THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS WRITINGS - VOLUME 30
Gregory of Nyssa on the Faith and on Man, with the Spiritual Homilies of Macarius
c. AD 380 – 400

SermonIndex · sermonindex.net/books/

Texts are public domain except where marked in Sources and Credits.

============================================================

INTRODUCTION TO THIS VOLUME
===========================

HOW THIS BOOK IS ARRANGED

This is the thirtieth volume of a series that gathers the writings of the early Church in
order of date, from the generation after the apostles down to the eighth century. This
volume holds Gregory of Nyssa on the Faith and on Man, with the Spiritual Homilies of
Macarius, from the period about AD 380 – 400.

Within each work the text is divided into chapters and numbered sections, so that any
passage can be found again and cited. The small bold figures in the text are the section
numbers.

THE TRANSLATIONS

The text is in English only. Wherever a modern English version has been prepared for
SermonIndex it is used here; otherwise the book prints an older public-domain translation.
In both cases the wording is the translator’s own: older translations have not been
altered beyond dividing them into sections. The sources for every work are listed at the
back of the book, together with the licence under which each text is released. All the
works in this volume are printed in older public-domain translations.

IN THIS VOLUME

Gregory of Nyssa was the younger brother of Basil of Caesarea and became bishop of Nyssa
about AD 372. He was the most philosophical of the three Cappadocian Fathers, and he took
a leading part at the council of Constantinople in AD 381. He died about AD 395.

The Fifty Spiritual Homilies were handed down under the name of Macarius the Egyptian, a
monk of the Egyptian desert. Many scholars now think that they were written by an unknown
author in Syria or Mesopotamia, in the late fourth or early fifth century.

DATES AND AUTHORSHIP

Dates are approximate and are debated by scholars. Each work begins with a short
introduction that states what is known about its author and its date, and what is
uncertain.


THE GREAT CATECHISM
===================

THE GREAT CATECHISM Gregory of Nyssa

c. AD 335–395

Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil; theologian and mystic.

INTRODUCTION

Summary

1 The Trinity 2 Prologue and Chapter 1.-The belief in God rests on the art and wisdom
displayed in the order of the world: the belief in the Unity of God, on the perfection
that must belong to Him in respect of power, goodness, wisdom, etc. Still, the Christian
who combats polytheism has need of care lest in contending against Hellenism he should
fall unconsciously into Judaism. For God has a Logos: else He would be without reason. And
this Logos cannot be merely an attribute of God. We are led to a more exalted conception
of the Logos by the consideration that in the measure in which God is greater than we, all
His predicates must also be higher than those which belong to us. Our logos is limited and
transient; but the subsistence of the Divine Logos must be indestructible; and at the same
time living, since the rational cannot be lifeless, like a stone. It must also have an
independent life, not a participated life, else it would lose its simplicity; and, as
living, it must also have the faculty of will. This will of the Logos must be equalled by
his power: for a mixture of choice and impotence would, again, destroy the simplicity. His
will, as being Divine, must be also good. From this ability and will to work there follows
the realization of the good; hence the bringing into existence of the wisely and artfully
adjusted world.

3 But since, still further, the logical conception of the Word is in a certain sense a
relative one, it follows that together with the Word He Who speaks it, i. e. the Father of
the Word, must be recognized as existing. Thus the mystery of the faith avoids equally the
absurdity of Jewish monotheism, and that of heathen polytheism. On the one hand, we say
that the Word has life and activity; on the other, we affirm that we find in the Logoj,
whose existence is derived from the Father, all the attributes of the Father's nature. 4
Chapter II.-By the analogy of human breath, which is nothing but inhaled and exhaled fire,
i. e. an object foreign to us, is demonstrated the community of the Divine Spirit with the
essence of God, and yet the independence of Its existence. Chapter III.-From the Jewish
doctrine, then, the unity of the Divine nature has been retained: from Hellenism the
distinction into hypostases. Chapter IV.-The Jew convicted from Scripture. Reasonableness
of the Incarnation.

5 Chapters V. and VI.- God created the world by His reason and wisdom; for He cannot have
proceeded irrationally in that work; but His reason and wisdom are, as above shown, not to
be conceived as a spoken word, or as the mere possession of knowledge, but as a personal
and willing potency. If the entire world was created by this second Divine hypostasis,
then certainly was man also thus created; yet not in view of any necessity, but from
superabounding love, that there might exist a being who should participate in the Divine
perfections. If man was to be receptive of these, it was necessary that his nature should
contain an element akin to God; and, in particular, that he should be immortal. Thus,
then, man was created in the image of God. He could not therefore be without the gifts of
freedom, independence, self-determination; and his participation in the Divine gifts was
consequently made dependent on his virtue. Owing to this freedom he could decide in favour
of evil, which cannot have its origin in the Divine will, but only in our inner selves,
where it arises in the form of a deviation from good, and so a privation of it. Vice is
opposed to virtue only as the absence of the better. Since, then, all that is created is
subject to change, it was possible that, in the first instance, one of the created spirits
should turn his eye away from the good, and become envious, and that from this envy should
arise a leaning towards badness, which should, in natural sequence, prepare the way for
all other evil. He seduced the first men into the folly of turning away from goodness, by
disturbing the Divinely ordered harmony between their sensuous and intellectual natures;
and guilefully tainting their wills with evil.

6 Chapters VII. and VIII.-God did not, on account of His foreknowledge of the evil that
would result from man's creation, leave man uncreated; for it was better to bring back
sinners to original grace by the way of repentance and physical suffering than not to
create man at all. The raising up of the fallen was a work befitting the Giver of life,
Who is the wisdom and power of God; and for this purpose He became man. Chapter IX.-The
Incarnation was not unworthy of Him; for only evil brings degradation. Chapter X.-The
objection that the finite cannot contain the infinite, and that therefore the human nature
could not receive into itself the Divine, is founded on the false supposition that the
Incarnation of the Word means that the infinity of God was contained in the limits of the
flesh, as in a vessel.-Comparison of the flame and wick. Chapters XI., XII., XIII.-For the
rest, the manner in which the Divine nature was united to the human surpasses our power of
comprehension; although we are not permitted to doubt the fact of that union in Jesus, on
account of the miracles which He wrought. The supernatural character of those miracles
bears witness to their Divine origin.

7 Chapters XIV., XV., XVI., XVII.-The scheme of the Incarnation is still further drawn
out, to show that this way for man's salvation was preferable to a single fiat of God's
will. Christ took human weakness upon Him; but it was physical, not moral, weakness. In
other words the Divine goodness did not change to its opposite, which is only vice. In Him
soul and body were united, and then separated, according to the course of nature; but
after He had thus purged human life, He reunited them upon a more general scale, for all,
and for ever, in the Resurrection. Chapter XVIII.-The ceasing of demon-worship, the
Christian martyrdoms, and the devastation of Jerusalem, are accepted by some as proofs of
the Incarnation- Chapters XIX., XX.-But not by the Greek and the Jew. To return, then, to
its reasonableness. Whether we regard the goodness, the power, the wisdom, or the justice
of God, it displays a combination of all these acknowledged attributes, which, if one be
wanting, cease to be Divine. It is therefore true to the Divine perfection.

8 Chapters XXI., XXII., XXIII.-What, then, is the justice in it? We must remember that man
was necessarily created subject to change (to better or to worse). Moral beauty was to be
the direction in which his free will was to move; but then he was deceived, to his ruin,
by an illusion of that beauty. After we had thus freely sold ourselves to the deceiver, He
who of His goodness sought to restore us to liberty could not, because He was just too,
for this end have recourse to measures of arbitrary violence. It was necessary therefore
that a ransom should be paid, which should exceed in value that which was to be ransomed;
and hence it was necessary that the Son of God should surrender Himself to the power of
death. God's justice then impelled Him to choose a method of exchange, as His wisdom was
seen in executing it.Chapters XXIV., XXV.-But how about the power? That was more
conspicuously displayed in Deity descending to lowliness, than in all the natural wonders
of the universe. It was like flame being made to stream downwards. Then, after such a
birth, Christ conquered death.

9 Chapter XXVI.-A certain deception was indeed practised upon the Evil one, by concealing
the Divine nature within the human; but for the latter, as himself a deceiver, it was only
a just recompense that he should be deceived himself: the great adversary must himself at
last find that what has been done is just and salutary, when he also shall experience the
benefit of the Incarnation. He, as well as humanity, will be purged. Chapters XXVII.,
XXVIII.-A patient, to be healed, must be touched; and humanity had to be touched by
Christ. It was not in "heaven"; so only through the Incarnation could it be healed.-It
was, besides, no more inconsistent with His Divinity to assume a human than a "heavenly"
body; all created beings are on a level beneath Deity. Even "abundant honour" is due to
the instruments of human birth. Chapters XXIX., XXX., XXXI.-As to the delay of the
Incarnation, it was necessary that human degeneracy should have reached the lowest point,
before the work of salvation could enter in. That, however, grace through faith has not
come to all must be laid to the account of human freedom; if God were to break down our
opposition by violent means, the praise-worthiness of human conduct would be destroyed.

10 Chapter XXXII.-Even the death on the Cross was sublime: for it was the culminating and
necessary point in that scheme of Love in which death was to be followed by blessed
resurrection for the whole "lump" of humanity: and the Cross itself has a mystic meaning.
The Sacraments. Chapters XXXIII., XXXIV., XXXV., XXXVI.-The saving nature of Baptism
depends on three things; Prayer, Water, and Faith. 1. It is shown how Prayer secures the
Divine Presence. God is a God of truth; and He has promised to come (as Miracles prove
that He has come already) if invoked in a particular way. 2. It is shown how the Deity
gives life from water. In human generation, even without prayer, He gives life from a
small beginning. In a higher generation He transforms matter, not into soul, but into
spirit. 3. Human freedom, as evinced in faith and repentance, is also necessary to
Regeneration. Being thrice dipped in the water is our earliest mortification; coming out
of it is a forecast of the ease with which the pure shall rise in a blessed resurrection:
the whole process is an imitation of Christ.

11 Chapter XXXVII.-The Eucharist unites the body, as Baptism the soul, to God. Our bodies,
having received poison, need an Antidote; and only by eating and drinking can it enter.
One Body, the receptacle of Deity, is this Antidote, thus received. But how can it enter
whole into each one of the Faithful? This needs an illustration. Water gives its own body
to a skin-bottle. So nourishment (bread and wine) by becoming flesh and blood gives bulk
to the human frame: the nourishment is the body. Just as in the case of other men, our
Saviour's nourishment (bread and wine) was His Body; but these, nourishment and Body, were
in Him changed into the Body of God by the Word indwelling. So now repeatedly the bread
and wine, sanctified by the Word (the sacred Benediction), is at the same time changed
into the Body of that Word; and this Flesh is disseminated amongst all the Faithful.

12 Chapters XXXVIII., XXXIX.-It is essential for Regeneration to believe that the Son and
the Spirit are not created spirits, but of like nature with God the Father; for he who
would make his salvation dependent (in the baptismal Invocation) on anything created would
trust to an imperfect nature, and one itself needing a saviour. Chapter XL.-He alone has
truly become a child of God who gives evidence of his regeneration by putting away from
himself all vice

Prologue.

13 The presiding ministers of the "mystery of godliness" have need of a system in their
instructions, in order that the Church may be replenished by the accession of such as
should be saved , through the teaching of the word of Faith being brought home to the
hearing of unbelievers. Not that the same method of instruction will be suitable in the
case of all who approach the word. The catechism must be adapted to the diversities of
their religious worship; with an eye, indeed, to the one aim and end of the system, but
not using the same method of preparation in each individual case. The Judaizer has been
preoccupied with one set of notions, one conversant with Hellenism, with others; while the
Anomoean, and the Manichee, with the followers of Marcion , Valentinus, and Basilides ,
and the rest on the list of those who have wandered into heresy, each of them being
prepossessed with their peculiar notions, necessitate a special controversy with their
several. opinions. The method of recovery must be adapted to the form of the disease. You
will not by the same means cure the polytheism of the Greek, and the unbelief of the Jew
as to the Only-begotten God: nor as regards those who have wandered into heresy will you,
by the same arguments in each case, upset their misleading romances as to the tenets of
the Faith. No one could set Sabellius right by the same instruction as would benefit the
Anomoean .

14 The controversy with the Manichee is profitless against the Jew . It is necessary,
therefore, as I have said, to regard the opinions which the persons have taken up, and to
frame your argument in accordance with the error into which each has fallen, by advancing
in each discussion certain principles and reasonable propositions, that thus, through what
is agreed upon on both sides, the truth may conclusively be brought to light. When, then,
a discussion is held with one of those who favour Greek ideas, it would be well to make
the ascertaining of this the commencement of the reasoning, i.e. whether he presupposes
the existence of a God, or concurs with the atheistic view. Should he say there is no God,
then, from the consideration of the skilful and wise economy of the Universe he will be
brought to acknowledge that there is a certain overmastering power manifested through
these channels. If, on the other hand, he should have no doubt as to the existence of
Deity, but should be inclined to entertain the presumption of a plurality of Gods, then we
will adopt against him some such train of reasoning as this: "does he think Deity is
perfect or defective? and if, as is likely, he bears testimony to the perfection in the
Divine nature, then we will demand of him to grant a perfection throughout in everything
that is observable in that divinity, in order that Deity may not be regarded as a mixture
of opposites, defect and perfection.

15 But whether as respects power, or the conception of goodness, or wisdom and
imperishability and eternal existence, or any other notion besides suitable to the nature
of Deity, that is found to lie close to the subject of our contemplation, in all he will
agree that perfection is the idea to be entertained of the Divine nature, as being a just
inference from these premises. If this, then, be granted us, it would not be difficult to
bring round these scattered notions of a plurality of Gods to the acknowledgment of a
unity of Deity. For if he admits that perfection is in every respect to be ascribed to the
subject before us, though there is a plurality of these perfect things which are marked
with the same character, he must be required by a logical necessity, either to point out
the particularity in each of these things which present no distinctive variation, but are
found always with the same marks, or, if (he cannot do that, and) the mind can grasp
nothing in them in the way of particular, to give up the idea of any distinction.

16 For if neither as regards "more and less" a person can detect a difference (in as much
as the idea of perfection does not admit of it), nor as regards "worse" and "better" (for
he cannot entertain a notion of Deity at all where the term "worse" is not got rid of),
nor as regards "ancient" and "modern" (for what exists not for ever is foreign to the
notion of Deity), but on the contrary the idea of Godhead is one and the same, no
peculiarity being on any ground of reason to be discovered in any one point, it is an
absolute necessity that the mistaken fancy of a plurality of Gods would be forced to the
acknowledgment of a unity of Deity. For if goodness, and justice, and wisdom, and power
may be equally predicated of it, then also imperishability and eternal existence, and
every orthodox idea would be in the same way admitted. As then all distinctive difference
in any aspect whatever has been gradually removed, it necessarily follows that together
with it a plurality of Gods has been removed from his belief, the general identity
bringing round conviction to the Unity.

CHAPTER I.

1 But since our system of religion is wont to observe a distinction of persons in the
unity of the Nature, to prevent our argument in our contention with Greeks sinking to the
level of Judaism there is need again of a distinct technical statement in order to correct
all error on this point. 2 For not even by those who are external to our doctrine is the
Deity held to be without Logos . Now this admission of theirs will quite enable our
argument to be unfolded. For he who admits that God is not without Logos, will agree that
a being who is not without Logos (or word) certainly possesses Logos. Now it is to be
observed that the utterance of man is expressed by the same term. If, then, he should say
that he understands what the Logos of God is according to the analogy of things with us,
he will thus be led on to a loftier idea, it being an absolute necessity for him to
believe that the utterance, just as everything else, corresponds with the nature. Though,
that is, there is a certain sort of force, and life, and wisdom, observed in the human
subject, yet no one from the similarity of the terms would suppose that the life, or
power, or wisdom, were in the case of God of such a sort as that, but the significations
of all such terms are lowered to accord with the standard of our nature. For since our
nature is liable to corruption and weak, therefore is our life short, our strength
unsubstantial, our word unstable . But in that transcendent nature, through the greatness
of the subject contemplated, every thing that is said about it is elevated with it.

3 Therefore though mention be made of God's Word it will not be thought of as having its
realization in the utterance of what is spoken, and as then vanishing away, like our
speech, into the nonexistent. On the contrary, as our nature, liable as it is to come to
an end, is endued with speech which likewise comes to an end, so that, imperishable and
ever-existing nature has eternal, and substantial speech. If, then, logic requires him to
admit this eternal subsistence of God's Word, it is altogether necessary to admit also
that the subsistence of that word consists in a living state; for it is an impiety to
suppose that the Word has a soulless subsistence after the manner of stones. But if it
subsists, being as it is something with intellect and without body, then certainly it
lives, whereas if it be divorced from life, then as certainly it does not subsist; but
this idea that the Word of God does not subsist, has been shown to be blasphemy. By
consequence, therefore, it has also been shown that the Word is to be considered as in a
living condition. And since the nature of the Logos is reasonably believed to be simple,
and exhibits in itself no duplicity or combination, no one would contemplate the existence
of the living Logos as dependent on a mere participation of life, for such a supposition,
which is to say that one thing is within another, would not exclude the idea of
compositeness;

4 but, since the simplicity has been admitted, we are compelled to think that the Logos
has an independent life, and not a mere participation of life. If, then, the Logos, as
being life, lives , it certainly has the faculty of will, for no one of living creatures
is without such a faculty. Moreover that such a will has also capacity to act must be the
conclusion of a devout mind. For if you admit not this potency, you prove the reverse to
exist. But no; impotence is quite removed from our conception of Deity. Nothing of
incongruity is to be observed in connection with the Divine nature, but it is absolutely
necessary to admit that the power of that word is as great as the purpose, lest mixture,
or concurrence, of contradictions be found in an existence that is incomposite, as would
be the case if, in the same purpose, we were to detect both impotence and power, if, that
is, there were power to do one thing, but no power to do something else. Also we must
suppose that this will in its power to do all things will have no tendency to anything
that is evil (for impulse towards evil is foreign to the Divine nature), but that whatever
is good, this it also wishes, and, wishing, is able to perform, and, being able, will not
fail to perform ; but that it will bring all its proposals for good to effectual
accomplishment.

5 Now the world is good, and all its contents are seen to be wisely and skilfully ordered.
All of them, therefore, are the works of the Word, of one who, while He lives and
subsists, in that He is God's Word, has a will too, in that He lives; of one too who has
power to effect what He wills, and who wills what is absolutely good and wise and all else
that connotes superiority. Whereas, then, the world is admitted to be something good, and
from what has been said the world has been shown to be the work of the Word, who both
wills and is able to effect the good, this Word is other than He of whom He is the Word.
For this, too, to a certain extent is a term of "relation," inasmuch as the Father of the
Word must needs be thought of with the Word, for it would not be word were it not a word
of some one. If, then, the mind of the hearers, from the relative meaning of the term,
makes a distinction between the Word and Him from whom He proceeds, we should find that
the Gospel mystery, in its contention with the Greek conceptions, would not be in danger
of coinciding with those who prefer the beliefs of the Jews.

6 But it will equally escape the absurdity of either party, by acknowledging both that the
living Word of God is an effective and creative being, which is what the Jew refuses to
receive, and also that the Word itself,and He from whom He is, do not differ in their
nature. As in our own case we say that the word is from the mind, and no more entirely the
same as the mind, than altogether other than it (for, by its being from it, it is
something else, and not it; still by its bringing the mind in evidence it can no longer be
considered as something other than it; and so it is in its essence one with mind, while as
a subject it is different), in like manner, too, the Word of God by its self-subsistence
is distinct from Him from whom it has its subsistence; and yet by exhibiting in itself
those qualities which are recognized in God it is the same in nature with Him who is
recognizable by the same distinctive marks. For whether one adopts goodness , or power, or
wisdom, or eternal existence, or the incapability of vice, death, and decay, or an entire
perfection, or anything whatever of the kind, to mark one's conception of the Father, by
means of the same marks he will find the Word that subsists from Him.

CHAPTER II.

1 As, then, by the higher mystical ascent from matters that concern ourselves to that
transcendent nature we gain a knowledge of the Word, by the same method we shall be led on
to a conception of the Spirit, by observing in our own nature certain shadows and
resemblances of His ineffable power. Now in us the spirit (or breath) is the drawing of
the air, a matter other than ourselves, inhaled and breathed out for the necessary
sustainment of the body. This, on the occasion of uttering the word, becomes an utterance
which expresses in itself the meaning of the word. And in the case of the Divine nature it
has been deemed a point of our religion that there is a Spirit of God, just as it has been
allowed that there is a Word of God, because of the inconsistency of the Word of God being
deficient as compared with our word, if, while this word of ours is contemplated in
connection with spirit, that other Word were to be believed to be quite unconnected with
spirit. Not indeed that it is a thought proper to entertain of Deity, that after the
manner of our breath something foreign from without flows into God, and in Him becomes the
Spirit;

2 but when we think of God's Word we do not deem the Word to be something unsubstantial,
nor the result of instruction, nor an utterance of the voice, nor what after being uttered
passes away, nor what is subject to any other condition such as those which are observed
in our word, but to be essentially self-subsisting, with a faculty of will ever-working,
all-powerful. The like doctrine have we received as to God's Spirit; we regard it as that
which goes with the Word and manifests its energy, and not as a mere effluence of the
breath; for by such a conception the grandeur of the Divine power would be reduced and
humiliated, that is, if the Spirit that is in it were supposed to resemble ours. But we
conceive of it as an essential power, regarded as self-centred in its own proper person,
yet equally incapable of being separated from God in Whom it is, or from the Word of God
whomit accompanies, as from melting into nothingness; but as being, after the likeness of
God's Word, existing as a person , able to will, self-moved, efficient, ever choosing the
good, and for its every purpose having its power concurrent with its will.

CHAPTER III.

And so one who severely studies the depths of the mystery, receives secretly in his
spirit, indeed, a moderate amount of apprehension of the doctrine of God's nature, yet he
is unable to explain clearly in words the ineffable depth of this mystery. As, for
instance, how the same thing is capable of being numbered and yet rejects numeration, how
it is observed with distinctions yet is apprehended as a monad, how it is separate as to
personality yet is not divided as to subject matter . For, in personality, the Spirit is
one thing and the Word another, and yet again that from which the Word and Spirit is,
another. But when you have gained the conception of what the distinction is in these, the
oneness, again, of the nature admits not division, so that the supremacy of the one First
Cause is not split and cut up into differing Godships, neither does the statement
harmonize with the Jewish dogma, but the truth passes in the mean between these two
conceptions, destroying each heresy, and yet accepting what is useful to it from each. The
Jewish dogma is destroyed by the acceptance of the Word, and by the belief in the Spirit;
while the polytheistic error of the Greek school is made to vanish by the unity of the
Nature abrogating this imagination of plurality. While yet again, of the Jewish
conception, let the unity of the Nature stand; and of the Hellenistic, only the
distinction as to persons; the remedy against a profane view being thus applied, as
required, on either side. For it is as if the number of the triad were a remedy in the
case of those who are in error as to the One, and the assertion of the unity for those
whose beliefs are dispersed among a number of divinities.

CHAPTER IV.

1 But should it be the Jew who gainsays these arguments, our discussion with him will no
longer present equal difficulty , since the truth will be made manifest out of those
doctrines on which he has been brought up. For that there is a Word of God, and a Spirit
of God, powers essentially subsisting, both creative of whatever has come into being, and
comprehensive of things that exist, is shown in the clearest light out of the Divinely-
inspired Scriptures. It is enough if we call to mind one testimony, and leave the
discovery of more to those who are inclined to take the trouble. "By the Word of the
Lord," it is said, "the heavens were established, and all the power of them by the breath
of His mouth . What word and what breath? For the Word is not mere speech, nor that breath
mere breathing. Would not the Deity be brought down to the level of the likeness of our
human nature, were it held as a doctrine that the Maker of the universe used such word and
such breath as this? What power arising from speech or breathing could there be of such a
kind as would suffice for the establishment of the heavens and the powers that are
therein? For if the Word of God is like our speech, and His Breath is like our breath,
then from these like things there must certainly come a likeness of power; and the Word of
God has just so much force as our word, and no more.

2 But the words that come from us and the breath that accompanies their utterance are
ineffective and unsubstantial. Thus, they who would bring down the Deity to a similarity
with the word as with us render also the Divine word and spirit altogether ineffective and
unsubstantial. But if, as David says, "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens
established, and their powers had their framing by His breath," then has the mystery of
the truth been confirmed, which instructs us to speak of a word as in essential being, and
a breath as in personality.

CHAPTER V.

1 That there is, then, a Word of God, and a Breath of God, the Greek, with his "innate
ideas" , and the Jew, with his Scriptures, will perhaps not deny. But the dispensation as
regards the Word of God, whereby He became man, both parties would perhaps equally reject,
as being incredible and unfitting to be told of God. By starting, therefore, from another
point we will bring these gainsayers to a belief in this fact. They believe that all
things came into being by thought and skill on the part of Him Who framed the system of
the universe; or else they hold views that do not conform to this opinion. But should they
not grant that reason and wisdom guided the framing of the world, they will install
unreason and unskilfulness on the throne of the universe. But if this is an absurdity and
impiety, it is abundantly plain that they must allow that thought and skill rule the
world. Now in what has been previously said, the Word of God has been shown not to be this
actual utterance of speech, or the possession of some science or art, but to be a power
essentially and substantially existing, willing all good, and being possessed of strength
to execute all its will; and, of a world that is good, this power appetitive and creative
of good is the cause.

