, beat Venus, not me will not he answer,
Fool, that which belongeth to the lord and master one thing, what displayed to the purchaser another thing Who then are their elect? The elect of the evil, the elect of the wicked, with whom we must not unite, that is, with whom we must have no dealings. But who are they
Ps. 41,4.
They that think themselves righteous, and despise others^aMH, as sinners, as were the Pharisees or who, because their
sins are manifest, being either detected, or done publicly, defend and maintain them, that nothing may be laid to their charge, and that men may judge that they have done no
evil, but that God has done all, because He has either, as they say, created man so, or so ordered the stars, or
it
;
is
is is
?
is ? ? '
is
is
I if
''
is I/
;)
a
'
;
is
a
a
:
is
:'? a I
I,' ;
it,
246 The Manichees by their excuses
Psalm because He neglects the affairs of men. These are the defences of the elect of this world. But let the members of Christ, the Body of Christ, say, let Christ say in the name of His Body, Turn not Thou aside, My Heart, to wicked words, to offering excuses in sins, with men that work iniquity, and I will not unite with their elect.
10. Ye know, my brethren, what 1 must not pass by, that among the Manichees" certain seeming righteous ones, more exalted than the rest, who have reached as it were the highest step of righteousness, are called ' elect. ' Let those who know this, recall it ; those who knew it not, hear it. Elect indeed of God are all the saints, and this we have in the Scriptures: but they have usurped this name to themselves, and applied it to themselves, so to speak, in a more familiar manner, as though they were now called in some special sense, ' elect. ' Who are these 'elect? ' Men, to whom if you say, 'Thou hast sinned,' immediately bring forward that defence of theirs, an impious one, worse and more blasphemous than all others, ' It is not I that have sinned, but the race of darkness. ' What is this race of darkness ? That which waged war with God.
And doth it sin, when thou sinnest? It doth, saith he, because I am mixed with it. Well then, what did God, Who mixed thee with fear For they say, that that race of darkness rebelled against God, before the world was made and He, to guard against His dominions being laid waste by the invasion of an enemy, sent hither His members,
His substance, that which He Himself is; gold, He be gold; light, He be light whatever be, He sent and mixed with the vitals of the race of darkness, and whatever sins we are said to commit, that race committeth. They seem indeed to excuse themselves from sin, but they do not excuse
their God from the charge of fear, nor the very substauce of their God from the charge of being corruptible. For God incorruptible, incommutable, incapable of pollution or stain, impenetrable, what could that race have done to Him It might have made what onset would yet bow
The tenets of the Manichees al- explained in a note at the end of the luded to in this and the two following translation of St. Augustine's Con- sections will be found illustrated and fessions.
*
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it
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blaspheme God. 247
could it frighten One Who was impenetrable, inviolable, Ver. incapable of pollution, or change, or corruption ? If God ------ then be such, He is cruel, for sending you hither without
cause, seeing that nothing could harm Him. Wherefore
sent He you ? Behold, the race of darkness could not harm Him ; but He hath grievously harmed you, aud He hath been more your enemy than though too could harm you. was possible for you to be oppressed, to be led captive, to be defiled, to be corrupted; so therefore could He. For fragment, so to speak, and portion ever so small of His Nature, convicteth the whole mass. Such as that
which He hath sent hither, such also That Which remained there. This they themselves say; themselves confess that they are two substances, one on this side, the other on that. This their books contain they deny they are read and convicted.
11. What then? To say no more on this one subject, will not mention worse things, things yet more wicked
in this one argument, wherein they make war, see how they are conquered, and when they say that the race of darkness wages war against God, how they are caught in the battle of their own words. For nought have they to say, nothing to which to betake themselves. But thou wishest, wicked one, false elect, to defend thy sin, that when thou hast done any evil, thou be not thought to have done thou seekest on whom to cast back thy sin, and thou flingest
back upon the race of darkness. But consider God, whether thou art not flinging back upon Him. For that race of darkness, which thou imaginest, could speak,
would say to thee, Why dost thou accuse me Had the power to do ought to thy God, or had not? If could,
am stronger than He; not, why did He fear me? He feared me not, why did He send thee hither to suffer so much, seeing thou art Member of Him, seeing thou art His own Substance? If He feared not, He envied: He did not through fear, He did through cruelty. How unjust then He, Who could receive no hurt, yet caused that His members should thus receive hurt here Or could He be hurt? Then He not incorruptible. When then thou wishest to defend thyself from thy sin, thou canst not
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248 Their heresy concerning the members of Christ.