2 If, then, the subsistence of the whole world has been made to depend on the power of the
Word, as the train of the argument has shown, an absolute necessity prevents us
entertaining the thought of there being any other cause of the organization of the several
parts of the world than the Word Himself, through whom all things in it passed into being.
If any one wants to call Him Word, or Skill, or Power, or God, or anything else that is
high and prized, we will not quarrel with him. For whatever word or name be invented as
descriptive of the subject, one thing is intended by the expressions, namely the eternal
power of God which is creative of things that are, the discoverer of things that are not,
the sustaining cause of things that are brought into being, the foreseeing cause of things
yet to be. This, then, whether it be God, or Word, or Skill, or Power, has been shown by
inference to be the Maker of the nature of man, not urged to framing him by any necessity,
but in the superabundance of love operating the production of such a creature. For needful
it was that neither His light should be unseen, nor His glory without witness, nor His
goodness unenjoyed, nor that any other quality observed in the Divine nature should in any
case lie idle, with none to share it or enjoy it.

3 If, therefore, man comes to his birth upon these conditions, namely to be a partaker of
the good things in God, necessarily he is framed of such a kind as to be adapted to the
participation of such good. For as the eye, by virtue of the bright ray which is by nature
wrapped up in it, is in fellowship with the light, and by its innate capacity draws to
itself that which is akin to it, so was it needful that a certain affinity with the Divine
should be mingled with the nature of man, in order that by means of this correspondence it
might aim at that which was native to it. It is thus even with the nature of the
unreasoning creatures, whose lot is cast in water or in air; each of them has an
organization adapted to its kind of life, so that by a peculiar formation of the body, to
the one of them the air, to the other the water, is its proper and congenial element.
Thus, then, it was needful for man, born for the enjoyment of Divine good, to have
something in his nature akin to that in which he is to participate. For this end he has
been furnished with life, with thought, with skill, and with all the excellences that we
attribute to God, in order that by each of them he might have his desire set upon that
which is not strange to him.

4 Since, then, one of the excellences connected with the Divine nature is also eternal
existence, it was altogether needful that the equipment of our nature should not be
without the further gift of this attribute, but should have in itself the immortal, that
by its inherent faculty it might both recognize what is above it, and be possessed with a
desire for the divine and eternal life . In truth this has been shown in the comprehensive
utterance of one expression, in the description of the cosmogony, where it is said that
man was made "in the image of God" . For in this likeness, implied in the word image,
there is a summary of all things that characterize Deity; and whatever else Moses relates,
in a style more in the way of history, of these matters, placing doctrines before us in
the form of a story, is connected with the same instruction. For that Paradise of his,
with its peculiar fruits, the eating of which did not afford to them who tasted thereof
satisfaction of the appetite, but knowledge and eternity of life, is in entire agreement
with what has been previously considered with regard to man, in the view that our nature
at its beginnings was good, and in the midst of good. But, perhaps, what has been said
will be contradicted by one who looks only to the present condition of things, and thinks
to convict our statement of untruthfulness, inasmuch as man is seen no longer under those
primeval circumstances, but under almost entirely opposite ones.

5 "Where is the divine resemblance in the soul? Where the body's freedom from suffering?
Where the eternity of life? Man is of brief existence, subject to passions, liable to
decay, and ready both in body and mind for every form of suffering. By these and the like
assertions, and by directing the attack against human nature, the opponent will think that
he upsets the account that has been offered respecting man. But to secure that our
argument may not have to be diverted from its course at any future stage, we will briefly
discuss these points. That the life of man is at present subject to abnormal conditions is
no proof that man was not created in the midst of good. For since man is the work of God,
Who through His goodness brought this creature into being, no one could reasonably suspect
that he, of whose constitution goodness is the cause, was created by his Maker in the
midst of evil. But there is another reason for our present circumstances being what they
are, and for our being destitute of the primitive surroundings: and yet again the
starting-point of our answer to this argument against us is not beyond and outside the
assent of our opponents.

6 For He who made man for the participation of His own peculiar good, and incorporated in
him the instincts for all that was excellent, in order that his desire might be carried
forward by a corresponding movement in each case to its like, would never have deprived
him of that most excellent and precious of all goods; I mean the gift implied in being his
own master, and having a free will. For if necessity in any way was the master of the life
of man, the "image" would have been falsified in that particular part, by being estranged
owing to this unlikeness to its archetype. How can that nature which is under a yoke and
bondage to any kind of necessity be called an image of a Master Being? Was it not, then,
most right that that which is in every detail made like the Divine should possess in its
nature a self-ruling and independent principle, such as to enable the participation of
good to be the reward of its virtue? Whence, then, comes it, you will ask, that he who had
been distinguished throughout with most excellent endowments exchanged these good things
for the worse? The reason of this also is plain. No growth of evil had its beginning in
the Divine will. Vice would have been blameless were it inscribed with the name of God as
its maker and father.

7 But the evil is, in some way or other, engendered from within, springing up in the will
at that moment when there is a retrocession of the soul from the beautiful , For as sight
is an activity of nature, and blindness a deprivation of that natural operation, such is
the kind of opposition between virtue and vice. It is, in fact, not possible to form any
other notion of the origin of vice than as the absence of virtue. For as when the light
has been removed the darkness supervenes, but as long as it is present there is no
darkness, so, as long as the good is present in the nature, vice is a thing that has no
inherent existence; while the departure of the better state becomes the origin of its
opposite. Since then, this is the peculiarity of the possession of a free will, that it
chooses as it likes the thing that pleases it, you will find that it is not God Who is the
author of the present evils, seeing that He has ordered your nature so as to be its own
master and free; but rather the recklessness that makes choice of the worse in preference
to the better.

CHAPTER VI.

1 But you will perhaps seek to know the cause of this error of judgment; for it is to this
point that the train of our discussion tends. Again, then, we shall be justified in
expecting to find some starting-point which will throw light on this inquiry also. An
argument such as the following we have received by tradition from the Fathers; and this
argument is no mere mythical narrative, but one that naturally invites our credence. Of
all existing things there is a twofold manner of apprehension, the consideration of them
being divided between what appertains to intellect and what appertains to the senses; and
besides these there is nothing to be detected in the nature of existing things, as
extending beyond this division. Now these two worlds have been separated from each other
by a wide interval, so that the sensible is not included in those qualities which mark the
intellectual, nor this last in those qualities which distinguish the sensible, but each
receives its formal character from qualities opposite to those of the other. The world of
thought is bodiless, impalpable, and figureless; but the sensible is, by its very name,
bounded by those perceptions which come through the organs of sense.

2 But as in the sensible world itself, though there is a considerable mutual opposition of
its various elements, yet a certain harmony maintained in those opposites has been devised
by the wisdom that rules the Universe, and thus there is produced a concord of the whole
creation with itself, and the natural contrariety does not break the chain of agreement;in
like manner, owing to the Divine wisdom,there is an admixture and interpenetration ofthe
sensible with the intellectual department, in order that all things may equally have a
share in the beautiful, and no single one of existing things be without its share in that
superior world.For this reason the corresponding locality of the intellectual world is a
subtitle and mobile essence, which, in accordance with its supramundane habitation, has in
its peculiar nature large affinity with the intellectual part. Now, by a provision of the
supreme Mind there is an intermixture of the intellectual with the sensible world, in
order that nothing in creation may be thrown aside as worthless, as says the Apostle, or
be left without its portion of the Divine fellowship. On this account it is that the com
mixture of the intellectual and sensible in man is effected by the Divine Being, as the
description of the cosmogony instructs us.

3 It tells us that God, taking dust of the ground, formed the man, and by an inspiration
from Himself He planted life in the work of His hand, that thus the earthy might be raised
up to the Divine, and so one certain grace of equal value might pervade the whole
creation, the lower nature being mingled with the supramundane. Since, then, the
intellectual nature had a previous existence, and to each of the angelic powers a certain
operation was assigned, for the organization of the whole, by the authority that presides
over all things, there was a certain power ordained to hold together and sway the earthly
region , constituted for this purpose by the power that administers the Universe. Upon
that there was fashioned that thing moulded of earth, an "image" copied from the superior
Power. Now this living being was man. In him, by an ineffable influence, the godlike
beauty of the intellectual nature was mingled. He to whom the administration of the earth
has been consigned takes it ill and thinks it not to be borne, if, of that nature which
has been subjected to him, any being shall be exhibited bearing likeness to his
transcendent dignity. But the question, how one who had been created for no evil purpose
by Him who framed the system of the Universe in goodness fell away, nevertheless, into
this passion of envy, it is not a part of my present business minutely to discuss;

4 though it would not be difficult, and it would not take long, to offer an account to
those who are amenable to persuasion. For the distinctive difference between virtue and
vice is not to be contemplated as that between two actually subsisting phenomena; but as
there is a logical opposition between that which is and that which is not, and it is not
possible to say that, as regards subsistency, that which is not is distinguished from that
which is, but we say that nonentity is only logically opposed to entity, in the same way
also the word vice is opposed to the word virtue, not as being any existence in itself,
but only as becoming thinkable by the absence of the better. As we say that blindness is
logically opposed to sight, not that blindness has of itself a natural existence, being
only a deprivation of a preceding faculty, so also we say that vice is to be regarded as
the deprivation of goodness, just as a shadow which supervenes at the passage of the solar
ray. Since, then, the uncreated nature is incapable of admitting of such movement as is
implied in turning or change or alteration, while everything that subsists through
creation has connection with change, inasmuch as the subsistence itself of the creation
had its rise in change, that which was not passing by the Divine power into that which is;

5 and since the above-mentioned power was created too, and could choose by a spontaneous
movement whatever he liked, when he had closed his eyes to the good and the ungrudging
like one who in the sunshine lets his eyelids down upon his eyes and sees only darkness,
in this way that being also, by his very unwillingness to perceive the good, became
cognisant of the contrary to goodness. Now this is Envy. Well, it is undeniable that the
beginning of any matter is the cause of everything else that by consequence follows upon
it, as, for instance, upon health there follows a good habit of body, activity, and a
pleasurable life, but upon sickness, weakness, want of energy, and life passed in distaste
of everything; and so, in all other instances, things follow by consequence their proper
beginnings. As, then, freedom from the agitation of the passions is the beginning and
groundwork of a life in accordance with virtue, so the bias to vice generated by that Envy
is the constituted road to all these evils which have been since displayed.

6 For when once he, who by his apostacy from goodness had begotten in himself this Envy,
had received this bias to evil , like a rock, torn asunder from a mountain ridge, which is
driven down headlong by its own weight, in like manner he, dragged away from his original
natural propension to goodness and gravitating with all his weight in the direction of
vice, was deliberately forced and borne away as by a kind of gravitation to the utmost
limit of iniquity; and as for that intellectual power which he had received from his
Creator to co-operate with the better endowments, this he made his assisting instrument in
the discovery of contrivances for the purposes of vice, while by his crafty skill he
deceives and circumvents man, persuading him to become his own murderer with his own
hands. For seeing that man by the commission of the Divine blessing had been elevated to a
lofty pre-eminence (for he was appointed king over the earth and all things on it; he was
beautiful in his form, being created an image of the archetypal beauty; he was without
passion in his nature, for he was an imitation of the unimpassioned; he was full of
frankness, delighting in a face-to-face manifestation of the personal Deity),-all this was
to the adversary the fuel to his passion of envy. Yet could he not by any exercise of
strength or dint of force accomplish his purpose, for the strength of God's blessing over-
mastered his own force.

7 His plan, therefore, is to withdraw man from this enabling strength, that thus he may be
easily captured by him and open to his treachery. As in a lamp when the flame has caught
the wick and a person is unable to blow it out, he mixes water with the oil and by this
devices will dull the flame, in the same way the enemy, by craftily mixing up badness in
man's will, has produced a kind of extinguishment and dulness in the blessing, on the
failure of which that which is opposed necessarily enters. For to life is opposed death,
to strength weakness, to blessing curse, to frankness shame, and to all that is good
whatever can be conceived as opposite. Thus it is that humanity is in its present evil
condition, since that beginning introduced the occasions for such an ending.

CHAPTER VII.

1 Yet let no one ask, "How was it that, if God foresaw the misfortune that would happen to
man from want of thought, He came to create him, since it was, perhaps, more to his
advantage not to have been born than to be in the midst of such evils? This is what they
who have been carried away by the false teaching of the Manichees put forward for the
establishment of their error, as thus able to show that the Creator of human nature is
evil. For if God is not ignorant of anything that is, and yet man is in the midst of evil,
the argument for the goodness of God could not be upheld; that is, if He brought forth
into life the man who was to be in this evil. For if the operating force which is in
accordance with the good is entirely that of a nature which is good, then this painful and
perishing life, they say, can never be referred to the workmanship of the good, but it is
necessary to suppose for such a life as this another author, from whom our nature derives
its tendency to misery. Now all these and the like assertions seem to those who are
thoroughly imbued with the heretical fraud, as with some deeply ingrained stain, to have a
certain force from their superficial plausibility. But they who have a more thorough
insight into the truth clearly perceive that what they say is unsound, and admits of
speedy demonstration of its fallacy.

2 In my opinion, too, it is well to put forward the Apostle as pleading with us on these
points for their condemnation. In his address to the Corinthians he makes a distinction
between the carnal and spiritual dispositions of souls; showing, I think, by what he says
that it is wrong to judge of what is morally excellent, or, on the other hand, of what is
evil, by the standard of the senses; but that, by withdrawing the mind from bodily
phenomena, we must decide by itself and from itself the true nature of moral excellence
and of its opposite. "The spiritual man," he says, "judgeth all things . This, I think,
must have been the reason of the invention of these deceptive doctrines on the part of
those who propound them, viz. that when they define the good they have an eye only to the
sweetness of the body's enjoyment, and so, because from its composite nature and constant
tendency to dissolution that body is unavoidably subject to suffering and sicknesses, and
because upon such conditions of suffering there follows a sort of sense of pain, they
decree that the formation of man is the work of an evil deity. Since, if their thoughts
had taken a loftier view, and, withdrawing their minds from this disposition to regard the
gratifications of the senses, they had looked at the nature of existing things
dispassionately, they would have understood that there is no evil other than wickedness.
Now all wickedness has its form and character in the deprivation of the good;

3 it exists not by itself, and cannot be contemplated as a subsistence. For no evil of any
kind lies outside and independent of the will; but it is the non-existence of the good
that is so denominated. Now that which is not has no substantial existence, and the Maker
of that which has no substantial existence is not the Maker of things that have
substantial existence. Therefore the God of things that are is external to the causation
of things that are evil, since He is not the Maker of things that are non-existent. He Who
formed the sight did not make blindness. He Who manifested virtue manifested not the
deprivation thereof. He Who has proposed as the prize in the contest of a free will the
guerdon of all good to those who are living virtuously, never, to please Himself,
subjected mankind to the yoke of a strong compulsion, as if he would drag it unwilling, as
it were his lifeless tool, towards the right. But if, when the light shines very brightly
in a clear sky, a man of his own accord shuts his eyelids to shade his sight, the sun is
clear of blame on the part of him who sees not.

CHAPTER VIII.

1 Nevertheless one who regards only the dissolution of the body is greatly disturbed, and
makes it a hardship that this life of ours should be dissolved by death; it is, he says,
the extremity of evil that our being should be quenched by this condition of mortality.
Let him, then, observe through this gloomy prospect the excess of the Divine benevolence.
He may by this, perhaps, be the more induced to admire the graciousness of God's care for
the affairs of man. To live is desirable to those who partake of life, on account of the
enjoyment of things to their mind; since, if any one lives in bodily pain, not to be is
deemed by such an one much more desirable than to exist in pain. Let us inquire, then,
whether He Who gives us our outfit for living has any other object in view than how we may
pass our life under the fairest circumstances. Now since by a motion of our self-will we
contracted a fellowship with evil, and, owing to some sensual gratification, mixed up this
evil with our nature like some deleterious ingredient spoiling the taste of honey, and so,
falling away from that blessedness which is involved in the thought of passionlessness, we
have been viciously transformed-for this reason, Man, like some earthen potsherd, is
resolved again into the dust of the ground, in order to secure that he may part with the
soil which he has now contracted, and that he may, through the resurrection, be reformed
anew after the original pattern;

2 at least if in this life that now is he has preserved what belongs to that image. A
doctrine such as this is set before us by Moses under the disguise of an historical manner
. And yet this disguise of history contains a teaching which is most plain. For after, as
he tells us, the earliest of mankind were brought into contact with what was forbidden,
and thereby were stripped naked of that primal blessed condition, the Lord clothed these,
His first-formed creatures, with coats of skins. In my opinion we are not bound to take
these skins in their literal meaning. For to what sort of slain and flayed animals did
this clothing devised for these humanities belong? But since all skin, after it is
separated from the animal, is dead, I am certainly of opinion that He Who is the healer of
our sinfulness, of His foresight invested man subsequently with that capacity of dying
which had been the special attribute of the brute creation. Not that it was to last for
ever; for a coat is something external put on us, lending itself to the body for a time,
but not indigenous to its nature. This liability to death, then, taken from the brute
creation, was, provisionally, made to envelope the nature created for immortality. It
enwrapped it externally, but not internally. It grasped the sentient part of man; but laid
no hold upon the Divine image. This sentient part, however, does not disappear, but is
dissolved.

3 Disappearance is the passing away into non-existence, but dissolution is the dispersion
again into those constituent elements of the world of which it was composed. But that
which is contained in them perishes not, though it escapes the cognisance of our senses. 4
Now the cause of this dissolution is evident from the illustration we have given of it.
For since the senses have a close connection with what is gross and earthy, while the
intellect is in its nature of a nobler and more exalted character than the movements
involved in sensation, it follows that as, through the estimate which is made by the
senses, there is an erroneous judgment as to what is morally good, and this error has
wrought the effect of substantiating a contrary condition, that part of us which has thus
been made useless is dissolved by its reception of this contrary. Now the bearing of our
illustration is as follows. We supposed that some vessel has been composed of clay, and
then, for some mischief or other, filled with melted lead, which lead hardens and remains
in a non-liquid state; then that the owner of the vessel recovers it, and, as he possesses
the potter's art, pounds to bits the ware which held the lead, and then remoulds the
vessel after its former pattern for his own special use, emptied now of the material which
had been mixed with it: by a like process the maker of our vessel, now that wickedness has
intermingled with our sentient part, I mean that connected with the body, will dissolve
the material which has received the evil, and, re-moulding it again by the Resurrection
without any admixture of the contrary matter, will recombine the elements into the vessel
in its original beauty.

5 Now since both soul and body have a common bond of fellowship in their participation of
the sinful affections, there is also an analogy between the soul's and body's death. For
as in regard to the flesh we pronounce the separation of the sentient life to be death, so
in respect of the soul we call the departure of the real life death. While, then, as we
have said before, the participation in evil observable both in soul and body is of one and
the same character, for it is through both that the evil principle advances into actual
working, the death of dissolution which came from that clothing of dead skins does not
affect the soul. For how can that which is uncompounded be subject to dissolution? But
since there is a necessity that the defilements which sin has engendered in the soul as
well should be removed thence by some remedial process, the medicine which virtue supplies
has, in the life that now is, been applied to the healing of such mutilations as these.
If, however, the soul remains unhealed , the remedy is dispensed in the life that follows
this. Now in the ailments of the body there are sundry differences, some admitting of an
easier, others requiring a more difficult treatment. In these last the use of the knife,
or cauteries, or draughts of bitter medicines are adopted to remove the disease that has
attacked the body.

6 For the healing of the soul's sicknesses the future judgment announces something of the
same kind, and this to the thoughtless sort is held out as the threat of a terrible
correction , in order that through fear of this painful retribution they may gain the
wisdom of fleeing from wickedness: while by those of more intelligence it is believed to
be a remedial process ordered by God to bring back man, His peculiar creature, to the
grace of his primal condition. They who use the knife or cautery to remove certain
unnatural excrescences in the body, such as wens or warts, do not bring to the person they
are serving a method of healing that is painless, though certainly they apply the knife
without any intention of injuring the patient. In like manner whatever material
excrescences are hardening on our souls, that have been sensualized by fellowship with the
body's affections, are, in the day of the judgment , as it were cut and scraped away by
the ineffable wisdom and power of Him Who, as the Gospel says, "healeth those that are
sick . For, as He says again, "they that are whole have no need of the physician, but they
that are sick . Since, then, there has been inbred in the soul a strong natural tendency
to evil, it must suffer, just as the excision of a wart gives a sharp pain to the skin of
the body;

7 for whatever contrary to the nature has been inbred in the nature attaches itself to the
subject in a certain union of feeling, and hence there is produced an abnormal
intermixture of our own with an alien quality, so that the feelings, when the separation
from this abnormal growth comes, are hurt and lacerated. Thus when the soul pines and
melts away under the correction of its sins, as prophecy somewhere tells us , there
necessarily follow, from its deep and intimate connection with evil, certain unspeakable
and inexpressible pangs, the description of which is as difficult to render as is that of
the nature of those good things which are the subjects of our hope. For neither the one
nor the other is capable of being expressed in words, or brought within reach of the
understanding. If, then, any one looks to the ultimate aim of the Wisdom of Him Who
directs the economy of the universe, he would be very unreasonable and narrow-minded to
call the Maker of man the Author of evil; or to say that He is ignorant of the future, or
that, if He knows it and has made him, He is not uninfluenced by the impulse to what is
bad. He knew what was going to be, yet did not prevent the tendency towards that which
actually happened. That humanity, indeed, would be diverted from the good, could not be
unknown to Him Who grasps all things by His power of foresight, and Whose eyes behold the
coming equally with the past events.

8 As, then, He had in sight the perversion, so He devised man's recall to good.
Accordingly, which was the better way?-never to have brought our nature into existence at
all, since He foresaw that the being about to be created would fall away from that which
is morally beautiful; or to bring him back by repentance, and restore his diseased nature
to its original beauty? But, because of the pains and sufferings of the body which are the
necessary accidents of its unstable nature, to call God on that account the Maker of evil,
or to think that He is not the Creator of man at all, in hopes thereby to prevent the
supposition of His being the Author of what gives us pain,-all this is an instance of that
extreme narrow-mindedness which is the mark of those who judge of moral good and moral
evil by mere sensation. Such persons do not understand that that only is intrinsically
good which sensation does not reach, and that the only evil is estrangement from the good.
But to make pains and pleasures the criterion of what is morally good and the contrary, is
a characteristic of the unreasoning nature of creatures in whom, from their want of mind
and understanding, the apprehension of real goodness has no place. That man is the work of
God, created morally noble and for the noblest destiny, is evident not only from what has
been said, but from a vast number of other proofs; which, because they are so many, we
shall here omit.

9 But when we call God the Maker of man we do not forget how carefully at the outset we
defined our position against the Greeks. It was there shown that the Word of God is a
substantial and personified being, Himself both God and the Word; Who has embraced in
Himself all creative power, or rather Who is very power with an impulse to all good; Who
works out effectually whatever He wills by having a power concurrent with His will; Whose
will and work is the life of all things that exist; by Whom, too, man was brought into
being and adorned with the highest excellences after the fashion of Deity. But since that
alone is unchangeable in its nature which does not derive its origin through creation,
while whatever by the uncreated being is brought into existence out of what was
nonexistent, from the very first moment that it begins to be, is ever passing through
change, and if it acts according to its nature the change is ever to the better, but if it
be diverted from the straight path, then a movement to the contrary succeeds,-since, I
say, man was thus conditioned, and in him the changeable element in his nature had slipped
aside to the exact contrary, so that this departure from the good introduced in its train
every form of evil to match the good (as, for instance, on the defection of life there was
brought in the antagonism of death; on the deprivation of light darkness supervened;

10 in the absence of virtue vice arose in its place, and against every form of good might
be reckoned a like number of opposite evils), by whom, I ask, was man, fallen by his
recklessness into this and the like evil state (for it was not possible for him to retain
even his prudence when he had estranged himself from prudence, or to take any wise counsel
when he had severed himself from wisdom),-by whom was man to be recalled to the grace of
his original state? To whom belonged the restoration of the fallen one, the recovery of
the lost, the leading back the wanderer by the hand? To whom else than entirely to Him Who
is the the Lord of his nature? For Him only Who at the first had given the life was it
possible, or fitting, to recover it when lost. This is what we are taught and learn from
the Revelation of the truth, that God in the beginning made man and saved him when he had
fallen.

CHAPTER IX.

1 Up to this point, perhaps, one who has followed the course of our argument will agree
with it, inasmuch as it does not seem to him that anything has been said which is foreign
to the proper conception of the Deity. But towards what follows and constitutes the
strongest part of this Revelation of the truth, he will not be similarly disposed; the
human birth, I mean, the growth of infancy to maturity, the eating and drinking, the
fatigue and sleep, the sorrow and tears, the false accusation and judgment hall, the cross
of death and consignment to the tomb. All these things, included as they are in this
revelation, to a certain extent blunt the faith of the more narrow-minded, and so they
reject the sequel itself in consequence of these antecedents. They will not allow that in
the Resurrection from the dead there is anything consistent with the Deity, because of the
unseemly circumstances of the Death. Well, I deem it necessary first of all to remove our
thoughts for a moment from the grossness of the carnal element, and to fix them on what is
morally beautiful in itself, and on what is not, and on the distinguishing marks by which
each of them is to be apprehended. No one, I think, who has reflected will challenge the
assertion that, in the whole nature of things, one thing only is disgraceful, and that is
vicious weakness; while whatever has no connection with vice is a stranger to all
disgrace;

2 and whatever has no mixture in it of disgrace is certainly to be found on the side of
the beautiful; and what is really beautiful has in it no mixture of its opposite. Now
whatever is to be regarded as coming within the sphere of the beautiful becomes the
character of God. Either, then, let them show that there was viciousness in His birth, His
bringing up, His growth, His progress to the perfection of His nature, His experience of
death and return from death; or, if they allow that the aforesaid circumstances of His
life remain outside the sphere of viciousness, they will perforce admit that there is
nothing of disgrace in this that is foreign to viciousness. Since, then, what is thus
removed from every disgraceful and vicious quality is abundantly shown to be morally
beautiful, how can one fail to pity the folly of men who give it as their opinion that
what is morally beautiful is not becoming in the case of God?

CHAPTER X.

1 "But the nature of man," it is said, "is narrow and circumscribed, whereas the Deity is
infinite. How could the infinite be included in the atom ? But who is it that says the
infinitude of the Deity is comprehended in the envelopment of the flesh as if it were in a
vessel? Not even in the case of our own life is the intellectual nature shut up within the
boundary of the flesh. On the contrary, while the body's bulk is limited to the
proportions peculiar to it, the soul by the movements of its thinking faculty can coincide
at will with the whole of creation. It ascends to the heavens, and sets foot within the
deep. It traverses the breadth of the world, and in the restlessness of its curiosity
makes its way into the regions that are beneath the earth; and often it is occupied in the
scrutiny of the wonders of heaven, and feels no weight from the appendage of the body. If,
then, the soul of man, although by the necessity of its nature it is transfused through
the body, yet presents itself everywhere at will, what necessity is there for saying that
the Deity is hampered by an environment of fleshly nature, and why may we not, by examples
which we are capable of understanding, gain some reasonable idea of God's plan of
salvation? There is an analogy, for instance, in the flame of a lamp, which is seen to
embrace the material with which it is supplied .

2 Reason makes a distinction between the flame upon the material, and the material that
kindles the flame, though in fact it is not possible to cut off the one from the other so
as to exhibit the flame separate from the material, but they both united form one single
thing. But let no one, I beg, associate also with this illustration the idea of the
perishableness of the flame; let him accept only what is apposite in the image; what is
irrelevant and incongruous let him reject. What is there, then, to prevent our thinking
(just as we see flame fastening on the material , and yet not inclosed in it) of a kind of
union or approximation of the Divine nature with humanity, and yet in this very
approximation guarding the proper notion of Deity, believing as we do that, though the
Godhead be in man, it is beyond all circumscription?

CHAPTER XI.

Should you, however, ask in what way Deity is mingled with humanity, you will have
occasion for a preliminary inquiry as to what the coalescence is of soul with flesh. But
supposing you are ignorant of the way in which the soul is in union with the body, do not
suppose that that other question is bound to come within your comprehension; rather, as in
this case of the union of soul and body, while we have reason to believe that the soul is
something other than the body, because the flesh when isolated from the soul becomes dead
and inactive, we have yet no exact knowledge of the method of the union, so in that other
inquiry of the union of Deity with manhood, while we are quite aware that there is a
distinction as regards degree of majesty between the Divine and the mortal perishable
nature, we are not capable of detecting how the Divine and the human elements are mixed up
together. The miracles recorded permit us not to entertain a doubt that God was born in
the nature of man. But how-this, as being a subject unapproachable by the processes of
reasoning, we decline to investigate. For though we believe, as we do, that all the
corporeal and intellectual creation derives its subsistence from the incorporeal and
uncreated Being, yet the whence or the how, these we do not make a matter for examination
along with our faith in the thing itself. While we accept the fact, we pass by the manner
of the putting together of the Universe, as a subject which must not be curiously handled,
but one altogether ineffable and inexplicable.

CHAPTER XII.

If a person requires proofs of God's having been manifested to us in the flesh, let him
look at the Divine activities. For of the existence of the Deity at all one can discover
no other demonstration than that which the testimony of those activities supplies. When,
that is, we take a wide survey of the universe, and consider the dispensations throughout
the world, and the Divine benevolences that operate in our life, we grasp the conception
of a power overlying all, that is creative of all things that come into being, and is
conservative of them as they exist. On the same principle, as regards the manifestation of
God in the flesh, we have established a satisfactory proof of that apparition of Deity, in
those wonders of His operations; for in all his work as actually recorded we recognize the
characteristics of the Divine nature. It belongs to God to give life to men, to uphold by
His providence all things that exist. It belongs to God to bestow meat and drink on those
who in the flesh have received from Him the boon of life, to benefit the needy, to bring
back to itself, by means of renewed health, the nature that has been perverted by
sickness. It belongs to God to rule with equal sway the whole of creation; earth, sea,
air, and the realms above the air. It is His to have a power that is sufficient for all
things, and above all to be stronger than death and corruption. Now if in any one of these
or the like particulars the record of Him had been wanting, they who are external to the
faith had reasonably taken exception to the gospel revelation. But if every notion that is
conceivable of God is to be traced in what is recorded of Him, what is there to hinder our
faith?

CHAPTER XIII.

1 But, it is said, to be born and to die are conditions peculiar to the fleshly nature. I
admit it. But what went before that Birth and what came after that Death escapes the mark
of our common humanity. If we look to either term of our human life, we understand both
from what we take our beginning, and in what we end. Man commenced his existence in a
weakness and in a weakness completes it. But in the instance of the Incarnation neither
did the birth begin with a weakness, nor in a weakness did the death terminate; for
neither did sensual pleasure go before the birth, nor did corruption follow upon the
death. Do you disbelieve this marvel? I quite welcome your incredulity. You thus entirely
admit that those marvellous facts are supernatural, in the very way that you think that
what is related is above belief. Let this very fact, then, that the proclamation of the
mystery did not proceed in terms that are natural, be a proof to you of the manifestation
of the Deity. For if what is related of Christ were within the bounds of nature, where
were the Godhead? But if the account surpasses nature, then the very facts which you
disbelieve are a demonstration that He who was thus proclaimed was God. A man is begotten
by the conjunction of two persons, and after death is left in corruption.

2 Had the Gospel comprised no more than this, you certainly would not have deemed him to
be God, the testimony to whom was conveyed in terms peculiar only to our nature. But when
you are told that He was born, and yet transcended our common humanity both in the manner
of His birth, and by His incapacity of a change to corruption, it would be well if, in
consequence of this, you would direct your incredulity upon the other point, so as to
refuse to suppose Him to be one of those who have manifestly existed as mere men; for it
follows of necessity that a person who does not believe that such and such a being is mere
man, must be led on to the belief that He is God. Well, he who has recorded that He was
born has related also that He was born of a Virgin. If, therefore, on the evidence stated,
the fact of His being born is established as a matter of faith, it is altogether
incredible, on the same evidence, that He was not born in the manner stated. For the
author who mentions His birth adds also, that it was of a Virgin; and in recording His
death bears further testimony to His resurrection from the dead. If, therefore, from what
you are told, you grant that He both was born and died, on the same grounds you must admit
that both His birth and death were independent of the conditions of human weakness,-in
fact, were above nature.

3 The conclusion, therefore, is that He Who has thus been shown to have been born under
supernatural circumstances was certainly Himself not limited by nature.

CHAPTER XIV.

"Then why," it is asked, "did the Deity descend to such humiliation? Our faith is
staggered to think that God, that incomprehensible, inconceivable, and ineffable reality,
transcending all glory of greatness, wraps Himself up in the base covering of humanity, so
that His sublime operations as well are debased by this admixture with the grovelling
earth."

CHAPTER XV.

1 Even to this objection we are not at a loss for an answer consistent with our idea of
God. You ask the reason why God was born among men. If you take away from life the
benefits that come to us from God, you would not be able to tell me what means you have of
arriving at any knowledge of Deity. In the kindly treatment of us we recognize the
benefactor; that is, from observation of that which happens to us, we conjecture the
disposition of the person who operates it. If, then, love of man be a special
characteristic of the Divine nature, here is the reason for which you are in search, here
is the cause of the presence of God among men. Our diseased nature needed a healer. Man in
his fall needed one to set him upright. He who had lost the gift of life stood in need of
a life-giver, and he who had dropped away from his fellowship with good wanted one who
would lead him back to good. He who was shut up in darkness longed for the presence of the
light. The captive sought for a ransomer, the fettered prisoner for some one to take his
part, and for a deliverer he who was held in the bondage of slavery. Were these, then,
trifling or unworthy wants to importune the Deity to come down and take a survey of the
nature of man, when mankind was so miserably and pitiably conditioned?

2 "But," it is replied, "man might have been benefited, and yet God might have continued
in a passionless state. Was it not possible for Him Who in His wisdom framed the universe,
and by the simple impulse of His will brought into subsistence that which was not, had it
so pleased Him, by means of some direct Divine command to withdraw man from the reach of
the opposing power, and bring him back to his primal state? Whereas He waits for long
periods of time to come round, He submits Himself to the condition of a human body, He
enters upon the stage of life by being born, and after passing through each age of life in
succession, and then tasting death, at last, only by the rising again of His own body,
accomplishes His object,-as if it was not optional to Him to fulfil His purpose without
leaving the height of His Divine glory, and to save man by a single command , letting
those long periods of time alone. Needful, therefore, is it that in answer to objections
such as these we should draw out the counter-statement of the truth, in order that no
obstacle may be offered to the faith of those persons who will minutely examine the
reasonableness of the gospel revelation. In the first place, then, as has been partially
discussed before , let us consider what is that which, by the rule of contraries, is
opposed to virtue.

3 As darkness is the opposite of light, and death of life, so vice, and nothing else
besides, is plainly the opposite of virtue. For as in the many objects in creation there
is nothing which is distinguished by its opposition to light or life, but only the
peculiar ideas which are their exact opposites, as darkness and death-not stone, or wood,
or water, or man, or anything else in the world,-so, in the instance of virtue, it cannot
be said that any created thing can be conceived of as contrary to it, but only the idea of
vice. If, then, our Faith preached that the Deity had been begotten under vicious
circumstances, an opportunity would have been afforded the objector of running down our
belief, as that of persons who propounded incongruous and absurd opinions with regard to
the Divine nature. For, indeed, it were blasphemous to assert that the Deity, Which is
very wisdom, goodness, incorruptibility, and every other exalted thing in thought or word,
had undergone change to the contrary. If, then, God is real and essential virtue, and no
mere existence of any kind is logically opposed to virtue, but only vice is so; and if the
Divine birth was not into vice, but into human existence;

4 and if only vicious weakness is unseemly and shameful-and with such weakness neither was
God born, nor had it in His nature to be born,-why are they scandalized at the confession
that God came into touch with human nature, when in relation to virtue no contrariety
whatever is observable in the organization of man? For neither Reason, nor Understanding ,
nor Receptivity for science, nor any other like quality proper to the essence of man, is
opposed to the principle of virtue.

CHAPTER XVI.

1 "But," it is said, "this change in our body by birth is a weakness, and one born under
such condition is born in weakness. Now the Deity is free from weakness. It is, therefore,
a strange idea in connection with God," they say, "when people declare that one who is
essentially free from weakness thus comes into fellowship with weakness. Now in reply to
this let us adopt the same argument as before, namely that the word "weakness" is used
partly in a proper, partly in an adapted sense. Whatever, that is, affects the will and
perverts it from virtue to vice is really and truly a weakness; but whatever in nature is
to be seen proceeding by a chain peculiar to itself of successive stages would be more
fitly called a work than a weakness. As, for instance, birth, growth, the continuance of
the underlying substance through the influx and efflux of the aliments, the meeting
together of the component elements of the body, and, on the other hand, the dissolution of
its component parts and their passing back into the kindred elements. Which "weakness,"
then, does our Mystery assert that the Deity came in contact with? That which is properly
called weakness, which is vice, or that which is the result of natural movements? Well, if
our Faith affirmed that the Deity was born under forbidden circumstances, then it would be
our duty to shun a statement which gave this profane and unsound description of the Divine
Being.

2 But if it asserts that God laid hold on this nature of ours, the production of which in
the first instance and the subsistence afterwards had its origin in Him, in what way does
this our preaching fail in the reverence that befits Him? Amongst our notions of God no
disposition tending to weakness goes along with our belief in Him. We do not say that a
physician is in weakness when he is employed in healing one who is so . For though he
touches the infirmity he is himself unaffected by it. If birth is not regarded in itself
as a weakness, no one can call life such. But the feeling of sensual pleasure does go
before the human birth, and as to the impulse to vice in all living men, this is a disease
of our nature. But then the Gospel mystery asserts that. He Who took our nature was pure
from both these feelings. If, then, His birth had no connection with sensual pleasure, and
His life none with vice, what "weakness" is there left which the mystery of our religion
asserts that God participated in? But should any one call the separation of body and soul
a weakness , far more justly might he term the meeting together of these two elements
such. For if the severance of things that have been connected is a weakness, then is the
union of things that are asunder a weakness also.

3 For there is a feeling of movement in the uniting of things sundered as well as in the
separation of what has been welded into one. The same term, then, by which the final
movement is called, it is proper to apply to the one that initiated it. If the first
movement, which we call birth, is not a weakness, it follows that neither the second,
which we call death, and by which the severance of the union of the soul and body is
effected, is a weakness. Our position is, that God was born subject to both movements of
our nature; first, that by which the soul hastens to join the body, and then again that by
which the body is separated from the soul; and that when the concrete humanity was formed
by the mixture of these two, I mean the sentient and the intelligent element, through that
ineffable and inexpressible conjunction, this result in the Incarnation followed, that
after the soul and body had been once united the union continued for ever. For when our
nature, following its own proper course, had even in Him been advanced to the separation
of soul and body, He knitted together again the disunited elements, cementing them, as it
were, together with the cement of His Divine power, and recombining what has been severed
in a union never to be broken. And this is the Resurrection, namely the return, after they
have been dissolved, of those elements that had been before linked together, into an
indissoluble union through a mutual incorporation;

4 in order that thus the primal grace which invested humanity might be recalled, and we
restored to the everlasting life, when the vice that has been mixed up with our kind has
evaporated through our dissolution, as happens to any liquid when the vessel that
contained it is broken, and it is spilt and disappears, there being nothing to contain it.
For as the principle of death took its rise in one person and passed on in succession
through the whole of human kind, in like manner the principle of the Resurrection-life
extends from one person to the whole of humanity. For He Who reunited to His own proper
body the soul that had been assumed by Himself, by virtue of that power which had mingled
with both of these component elements at their first framing, then, upon a more general
scale as it were , conjoined the intellectual to the sentient nature, the new principle
freely progressing to the extremities by natural consequence. For when, in that concrete
humanity which He had taken to Himself, the soul after the dissolution returned to the
body, then this uniting of the several portions passes, as by a new principle, in equal
force upon the whole human race. This, then, is the mystery of God's plan with regard to
His death and His resurrection from the dead; namely, instead of preventing the
dissolution of His body by death and the necessary results of nature, to bring both back
to each other in the resurrection;

5 so that He might become in Himself the meeting-ground both of life and death, having re-
established in Himself that nature which death had divided, and being Himself the
originating principle of the uniting those separated portions.

CHAPTER XVII.

But it will be said that the objection which has been brought against us has not yet been
solved, and that what unbelievers have urged has been rather strengthened by all we have
said. For if, as our argument has shown, there is such power in Him that both the
destruction of death and the introduction of life resides in Him, why does He not effect
His purpose by the mere exercise of His will, instead of working out our salvation in such
a roundabout way, by being born and nurtured as a man, and even, while he was saving man,
tasting death; when it was possible for Him to have saved man without subjecting Himself
to such conditions? Now to this, with all candid persons, it were sufficient to reply,
that the sick do not dictate to their physicians the measures for their recovery, nor
cavil with those who do them good as to the method of their healing; why, for instance,
the medical man felt the diseased part and devised this or that particular remedy for the
removal of the complaint, when they expected another; but the patient looks to the end and
aim of the good work, and receives the benefit with gratitude. Seeing, however, as says
the Prophet , that God's abounding goodness keeps its utility concealed, and is not seen
in complete clearness in this present life-otherwise, if the eyes could behold all that is
hoped for, every objection of unbelievers would be removed,-but, as it is, abides the ages
that are coming, when what is at present seen only by the eye of faith must be revealed,
it is needful accordingly that, as far as we may, we should by the aid of arguments, the
best within our reach, attempt to discover for these difficulties also a solution in
harmony with what has gone before.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1 And yet it is perhaps straining too far for those who do believe that God sojourned here
in life to object to the manner of His appearance , as wanting wisdom or conspicuous
reasonableness. For to those who are not vehemently antagonistic to the truth there exists
no slight proof of the Deity having sojourned here; I mean that which is exhibited now in
this present life before the life to come begins, the testimony which is borne by actual
facts. For who is there that does not know that every part of the world was overspread
with demoniacal delusion which mastered the life of man through the madness of idolatry;
how this was the customary rule among all nations, to worship demons under the form of
idols, with the sacrifice of living animals and the polluted offerings on their altars?
But from the time when, as says the Apostle, "the grace of God that bringeth salvation to
all men appeared ," and dwelt among us in His human nature, all these things passed away
like smoke into nothingness, the madness of their oracles and prophesyings ceased, the
annual pomps and pollutions of their bloody hecatombs came to an end, while among most
nations altars entirely disappeared, together with porches, precincts, and shrines, and
all the ritual besides which was followed out by the attendant priest of those demons, to
the deception both of themselves and of all who came in their way. So that in many of
these places no memorial exists of these things having ever been.

2 But, instead, throughout the whole world there have arisen in the name of Jesus temples
and altars and a holy and unbloody Priesthood , and a sublime philosophy, which teaches,
by deed and example more than by word, a disregard of this bodily life and a contempt of
death, a contempt which they whom tyrants have tried to force to apostatize from the faith
have manifestly displayed, making no account of the cruelties done to their bodies or of
their doom of death: and yet, plainly, it was not likely that they would have submitted to
such treatment unless they had had a clear and indisputable proof of that Divine Sojourn
among men. And the following fact is, further, a sufficient mark, as against the Jews, of
the presence among them of Him in Whom they disbelieve; up to the time of the
manifestation of Christ the royal palaces in Jerusalem were in all their splendour: there
was their far-famed Temple; there was the customary round of their sacrifices throughout
the year: all the things, which had been expressed by the Law in symbols to those who knew
how to read its secrets, were up to that point of time unbroken in their observance, in
accordance with that form of worship which had been established from the beginning.

3 But when at length they saw Him Whom they were looking for, and of Whom by their
Prophets and the Law they had before been told, and when they held in more estimation than
faith in Him Who had so manifested Himself that which for the future became but a degraded
superstition, because they took it in a wrong sense , and clung to the mere phrases of the
Law in obedience to the dictates of custom rather than of intelligence, and when they had
thus refused the grace which had appeared,-then even those holy monuments of their
religion were left standing, as they do, in history alone; for no traces even of their
Temple can be recognized, and their splendid city has been left in ruins, so that there
remains to the Jews nothing of the ancient institutions; while by the command of those who
rule over them the very ground of Jerusalem which they so venerated is forbidden to them.


THE GREAT CATECHISM
===================

THE GREAT CATECHISM continued

CHAPTER XIX.

Nevertheless, since neither those who take the Greek view, nor yet the leaders of Jewish
opinions, are willing to make such things the proofs of that Divine manifestation, it may
be as well, as regards these demurrers to our statement, to treat more particularly the
reason by virtue of which the Divine nature is combined with ours, saving, as it does,
humanity by means of itself, and not working out its proposed design by means of a mere
command. With what, then, must we begin, so as to conduct our thinking by a logical
sequence to the proposed conclusion? What but this, viz. with a succinct detail of the
notions that can religiously be entertained of God ?

CHAPTER XX.

1 It is, then, universally acknowledged that we must believe the Deity to be not only
almighty, but just, and good, and wise, and everything else that suggests excellence. It
follows, therefore, in the present dispensation of things, that it is not the case that
some particular one of these Divine attributes freely displays itself in creation, while
there is another that is not present there; for, speaking once for all, no one of those
exalted terms, when disjoined from the rest, is by itself alone a virtue, nor is the good
really good unless allied with what is just, and wise, and mighty (for what is unjust, or
unwise, or powerless, is not good, neither is power, when disjoined from the principle of
justice and of wisdom, to be considered in the light of virtue; such species of power is
brutal and tyrannous; and so, as to the rest, if what is wise be carried beyond the limits
of what is just, or if what is just be not contemplated along with might and goodness,
cases of that sort one would more properly call vice; for how can what comes short of
perfection be reckoned among things that are good?). If, then, it is fitting that all
excellences should be combined in the views we have of God, let us see whether this
Dispensation as regards man fails in any of those conceptions which we should entertain of
Him. The object of our inquiry in the case of God is before all things the indications of
His goodness.

2 And what testimony to His goodness could there be more palpable than this, viz. His
regaining to Himself the allegiance of one who had revolted to the opposite side, instead
of allowing the fixed goodness of His nature to be affected by the variableness of the
human will? For, as David says, He had not come to save us had not "goodness" created in
Him such a purpose ; and yet His goodness had not advanced His purpose had not wisdom
given efficacy to His love for man. For, as in the case of persons who are in a sickly
condition, there are probably many who wish that a man were not in such evil plight, but
it is only they in whom there is some technical ability operating in behalf of the sick,
who bring their good-will on their behalf to a practical issue, so it is absolutely
needful that wisdom should be conjoined with goodness. In what way, then, is wisdom
contemplated in combination with goodness; in the actual events, that is, which have taken
place? because one cannot observe a good purpose in the abstract; a purpose cannot
possibly be revealed unless it has the light of some events upon it. Well, the things
accomplished, progressing as they did in orderly series and sequence, reveal the wisdom
and the skill of the Divine economy.

3 And since, as has been before remarked, wisdom, when combined with justice, then
absolutely becomes a virtue, but, if it be disjoined from it, cannot in itself alone be
good, it were well moreover in this discussion of the Dispensation in regard to man, to
consider attentively in the light of each other these two qualities; I mean, its wisdom
and its justice.

CHAPTER XXI.

1 What, then, is justice? We distinctly remember what in the course of our argument we
said in the commencement of this treatise; namely, that man was fashioned in imitation of
the Divine nature, preserving his resemblance to the Deity as well in other excellences as
in possession of freedom of the will, yet being of necessity of a nature subject to
change. For it was not possible that a being who derived his origin from an alteration
should be altogether free from this liability. For the passing from a state of non-
existence into that of existence is a kind of alteration; when being, that is, by the
exercise of Divine power takes the place of nonentity. In the following special respect,
too, alteration is necessarily observable in man, namely, because man was an imitation of
the Divine nature, and unless some distinctive difference had been occasioned, the
imitating subject would be entirely the same as that which it resembles; but in this
instance, it is to be observed, there is a difference between that which "was made in the
image" and its pattern; namely this, that the one is not subject to change, while the
other is (for, as has been described, it has come into existence through an alteration),
and being thus subject to alteration does not always continue in its existing state. For
alteration is a kind of movement ever advancing from the present state to another; and
there are two forms of this movement;

2 the one being ever towards what is good, and in this the advance has no check, because
no goal of the course to be traversed can be reached, while the other is in the direction
of the contrary, and of it this is the essence, that it has no subsistence; for, as has
been before stated, the contrary state to goodness conveys some such notion of opposition,
as when we say, for instance, that that which is is logically opposed to that which is
not, and that existence is so opposed to non-existence. Since, then, by reason of this
impulse and movement of changeful alteration it is not possible that the nature of the
subject of this change should remain self-centred and unmoved, but there is always
something towards which the will is tending, the appetency for moral beauty naturally
drawing it on to movement, this beauty is in one instance really such in its nature, in
another it is not so, only blossoming with an illusive appearance of beauty; and the
criterion of these two kinds is the mind that dwells within us. Under these circumstances
it is a matter of risk whether we happen to choose the real beauty, or whetherwe are
diverted from its choice by some deception arising from appearance, and thus drift away to
the opposite;

3 as happened, we are told in the heathen fable, to the dog which looked askance at the
reflection in the water of what it carried in its mouth, but let go the real food, and,
opening its mouth wide to swallow the image of it, still hungered. Since, then, the mind
has been disappointed in its craving for the real good, and diverted to that which is not
such, being persuaded, through the deception of the great advocate and inventor of vice,
that that was beauty which was just the opposite (for this deception would never have
succeeded, had not the glamour of beauty been spread over the hook of vice like a
bait),-the man, I say, on the one hand, who had enslaved himself by indulgence to the
enemy of his life, being of his own accord in this unfortunate condition,-I ask you to
investigate, on the other hand, those qualities which suit and go along with our
conception of the Deity, such as goodness, wisdom, power, immortality, and all else that
has the stamp of superiority. As good, then, the Deity entertains pity for fallen man; as
wise He is not ignorant of the means for his recovery; while a just decision must also
form part of that wisdom; for no one would ascribe that genuine justice to the absence of
wisdom.

CHAPTER XXII.