Psai upraise God. Thou wouldest not fail in the praise of ? *l1, God, unless thou wert puffed up in thine own. Change, and blame thyself; thou shalt then praise God. Come
P9. 4 1,4. back to the words of the Psalms which ye curse; say, I said,
Lord, have mercy upon me; heal my soul, for I
have sinned against Thee. I said, I have sinned : not fortune, not fate, not the race of darkness. If then thou hast sinned, see how
enlarged is the praise of God, wherein thou wast straitened, while thou wouldest defend thyself. Better for thee to be straitened in thine own sins, and enlarged in His praise. Now then when thou hast confessed thy sin, see how God is praised thereby ; for He is both just, in punishing thee while thou didst persevere ; and merciful, in freeing thee now thou dost confess. Do not thou, therefore, he saith, turn aside my heart to wicked words, to making excuses in sins, so as to say that the race of darkness hath done what 1 have done.
12. With men that work wickedness. What wickedness? Let me mention some sinful wickedness of theirs. Let me tell you one open sinful wickedness, which they acknowledge. They say, it is better for a man to be an usurer than a husbandman. Thou askest the reason, and they assign one. See whether their reason ought not to be called madness : for they say, ' He that employs his money in usury, injureth not the cross of light :' (this many understand not, but I will explain :) ' but he that is an husbandman, much injureth the cross of light. ' Thou askest, 'What cross of light? ' Those members, he saith, of God, which were taken captive in
that battle, are mixed with the universe, and are in trees, in herbs, in apples, in fruits. He vexeth the members of Christ, who cleanseth the earth with a furrow : he vexeth the members of Christ, who pulleth grass from the earth : he vexeth the members of Christ, who plucketh an apple from a tree. To avoid committing their imaginary murders in the farm, he committeth real murders in usury. He dealeth no bread
to the needy. See whether there can be greater unrighteous-
ness than this righteousness'. He dealeth not bread to the consider hungry. Thou askest, wherefore ? Lest the beggar receive it. the life which is in the bread, which they call a member of
God, the substance of God, and bind it in flesh. What
Christ convicteth in Mercy. 249
then do ye? why do ye eat? Have ye not flesh? Yes; Van.
S" * ,
but we, they say, forasmuch as we are enlightened by faith in Manes, by our prayers and our Psalms, forasmuch as we are elect, we cleanse thereby that bread, and transmit it into the treasure-house of the heavens. Such are the elect, that they are not to be saved by God, but saviours of God. And this is Christ, they say, crucified in the whole universe. I received in the Gospel Christ a Saviour, but ye are in your books the saviours of Christ. Plainly ye are blas phemers of Christ, and therefore not to be saved by Christ. Therefore lest a crumb be given to the hungry, and in the crumb a member of Christ suffer, is the hungry to die of hunger? False mercy to a crumb causeth true murder of a man. But who are their elect? Turn not thou aside,
my heart, to wicked words, and elect.
13. The righteous One shall amend me in mercy, andver. B. convict me. Behold the sinner confessing. He desireth
to be amended in mercy, rather than praised deceitfully.
The righteous One shall amend me in mercy, and convict
me, if He is just, if He is merciful, when He seeth me sinning. This verily certain members of Christ say, of certain members of Christ they say in one body they say
it. The Lord deigneth to speak in the character of an amender, yet despiseth not the character of him that amended or to be amended. For all His members are in
Him, and He saith, the righteous One shall amend me. What righteous One shall amend thee The Head amend-
eth all the members. The righteous One shall amend me
in mercy, and shall convict me. Shall convict me, but in mercy shall convict, yet hateth not yea, shall all the
more convict, because He hateth not. And why doth he therefore give thanks? Because, rebuke a wise man, andProv. he will love thee. The righteous One shall amend me. 8' Because He persecuteth thee God forbid. He requireth rather amending himself, who amendeth in hate. Wherefore
then doth He amend In mercy. And shall convict me. Wherein In mercy. For the oil of a sinner shall not Ter- 6. enrich my head. My head shall not grow by flattery.