What, then, under these circumstances is justice? It is the not exercising any arbitrary
sway over him who has us in his power , nor, by tearing us away by a violent exercise of
force from his hold, thus leaving some colour for a just complaint to him who enslaved man
through sensual pleasure. For as they who have bartered away their freedom for money are
the slaves of those who have purchased them (for they have constituted themselves their
own sellers, and it is not allowable either for themselves or any one else in their behalf
to call freedom to their aid, not even though those who have thus reduced themselves to
this sad state are of noble birth; and, if any one out of regard for the person who has so
sold himself should use violence against him who has bought him, he will clearly be acting
unjustly in thus arbitrarily rescuing one who has been legally purchased as a slave,
whereas, if he wishes to pay a price to get such a one away, there is no law to prevent
that), on the same principle, now that we had voluntarily bartered away our freedom, it
was requisite that no arbitrary method of recovery, but the one consonant with justice
should be devised by Him Who in His goodness had undertaken our rescue. Now this method is
in a measure this; to make over to the master of the slave whatever ransom he may agree to
accept for the person in his possession.

CHAPTER XXIII.

1 What, then, was it likely that the master of the slave would choose to receive in his
stead? It is possible in the way of inference to make a guess as to his wishes in the
matter, if, that is, the manifest indications of what we are seeking for should come into
our hands. He then, who, as we before stated in the beginning of this treatise, shut his
eyes to the good in his envy of man in his happy condition, he who generated in himself
the murky cloud of wickedness, he who suffered from the disease of the love of rule, that
primary and fundamental cause of propension to the bad and the mother, so to speak, of all
the wickedness that follows,-what would he accept in exchange for the thing which he held,
but something, to be sure, higher and better, in the way of ransom, that thus, by
receiving a gain in the exchange, he might foster the more his own special passion of
pride? Now unquestionably in not one of those who had lived in history from the beginning
of the world had he been conscious of any such circumstance as he observed to surround Him
Who then manifested Himself, i. e.

2 conception without carnal connection, birth without impurity, motherhood with virginity,
voices of the unseen testifying from above to a transcendent worth, the healing of natural
disease, without the use of means and of an extraordinary character, proceeding from Him
by the mere utterance of a word and exercise of His will, the restoration of the dead to
life, the absolution of the damned , the fear with which He inspired devils, His power
over tempests, His walking through the sea, not by the waters separating on either side,
and, as in the case of Moses' miraculous power, making bare its depths for those who
passed through, but by the surface of the water presenting solid ground for His feet, and
by a firm and hard resistance supporting His steps; then, His disregard for food as long
as it pleased Him to abstain, His abundant banquets in the wilderness wherewith many
thousands were fully fed (though neither did the heavens pour down manna on them, nor was
their need supplied by the earth producing corn for them in its natural way, but that
instance of munificence came out of the ineffable store-houses of His Divine power), the
bread ready in the hands of those who distributed it, as if they were actually reaping it,
and becoming more, the more the eaters were filled; and then, the banquet on the fish; not
that the sea supplied their need, but He Who had stocked the sea with its fish.

3 But how is it possible to narrate in succession each one of the Gospel miracles? The
Enemy, therefore, beholding in Him such power, saw also in Him an opportunity for an
advance, in the exchange, upon the value of what he held. For this reason he chooses Him
as a ransom for those who were shut up in the prison of death. But it was out of his power
to look on the unclouded aspect of God; he must see in Him some portion of that fleshly
nature which through sin he had so long held in bondage. Therefore it was that the Deity
was invested with the flesh, in order, that is, to secure that he, by looking upon
something congenial and kindred to himself, might have no fears in approaching that
supereminent power; and might yet by perceiving that power, showing as it did, yet only
gradually, more and more splendour in the miracles, deem what was seen an object of desire
rather than of fear. Thus, you see how goodness was conjoined with justice, and how wisdom
was not divorced from them. For to have devised that the Divine power should have been
containable in the envelopment of a body, to the end that the Dispensation in our behalf
might not be thwarted through any fear inspired by the Deity actually appearing, affords a
demonstration of all these qualities at once-goodness, wisdom, justice. His choosing to
save man is a testimony of his goodness;

4 His making the redemption of the captive a matter of exchange exhibits His justice,
while the invention whereby He enabled the Enemy to apprehend that of which he was before
incapable, is a manifestation of supreme wisdom.

CHAPTER XXIV.

1 But possibly one who has given his attention to the course of the preceding remarks may
inquire: "wherein is the power of the Deity, wherein is the imperishableness of that
Divine power, to be traced in the processes you have described? In order, therefore, to
make this also clear, let us take a survey of the sequel of the Gospel mystery, where that
Power conjoined with Love is more especially exhibited. In the first place, then, that the
omnipotence of the Divine nature should have had strength to descend to the humiliation of
humanity, furnishes a clearer proof of that omnipotence than even the greatness and
supernatural character of the miracles. For that something pre-eminently great should be
wrought out by Divine power is, in a manner, in accordance with, and consequent upon the
Divine nature; nor is it startling to hear it said that the whole of the created world,
and all that is understood to be beyond the range of visible things, subsists by the power
of God, His will giving it existence according to His good pleasure. But this His descent
to the humility of man is a kind of superabundant exercise of power, which thus finds no
check even in directions which contravene nature. It is the peculiar property of the
essence of fire to tend upwards; no one therefore, deems it wonderful in the case of flame
to see that natural operation. But should the flame be seen to stream downwards, like
heavy bodies, such a fact would be regarded as a miracle;

2 namely, how fire still remains fire, and yet, by this change of direction in its motion,
passes out of its nature by being borne downward. In like manner, it is not the vastness
of the heavens, and the bright shining of its constellations, and the order of the
universe and the unbroken administration over all existence that so manifestly displays
the transcendent power of the Deity, as this condescension to the weakness of our nature;
the way, in fact, in which sublimity, existing in lowliness, is actually seen in
lowliness, and yet descends not from its height, and in which Deity, entwined as it is
with the nature of man, becomes this, and yet still is that. For since, as has been said
before, it was not in the nature of the opposing power to come in contact with the
undiluted presence of God, and to undergo His unclouded manifestation, therefore, in order
to secure that the ransom in our behalf might be easily accepted by him who required it,
the Deity was hidden under the veil of our nature, that so, as with ravenous fish , the
hook of the Deity might be gulped down along with the bait of flesh, and thus, life being
introduced into the house of death, and light shining in darkness, that which is
diametrically opposed to light and life might vanish; for it is not in the nature of
darkness to remain when light is present, or of death to exist when life is active.

3 Let us, then, by way of summary take up the train of the arguments for the Gospel
mystery, and thus complete our answer to those who question this Dispensation of God, and
show them on what ground it is that the Deity by a personal intervention works out the
salvation of man. It is certainly most necessary that in every point the conceptions we
entertain of the Deity should be such as befit the subject, and not that, while one idea
worthy of His sublimity should be retained, another equally belonging to that estimate of
Deity should be dismissed from it; on the contrary, every exalted notion, every devout
thought, must most surely enter into our belief in God, and each must be made dependent on
each in a necessary sequence. Well, then; it has been pointed out that His goodness,
wisdom, justice, power, incapability of decay, are all of them in evidence in the doctrine
of the Dispensation in which we are. His goodness is caught sight of in His election to
save lost man; His wisdom and justice have been displayed in the method of our salvation;
His power, in that, though born in the likeness and fashion of a man, on the lowly level
of our nature, and in accordance with that likeness raising the expectation that he could
be overmastered by death, he, after such a birth, nevertheless produced the effects
peculiar and natural to Him. Now it is the peculiar effect of light to make darkness
vanish, and of life to destroy death.

4 Since, then, we have been led astray from the right path, and diverted from that life
which was ours at the beginning, and brought under the sway of death, what is there
improbable in the lesson we are taught by the Gospel mystery, if it be this; that
cleansing reaches those who are befouled with sin, and life the dead, and guidance the
wanderers, in order that defilement may be cleansed, error corrected, and what was dead
restored to life?

CHAPTER XXV.

That Deity should be born in our nature, ought not reasonably to present any strangeness
to the minds of those who do not take too narrow a view of things. For who, when he takes
a survey of the universe, is so simple as not to believe that there is Deity in
everything, penetrating it, embracing it, and seated in it? For all things depend on Him
Who is , nor can there be anything which has not its being in Him Who is. If, therefore,
all things are in Him, and He in all things, why are they scandalized at the plan of
Revelation when it teaches that God was born among men, that same God Whom we are
convinced is even now not outside mankind? For although this last form of God's presence
amongst us is not the same as that former presence, still His existence amongst us equally
both then and now is evidenced; only now He Who holds together Nature in existence is
transfused in us; while at that other time He was transfused throughout our nature, in
order that our nature might by this transfusion of the Divine become itself divine,
rescued as it was from death, and put beyond the reach of the caprice of the antagonist.
For His return from death becomes to our mortal race the commencement of our return to the
immortal life.

CHAPTER XXVI.

1 Still, in his examination of the amount of justice and wisdom discoverable in this
Dispensation a person is, perhaps, induced to entertain the thought that it was by means
of a certain amount of deceit that God carried out this scheme on our behalf. For that not
by pure Deity alone, but by Deity veiled in human nature, God, without the knowledge of
His enemy, got within the lines of him who had man in his power, is in some measure a
fraud and a surprise; seeing that it is the peculiar way with those who want to deceive to
divert in another direction the expectations of their intended victims, and then to effect
something quite different from what these latter expected. But he who has regard for truth
will agree that the essential qualities of justice and wisdom are before all things these;
viz. of justice, to give to every one according to his due; of wisdom, not to pervert
justice, and yet at the same time not to dissociate the benevolent aim of the love of
mankind from the verdict of justice, but skilfully to combine both these requisites
together, in regard to justice returning the due recompense, in regard to kindness not
swerving from the aim of that love of man. Let us see, then, whether these two qualities
are not to be observed in that which took place.

2 That repayment, adequate to the debt, by which the deceiver was in his turn deceived,
exhibits the justice of the dealing, while the object aimed at is a testimony to the
goodness of Him who effected it. It is, indeed, the property of justice to assign to every
one those particular results of which he has sunk already the foundations and the causes,
just as the earth returns its harvests according to the kinds of seeds thrown into it;
while it is the property of wisdom, in its very manner of giving equivalent returns, not
to depart from the kinder course. Two persons may both mix poison with food, one with the
design of taking life, the other with the design of saving that life; the one using it as
a poison, the other only as an antidote to poison; and in no way does the manner of the
cure adopted spoil the aim and purpose of the benefit intended; for although a mixture of
poison with the food may be effected by both of these persons alike, yet looking at their
intention we are indignant with the one and approve the other; so in this instance, by the
reasonable rule of justice, he who practised deception receives in return that very
treatment, the seeds of which he had himself sown of his own free will. He who first
deceived man by the bait of sensual pleasure is himself deceived by the presentment of the
human form.

3 But as regards the aim and purpose of what took place, a change in the direction of the
nobler is involved; for whereas he, the enemy, effected his deception for the ruin of our
nature, He Who is at once the just, and good, and wise one, used His device, in which
there was deception, for the salvation of him who had perished, and thus not only
conferred benefit on the lost one, but on him, too, who had wrought our ruin. For from
this approximation of death to life, of darkness to light, of corruption to incorruption,
there is effected an obliteration of what is worse, and a passing away of it into nothing,
while benefit is conferred on him who is freed from those evils. For it is as when some
worthless material has been mixed with gold, and the gold-refiners burn up the foreign and
refuse part in the consuming fire, and so restore the more precious substance to its
natural lustre: (not that the separation is effected without difficulty, for it takes time
for the fire by its melting force to cause the baser matter to disappear; but for all
that, this melting away of the actual thing that was embedded in it to the injury of its
beauty is a kind of healing of the gold.

4 In the same way when death, and corruption, and darkness, and every other offshoot of
evil had grown into the nature of the author of evil, the approach of the Divine power,
acting like fire , and making that unnatural accretion to disappear, thus by purgation of
the evil becomes a blessing to that nature, though the separation is agonizing. Therefore
even the adversary himself will not be likely to dispute that what took place was both
just and salutary, that is, if he shall have attained to a perception of the boon. For it
is now as with those who for their cure are subjected to the knife and the cautery; they
are angry with the doctors, and wince with the pain of the incision; but if recovery of
health be the result of this treatment, and the pain of the cautery passes away, they will
feel grateful to those who have wrought this cure upon them. In like manner, when, after
long periods of time, the evil of our nature, which now is mixed up with it and has grown
with its growth, has been expelled, and when there has been a restoration of those who are
now lying in Sin to their primal state, a harmony of thanksgiving will arise from all
creation , as well from those who in the process of the purgation have suffered
chastisement, as from those who needed not any purgation at all. These and the like
benefits the great mystery of the Divine incarnation bestows.

5 For in those points in which He was mingled with humanity, passing as He did through all
the accidents proper to human nature, such as birth, rearing, growing up, and advancing
even to the taste of death, He accomplished all the results before mentioned, freeing both
man from evil, and healing even the introducer of evil himself. For the chastisement,
however painful, of moral disease is a healing of its weakness.

CHAPTER XXVII

1 It is, then, completely in keeping with this, that He Who was thus pouring Himself into
our nature should accept this commixture in all its accidents. For as they who wash
clothes do not pass over some of the dirt and cleanse the rest, but clear the whole cloth
from all its stains, from one end to the other, that the cloak by being uniformly
brightened from washing may be throughout equal to its own standard of cleanness, in like
manner, since the life of man was defiled by sin, in its beginning, end, and all its
intermediate states, there needed an abstergent force to penetrate the whole, and not to
mend some one part by cleansing, while it left another unattended to. For this reason it
is that, seeing that our life has been included between boundaries on either side, one, I
mean, at its beginning, and the other at its ending, at each boundary the force that is
capable of correcting our nature is to be found, attaching itself to the beginning, and
extending to the end, and touching all between those two points . Since, then, there is
for all men only one way of entrance into this life of ours, from whence was He Who was
making His entrance amongst us to transport Himself into our life? From heaven, perhaps
some one will say, who rejects with contempt, as base and degraded, this species of birth,
i. e. the human. But there was no humanity in heaven:

2 and in that supramundane existence no disease of evil had been naturalized; but He Who
poured Himself into man adopted this commixture with a view to the benefit of it. Where,
then, evil was not and the human life was not lived, how is it that any one seeks there
the scene of this wrapping up of God in man, or, rather, not man, but some phantom
resemblance of man? In what could the recovery of our nature have consisted if, while this
earthly creature was diseased and needed this recovery, something else, amongst the
heavenly beings, had experienced the Divine sojourning? It is impossible for the sick man
to be healed, unless his suffering member receives the healing. If, therefore, while this
sick part was on earth, omnipotence had touched it not, but had regarded only its own
dignity, this its pre-occupation with matters with which we had nothing in common would
have been of no benefit to man. And with regard to the undignified in the case of Deity we
can make no distinction; that is, if it is allowable to conceive at all of anything
beneath the dignity of Deity beside evil. On the contrary, for one who forms such a
narrow-minded view of the greatness of the Deity as to make it consist in inability to
admit of fellowship with the peculiarities of our nature, the degradation is in no point
lessened by the Deity being conformed to the fashion of a heavenly rather than of an
earthly body.

3 For every created being is distant, by an equal degree of inferiority, from that which
is the Highest, Who is unapproachable by reason of the sublimity of His Being: the whole
universe is in value the same distance beneath Him. For that which is absolutely
inaccessible does not allow access to some one thing while it is unapproachable by
another, but it transcends all existences by an equal sublimity. Neither, therefore, is
the earth further removed from this dignity, nor the heavens closer to it, nor do the
things which have their existence within each of these elemental worlds differ at all from
each other in this respect, that some are allowed to be in contact with the inaccessible
Being, while others are forbidden the approach. Otherwise we must suppose that the power
which governs the Universe does not equally pervade the whole, but in some parts is in
excess, in others is deficient. Consequently, by this difference of less or more in
quantity or quality, the Deity will appear in the light of something composite and out of
agreement with itself; if, that is, we could suppose it, as viewed in its essence, to be
far away from us, whilst it is a close neighbour to some other creature, and from that
proximity easily apprehended. But on this subject of that exalted dignity true reason
looks neither downward nor upward in the way of comparison; for all things sink to a level
beneath the power which presides over the Universe:

4 so that if it shall be thought by them that any earthly nature is unworthy of this
intimate connection with the Deity, neither can any other be found which has such
worthiness. But if all things equally fall short of this dignity, one thing there is that
is not beneath the dignity of God, and that is, to do good to him that needed it. If we
confess, then, that where the disease was, there the healing power attended, what is there
in this belief which is foreign to the proper conception of the Deity?

CHAPTER XXVIII.

1 But they deride our state of nature, and din into our ears the manner of our being born,
supposing in this way to make the mystery ridiculous, as if it were unbecoming in God by
such an entrance into the world as this to connect Himself with the fellowship of the
human life. But we touched upon this point before, when we said that the only thing which
is essentially degraded is moral evil or whatever has an affinity with such evil; whereas
the orderly process of Nature, arranged as it has been by the Divine will and law, is
beyond the reach of any misrepresentation on the score of wickedness: otherwise this
accusation would reach up to the Author of Nature, if anything connected with Nature were
to be found fault with as degraded and unseemly. If, then, the Deity is separate only from
evil, and if there is no nature in evil, and if the mystery declares that God was born in
man but not in evil; and if, for man, there is but one way of entrance upon life, namely
that by which the embryo passes on to the stage of life, what other mode of entrance upon
life would they prescribe for God?

2 these people, I mean, who, while they judge it right and proper that the nature which
evil had weakened should be visited by the Divine power, yet take offence at this special
method of the visitation, not remembering that the whole organization of the body is of
equal value throughout, and that nothing in it, of all the elements that contribute to the
continuance of the animal life, is liable to the charge of being worthless or wicked. For
the whole arrangement of the bodily organs and limbs has been constructed with one end in
view, and that is, the continuance in life of humanity; and while the other organs of the
body conserve the present actual vitality of men, each being apportioned to a different
operation, and by their means the faculties of sense and action are exercised, the
generative organs on the contrary involve a forecast of the future, introducing as they
do, by themselves, their counteracting transmission for our race. Looking, therefore, to
their utility, to which of those parts which are deemed more honourable are these inferior
? Nay, than which must they not in all reason be deemed more worthy of honour? For not by
the eye, or ear, or tongue, or any other sense, is the continuation of our race carried
on. These, as has been remarked, pertain to the enjoyment of the present.

3 But by those other organs the immortality of humanity is secured, so that death, though
ever operating against us, thus in a certain measure becomes powerless and ineffectual,
since Nature, to baffle him, is ever as it were throwing herself into the breach through
those who come successively into being. What unseemliness, then, is contained in our
revelation of God mingled with the life of humanity through those very means by which
Nature carries on the combat against death?

CHAPTER XXIX.

1 But they change their ground and endeavour to vilify our faith in another way. They ask,
if what took place was not to the dishonour of God or unworthy of Him, why did He delay
the benefit so long? Why, since evil was in the beginning, did He not cut off its further
progress?-To this we have a concise answer; viz. that this delay in conferring the benefit
was owing to wisdom and a provident regard for that which would be a gain for our nature.
In diseases, for instance, of the body, when some corrupt humour spreads unseen beneath
the pores, before all the unhealthy secretion has been detected on the skin, they who
treat diseases by the rules of art do not use such medicines as would harden the flesh,
but they wait till all that lurks within comes out upon the surface, and then, with the
disease unmasked, apply their remedies. When once, then, the disease of evil had fixed
itself in the nature of mankind, He, the universal Healer, waited for the time when no
form of wickedness was left still hidden in that nature. For this reason it was that He
did not produce his healing for man's disease immediately on Cain's hatred and murder of
his brother;

2 for the wickedness of those who were destroyed in the days of Noah had not yet burst
into a flame, nor had that terrible disease of Sodomite lawlessness been displayed, nor
the Egyptians' war against God , nor the pride of Assyria, nor the Jews' bloody
persecution of God's saints, nor Herod's cruel murder of the children, nor whatever else
is recorded, or if unrecorded was done in the generations that followed, the root of evil
budding forth in divers manners in the wilful purposes of man. When, then, wickedness had
reached its utmost height, and there was no form of wickedness which men had not dared to
do, to the end that the healing remedy might pervade the whole of the diseased system, He,
accordingly, ministers to the disease; not at its beginning, but when it had been
completely developed.

CHAPTER XXX.

1 If, however, any one thinks to refute our argument on this ground, that even after the
application of the remedial process the life of man is still in discord through its
errors, let us lead him to the truth by an example taken from familiar things. Take, for
instance, the case of a serpent; if it receives a deadly blow on the head, the hinder part
of the coil is not at once deadened along with it; but, while the head is dead, the tail
part is still animated with its own particular spirit, and is not deprived of its vital
motion: in like manner we may see Sin struck its deadly blow and yet in its remainders
still vexing the life of man. But then they give up finding fault with the account of
Revelation on these points, and make another charge against it; viz. that the Faith does
not reach all mankind. "But why is it," they ask, "that all men do not obtain the grace,
but that, while some adhere to the Word, the portion who remain unbelieving is no small
one; either because God was unwilling to bestow his benefit ungrudgingly upon all, or
because He was altogether unable to do so? Now neither of these alternatives can defy
criticism. For it is unworthy of God, either that He should not will what is good, or that
He should be unable to do it. "If, therefore, the Faith is a good thing, why," they ask,
"does not its grace come upon all men?

2 Now , if in our representation of the Gospel mystery we had so stated the matter as that
it was the Divine will that the Faith should be so granted away amongst mankind that some
men should be called, while the rest had no share in the calling, occasion would be given
for bringing such a charge against this Revelation. But if the call came with equal
meaning to all and makes no distinction as to worth, age, or different national
characteristics (for it was for this reason that at the very first beginning of the
proclamation of the Gospel they who ministered the Word were, by Divine inspiration, all
at once enabled to speak in the language of any nation, viz. in order that no one might be
destitute of a share in the blessings of evangelical instruction), with what
reasonableness can they still charge it upon God that the Word has not influenced all
mankind? For He Who holds the sovereignty of the universe, out of the excess of this
regard for man, permitted something to be under our own control, of which each of us alone
is master. Now this is the will, a thing that cannot be enslaved, and of self-determining
power, since it is seated in the liberty of thought and mind. Therefore such a charge
might more justly be transferred to those who have not attached themselves to the Faith,
instead of resting on Him Who has called them to believe.

3 For even when Peter at the beginning preached the Gospel in a crowded assembly of the
Jews, and three thousand at once received the Faith, though those who disbelieved were
more in number than the believers, they did not attach blame to the Apostle on the ground
of their disbelief. It was, indeed, not in reason, when the grace of the Gospel had been
publicly set forth, for one who had absented himself from it of his own accord to lay the
blame of his exclusion on another rather than himself.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Yet, even in their reply to this, or the like, they are not at a loss for a contentious
rejoinder. For they assert that God, if He had been so pleased, might have forcibly drawn
those, who were not inclined to yield, to accept the Gospel message. But where then would
have been their free will? Where their virtuous merit? Where their meed of praise from
their moral directors? It belongs only to inanimate or irrational creatures to be brought
round by the will of another to his purpose; whereas the reasoning and intelligent nature,
if it lays aside its freedom of action, loses at the same time the gracious gift of
intellect. For upon what is he to employ any faculty of thought, if his power of choosing
anything according to his inclination lies in the will of another? But then, if the will
remains without the capacity of action, virtue necessarily disappears, since it is
shackled by the enforced quiescence of the will. Then, if virtue does not exist, life
loses its value, reason moves in accordance with fatalism, the praise of moral guardians
is gone, sin may be indulged in without risk, and the difference between the courses of
life is obliterated. For who, henceforth, could with any reason condemn profligacy, or
praise sobriety? Since every one would have this ready answer, that nothing of all the
things we are inclined to is in our own power, but that by some superior and ruling
influence the wills of men are brought round to the purpose of one who has the mastery
over them. The conclusion, then is that it is not the goodness of God that is chargeable
with the fact that the Faith is not engendered in all men, but rather the disposition of
those by whom the preaching of the Word is received.

CHAPTER XXXII.

1 What other objection is alleged by our adversaries? This; that (to take the preferable
view ) it was altogether needless that that transcendent Being should submit to the
experience of death, but He might independently of this, through the superabundance of His
power, have wrought with ease His purpose; still, if for some ineffable reason or other it
was absolutely necessary that so it should be, at least He ought not to have been
subjected to the contumely of such an ignominious kind of death. What death, they ask,
could be more ignominious than that by crucifixion? What answer can we make to this? Why,
that the death is rendered necessary by the birth, and that He Who had determined once for
all to share the nature of man must pass through all the peculiar conditions of that
nature. Seeing, then, that the life of man is determined between two boundaries, had He,
after having passed the one, not touched the other that follows, His proposed design would
have remained only half fulfilled, from His not having touched that second condition of
our nature. Perhaps, however, one who exactly understands the mystery would be justified
rather in saying that, instead of the death occurring in consequence of the birth, the
birth on the contrary was accepted by Him for the sake of the death; for He Who lives for
ever did not sink down into the conditions of a bodily birth from any need to live, but to
call us back from death to life.

2 Since, then, there was needed a lifting up from death for the whole of our nature, He
stretches forth a hand as it were to prostrate man, and stooping down to our dead corpse
He came so far within the grasp of death as to touch a state of deadness, and then in His
own body to bestow on our nature the principle of the resurrection, raising as He did by
His power along with Himself the whole man. For since from no other source than from the
concrete lump of our nature had come that flesh, which was the receptacle of the Godhead
and in the resurrection was raised up together with that Godhead, therefore just in the
same way as, in the instance of this body of ours, the operation of one of the organs of
sense is felt at once by the whole system, as one with that member, so also the
resurrection principle of this Member, as though the whole of mankind was a single living
being, passes through the entire race, being imparted from the Member to the whole by
virtue of the continuity and oneness of the nature. What, then, is there beyond the bounds
of probability in what this Revelation teaches us; viz. that He Who stands upright stoops
to one who has fallen, in order to lift him up from his prostrate condition? And as to the
Cross, whether it possesses some other and deeper meaning, those who are skilled in
mysticism may explain;

3 but, however that may be, the traditional teaching which has reached us is as follows.
Since all things in the Gospel, both deeds and words, have a sublime and heavenly meaning,
and there is nothing in it which is not such, that is, which does not exhibit a complete
mingling of the human with the Divine, where the utterance exerted and the deeds enacted
are human but the secret sense represents the Divine, it would follow that in this
particular as well as in the rest we must not regard only the one element and overlook the
other; but in the fact of this death we must contemplate the human feature, while in the
manner of it we must be anxious to find the Divine . For since it is the property of the
Godhead to pervade all things, and to extend itself through the length and breadth of the
substance of existence in every part-for nothing would continue to be if it remained not
within the existent; and that which is this existent properly and primarily is the Divine
Being, Whose existence in the world the continuance of all things that are forces us to
believe in,-this is the very thing we learn from the figure of the Cross; it is divided
into four parts, so that there are the projections, four in number, from the central point
where the whole converges upon itself;

4 because He Who at the hour of His pre-arranged death was stretched upon it is He Who
binds together all things into Himself, and by Himself brings to one harmonious agreement
the diverse natures of actual existences. For in these existences there is the idea either
of something above, or of something below, or else the thought passes to the confines
sideways. If, therefore, you take into your consideration the system of things above the
heavens or of things below the earth, or of things at the boundaries of the universe on
either side, everywhere the presence of Deity anticipates your thought as the sole
observable power that in every part of existing things holds in a state of being all those
things. Now whether we ought to call this Existence Deity, or Mind, or Power, or Wisdom,
or any other lofty term which might be better able to express Him Who is above all, our
argument has no quarrel with the appellation or name or form of phrase used. Since, then,
all creation looks to Him, and is about and around Him, and through Him is coherent with
itself, things above being through Him conjoined to things below and things lateral to
themselves, it was right that not by hearing only we should be conducted to the full
understanding of the Deity, but that sight also should be our teacher in these sublime
subjects for thought;

5 and it is from sight that the mighty Paul starts when he initiates the people of Ephesus
in the mysteries, and imbues them through his instructions with the power of knowing what
is that "depth and height and breadth and length. In fact he designates each projection of
the Cross by its proper appellation. The upper part he calls height, the lower depth, and
the side extensions breadth and length; and in another passage he makes his thought still
clearer to the Philippians, to whom be says, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. In that passage
he includes in one appellation the centre and projecting arms , calling "things in earth"
all that is in the middle between things in heaven and things under the earth. Such is the
lesson we learn in regard to the mystery of the Cross. And the subsequent events which the
narrative contains follow so appropriately that, as even unbelievers must admit, there is
nothing in them adverse to the proper conceptions of the Deity.

6 That He did not abide in death, that the wounds which His body had received from the
iron of the nails and spear offered no impediment to His rising again, that after His
resurrection He showed Himself as He pleased to His disciples, that when He wished to be
present with them He was in their midst without being seen, as needing no entrance through
open doors, and that He strengthened the disciples by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost,
and that He promised to be amongst them, and that no partition wall should intervene
between them and Him, and that to the sight He ascended to Heaven while to the mind He was
everywhere; all these, and whatever like facts the history of Him comprises, need no
assistance from arguments to show that they are signs of deity and of a sublime and
supereminent power. With regard to them therefore I do not deem it necessary to go into
any detail, inasmuch as their description of itself shows the supernatural character. But
since the dispensation of the washing (whether we choose to call it baptism, or
illumination, or regeneration; for we make the name no subject of controversy) is a part
of our revealed doctrines, it may be as well to enter on a short discussion of this as
well.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

1 For when they have heard from us something to this effect-that when the mortal passes
into life it follows necessarily that, as that first birth leads only to the existence of
mortality, another birth should be discovered, a birth which neither begins nor ends with
corruption, but one which conducts the person begotten to an immortal existence, in order
that, as what is begotten of a mortal birth has necessarily a mortal subsistence, so from
a birth which admits not corruption that which is born may be superior to the corruption
of death; when, I say, they have heard this and the like from us, and are besides
instructed as to the process,-namely that it is prayer and the invocation of heavenly
grace, and water, and faith, by which the mystery of regeneration is accomplished,-they
still remain incredulous and have an eye only for the outward and visible, as if that
which is operated corporeally concurred not with the fulfilment of God's promise. How,
they ask, can prayer and the invocation of Divine power over the water be the foundation
of life in those who have been thus initiated? In reply to them, unless they be of a very
obstinate disposition, one single consideration suffices to bring them to an acquiescence
in our doctrine. For let us in our turn ask them about that process of the carnal
generation which every one can notice. How does that something which is cast for the
beginnings of the formation of a living being become a Man?

2 In that case, most certainly, there is no method whatever that can discover for us, by
any possible reasoning, even the probable truth. For what correlation is there between the
definition of man and the quality observable in that something? Man, when once he is put
together, is a reasoning and intellectual being, capable of thought and knowledge; but
that something is to be observed only in its quality of humidity, and the mind grasps
nothing in it beyond that which is seen by the sense of sight. The reply, therefore, which
we might expect to receive from those whom we questioned as to how it is credible that a
man is compounded from that humid element, is the very reply which we make when questioned
about the regeneration that takes place through the water. Now in that other case any one
so questioned has this reply ready at hand, that that element becomes a man by a Divine
power, wanting which, the element is motionless and inoperative. If, therefore, in that
instance the subordinate matter does not make the man, but the Divine power changes that
visible thing into a man's nature, it would be utterly unfair for them, when in the one
case they testify to such power in God, in this other department to suppose that the Deity
is too weak to accomplish His will. What is there common, they ask, between water and
life? What is there common, we ask them in return, between humidity and God's image?

3 In that case there is no paradox if, God so willing, what is humid changes into the most
rare creature . Equally, then, in this case we assert that there is nothing strange when
the presence of a Divine influence transforms what is born with a corruptible nature into
a state of incorruption.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

1 But they ask for proof of this presence of the Deity when invoked for the sanctification
of the baptismal process . Let the person who requires this evidence recall to mind the
result of our inquiries further back. The reasoning by which we established that the power
which was manifested to us through the flesh was really a Divine power, is the defence of
that which we now say. For when it has been shown that He Who was manifested in the flesh,
and then exhibited His nature by the miracles which He wrought, was God, it is also at the
same time shown that He is present in that process, as often as He is invoked. For, as of
everything that exists there is some peculiarity which indicates its nature, so truth is
the distinctive peculiarity of the Divine nature. Well, then, He has promised that He will
always be present with those that call upon Him, that He is in the midst of those that
believe, that He remains among them collectively and has special intercourse with each
one. We can no longer, then, need any other proof of the presence of the Deity in the
things that are done in Baptism, believing as we do that He is God by reason of the
miracles which He wrought, and knowing as we do that it is the peculiarity of the Godhead
to be free from any touch of falsehood, and confidently holding as we do that the thing
promised was involved in the truthfulness of its announcement.

2 The invocation by prayer, then, which precedes this Divine Dispensation constitutes an
abundance of proof that what is effected is done by God. For if in the case of that other
kind of man-formation the impulses of the parents, even though they do not invoke the
Deity, yet by the power of God, as we have before said, mould the embryo, and if this
power is withheld their eagerness is ineffectual and useless, how much more will the
object be accomplished in that spiritual mode of generation, where both God has promised
that He will be present in the process and, as we have believed, has put power from
Himself into the work, and, besides, our own will is bent upon that object; supposing,
that is, that the aid which comes through prayer has at the same time been duly called in?
For as they who pray God that the sun may shine on them in no way blunt the promptitude of
that which is actually going to take place, yet no one will say that the zeal of those who
thus pray is useless on the ground that they pray God for what must happen, in the same
way they who, resting on the truthfulness of His promise, are firmly persuaded that His
grace is surely present in those who are regenerate in this mystical Dispensation, either
themselves make an actual addition to that grace, or at all events do not cause the
existing grace to miscarry.

3 For that the grace is there is a matter of faith, on account of Him Who has promised to
give it being Divine; while the testimony as to His Divinity comes through the Miracles .
Thus, then, that the Deity is present in all the baptismal process admits of no question.

CHAPTER XXXV

1 But the descent into the water, and the trine immersion of the person in it, involves
another mystery. For since the method of our salvation was made effectual not so much by
His precepts in the way of teaching as by the deeds of Him Who has realized an actual
fellowship with man, and has effected life as a living fact, so that by means of the flesh
which He has assumed, and at the same time deified , everything kindred and related may be
saved along with it, it was necessary that some means should be devised by which there
might be, in the baptismal process, a kind of affinity and likeness between him who
follows and Him Who leads the way. Needful, therefore, is it to see what features are to
be observed in the Author of our life, in order that the imitation on the part of those
that follow may be regulated, as the Apostle says, after the pattern of the Captain of our
salvation .

2 For, as it is they who are actually drilled into measured and orderly movements in arms
by skilled drill-masters, who are advanced to dexterity in handling their weapons by what
they see with their eyes, whereas he who does not practise what is shown him remains
devoid of such dexterity, in the same way it is imperative on all those who have an
equally earnest desire for the Good as He has, to be followers by the path of an exact
imitation of Him Who leads the way to salvation, and to carry into action what He has
shown them. It is, in fact, impossible for persons to reach the same goal unless they
travel by the same ways. For as persons who are at a loss how to thread the turns of
mazes, when they happen to fall in with some one who has experience of them, get to the
end of those various misleading turnings in the chambers by following him behind, which
they could not do, did they not follow him their leader step by step, so too, I pray you
mark, the labyrinth of this our life cannot be threaded by the faculties of human nature
unless a man pursues that same path as He did Who, though once in it, yet got beyond the
difficulties which hemmed Him in. I apply this figure of a labyrinth to that prison of
death, which is without an egress and environs the wretched race of mankind.

3 What, then, have we beheld in the case of the Captain of our salvation? A three days'
state of death and then life again. Now some sort of resemblance in us to such things has
to be planned. What, then, is the plan by which in us too a resemblance to that which took
place in Him is completed? Everything that is affected by death has its proper and natural
place, and that is the earth in which it is laid and hidden. Now earth and water have much
mutual affinity. Alone of the elements they have weight and gravitate downwards; they
mutually abide in each other; they are mutually confined. Seeing, then, the death of the
Author of our life subjected Him to burial in earth and was in accord with our common
nature, the imitation which we enact of that death is expressed in the neighbouring
element. And as He, that Man from above , having taken deadness on Himself, after His
being deposited in the earth, returned back to life the third day, so every one who is
knitted to Him by virtue of his bodily form, looking forward to the same successful issue,
I mean this arriving at life by having, instead of earth, water poured on him , and so
submitting to that element, has represented for him in the three movements the three-days-
delayed grace of the resurrection.

4 Something like this has been said in what has gone before, namely, that by the Divine
providence death has been introduced as a dispensation into the nature of man, so that,
sin having flowed away at the dissolution of the union of soul and body, man, through the
resurrection, might be refashioned, sound, passionless, stainless, and removed from any
touch of evil. In the case however of the Author of our Salvation this dispensation of
death reached its fulfilment, having entirely accomplished its special purpose. For in His
death, not only were things that once were one put asunder, but also things that had been
disunited were again brought together; so that in this dissolution of things that had
naturally grown together, I mean, the soul and body, our nature might be purified, and
this return to union of these severed elements might secure freedom from the contamination
of any foreign admixture. But as regards those who follow this Leader, their nature does
not admit of an exact and entire imitation, but it receives now as much as it is capable
of receiving, while it reserves the remainder for the time that comes after. In what,
then, does this imitation consist? It consists in the effecting the suppression of that
admixture of sin, in the figure of mortification that is given by the water, not certainly
a complete effacement, but a kind of break in the continuity of the evil, two things
concurring to this removal of sin-the penitence of the transgressor and his imitation of
the death.

5 By these two things the man is in a measure freed from his congenital tendency to evil;
by his penitence he advances to a hatred of and averseness from sin, and by his death he
works out the suppression of the evil. But had it been possible for him in his imitation
to undergo a complete dying, the result would be not imitation but identity; and the evil
of our nature would so entirely vanish that, as the Apostle says, "he would die unto sin
once for all . But since, as has been said, we only so far imitate the transcendent Power
as the poverty of our nature is capable of, by having the water thrice poured on us and
ascending again up from the water, we enact that saving burial and resurrection which took
place on the third day, with this thought in our mind, that as we have power over the
water both to be in it and arise out of it, so He too, Who has the universe at His
sovereign disposal, immersed Himself in death, as we in the water, to return to His own
blessedness. If, therefore, one looks to that which is in reason, and judges of the
results according to the power inherent in either party, one will discover no
disproportion in these results, each in proportion to the measure of his natural power
working out the effects that are within his reach.

6 For, as it is in the power of man, if he is so disposed, to touch the water and yet be
safe, with infinitely greater ease may death be handled by the Divine Power so as to be in
it and yet not to be changed by it injuriously. Observe, then, that it is necessary for us
to rehearse beforehand in the water the grace of the resurrection, to the intent that we
may understand that, as far as facility goes, it is the same thing for us to be baptized
with water and to rise again from death. But as in matters that concern our life here,
there are some which take precedence of others, as being those without which the result
could not be achieved, although if the beginning be compared with the end, the beginning
so contrasted will seem of no account (for what equality, for instance, is there between
the man and that which is laid as a foundation for the constitution of his animal being?
And yet if that had never been, neither would this be which we see), in like manner that
which happens in the great resurrection, essentially vaster though it be, has its
beginnings and its causes here; it is not, in fact, possible that that should take place,
unless this had gone before; I mean, that without the laver of regeneration it is
impossible for the man to be in the resurrection; but in saying this I do not regard the
mere remoulding and refashioning of our composite body;

7 for towards this it is absolutely necessary that human nature should advance, being
constrained thereto by its own laws according to the dispensation of Him Who has so
ordained, whether it have received the grace of the laver, or whether it remains without
that initiation: but I am thinking of the restoration to a blessed and divine condition,
separated from all shame and sorrow. For not everything that is granted in the
resurrection a return to existence will return to the same kind of life. There is a wide
interval between those who have been purified, and those who still need purification. For
those in whose life-time here the purification by the laver has preceded, there is a
restoration to a kindred state. Now, to the pure, freedom from passion is that kindred
state, and that in this freedom from passion blessedness consists, admits of no dispute.
But as for those whose weaknesses have become inveterate , and to whom no purgation of
their defilement has been applied, no mystic water, no invocation of the Divine power, no
amendment by repentance, it is absolutely necessary that they should come to be in
something proper to their case,-just as the furnace is the proper thing for gold alloyed
with dross,-in order that, the vice which has been mixed up in them being melted away
after long succeeding ages, their nature may be restored pure again to God.

8 Since, then, there is a cleansing virtue in fire and water, they who by the mystic water
have washed away the defilement of their sin have no further need of the other form of
purification, while they who have not been admitted to that form of purgation must needs
be purified by fire.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

For common sense as well as the teaching of Scripture shows that it is impossible for one
who has not thoroughly cleansed himself from all the stains arising from evil to be
admitted amongst the heavenly company. This is a thing which, though little in itself, is
the beginning and foundation of great blessings. I call it little on account of the
facility of the means of amendment. For what difficulty is there in this matter? viz. to
believe that God is everywhere, and that being in all things He is also present with those
who call upon Him for His life-supporting power, and that, thus present, He does that
which properly belongs to Him to do. Now, the work properly belonging to the Divine energy
is the salvation of those who need it; and this salvation proves effectual by means of the
cleansing in the water; and he that has been so cleansed will participate in Purity; and
true Purity is Deity. You see, then, how small a thing it is in its beginning, and how
easily effected; I mean, faith and water; the first residing within the will, the latter
being the nursery companion of the life of man. But as to the blessing which springs from
these two things, oh! how great and how wonderful it is, that it should imply relationship
with Deity itself!

CHAPTER XXXVII.

1 But since the human being is a twofold creature, compounded of soul and body, it is
necessary that the saved should lay hold of the Author of the new life through both their
component parts. Accordingly, the soul being fused into Him through faith derives from
that the means and occasion of salvation; for the act of union with the life implies a
fellowship with the life. But the body comes into fellowship and blending with the Author
of our salvation in another way. For as they who owing to some act of treachery have taken
poison, allay its deadly influence by means of some other drug (for it is necessary that
the antidote should enter the human vitals in the same way as the deadly poison, in order
to secure, through them, that the effect of the remedy may be distributed through the
entire system), in like manner we, who have tasted the solvent of our nature , necessarily
need something that may combine what has been so dissolved, so that such an antidote
entering within us may, by its own counter-influence, undo the mischief introduced into
the body by the poison. What, then, is this remedy to be? Nothing else than that very Body
which has been shown to be superior to death, and has been the First-fruits of our life.

2 For, in the manner that, as the Apostle says , a little leaven assimilates to itself the
whole lump, so in like manner that body to which immortality has been given it by God,
when it is in ours, translates and transmutes the whole into itself. For as by the
admixture of a poisonous liquid with a wholesome one the whole drought is deprived of its
deadly effect, so too the immortal Body, by being within that which receives it, changes
the whole to its own nature. Yet in no other way can anything enter within the body but by
being transfused through the vitals by eating and drinking. It is, therefore, incumbent on
the body to admit this life-producing power in the one way that its constitution makes
possible. And since that Body only which was the receptacle of the Deity received this
grace of immortality, and since it has been shown that in no other way was it possible for
our body to become immortal, but by participating in incorruption through its fellowship
with that immortal Body, it will be necessary to consider how it was possible that that
one Body, being for ever portioned to so many myriads of the faithful throughout the whole
world, enters through that portion, whole into each individual, and yet remains whole in
itself.

3 In order, therefore, that our faith, with eyes fixed on logical probability, may harbour
no doubt on the subject before us, it is fitting to make a slight digression in our
argument, to consider the physiology of the body. Who is there that does not know that our
bodily frame, taken by itself, possesses no life in its own proper subsistence, but that
it is by the influx of a force or power from without that it holds itself together and
continues in existence, and by a ceaseless motion that it draws to itself what it wants,
and repels what is superfluous? When a leathern bottle is full of some liquid, and then
the contents leak out at the bottom, it would not retain the contour of its full bulk
unless there entered? at the top something else to fill up the vacuum; and thus a person,
seeing the circumference of this bottle swollen to its full size, would know that this
circumference did not really belong to the object which he sees, but that what was being
poured in, by being in it, gave shape and roundness to the bulk. In the same way the mere
framework of our body possesses nothing belonging to itself that is cognizable by us, to
hold it together, but remains in existence owing to a force that is introduced into it.
Now this power or force both is, and is called, nourishment.

4 But it is not the same in all bodies that require aliment, but to each of them has been
assigned a food adapted to its condition by Him who governs Nature. Some animals feed on
roots which they dig up. Of others grass is the food, of others different kinds of flesh,
but for man above all things bread; and, in order to continue and preserve the moisture of
his body, drink, not simply water, but water frequently sweetened with wine, to join
forces with our internal heat. He, therefore, who thinks of these things, thinks by
implication of the particular bulk of our body. For those things by being within me became
my blood and flesh, the corresponding nutriment by its power of adaptation being changed
into the form of my body. With these distinctions we must return to the consideration of
the question before us. The question was, how can that one Body of Christ vivify the whole
of mankind, all, that is, in whomsoever there is Faith, and yet, though divided amongst
all, be itself not diminished? Perhaps, then, we are now not far from the probable
explanation.

5 If the subsistence of every body depends on nourishment, and this is eating and
drinking, and in the case of our eating there is bread and in the case of our drinking
water sweetened with wine, and if, as was explained at the beginning, the Word of God, Who
is both God and the Word, coalesced with man's nature, and when He came in a body such as
ours did not innovate on man's physical constitution so as to make it other than it was,
but secured continuance for His own body by the customary and proper means, and controlled
its subsistence by meat and drink, the former of which was bread,-just, then, as in the
case of ourselves, as has been repeatedly said already, if a person sees bread he also, in
a kind of way, looks on a human body, for by the bread being within it the bread becomes
it, so also, in that other case, the body into which God entered, by partaking of the
nourishment of bread, was, in a certain measure, the same with it; that nourishment, as we
have said, changing itself into the nature of the body. For that which is peculiar to all
flesh is acknowledged also in the case of that flesh, namely, that that Body too was
maintained by bread; which Body also by the indwelling of God the Word was transmuted to
the dignity of Godhead.

6 Rightly, then, do we believe that now also the bread which is consecrated by the Word of
God is changed into the Body of God the Word. For that Body was once, by implication,
bread, but has been consecrated by the inhabitation of the Word that tabernacled in the
flesh. Therefore, from the same cause as that by which the bread that was transformed in
that Body was changed to a Divine potency, a similar result takes place now. For as in
that case, too, the grace of the Word used to make holy the Body, the substance of which
came of the bread, and in a manner was itself bread, so also in this case the bread, as
says the Apostle , "is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer"; not that it advances by
the process of eating to the stage of passing into the body of the Word, but it is at once
changed into the body by means of the Word, as the Word itself said, "This is My Body.
Seeing, too, that all flesh is nourished by what is moist (for without this combination
our earthly part would not continue to live), just as we support by food which is firm and
solid the solid part of our body, in like manner we supplement the moist part from the
kindred element; and this, when within us, by its faculty of being transmitted, is changed
to blood, and especially if through the wine it receives the faculty of being transmuted
into heat.

7 Since, then, that God-containing flesh partook for its substance and support of this
particular nourishment also, and since the God who was manifested infused Himself into
perishable humanity for this purpose, viz. that by this communion with Deity mankind might
at the same time be deified, for this end it is that, by dispensation of His grace, He
disseminates Himself in every believer through that flesh, whose substance comes from
bread and wine, blending Himself with the bodies of believers, to secure that, by this
union with the immortal, man, too, may be a sharer in incorruption. He gives these gifts
by virtue of the benediction through which He transelements the natural quality of these
visible things to that immortal thing.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

There is now, I think, wanting in these remarks no answer to inquiries concerning the
Gospel mystery, except that on Faith ; which we give briefly in the present treatise. For
those who require a more elaborate account we have already published it in other works of
ours, in which we have explained the subject with all the earnestness and accuracy in our
power. In those treatises we have both fought controversially with our opponents, and also
have taken private consultation with ourselves as to the questions which have been brought
against us. But in the present discussion we have thought it as well only to say just so
much on the subject of faith as is involved in the language of the Gospel, namely, that
one who is begotten by the spiritual regeneration may know who it is that begets him, and
what sort of creature he becomes. For it is only this form of generation which has in it
the power to become what it chooses to be.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

1 For, while all things else that are born are subject to the impulse of those that beget
them, the spiritual birth is dependent on the power of him who is being born. Seeing,
then, that herelies the hazard, namely, that he should not miss what is for his advantage,
when to every one a free choice is thus open, it were well, I think, for him who is moved
towards the begetting of himself, to determine by previous reasoning what kind of father
is for his advantage, and of what element it is better for him that his nature should
consist. For, as we have said, it is in the power of such a child as this to choose its
parents. Since, then, there is a twofold division of existences, into created and
uncreated, and since the uncreated world possesses within itself immutability and
immobility, while the created is liable to change and alteration, of which will he, who
with calculation and deliberation is to choose what is for his benefit, prefer to be the
offspring; of that which is always found in a state of change, or of that which possesses
a nature that is changeless, steadfast, and ever consistent and unvarying in goodness?

2 Now there have been delivered to us in the Gospel three Persons and names through whom
the generation or birth of believers takes place, and he who is begotten by this Trinity
is equally begotten of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost-for thus does the
Gospel speak of the Spirit, that "that which is born of Spirit is spirit ," and it is "in
Christ " that Paul begets, and the Father is the "Father of all; here, then, I beg, let
the mind of the hearer be sober in its choice, lest it make itself the offspring of some
inconstant nature, when it has it in its power to make the steadfast and unalterable
nature the founder of its life. For according to the disposition of heart in one who comes
to the Dispensation will that which is begotten in him exhibit its power; so that he who
confesses that the Holy Trinity is uncreate enters on the steadfast unalterable life;
while another, who through a mistaken conception sees only a created nature in the Trinity
and then is baptized in that, has again been born into the shifting and alterable life.
For that which is born is of necessity of one kindred with that which begets. Which, then,
offers the greater advantage; to enter on the unchangeable life, or to be again tossed
about by thewaves of this lifetime of uncertainty and change?

3 Well, since it is evident to any one of the least understanding that what is stable is
far more valuable than what is unstable, what is perfect than what is deficient, what
needs not than what needs, and what has no further to advance, but ever abides in the
perfection of all that is good, than what climbs by progressive toil, it is incumbent upon
every one, at least upon every one who is possessed of sense, to make an absolute choice
of one or other of these two conditions, either to believe that the Holy Trinity belongs
to the uncreated world, and so through the spiritual birth to make It the foundation of
his own life, or, if he thinks that the Son or the Holy Ghost is external to the being of
the first, the true, the good, God, I mean, of the Father, not to include these Persons in
the belief which he takes upon him at the moment of his new birth, lest he unconsciously
make himself over to that imperfect nature which itself needs some one to make it good,
and in a manner bring himself back again to something of the same nature as his own by
thus removing his faith from that higher world. For whoever has bound himself to any
created thing forgets that, as from the Deity, he has no longer hope of salvation. For all
creation, owing to the whole equally proceeding from non-existence into being, has an
intimate connection with itself;

4 and as in the bodily organization all the limbs have a natural and mutual coherence,
though some have a downward, some an upward direction, so the world of created things is,
viewed as the creation, in oneness with itself, and the differences in us, as regards
abundance or deficiency, in no wise disjoint it from this natural coherence with itself.
For in things which equally imply the idea of a previous non-existence, though there be a
difference between them in other respects, as regards this point we discover no variation
of nature. If, then, man, who is himself a created being, thinks that the Spirit and the
Only-begotten God are likewise created, the hope which he entertains of a change to a
better state will be a vain one; for he only returns to himself . What happens then is on
a par with the surmises of Nicodemus; he, when instructed by our Lord as to the necessity
of being born from above, because he could not yet comprehend the meaning of the mystery,
had his thoughts drawn back to his mother's womb . So that if a man does not conduct
himself towards the uncreated nature, but to that which is kindred to, and equally in
bondage with, himself, he is of the birth which is from below, and not of that which is
from above. But the Gospel tells us that the birth of the saved is from above.

CHAPTER XL.

1 But, as far as what has been already said, the instruction of this Catechism does not
seem to me to be yet complete. For we ought, in my opinion, to take into consideration the
sequel of this matter; which many of those who come to the grace of baptism overlook,
being led astray, and self-deceived, and indeed only seemingly, and not really,
regenerate. For that change in our life which takes place through regeneration will not be
change, if we continue in the state in which we were. I do not see how it is possible to
deem one who is still in the same condition, and in whom there has been no change in the
distinguishing features of his nature, to be any other than he was, it being palpable to
every one that it is for a renovation and change of our nature that the saving birth is
received. And yet human nature does not of itself admit of any change in baptism; neither
the reason, nor the understanding, nor the scientific faculty, nor any other peculiar
characteristic of man is a subject for change. Indeed the change would be for the worse if
any one of these properties of our nature were exchanged away for something else. If,
then, the birth from above is a definite refashioning of the man, and yet these properties
do not admit of change, it is a subject for inquiry what that is in him, by the changing
of which the grace of regeneration is perfected.

2 It is evident that when those evil features which mark our nature have been obliterated
a change to a better state takes place. If, then, by being "washed," as says the Prophet ,
in that mystic bath we become "clean" in our wills and "put away the evil" of our souls,
we thus become better men, and are changed to a better state. But if, when the bath has
been applied to the body, the soul has not cleansed itself from the stains of its passions
and affections, but the life after initiation keeps on a level with the uninitiate life,
then, though it may be a bold thing to say, yet I will say it and will not shrink; in
these cases the water is but water, for the gift of the Holy Ghost in no ways appears in
him who is thus baptismally born; whenever, that is, not only the deformity of anger , or
the passion of greed, or the unbridled and unseemly thought, with pride, envy, and
arrogance, disfigures the Divine image, but the gains, too, of injustice abide with him,
and the woman he has procured by adultery still even after that ministers to his
pleasures. If these and the like vices, after, as before, surround the life of the
baptized, I cannot see in what respects he has been changed; for I observe him the same
man as he was before.

3 The man whom he has unjustly treated, the man whom he has falsely accused, the man whom
he has forcibly deprived of his property, these, as far as they are concerned, see no
change in him though he has been washed in the laver of baptism. They do not hear the cry
of Zacchaeus from him as well: "If I have taken any thing from any man by false
accusation, I restore fourfold . What they said of him before his baptism, the same they
now more fully declare; they call him by the same names, a covetous person, one who is
greedy of what belongs to others, one who lives in luxury at the cost of men's calamities.
Let such an one, therefore, who remains in the same moral condition as before, and then
babbles to himself of the beneficial change he has received from baptism, listen to what
Paul says: "If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth
himself . For what you have not become, that you are not. "As many as received Him," thus
speaks the Gospel of those who have been born again, "to them gave He power to become the
sons of God . Now the child born of any one is entirely of a kindred nature with his
parent. If, then, you have received God, if you have become a child of God, make manifest
in your disposition the God that is in you, manifest in yourself Him that begot you.

4 By the same marks whereby we recognize God, must this relationship to God of the son so
born be exhibited. "He openeth His hand and filleth every living thing with His good
pleasure. "He passeth over transgressions. "He repenteth Him of the evil. "The Lord is
good to all, and bringeth not on us His anger every day. "God is a righteous Lord, and
there isno injustice in Him ; and all other sayings of the like kind which are scattered
for our instruction throughout the Scripture;-if you live amidst such things as these, you
are a child of God indeed; but if you continue with the characteristic marks of vice in
you, it is in vain that you babble to yourself of your birth from above. Prophecy will
speak against you and say, "You are a `son of man,' not a son of the Most High. You `love
vanity, and seek after leasing.' Know you not in what way man is `made admirable '? In no
other way than by becoming holy."

5 It will be necessary to add to what has been said this remaining statement also; viz.
that those good things which are held out in the Gospels to those who have led a godly
life, are not such as can be precisely described. For how is that possible with things
which "eye hath not seen, neither ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man "?
Indeed, the sinner's life of torment presents no equivalent to anything that pains the
sense here. Even if some one of the punishments in that other world be named in terms that
are well known here, the distinction is still not small. When you hear the word fire, you
have been taught to think of a fire other than the fire we see, owing to something being
added to that fire which in this there is not; for that fire is never quenched, whereas
experience has discovered many ways of quenching this; and there is a great difference
between a fire which can be extinguished, and one that does not admit of extinction. That
fire, therefore, is something other than this. If, again, a person hears the word "worm,"
let not his thoughts, from the similarity of the term, be carried to the creature here
that crawls upon the ground; for the addition that it "dieth not" suggests the thought of
another reptile than that known here. Since, then, these things are set before us as to be
expected in the life that follows this, being the natural outgrowth according to the
righteous judgment of God, in the life of each, of his particular disposition, it must be
the part of the wise not to regard the present, but that which follows after, and to lay
down the foundations for that unspeakable blessedness during this short and fleeting life,
and by a good choice to wean themselves from allexperience of evil, now in their lifetime
here, hereafter in their eternal recompense .


ON THE FAITH
============

ON THE FAITH Gregory of Nyssa

c. AD 335–395

Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil; theologian and mystic.

ON THE FAITH

To Simplicius

1 God commands us by His prophet not to esteem any new God to be God, and not to worship
any strange God . Now it is clear that that is called new which is not from everlasting,
and on the contrary, that is called everlasting which is not new. He, then, who does not
believe that the Only-begotten God is from everlasting of the Father does not deny that He
is new, for that which is not everlasting is confessedly new; and that which is new is not
God, according to the saying of Scripture, "there shall not be in thee any new God .
Therefore he who says that the Son "once was not ," denies His Godhead. Again, He Who says
"thou shalt never worship a strange God " forbids us to worship another God; and the
strange God is so called in contradistinction to our own God. Who, then, is our own God?
Clearly, the true God. And who is the strange God? Surely, he who is alien from the nature
of the true God. If, therefore, our own God is the true God, and if, as the heretics say,
the Only-begotten God is not of the nature of the true God, He is a strange God, and not
our God. But the Gospel says, the sheep "will not follow a stranger . He that says He is
created will make Him alien from the nature of the true God. What then will they do, who
say that He is created?

2 Do they worship that same created being as God , or do they not? For if they do not
worship Him, they follow the Jews in denying the worship of Christ: and if they do worship
Him, they are idolaters, for they worship one alien from the true God. But surely it is
equally impious not to worship the Son, and to worship the strange God. We must then say
that the Son is the true Son of the true Father, that we may both worship Him, and avoid
condemnation as worshipping a strange God. But to those who quote from the Proverbs the
passage, "the Lord created me ," and think that they hereby produce a strong argument that
the Creator and Maker of all things was created, we must answer that the Only-begotten God
was made for us many things. For He was the Word, and was made flesh; and He was God, and
was made man; and He was without body, and was made a body; and besides, He was made
"sin," and "a curse," and "a stone," and "an axe," and "bread," and "a lamb," and "a way,"
and "a door," and "a rock," and many such things; not being by nature any of these, but
being made these things for our sakes, by way of dispensation. As, therefore, being the
Word, He was for our sakes made flesh, and as, being God, He was made man, so also, being
the Creator, He was made for our sakes a creature; for the flesh is created.

3 As, then, He said by the prophet, "Thus saith the Lord, He that formed me from the womb
to be His servant ; so He said also by Solomon, "The Lord created me as the beginning of
His ways, for His works . For all creation, as the Apostle says, is in servitude .
Therefore both He Who was formed in the Virgin's womb, according to the word of the
prophet, is the servant, and not the Lord (that is to say, the man according to the flesh,
in whom God was manifested), and also, in the other passage, He Who was created as the
beginning of His ways is not God, but the man in whom God was manifested to us for the
renewing again of the ruined way of man's salvation. So that, since we recognize two
things in Christ, one Divine, the other human (the Divine by nature, but the human in the
Incarnation), we accordingly claim for the Godhead that which is eternal, and that which
is created we ascribe to His human nature. For as, according to the prophet, He was formed
in the womb as a servant, so also, according to Solomon, He was manifested in the flesh by
means of this servile creation. But when they say, "if He was, He was not begotten, and if
He was begotten He was not," let them learn that it is not fitting to ascribe to His
Divine nature the attributes which belong to His fleshly origin .

4 For bodies which do not exist, are generated, and God makes those things to be which are
not, but does not Himself come into being from that which is not. And for this reason also
Paul calls Him "the brightness of glory ," that we may learn that as the light from the
lamp is of the nature of that which sheds the brightness, and is united with it (for as
soon as the lamp appears the light that comes from it shines out simultaneously), so in
this place the Apostle would have us consider both that the Son is of the Father, and that
the Father is never without the Son; for it is impossible that glory should be without
radiance, as it is impossible that the lamp should be without brightness. But it is clear
that as His being brightness is a testimony to His being in relation with the glory (for
if the glory did not exist, the brightness shed from it would not exist), so, to say that
the brightness "once was not " is a declaration that the glory also was not, when the
brightness was not; for it is impossible that the glory should be without the brightness.
As therefore it is not possible to say in the case of the brightness, "If it was, it did
not come into being, and if it came into being it was not," so it is in vain to say this
of the Son, seeing that the Son is the brightness.

5 Let those also who speak of "less" and "greater," in the case of the Father and the Son,
learn from Paul not to measure things immeasurable. For the Apostle says that the Son is
the express image of the Person of the Father . It is clear then that however great the
Person of the Father is, so great also is the express image of that Person; for it is not
possible that the express image should be less than the Person contemplated in it. And
this the great John also teaches when he says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God . For in saying that he was "in the beginning" and not "after the
beginning," he showed that the beginning was never without the Word; and in declaring that
"the Word was with God," he signified the absence of defect in the Son in relation to the
Father; for the Word is contemplated as a whole together with the whole being of God. For
if the Word were deficient in His own greatness so as not to be capable of relation with
the whole being of God, we are compelled to suppose that that part of Godwhich extends
beyond the Word is without the Word. But in fact the whole magnitude of the Word is
contemplated together with the whole magnitude of God: and consequently in statements
concerning the Divine nature, it is not admissible to speak of "greater" and "less."

6 As for those who say that the begotten is in its nature unlike the unbegotten, let them
learn from the example of Adam and Abel not to talk nonsense. For Adam himself was not
begotten according to the natural generation of men; but Abel was begotten of Adam. Now,
surely, he who was never begotten is called unbegotten, and he who came into being by
generation is called begotten ; yet the fact that he was not begotten did not hinder Adam
from being a man, nor did the generation of Abel make him at all different from man's
nature, but both the one and the other were men, although the one existed by being
begotten, and the other without generation. So in the case of our statements as to the
Divine nature, the fact of not being begotten, and that of being begotten, produce no
diversity of nature, but, just as in the case of Adam and Abel the manhood is one, so is
the Godhead one in the case of the Father and the Son.

7 Now touching the Holy Spirit also the blasphemers make the same statement as they do
concerning the Lord, saying that He too is created. But the Church believes, as concerning
the Son, so equally concerning the Holy Spirit, that He is uncreated, and that the whole
creation becomes good by participation in the good which is above it, while the Holy
Spirit needs not any to make Him good (seeing that He is good by virtue of His nature, as
the Scripture testifies) ; that the creation is guided by the Spirit, while the Spirit
gives guidance; that the creation is governed, while the Spirit governs; that the creation
is comforted, while the Spirit comforts; that the creation is in bondage, while the Spirit
gives freedom; that the creation is made wise, while the Spirit gives the grace of wisdom;
that the creation partakes of the gifts, while the Spirit bestows them at His pleasure:
"For all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally
as He will . And one may find multitudes of other proofs from the Scriptures that all the
supreme and Divine attributes which are applied by the Scriptures to the Father and the
Son are also to be contemplated in the Holy Spirit:-immortality, blessedness, goodness,
wisdom, power, justice, holiness- every excellent attribute is predicated of the Holy
Spirit just as it is predicated of the Father and of the Son, with the exception of those
by which the Persons are clearly and distinctly divided from each other;

8 I mean, that the Holy Spirit is not called the Father, or the Son; but all other names
by which the Father and the Son are named are applied by Scripture to the Holy Spirit
also. By this, then, we apprehend that the Holy Spirit is above creation. Thus, where the
Father and the Son are understood to be, there the Holy Spirit also is understood to be;
for the Father and the Son are above creation, and this attribute the drift of our
argument claims for the Holy Spirit. So it follows, that one who places the Holy Spirit
above the creation has received the right and sound doctrine: for he will confess that
uncreated nature which we behold in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to be one.
9 But since they bring forward as a proof,according to their ideas, of the created nature
of the Holy Spirit, that utterance of the prophet, which says, "He that stablisheth the
thunder and createth the spirit, and declareth unto man His Christs, ," we must consider
this, that the prophet speaks of the creation of another Spirit, in the stablishing of the
thunder, and not of the Holy Spirit. For the name of "thunder" is given in mystical
language to the Gospel. Those, then, in whom arises firm and unshaken faith in the Gospel,
pass from being flesh to become spirit, as the Lord says, "That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit ." It is God, then, Who by
stablishing the voice of the Gospel makes the believer spirit: and he who is born of the
Spirit and made spirit by such thunder, "declares" Christ; as the Apostle says, "No man
can say that Jesus Christ is Lord but by the Holy Spirit ."


ON "NOT THREE GODS"
===================

ON "NOT THREE GODS" Gregory of Nyssa

c. AD 335–395

Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil; theologian and mystic.

ON "NOT THREE GODS"

To Ablabius

1 Ye that are strong with all might in the inner man ought by rights to carry on the
struggle against the enemies of the truth, and not to shrink from the task, that we
fathers may be gladdened by the noble toil of our sons; for this is the prompting of the
law of nature: but as you turn your ranks, and send against us the assaults of those darts
which are hurled by the opponents of the truth, and demand that their "hot burning coals"
and their shafts sharpened by knowledge falsely so called should be quenched with the
shield of faith by us old men, we accept your command, and make ourselves an example of
obedience , in order that you may yourself give us the just requital on like commands,
Ablabius, noble soldier of Christ, if we should ever summon you to such a contest. In
truth, the question you propound to us is no small one, nor such that but small harm will
follow if it meets with insufficient treatment. For by the force of the question, we are
at first sight compelled to accept one or other of two erroneous opinions, and either to
say "there are three Gods," which is unlawful, or not to acknowledge the Godhead of the
Son and the Holy Spirit, which is impious and absurd.

2 The argument which you state is something like this:-Peter, James, and John, being in
one human nature, are called three men: and there is no absurdity in describing those who
are united in nature, if they are more than one, by the plural number of the name derived
from their nature. If, then, in the above case, custom admits this, and no one forbids us
to speak of those who are two as two, or those who are more than two as three, how is it
that in the case of our statements of the mysteries of the Faith, though confessing the
Three Persons, and acknowledging no difference of nature between them, we are in some
sense at variance with our confession, when we say that the Godhead of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost is one, and yet forbid men to say "there are three Gods"?
The question is, as I said, very difficult to deal with: yet, if we should be able to find
anything that may give support to the uncertainty of our mind, so that it may no longer
totter and waver in this monstrous dilemma, it would be well: on the other hand, even if
our reasoning be found unequal to the problem, we must keep for ever, firm and unmoved,
the tradition which we received by succession from the fathers, and seek from the Lord the
reason which is the advocate of our faith: and if this be found by any of those endowed
with grace, we must give thanks to Him who bestowed the grace; but if not, we shall none
the less, on those points which have been determined, hold our faith unchangeably.

3 What, then, is the reason that when we count one by one those who are exhibited to us in
one nature, we ordinarily name them in the plural and speak of "so many men," instead of
calling them all one: while in the case of the Divine nature our doctrinal definition
rejects the plurality of Gods, at once enumerating the Persons, and at the same time not
admitting the plural signification? Perhaps one might seem to touch the point if he were
to say (speaking offhand to straightforward people), that the definition refused to reckon
Gods in any number to avoid any resemblance to the polytheism of the heathen, lest, if we
too were to enumerate the Deity, not in the singular, but in the plural, as they are
accustomed to do, there might be supposed to be also some community of doctrine. This
answer, I say, if made to people of a more guileless spirit, might seem to be of some
weight: but in the case of the others who require that one of the alternatives they
propose should be established (either that we should not acknowledge the Godhead in Three
Persons, or that, if we do, we should speak of those who share in the same Godhead as
three), this answer is not such as to furnish any solution of the difficulty. And hence we
must needs make our reply at greater length, tracing out the truth as best we may; for the
question is no ordinary one.

4 We say, then, to begin with, that the practice of calling those who are not divided in
nature by the very name of their common nature in the plural, and saying they are "many
men," is a customary abuse of language, and that it would be much the same thing to say
they are "many human natures. And the truth of this we may see from the following
instance. When we address any one, we do not call him by the name of his nature, in order
that no confusion may result from the community of the name, as would happen if every one
of those who hear it were to think that he himself was the person addressed, because the
call is made not by the proper appellation but by the common name of their nature: but we
separate him from the multitude by using that name which belongs to him as his own;-that,
I mean, which signifies the particular subject. Thus there are many who have shared in the
nature-many disciples, say, or apostles, or martyrs-but the man in them all is one; since,
as has been said, the term "man" does not belong to the nature of the individual as such,
but to that which is common. For Luke is a man, or Stephen is a man; but it does not
follow that if any one is a man he is therefore Luke or Stephen:

5 but the idea of the persons admits of that separation which is made by the peculiar
attributes considered in each severally, and when they are combined is presented to us by
means of number; yet their nature is one, at union in itself, and an absolutely
indivisible unit, not capable of increase by addition or of diminution by subtraction, but
in its essence being and continually remaining one, inseparable even though it appear in
plurality, continuous, complete, and not divided with the individuals who participate in
it. And as we speak of a people, or a mob, or an army, or an assembly in the singular in
every case, while each of these is conceived as being in plurality, so according to the
more accurate expression, "man" would be said to be one, even though those who are
exhibited to us in the same nature make up a plurality. Thus it would be much better to
correct our erroneous habit, so as no longer to extend to a plurality the name of the
nature, than by our bondage to habit to transfer to our statements concerning God the
error which exists in the above case.

6 But since the correction of the habit is impracticable (for how could you persuade any
one not to speak of those who are exhibited in the same nature as "many men"?-indeed, in
every case habit is a thing hard to change), we are not so far wrong in not going contrary
to the prevailing habit in the case of the lower nature, since no harm results from the
mistaken use of the name: but in the case of the statement concerning the Divine nature
the various use of terms is no longer so free from danger: for that which is of small
account is in these subjects no longer a small matter. Therefore we must confess one God,
according to the testimony of Scripture, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord,"
even though the name of Godhead extends through the Holy Trinity. This I say according to
the account we have given in the case of human nature, in which we have learnt that it is
improper to extend the name of the nature by the mark of plurality. We must, however, more
carefully examine the name of "Godhead," in order to obtain, by means of the significance
involved in the word, some help towards clearing up the question before us.

7 Most men think that the word "Godhead" is used in a peculiar degree in respect of
nature: and just as the heaven, or the sun, or any other of the constituent parts of the
universe are denoted by proper names which are significant of the subjects, so they say
that in the case of the Supreme and Divine nature, the word "Godhead" is fitly adapted to
that which it represents to us, as a kind of special name. We, on the other hand,
following the suggestions of Scripture, have learnt that that nature is unnameable and
unspeakable, and we say that every term either invented by the custom of men, or handed
down to us by the Scriptures, is indeed explanatory of our conceptions of the Divine
Nature , but does not include the signification of that nature itself. And it may be shown
without much difficulty that this is the case. For all other terms which are used of the
creation may be found, even without analysis of their origin, to be applied to the
subjects accidentally, because we are content to denote the things in any way by the word
applied to them so as to avoid confusion in our knowledge of the things signified. But all
the terms that are employed to lead us to the knowledge of God have comprehended in them
each its own meaning, and you cannot find any word among the terms especially applied to
God which is without a distinct sense.

8 Hence it is clear that by any of the terms we use the Divine nature itself is not
signified, but some one of its surroundings is made known. For we say, it may be, that the
Deity is incorruptible, or powerful, or whatever else we are accustomed to say of Him. But
in each of these terms we find a peculiar sense, fit to be understood or asserted of the
Divine nature, yet not expressing that which that nature is in its essence. For the
subject, whatever it may be, is incorruptible: but our conception of incorruptibility is
this,-that that which is, is not resolved into decay: so, when we say that He is
incorruptible, we declare what His nature does not suffer, but we do not express what that
is which does not suffer corruption. Thus, again, if we say that He is the Giver of life,
though we show by that appellation what He gives, we do not by that word declare what that
is which gives it. And by the same reasoning we find that all else which results from the
significance involved in the names expressing the Divine attributes either forbids us to
conceive what we ought not to conceive of the Divine nature, or teaches us that which we
ought to conceive of it, but does not include an explanation of the nature itself.

9 Since, then, as we perceive the varied operations of the power above us, we fashion our
appellations from the several operations that are known to us, and as we recognize as one
of these that operation of surveying and inspection, or, as one might call it, beholding,
whereby He surveys all things and overlooks them all, discerning our thoughts, and even
entering by His power of contemplation into those things which are not visible, we suppose
that Godhead, or qeo/thj, is so called from qe/a, or beholding, and that He who is our
qeath/j or beholder, by customary use and by the instruction of the Scriptures, is called
qeo/j, or God. Now if any one admits that to behold and to discern are the same thing, and
that the God Who superintends all things, both is and is called the superintender of the
universe, let him consider this operation, and judge whether it belongs to one of the
Persons whom we believe in the Holy Trinity, or whether the power extends throughout the
Three Persons. For if our interpretation of the term Godhead, or qeo/thj, is a true one,
and the things which are seen are said to be beheld, or qeata/, and that which beholds
them is called qeo/j, or God, no one of the Persons in the Trinity could reasonably be
excluded from such an appellation on the ground of the sense involved in the word. For
Scripture attributes the act of seeing equally to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. David
says, "See, O God our defender ":

10 and from this we learn that sight is a proper operation of the idea of God, so far as
God is conceived, since he says, "See, O God. But Jesus also sees the thoughts of those
who condemn Him, and questions why by His own power He pardons the sins of men? for it
says, "Jesus, seeing their thoughts . And of the Holy Spirit also, Peter says to Ananias,
"Why hath Satan filled thine heart, to lie to the Holy Ghost? " showing that the Holy
Spirit was a true witness, aware of what Ananias had dared to do in secret, and by Whom
the manifestation of the secret was made to Peter. For Ananias became a thief of his own
goods, secretly, as he thought, from all men, and concealing his sin: but the Holy Spirit
at the same moment was in Peter, and detected his intent, dragged down as it was to
avarice, and gave to Peter front Himself the power of seeing the secret, while it is clear
that He could not have done this had He not been able to behold hidden things.

11 But some one will say that the proof of our argument does not yet regard the question.
For even if it were granted that the name of "Godhead" is a common name of the nature, it
would not be established that we should not speak of "Gods": but by these arguments, on
the contrary, we are compelled to speak of "Gods": for we find in the custom of mankind
that not only those who are partakers in the same nature, but even any who may be of the
same business, are not, when they are many, spoken of in the singular; as we speak of
"many orators," or "surveyors," or "farmers," or "shoemakers," and so in all other cases.
If, indeed, Godhead were an appellation of nature, it would be more proper, according to
the argument laid down, to include the Three Persons in the singular number, and to speak
of "One God," by reason of the inseparability and indivisibility of the nature: but since
it has been established by what has been said, that the term "Godhead" is significant of
operation, and not of nature, the argument from what has been advanced seems to turn to
the contrary conclusion, that we ought therefore all the more to call those "three Gods"
who are contemplated in the same operation, as they say that one would speak of "three
philosophers" or "orators," or any other name derived from a business when those who take
part in the same business are more than one.

12 I have taken some pains, in setting forth this view, to bring forward the reasoning on
behalf of the adversaries, that our decision may be the more firmly fixed, being
strengthened by the more elaborate contradictions. Let us now resume our argument. 13 As
we have to a certain extent shown by our statement that the word "Godhead" is not
significant of nature but of operation, perhaps one might reasonably allege as a cause
why, in the case of men, those who share with one another in the same pursuits are
enumerated and spoken of in the plural, while on the other hand the Deity is spoken of in
the singular as one God and one Godhead, even though the Three Persons are not separated
from the significance expressed by the term "Godhead,"-one might allege, I say, the fact
that men, even if several are engaged in the same form of action, work separately each by
himself at the task he has undertaken, having no participation in his individual action
with others who are engaged in the same occupation. For instance, supposing the case of
several rhetoricians, their pursuit, being one, has the same name in the numerous cases:
but each of those who follow it works by himself, this one pleading on his own account,
and that on his own account. Thus, since among men the action of each in the same pursuits
is discriminated, they are properly called many, since each of them is separated from the
others within his own environment, according to the special character of his operation.

14 But in the case of the Divine nature we do not similarly learn that the Father does
anything by Himself in which the Son does not work conjointly, or again that the Son has
any special operation apart from the Holy Spirit; but every operation which extends from
God to the Creation, and is named according to our variable conceptions of it, has its
origin from the Father, and proceeds through the Son, and is perfected in the Holy Spirit.
For this reason the name derived from the operation is not divided with regard to the
number of those who fulfil it, because the action of each concerning anything is not
separate and peculiar, but whatever comes to pass, in reference either to the acts of His
providence for us, or to the government and constitution of the universe, comes to pass by
the action of the Three, yet what does come to pass is not three things. We may understand
the meaning of this from one single instance. From Him, I say, Who is the chief source of
gifts, all things which have shared in this grace have obtained their life. When we
inquire, then, whence this good gift came to us, we find by the guidance of the Scriptures
that it was from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yet although we set forth Three Persons
and three names, we do not consider that we have had bestowed upon us three lives, one
from each Person separately;

15 but the same life is wrought in us by the Father, and prepared by the Son, and depends
on the will of the Holy Spirit. Since then the Holy Trinity fulfils every operation in a
mannersimilar to that of which I have spoken, not by separate action according to the
number of the Persons, but so that there is one motion and disposition of the good will
which is communicated from the Father through the Son to the Spirit (for as we do not call
those whose operation gives one life three Givers of life, neither do we call those who
are contemplated in one goodness three Good beings, nor speak of them in the plural by any
of their other attributes); so neither can we call those who exercise this Divine and
superintending power and operation towards ourselves and all creation, conjointly and
inseparably, by their mutual action, three Gods. For as when we learn concerning the God
of the universe, from the words of Scripture, that He judges all the earth , we say that
He is the Judge of all things through the Son: and again, when we hear that the Father
judgeth no man , we do not think that the Scripture is at variance with itself,-(for He
Who judges all the earth does this by His Son to Whom He has committed all judgment;

16 and everything which is done by the Only-begotten has its reference to the Father, so
that He Himself is at once the Judge of all things and judges no man, by reason of His
having, as we said, committed all judgment to the Son, while all the judgment of the Son
is conformable to the will of the Father; and one could not properly say either that They
are two judges, or that one of Them is excluded from the authority and power implied in
judgment);-so also in the case of the word "Godhead," Christ is the power of God and the
wisdom of God, and that very power of superintendence and beholding which we call Godhead,
the Father exercises through the Only-begotten, while the Son perfects every power by the
Holy Spirit, judging, as Isaiah says, by the Spirit of judgment and the Spirit of burning
, and acting by Him also, according to the saying in the Gospel which was spoken to the
Jews. For He says, "If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils "; where He includes every
form of doing good in a partial description, by reason of the unity of action: for the
name derived from operation cannot be divided among many where the result of their mutual
operation is one.

17 Since, then, the character of the superintending and beholding power is one, in Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, as has been said in our previous argument, issuing from the Father
as from a spring, brought into operation by the Son, and perfecting its grace by the power
of the Spirit; and since no operation is separated in respect of the Persons, being
fulfilled by each individually apart from that which is joined with Him in our
contemplation, but all providence, care, and superintendence of all, alike of things in
the sensible creation and of those of supramundane nature, and that power which preserves
the things which are, and corrects those which are amiss, and instructs those which are
ordered aright, is one, and not three, being, indeed, directed by the Holy Trinity, yet
not severed by a threefold division according to the number of the Persons contemplated in
the Faith, so that each of the acts, contemplated by itself, should be the work of the
Father alone, or of the Son peculiarly, or of the Holy Spirit separately, but while, as
the Apostle says, the one and the selfsame Spirit divides His good gifts to every man
severally , the motion of good proceeding from the Spirit is not without beginning;-we
find that the power which we conceive as preceding this motion, which is the Only-begotten
God, is the maker of all things; without Him no existent thing attains to the beginning of
its being: and, again, this same source of good issues from the will of the Father.

18 If, then, every good thing and every good name, depending on that power and purpose
which is without beginning, is brought to perfection in the power of the Spirit through
the Only-begotten God, without mark of time or distinction (since there is no delay,
existent or conceived, in the motion of the Divine will from the Father, through the Son,
to the Spirit): and if Godhead also is one of the good names and concepts, it would not be
proper to divide the name into a plurality, since the unity existing in the action
prevents plural enumeration. And as the Saviour of all men, specially of them that believe
, is spoken of by the Apostle as one, and no one from this phrase argues either that the
Son does not save them who believe, or that salvation is given to those who receive it
without the intervention of the Spirit; but God who is over all, is the Saviour of all,
while the Son works salvation by means of the grace of the Spirit, and yet they are not on
this account called in Scripture three Saviours (although salvation is confessed to
proceed from the Holy Trinity): so neither are they called three Gods, according to the
signification assigned to the term "Godhead," even though the aforesaid appellation
attaches to the Holy Trinity.

19 It does not seem to me absolutely necessary, with a view to the present proof of our
argument, to contend against those who oppose us with the assertion that we are not to
conceive "Godhead" as an operation. For we, believing the Divine nature to be unlimited
and incomprehensible, conceive no comprehension ofit, but declare that the nature is to be
conceived in all respects as infinite: and that which is absolutely infinite is not
limited in one respect while it is left unlimited in another, but infinity is free from
limitation altogether. That therefore which is without limit is surely not limited even by
name. In order then to mark the constancy of our conception of infinity in the case of the
Divine nature, we say that the Deity is above every name: and "Godhead" is a name. Now it
cannot be that the same thing should at once be a name and be accounted as above every
name.

20 But if it pleases our adversaries to say that the significance of the term is not
operation, but nature, we shall fall back upon our original argument, that custom applies
the name of a nature to denote multitude erroneously: since according to true reasoning
neither diminution nor increase attaches to any nature, when it is contemplated in a
larger or smaller number. For it is only those things which are contemplated in their
individual circumscription which are enumerated by way of addition. Now this
circumscription is noted by bodily appearance, and size, and place, and difference figure
and colour, and that which is contemplated apart from these conditions is free from the
circumscription which is formed by such categories. That which is not thus circumscribed
is not enumerated, and that which is not enumerated cannot be contemplated in multitude.
For we say that gold, even though it be cut into many figures, is one, and is so spoken
of, but we speak of many coins or many staters, without finding any multiplication of the
nature of gold by the number of staters; and for this reason we speak of gold, when it is
contemplated in greater bulk, either in plate or in coin, as "much," but we do not speak
of it as "many golds" on account of the multitude of the material,-except when one says
there are "many gold pieces" (Darics, for instance, or staters), in which case it is not
the material, but the pieces of money to which the significance of number applies: indeed,
properly, we should not call them "gold" but "golden."

21 As, then, the golden staters are many, but the gold is one, so too those who are
exhibited to us severally in the nature of man, as Peter, James, and John, are many, yet
the man in them is one. And although Scripture extends the word according to the plural
significance, where it says "men swear by the greater ," and "sons of men," and in other
phrases of the like sort, we must recognize that in using the custom of the prevailing
form of speech, it does not lay down a law as to the propriety of using the words in one
way or another, nor does it say these things by way of giving us instruction about
phrases, but uses the word according to the prevailing custom, with a view only to this,
that the word may be profitable to those who receive it, taking no minute care in its
manner of speech about points where no harm can result from the phrases in respect of the
way they are understood.

22 Indeed, it would be a lengthy task to set out in detail from the Scriptures those
constructions which are inexactly expressed, in order to prove the statement I have made;
where, however, there is a risk of injury to any part of the truth, we no longer find in
Scriptural phrases any indiscriminate or indifferent use of words. For this reason
Scripture admits the naming of "men" in the plural, because no one is by such a figure of
speech led astray in his conceptions to imagine a multitude of humanities, or supposes
that many human natures are indicated by the fact that the name expressive of that nature
is used in the plural. But the word "God" it employs studiously in the singular form only,
guarding against introducing the idea of different natures in the Divine essence by the
plural signification of "Gods. This is the cause why it says, "the Lord our God is one
Lord ," and also proclaims the Only-begotten God by the name of Godhead, without dividing
the Unity into a dual signification, so as to call the Father and the Son two Gods,
although each is proclaimed by the holy writers as God. The Father is God: the Son is God:
and yet by the same proclamation God is One, because no difference either of nature or of
operation is contemplated in the Godhead.

23 For if (according to the idea of those who have been led astray) the nature of the Holy
Trinity were diverse, the number would by consequence be extended to a plurality of Gods,
being divided according to the diversity of essence in the subjects. But since the Divine,
single, and unchanging nature, that it may be one, rejects all diversity in essence, it
does not admit in its own case the signification of multitude; but as it is called one
nature, so it is called in the singular by all its other names, "God," "Good," "Holy,"
"Saviour," "Just," "Judge," and every other Divine name conceivable: whether one says that
the names refer to nature or to operation, we shall not dispute the point. 24 If, however,
any one cavils at our argument, on the ground that by not admitting the difference of
nature it leads to a mixture and confusion of the Persons, we shall make to such a charge
this answer;-that while we confess the invariable character of the nature, we do not deny
the difference in respect of cause, and that which is caused, by which alone we apprehend
that one Person is distinguished from another;-by our belief, that is, that one is the
Cause, and another is of the Cause; and again in that which is of the Cause we recognize
another distinction. For one is directly from the first Cause, and another by that which
is directly from the first Cause; so that the attribute of being Only-begotten abides
without doubt in the Son, and the interposition of the Son, while it guards His attribute
of being Only-begotten, does not shut out the Spirit from His relation by way of nature to
the Father.

25 But in speaking of "cause," and "of the cause," we do not by these words denote nature
(for no one would give the same definition of "cause" and of "nature"), but we indicate
the difference in manner of existence. For when we say that one is "caused," and that the
other is "without cause," we do not divide the nature by the word "cause ", but only
indicate the fact that the Son does not exist without generation, nor the Father by
generation: but we must needs in the first place believe that something exists, and then
scrutinize the manner of existence of the object of our belief: thus the question of
existence is one, and that of the mode of existence is another. To say that anything
exists without generation sets forth the mode of its existence, but what exists is not
indicated by this phrase. If one were to ask a husbandman about a tree, whether it were
planted or had grown of itself, and he were to answer either that the tree had not been
planted or that it was the result of planting, would he by that answer declare the nature
of the tree? Surely not; but while saying how it exists he would leave the question of its
nature obscure and unexplained. So, in the other case, when we learn that He is
unbegotten, we are taught in what mode He exists, and how it is fit that we should
conceive Him as existing, but what He is we do not hear in that phrase. When, therefore,
we acknowledge such a distinction in the case of the Holy Trinity, as to believe that one
Person is the Cause, and another is of the Cause, we can no longer be accused of
confounding the definition of the Persons by the community of nature.

26 Thus, since on the one hand the idea of cause differentiates the Persons of the Holy
Trinity, declaring that one exists without a Cause, and another is of the Cause; and since
on the one hand the Divine nature is apprehended by every conception as unchangeable and
undivided, for these reasons we properly declare the Godhead to be one, and God to be one,
and employ in the singular all other names which express Divine attributes.


ON THE HOLY TRINITY, AND OF THE GODHEAD OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
==========================================================

ON THE HOLY TRINITY, AND OF THE GODHEAD OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Gregory of Nyssa

c. AD 335–395

Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil; theologian and mystic.

ON THE HOLY TRINITY, AND OF THE GODHEAD OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

To Eustathius

1 All you who study medicine have, one may say, humanity for your profession: and I think
that one who preferred your science to all the serious pursuits of life would form the
proper judgment, and not miss the right decision, if it be true that life, the most valued
of all things, is a thing to be shunned, and full of pain, if it may not be had with
health, and health your art supplies. But in your own case the science is in a notable
degree of double efficacy; you enlarge for yourself the bounds of its humanity, since you
do not limit the benefit of your art to men's bodies, but take thought also for the cure
of troubles of the mind. I say this, not only following the common reports, but because I
have learnt it from experience, as in many other matters, so especially at this time in
this indescribable malice of our enemies, which you skilfully dispersed when it swept like
some evil flood over our life, dispelling this violent inflammation of our heart by your
fomentation of soothing words. I thought it right, indeed, in view of the continuous and
varied effort of our enemies against us, to keep silence, and to receive their attack
quietly, rather than to speak against men armed with falsehood, that most mischievous
weapon, which sometimes drives its point even through truth. But you did well in urging me
not to betray the truth, but to refute the slanderers, lest, by a success of falsehood
against truth, many might be injured.

2 I may say that those who conceived this causeless hatred for us seemed to be acting very
much on the principle of Aesop's fable. For just as he makes his wolf bring some charges
against the lamb (feeling ashamed, I suppose, of seeming to destroy, without just pretext,
one who had done him no hurt), and then, when the lamb easily swept away all the
slanderous charges brought against him, makes the wolf by no means slacken his attack, but
carry the day with his teeth when he is vanquished by justice; so those who were as keen
for hatred against us as if it were something good (feeling perhaps some shame of seeming
to hate without cause), make up charges and complaints against us, while they do not abide
consistently by any of the things they say, but allege, now that one thing, after a little
while that another, and then again that something else is the cause of their hostility to
us. Their malice does not take a stand on any ground, but when they are dislodged from one
charge they cling to another, and from that again they seize upon a third, and if all
their charges are refuted they do not give up their hate. They charge us with preaching
three Gods, and din into the ears of the multitude this slander, which they never rest
from maintaining persuasively.

3 Then truth fights on our side, for we show both publicly to all men, and privately to
those who converse with us, that we anathematize any man who says that there are three
Gods, and hold him to be not even a Christian. Then, as soon as they hear this, they find
Sabellius a handy weapon against us, and the plague that he spread is the subject of
continual attacks upon us. Once more, we oppose to this assault our wonted armour of
truth, and show that we abhor this form of heresy just as much as Judaism. What then? are
they weary after such efforts, and content to rest? Not at all. Now they charge us with
innovation, and frame their complaint against us in this way:-They allege that while we
confess three Persons we say that there is one goodness, and one power, and one Godhead.
And in this assertion they do not go beyond the truth; for we do say so. But the ground of
their complaint is that their custom does not admit this, and Scripture does not support
it. What then is our reply? We do not think that it is right to make their prevailing
custom the law and rule of sound doctrine. For if custom is to avail for proof of
soundness, we too, surely, may advance our prevailing custom; and if they reject this, we
are surely not bound to follow theirs.

4 Let the inspired Scripture, then, be our umpire, and the vote of truth will surely be
given to those whose dogmas are found to agree with the Divine words. 5 Well, what is
their charge? There are two brought forward together in the accusation against us; one,
that we divide the Persons; the other, that we do not employ any of the names which belong
to God in the plural number, but (as I said already) speak of the goodness as one, and of
the power, and the Godhead, and all such attributes in the singular. With regard to the
dividing of the Persons, those cannot well object who hold the doctrine of the diversity
of substances in the Divine nature. For it is not to be supposed that those who say that
there are three substances do not also say that there are three Persons. So this point
only is called in question: that those attributes which are ascribed to the Divine nature
we employ in the singular.

6 But our argument in reply to this is ready and clear. For any one who condemns those who
say that the Godhead is one, must necessarily support either those who say that there are
more than one, or those who say that there is none. But the inspired teaching does not
allow us to say that there are more than one, since, whenever it uses the term, it makes
mention of the Godhead in the singular; as,-"In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead "; and, elsewhere,-"The invisible things of Him from the foundation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead ." If, then, to extend the number of the Godhead to a multitude belongs to those
only who suffer from the plague of polytheistic error, and on the other hand utterly to
deny the Godhead would be the doctrine of atheists, what doctrine is that which accuses us
for saying that the Godhead is one? But they reveal more clearly the aim of their
argument. As regards the Father, they admit the fact that He is God , and that the Son
likewise is honoured with the attribute of Godhead; but the Spirit, Who is reckoned with
the Father and the Son, they cannot include in their conception of Godhead, but hold that
the power of the Godhead, issuing from the Father to the Son, and there halting, separates
the nature of the Spirit from the Divine glory. And so, as far as we may in a short space,
we have to answer this opinion also.

7 What, then, is our doctrine? The Lord, in delivering the saving Faith to those who
become disciples of the word, joins with the Father and the Son the Holy Spirit also; and
we affirm that the union of that which has once been joined is continual; for it is not
joined in one thing, and separated in others. But the power of the Spirit, being included
with the Father and the Son in the life-giving power, by which our nature is transferred
from the corruptible life to immortality, and in many other cases also, as in the
conception of "Good," and "Holy," and "Eternal," "Wise," "Righteous," "Chief," "Mighty,"
and in fact everywhere, has an inseparable association with them in all the attributes
ascribed in a sense of special excellence. And so we consider that it is right to think
that that which is joined to the Father and the Son in such sublime and exalted
conceptions is not separated from them in any. For we do not know of any differences by
way of superiority and inferiority in attributes which express our conceptions of the
Divine nature, so that we should suppose it an act of piety (while allowing to the Spirit
community in the inferior attributes) to judge Him unworthy of those more exalted. For all
the Divine attributes, whether named or conceived, are of like rank one with another, in
that they are not distinguishable in respect of the signification of their subject.

8 For the appellation of "the Good" does not lead our minds to one subject, and that of
"the Wise," or "the Mighty," or "the Righteous" to another, but the thing to which all the
attributes point is one; and, if you speak of God, you signify the same Whom you
understood by the other attributes. If then all the attributes ascribed to the Divine
nature are of equal force as regards their designation of the subject, leading our minds
to the same subject in various aspects, what reason is there that one, while allowing to
the Spirit community with the Father and the Son in the other attributes, should exclude
Him from the Godhead alone? It is absolutely necessary either to allow to Him community in
this also, or not to admit His community in the others. For if He is worthy in the case of
those attributes, He is surely not less worthy in this. But if He is "less," according to
their phrase , so that He is excluded from community with the Father and the Son in the
attribute of Godhead, neither is He worthy to share in any other of the attributes which
belong to God. For the attributes, when rightly understood and mutually compared by that
notion which we contemplate in each case, will be found to imply nothing less than the
appellation of "God. And a proof of this is that many even of the inferior existences are
called by this very name.

9 Further, the Divine Scripture is not sparing in this use of the name even in the case of
things incongruous, as when it names idols by the appellation of God. For it says, "Let
the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth perish, and be cast down beneath the
earth "; and, "all the gods of the heathen are devils "; and the witch in her
incantations, when she brings up for Saul the spirits that he sought for, says that she
"saw gods . And again Balaam, being an augur and a seer, and engaging in divination, and
having obtained for himself the instruction of devils and magical augury, is said in
Scripture to receive counsel from God . One may show by collecting many instances of the
same kind from the Divine Scripture, that this attribute has no supremacy over the other
attributes which are proper to God, seeing that, as has been said, we find it predicated,
in an equivocal sense, even of things incongruous; but we are nowhere taught in Scripture
that the names of "the Holy," "the Incorruptible," "the Righteous," "the Good," are made
common to things unworthy.

10 If, then, they do not deny that the Holy Spirit has community with the Father and the
Son in those attributes which, in their sense of special excellence, are piously
predicated only of the Divine nature, what reason is there to pretend that He is excluded
from community in this only, wherein it was shown that, by an equivocal use, even devils
and idols share? 11 But they say that this appellation is indicative of nature, and that,
as the nature of the Spirit is not common to the Father and the Son, for this reason
neither does he partake in the community of this attribute. Let them show, then, whereby
they discern this diversity of nature. For if it were possible that the Divine nature
should be contemplated in its absolute essence, and that we should find by appearances
what is and what is not proper to it, we should surely have no need of other arguments or
evidence for the comprehension of the question. But since it is exalted above the
understanding of the questioners, and we have to argue from some particular evidence about
those things which evade our knowledge , it is absolutely necessary for us to be guided to
the investigation of the Divine nature by its operations. If, then, we see that the
operations which are wrought by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit differ one from
the other, we shall conjecture from the different character of the operations that the
natures which operate are also different. For it cannot be that things which differ in
their very nature should agree in the form of their operation: fire does not chill, nor
ice give warmth, but their operations are distinguished together with the difference
between their natures.

12 If, on the other hand, we understand that the operation of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit is one, differing or varying in nothing, the oneness of their nature must
needs be inferred from the identity of their operation. The Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit alike give sanctification, and life, and light, and comfort, and all similar
graces. And let no one attribute the power of sanctification in an especial sense to the
Spirit, when he hears the Saviour in the Gospel saying to the Father concerning His
disciples, "Father, sanctify them in Thy name . So too all the other gifts are wrought in
those who are worthy alike by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: every grace and
power, guidance, life, comfort, the change to immortality, the passage to liberty, and
every other boon that exists, which descends to us. 13 But the order of things which is
above us, alike in the region of intelligence and in that of sense (if by what we know we
may form conjectures about those things also which are above us), is itself established
within the operation and power of the Holy Spirit, every man receiving the benefit
according to his own desert and need. For although the arrangement and ordering of things
above our nature is obscure to our sense, yet one may more reasonably infer, by the things
which we know, that in them too the power of the Spirit works, than that it is banished
from the order existing in the things above us. For he who asserts the latter view
advances his blasphemy in a naked and unseemly shape, without being able to support his
absurd opinion by any argument. But he who agrees that those things which are above us are
also ordered by the power of the Spirit with the Father and the Son, makes his assertion
on this point with the support of clear evidence from his own life.

14 For as the nature of man is compounded of body and soul, and the angelic nature has for
its portion life without a body, if the Holy Spirit worked only in the case of bodies, and
the soul were not capable of receiving the grace that comes from Him, one might perhaps
infer from this, if the intellectual and incorporeal nature which is in us were above the
power of the Spirit, that the angelic life too was in no need of His grace. But if the
gift of the Holy Spirit is principally a grace of the soul, and the constitution of the
soul is linked by its intellectuality and invisibility to the angelic life, what person
who knows how to see a consequence would not agree, that every intellectual nature is
governed by the ordering of the Holy Spirit? For since it is said "the angels do alway
behold the Face of My Father which is in heaven ," and it is not possible to behold the
person of the Father otherwise than by fixing the sight upon it through His image; and the
image of the person of the Father is the Only-begotten, and to Him again no man can draw
near whose mind has not been illumined by the Holy Spirit, what else is shown from this
but that the Holy Spirit is not separated from any operation which is wrought by the
Father and the Son? Thus the identity of operation in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit shows
plainly the undistinguishable character of their substance.

15 So that even if the name of Godhead does indicate nature, the community of substance
shows that this appellation is properly applied also to the Holy Spirit. But I know not
how these makers-up of all sorts of arguments bring the appellation of Godhead to be an
indication of nature, as though they had not heard from the Scripture that it is a matter
of appointment , in which way nature does not arise. For Moses was appointed as a god of
the Egyptians, since He Who gave him the oracles, &c., spoke thus to him, "I have given
thee as a god to Pharaoh . Thus the force of the appellation is the indication of some
power, either of oversight or of operation. But the Divine nature itself, as it is,
remains unexpressed by all the names that are conceived for it, as our doctrine declares.
For in learning that He is beneficent, and a judge, good, and just, and all else of the
same kind, we learn diversities of His operations, but we are none the more able to learn
by our knowledge of His operations the nature of Him Who works. For when one gives a
definition of any one of these attributes, and of the nature to which the names are
applied, he will not give the same definition of both: and of things of which the
definition is different, the nature also is distinct.

16 Indeed the substance is one thing whichno definition has been found to express, and the
significance of the names employed concerning it varies, as the names are given from some
operation or accident. Now the fact that there is no distinction in the operations we
learn from the community of the attributes, but of the difference in respect of nature we
find no clear proof, the identity of operations indicating rather, as we said, community
of nature. If, then, Godhead is a name derived from operation, as we say that the
operation of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one, so we say that the
Godhead is one: or if, according to the view of the majority, Godhead is indicative of
nature, since we cannot find any diversity in their nature, we not unreasonably define the
Holy Trinity to be of one Godhead . 17 But if any one were to call this appellation
indicative of dignity, I cannot tell by what reasoning he drags the word to this
significance. Since however one may hear many saying things of this kind, in order that
the zeal of its opponents may not find a ground for attacking the truth, we go out of our
way with those who take this view, to consider such an opinion, and say that, even if the
name does denote dignity, in this case too the appellation will properly befit the Holy
Spirit. For the attribute of kingship denotes all dignity; and "our God," it says, "is
King from everlasting . But the Son, having all things which are the Father's, is Himself
proclaimed a King by Holy Scripture. Now the Divine Scripture says that the Holy Spirit is
the unction of the Only-Begotten , interpreting the dignity of the Spirit by a
transference of the terms commonly used in this world. For as, in ancient days, in those
who were advanced to kingship, the token of this dignity was the unction which was applied
to them, and when this took place there was thenceforth a change from private and humble
estate to the superiority of rule, and he who was deemed worthy of this grace received
after his anointing another name, being called, instead of an ordinary man, the Anointed
of the Lord:

18 for this reason, that the dignity of the Holy Spirit might be more clearly shown to
men, He was called by the Scripture "the sign of the Kingdom," and "Unction," whereby we
are taught that the Holy Spirit shares in the glory and kingdom of the Only-begotten Son
of God. For as in Israel it was not permitted to enter upon the kingdom without the
unction being previously given, so the word, by a transference of the terms in use among
ourselves, indicates the equality of power, showing that not even the kingdom of the Son
is received without the dignity of the Holy Spirit. And for this reason He is properly
called Christ, since this name gives the proof of His inseparable and indivisible
conjunction with the Holy Spirit. If, then, the Only-begotten God is the Anointed, and the
Holy Spirit is His Unction, and the appellation of Anointed points to the Kingly
authority, and the anointing is the token of His Kingship, then the Holy Spirit shares
also in His dignity. If, therefore, they say that the attribute of Godhead is
significative of dignity, and the Holy Spirit is shown to share in this last quality, it
follows that He Who partakes in the dignity will also partake in the name which represents
it.


ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, AGAINST THE FOLLOWERS OF MACEDONIUS
=======================================================

ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, AGAINST THE FOLLOWERS OF MACEDONIUS Gregory of Nyssa

c. AD 335–395

Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil; theologian and mystic.

ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, AGAINST THE FOLLOWERS OF MACEDONIUS

1 It may indeed be undignified to give any answer at all to the statements that are
foolish; we seem to be pointed that way by Solomon's wise advice, "not to answer a fool
according to his folly." But there is a danger lest through our silence error may prevail
over the truth, and so the rotting sore of this heresy may invade it, and make havoc of
the sound word of the faith. It has appeared to me, therefore, to be imperative to answer,
not indeed according to the folly of these men who offer objections of such a description
to our Religion, but for the correction of their depraved ideas. For that advice quoted
above from the Proverbs gives, I think, the watchword not for silence, but for the
correction of those who are displaying some act of folly; our answers, that is, are not to
run on the level of their foolish conceptions, but rather to overturn those unthinking and
deluded views as to doctrine.

2 What then is the charge they bring against us? They accuse us of profanity for
entertaining lofty conceptions about the Holy Spirit. All that we, in following the
teachings of the Fathers, confess as to the Spirit, they take in a sense of their own, and
make it a handle against us, to denounce us for profanity . We, for instance, confess that
the Holy Spirit is of the same rank as the Father and the Son, so that there is no
difference between them in anything, to be thought or named, that devotion can ascribe to
a Divine nature. We confess that, save His being contemplated as with peculiar attributes
in regard of Person, the Holy Spirit is indeed from God, and of the Christ, according to
Scripture , but that, while not to be confounded with the Father in being never
originated, nor with the Son in being the Only-begotten, and while to be regarded
separately in certain distinctive properties, He has in all else, as I have just said, an
exact identity with them. But our opponents aver that He is a stranger to any vital
communion with the Father and the Son; that by reason of an essential variation He is
inferior to, and less than they in every point; in power, in glory, in dignity, in fine in
everything that in word or thought we ascribe to Deity; that, in consequence, in their
glory He has no share, to equal honour with them He has no claim; and that, as for power,
He possesses only so much of it as is sufficient for the partial activities assigned to
Him; that with the creative force He is quite disconnected.

3 Such is the conception of Him that possesses them; and the logical consequence of it is
that the Spirit has in Himself none of those marks which our devotion, in word or thought,
ascribes to a Divine nature. What then, shall be our way of arguing? We shall answer
nothing new, nothing of our own invention, though they challenge us to it; we shall fall
back upon the testimony in Holy Scripture about the Spirit, whence we learn that the Holy
Spirit is Divine, and is to be called so. Now, if they allow this, and will not contradict
the words of inspiration, then they, with all their eagerness to fight with us, must tell
us why they are for contending with us, instead of with Scripture. We say nothing
different from that which Scripture says.-But in a Divine nature, as such, when once we
have believed in it, we can recognize no distinctions suggested either by the Scripture
teaching or by our own common sense; distinctions, that is, that would divide that Divine
and transcendent nature within itself by any degrees of intensity and remission, so as to
be altered from itself by being more or less. Because we firmly believe that it is simple,
uniform, incomposite, because we see in it no complicity or composition of dissimilars,
therefore it is that, when once our minds have grasped the idea of Deity, we accept by the
implication of that very name the perfection in it of every conceivable thing that befits
the Deity. Deity, in fact, exhibits perfection in every line in which the good can be
found. If it fails and comes short of perfection in any single point, in that point the
conception of Deity will be impaired, so that it cannot, therein, be or be called Deity at
all; for how could we apply that word to a thing that is imperfect and deficient, and
requiring an addition external to itself?

4 We can confirm our argument by material instances. Fire naturally imparts the sense of
heat to those who touch it, with all its component parts ; one part of it does not have
the heat more intense, the other less intense; but as long as it is fire at all, it
exhibits an invariable oneness with itself in an absolutely complete sameness of activity;
if in any part it gets cooled at all, in that part it can no longer be called fire; for,
with the change of its heat-giving activity into the reverse, its name also is changed. It
is the same with water, with air, with every element that underlies the universe; there is
one and the same description of the element, in each case, admitting of no ideas of excess
or defect; water, for instance, cannot be called more or less water; as long as it
maintains an equal standard of wetness, so long the term water will be realized by it; but
when once it is changed in the direction of the opposite quality the name to be applied to
it must be changed also. The yielding, buoyant, "nimble" nature of the air, too, is to be
seen in every part of it; while what is dense, heavy, downward gravitating, sinks out of
the connotation of the very term "air. So Deity, as long as it possesses perfection
throughout all the properties that devotion may attach to it, by virtue of this perfection
in everything good does not belie its name;

5 but if any one of those things that contribute to this idea of perfection is subtracted
from it, the name of Deity is falsified in that particular, and does not apply to the
subject any longer. It is equally impossible to apply to a dry substance the name of
water, to that whose quality is a state of coolness the name of fire, to stiff and hard
things the name of air, and to call that thing Divine which does not at once imply the
idea of perfection; or rather the impossibility is greater in this last case. 6 If, then,
the Holy Spirit is truly, and not in name only, called Divine both by Scripture and by our
Fathers, what ground is left for those who oppose the glory of the Spirit? He is Divine,
and absolutely good, and Omnipotent, and wise, and glorious, and eternal; He is everything
of this kind that can be named to raise our thoughts to the grandeur of His being. The
singleness of the subject of these properties testifies that He does not possess them in a
measure only, as if we could imagine that He was one thing in His very substance, but
became another by the presence of the aforesaid qualities. That condition is peculiar to
those beings who have been given a composite nature; whereas the Holy Spirit is single and
simple in every respect equally. This is allowed by all; the man who denies it does not
exist. If, then, there is but one simple and single definition of His being, the good
which He possesses is not an acquired good; but, whatever He may be besides, He is Himself
Goodness, and Wisdom, and Power, and Sanctification, and Righteousness, and
Everlastingness, and Imperishability, and every name that is lofty, and elevating above
other names. What, then, is the state of mind that leads these men, who do not fear the
fearful sentence passed upon the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, to maintain that such a
Being does not possess glory? For they clearly put that statement forward; that we ought
not to believe that He should be glorified: though I know not for what reason they judge
it to be expedient not to confess the true nature of that which is essentially glorious.

7 For the plea will not avail them in their self-defence, that He is delivered by our Lord
to His disciples third in order, and that therefore He is estranged from our ideal of
Deity. Where in each case activity in working good shows no diminution or variation
whatever, how unreasonable it is to suppose the numerical order to be a sign of any
diminution or essential variation ! It is as if a man were to see a separate flame burning
on three torches (and we will suppose that the third flame is caused by that of the first
being transmitted to the middle, and then kindling the end torch ), and were to maintain
that the heat in the first exceeded that of the others; that that next it showed a
variation from it in the direction of the less; and that the third could not be called
fire at all, though it burnt and shone just like fire, and did everything that fire does.
But if there is really no hindrance to the third torch being fire, though it has been
kindled from a previous flame, what is the philosophy of these men, who profanely think
that they can slight the dignity of the Holy Spirit because He is named by the Divine lips
after the Father and the Son? Certainly, if there is in our conceptions of the Substance
of the Spirit anything that falls short of the Divine ideal, they do well in testifying to
His not possessing glory;

8 but if the highness of His dignity is to be perceived in every point, why do they grudge
to make the confession of His glory? As if any one after describing some one as a man,
were to consider it not safe to go on to say of him as well that he is reasoning, mortal,
or anything else that can be predicated of a man, and so were to cancel what he had just
allowed; for if he is not reasoning, he is not a man at all; but if the latter is granted,
how can there be any hesitation about the conceptions already implied in "man"? So, with
regard to the Spirit, if when one calls Him Divine one speaks the truth, neither when one
defines Him to be worthy of honour, to be glorious, good, omnipotent, does one lie; for
all such conceptions are at once admitted with the idea of Deity. So that they must accept
one of two alternatives; either not to call Him Divine at all, or to refrain from
subtracting from His Deity any one of those conceptions which are attributable to Deity.
We must then, most surely, comprehend along with each other these two thoughts, viz. the
Divine nature, and along with it a just idea, a devout intuition , of that Divine and
transcendent nature.

9 Since, then, it has been affirmed, and truly affirmed, that the Spirit is of the Divine
Essence, and since in that one word "Divine" every idea of greatness, as we have said, is
involved, it follows that he who grants that Divinity has potentially granted all the
rest;-the gloriousness, the omnipotence, everything indicative of superiority. It is
indeed a monstrous thing to refuse to confess this in the case of the Spirit; monstrous,
because of the incongruity, as applied to Him, of the terms which in the list of opposites
correspond to the above terms. I mean, if one does not grant gloriousness, one must grant
the absence of gloriousness; if one sets aside His power, one must acquiesce in its
opposite. So also with regard to honour, and goodness, and any other superiority, if they
are not accepted, their opposites must be conceded. 10 But if all must shrink from that,
as going even beyond the most revolting blasphemy, then a devout mind must accept the
nobler names and conceptions of the Holy Spirit, and must pronounce concerning Him all
that we have already named, that He has honour, power, glory, goodness, and everything
else that inspires devotion. It must own, too, that these realities do not attach to Him
in imperfection or with any limit to the quality of their brilliance, but that they
correspond with their names to infinity. He is not to be regarded as possessing dignity up
to a certain point, and then becoming different; but He is always such. If you begin to
count behind the ages, or if you fix your gaze on the Hereafter , you will find no falling
off whatever in dignity, or glory, or omnipotence, such as to constitute Him capable of
increase by addition, or of diminution by subtraction. Being wholly and entirely perfect,
He admits diminution in nothing. Whereinsoever, on such a supposition as theirs, He is
lessened, therein He will be exposed to the inroad of ideas tending to dishonour Him. For
that which is not absolutely perfect must be suspected on some one point of partaking of
the opposite character. But if to entertain even the thought of this is a sign of extreme
derangement of mind, it is well to confess our belief that His perfection in all that is
good is altogether unlimited, uncircumscribed, in no particular diminished.

11 If such is the doctrine concerning Him when followed out , let the same inquiry be made
concerning the Son and the Father as well. Do you not confess a perfection of glory in the
case of the one as in the case of the other? I think that all who reflect will allow it.
If, then, the honour of the Father is perfect, and the honour of the Son is perfect, and
they have confessed as well the perfection of honour for the Holy Spirit, wherefore do
these new theorists dictate to us that we are not to allow in His case an equality of
honour with the Father and the Son? As for ourselves, we follow out the above
considerations and find ourselves unable to think, as well as to say, that that which
requires no addition for its perfection is, as compared with something else, less
dignified; for when we have something wherein, owing to its faultless perfection, reason
can discover no possibility of increase, I do not see either wherein it can discover any
possibility of diminution. But these men, in denying the equality of honour, really lay
down the comparative absence of it; and so also when they follow out further this same
line of thought, by a diminution arising from comparison they divert all the conceptions
that devotion has formed of the Holy Spirit; they do not own His perfection either in
goodness, or omnipotence, or in any such attribute. But if they shrink from such open
profanity and allow His perfection in every attribute of good, then these clever people
must tell us how one perfect thing can be more perfect or less perfect than another
perfect thing; for so long as the definition of perfection applies to it, that thing can
not admit of a greater and a less in the matter of perfection.

12 If, then, they agree that the Holy Spirit is perfect absolutely, and it has been
admitted in addition that true reverence requires perfection in every good thing for the
Father and the Son as well, what reasons can justify them in taking away the Father when
once they have granted Him? For to take away "equality of dignity" with the Father is a
sure proof that they do not think that the Spirit has a share in the perfection of the
Father. And as regards the idea itself of this honour in the case of the Divine Being,
from which they would exclude the Spirit, what do they mean by it? Do they mean that
honour which men confer on men, when by word and gesture they pay respect to them,
signifying their own deference in the form of precedence and all such-like practices,
which in the foolish fashion of the day are kept up in the name of "honour. But all these
things depend on the goodwill of those who perform them; and if we suppose a case in which
they do not choose to perform them, then there is no one amongst mankind who has from mere
nature any advantage, such that he should necessarily be more honoured than the rest; for
all are marked alike with the same natural proportions. The truth of this is clear; it
does not admit of any doubt.

13 We see, for instance, the man who to-day, because of the office which he holds, is
considered by the crowd an object of honour, becoming tomorrow himself one of those who
pay honour, the office having been transferred to another. Do they, then, conceive of an
honour such as that in the case of the Divine Being, so that, as long as we please to pay
it, that Divine honour is retained, but when we cease to do so it ceases too at the
dictate of our will? Absurd thought, and blasphemous as well! The Deity, being independent
of us, does not grow in honour; He is evermore the same; He cannot pass into a better or a
worse state; for He has no better, and admits no worse. 14 In what sort of manner, then,
can you honour the Deity? How can you heighten the Highest? How can you give glory to that
which is above all glory? How can you praise the Incomprehensible? If "all the nations are
as a drop of a bucket ," as Isaiah says, if all living humanity were to send up one united
note of praise in harmony together, what addition will this gift of a mere drop be to that
which is glorious essentially? The heavens are telling the glory of God , and yet they are
counted poor heralds of His worth; because His Majesty is exalted, not as far as the
heavens, but high above those heavens, which are themselves included within a small
fraction of the Deity called figuratively His "span . And shall a man, this frail and
short-lived creature, so aptly likened to "grass," who "to-day is," and to-morrow is not,
believe that he can worthily honour the Divine Being? It would be like some one lighting a
thin fibre from some tow and fancying that by that spark he was making an addition to the
dazzling rays of the sun. By what words, pray, will you honour the Holy Spirit, supposing
you do wish to honour Him at all?

15 By saying that He is absolutely immortal, without turning, or variableness, always
beautiful, always independent of ascription from others, working as He wills all things in
all, Holy, leading, direct, just, of true utterance, "searching the deep things of God,"
"proceeding from the Father," "receiving from the Son," and all such-like things, what,
after all, do you lend to Him by these and such-like terms? Do you mention what He has, or
do you honour Him by what He has not? Well, if you attest what He has not, your ascription
is meaningless and comes to nothing; for he who calls bitterness "sweetness," while he
lies himself, has failed to commend that which is blamable. Whereas, if you mention what
He has, such and such a quality is essential, whether men recognize it or not; He remains
the object of faith , says the Apostle, if we have not faith.

16 What means, then, this lowering and this expanding of their soul, on the part of these
men who are enthusiastic for the Father's honour, and grant to the Son an equal share with
Him, but in the case of the Spirit are for narrowing down their favours; seeing that it
has been demonstrated that the intrinsic worth of the Divine Being does not depend for its
contents upon any will of ours, but has been always inalienably inherent in Him? Their
narrowness of mind, and unthankfulness, is exposed in this opinion of theirs, while the
Holy Spirit is essentially honourable, glorious, almighty, and all that we can conceive of
in the way of exaltation, in spite of them. "Yes," replies one of them, "but we have been
taught by Scripture that the Father is the Creator, and in the same way that it was
`through the Son ' that `all things were made'; but God's word tells us nothing of this
kind about the Spirit; and how, then, can it be right to place the Holy Spirit in a
position of equal dignity with One Who has displayed such magnificence of power through
the Creation?"

17 What shall we answer so this? That the thoughts of their hearts are so much idle talk,
when they imagine that the Spirit was not always with the Father and the Son, but that, as
occasion varies, He is sometimes to be contemplated as alone, sometimes to be found in the
closest union with Them. For if the heaven, and the earth, and all created things were
really made through the Son and from the Father, but apart from the Spirit, what was the
Holy Spirit doing at the time when the Father was at work with the Son upon the Creation?
Was He employed upon some other works, and was this the reason that He had no hand in the
building of the Universe? But, then, what special work of the Spirit have they to point
to, at the time when the world was being made? Surely, it is senseless folly to conceive
of a creation other than that which came into existence from the Father through the Son.
Well, suppose that He was not employed at all, but dissociated Himself from the busy work
of creating by reason of an inclination to ease and rest, which shrank from toil?

18 May the gracious Spirit Himself pardon this baseless supposition of ours! The blasphemy
of these theorists, which we have had to follow out in every step it takes, has caused us
unwittingly to soil our discussion with the mud of their own imaginings. The view which is
consistent with all reverence is as follows. We are not to think of the Father as ever
parted from the Son, nor to look for the Son as separate from the Holy Spirit. As it is
impossible to mount to the Father, unless our thoughts are exalted thither through the
Son, so it is impossible also to say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are to be known only in a perfect Trinity, in
closest consequence and union with each other, before all creation, before all the ages,
before anything whatever of which we can form an idea . The Father is always Father, and
in Him the Son, and with the Son the Holy Spirit. If these Persons, then, are inseparate
from each other, how great is the folly of these men who undertake to sunder this
indivisibility by certain distinctions of time, and so far to divide the Inseparable as to
assert confidently, "the Father alone, through the Son alone, made all things"; the Holy
Spirit, that is, being not present at all on the occasion of this making, or else not
working. Well, if He was not present, they must tell us where He was;

19 and whether, while God embraces all things, they can imagine any separate standing-
place for the Spirit, so that He could have remained in isolation during the time occupied
by the process of creating. If, on the other hand, He was present, how was it that He was
inactive? Because He could not, or because He would not, work? Did He abstain willingly,
or because some strong necessity drove Him away? Now, if He deliberately embraced this
inactivity, He must reject working in any other possible way either; and He Who affirmed
that "He worketh all things in all, as He wills ," is according to them a liar. If, on the
contrary, this Spirit has the impulse to work, but some overwhelming control hinders His
design, they must tell us the wherefore of this hindrance. Was it owing to his being
grudged a share in the glory of those operations, and in order to secure that the
admiration at their success should not extend to a third person as its object; or to a
distrust of His help, as if His co-operation would result in present mischief? These
clever men most certainly furnish the grounds for our holding one of these two hypotheses;
or else, if a grudging spirit has no connection with the Deity, any more than a failure
can be conceived of in any relation to an Infallible Being, what meaning of any kind is
there in these narrow views of theirs, which isolate the Spirit's power from all world-
building efficiency?

20 Their duty rather was to expel their low human way of thinking, by means of loftier
ideas, and to make a calculation more worthy of the sublimity of the objects in question.
For neither did the Universal God make the universe "through the Son," as needing any
help, nor does the Only-begotten God work all things "by the Holy Spirit," as having a
power that comes short of His design; but the fountain of power is the Father, and the
power of the Father is the Son, and the spirit of that power is the Holy Spirit; and
Creation entirely, in all its visible and spiritual extent, is the finished work of that
Divine power. And seeing that no toil can be thought of in the composition of anything
connected with the Divine Being (for performance being bound to the moment of willing, the
Plan at once becomes a Reality), we should be justified in calling all that Nature which
came into existence by creation a movement of Will, an impulse of Design, a transmission
of Power, beginning from the Father, advancing through the Son, and completed in the Holy
Spirit.

21 This is the view we take, after the unprofessional way usual with us; and we reject all
these elaborate sophistries of our adversaries, believing and confessing as we do, that in
every deed and thought, whether in this world, or beyond this world, whether in time or in
eternity, the Holy Spirit is to be apprehended as joined to the Father and Son, and is
wanting in no wish or energy, or anything else that is implied in a devout conception of
Supreme Goodness ; and, therefore, that, except for the distinction of order and Person,
no variation in any point is to be apprehended; but we assert that while His place is
counted third in mere sequence after the Father and Son, third in the order of the
transmission, in all other respects we acknowledge His inseparable union with them; both
in nature, in honour, in godhead, and glory, and majesty, and almighty power, and in all
devout belief.

22 But with regard to service and worship, and the other things which they so nicely
calculate about, and bring into prominence, we say this; that the Holy Spirit is exalted
above all that we can do for Him with our merely human purpose; our worship is far beneath
the honour due; and anything else that in human customs is held as honourable is somewhere
below the dignity of the Spirit; for that which in its essence is measureless surpasses
those who offer their all with so slight and circumscribed and paltry a power of giving.
This, then, we say to those of them who subscribe to the reverential conception of the
Holy Spirit that He is Divine, and of the Divine nature. But if there is any of them who
rejects this statement, and this idea involved in the very name of Divinity, and says that
which, to the destruction of the Spirit's greatness, is in circulation amongst the many,
namely, that He belongs, not to making, but to made, beings, that it is right to regard
Him not as of a Divine, but as of a created nature, we answer to a proposition such as
this, that we do not understand how we can count those who make it amongst the number of
Christians at all.

23 For just as it would not be possible to style the unformed embryo a human being, but
only a potential one, assuming that it is completed so as to come forth to human birth,
while as long as it is in this unformed state, it is something other than a human being;
so our reason cannot recognize as a Christian one who has failed to receive, with regard
to the entire mystery, the genuine form of our religion . We can hear Jews believing in
God, and our God too: even our Lord reminds them in the Gospel that they recognize no
other God than the Father of the Only-begotten, "of Whom ye say that he is your God. Are
we, then, to call the Jews Christians because they too agree to worship the God Whom we
adore? I am aware, too, that the Manichees go about vaunting the name of Christ. Because
they hold revered the Name to which we bow the knee, shall we therefore number them
amongst Christians? So, too, he who both believes in the Father and receives the Son, but
sets aside the Majesty of the Spirit, has "denied the faith, and is worse than an
infidel," and belies the name of Christ which he bears. The Apostle bids the man of God to
be "perfect . Now, to take only the general man, perfection must consist in completeness
in every aspect of human nature, in having reason, capability of thought and knowledge, a
share of animal life, an upright bearing, risibility, broadness of nail;

24 and if any one were to term some individual a man, and yet were unable to produce
evidence in his case of the foregoing signs of human nature, his terming him so would be a
valueless honour. Thus, too, the Christian is marked by his Belief in Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost; in this consists the form of him who is fashioned in accordance with the
mystery of the truth. But if his form is arranged otherwise, I will not recognize the
existence of anything whence the form is absent; there is a blurring out of the mark, and
a loss of the essential form, and an alteration of the characteristic signs of our
complete humanity, when the Holy Spirit is not included in the Belief. For indeed the word
of Ecclesiastes says true; your heretic is no living man, but "bones," he says , "in the
womb of her that is with child "; for how can one who does not think of the unction along
with the Anointed be said to believe in the Anointed? "Him," says (Peter), "did God anoint
with the Holy Spirit ."

25 These destroyers of the Spirit's glory, who relegate Him to a subject world, must tell
us of what thing that unction is the symbol. It not a symbol of the Kingship? And what? Do
they not believe in the Only-begotten as in His very nature a King? Men who have not once
for all enveloped their hearts with the Jewish "vail " will not gainsay that He is this.
If, then, the Son is in His very nature a king, and the unction is the symbol of His
kingship, what, in the way of a consequence, does your reason demonstrate? Why, that the
Unction is not a thing alien to that Kingship, and so that the Spirit is not to be ranked
in the Trinity as anything strange and foreign either. For the Son is King, and His
living, realized, and personified Kingship is found in the Holy Spirit, Who anoints the
Only-begotten, and so makes Him the Anointed, and the King of all things that exist. If,
then, the Father is King, and the Only-begotten is King, and the Holy Ghost is the
Kingship, one and the same definition of Kingship must prevail throughout this Trinity,
and the thought of "unction" conveys the hidden meaning that there is no interval of
separation between the Son and the Holy Spirit. For as between the body's surface and the
liquid of the oil nothing intervening can be detected, either in reason or in perception,
so inseparable is the union of the Spirit with the Son;

26 and the result is that whosoever is to touch the Son by faith must needs first
encounter the oil in the very act of touching; there is not a part of Him devoid of the
Holy Spirit. Therefore belief in the Lordship of the Son arises in those who entertain it,
by means of the Holy Ghost; on all sides the Holy Ghost is met by those who by faith
approach the Son. If, then, the Son is essentially a King, and the Holy Spirit is that
dignity of Kingship which anoints the Son, what deprivation of this Kingship, in its
essence and comparing it with itself, can be imagined? 27 Again, let us look at it in this
way. Kingship is most assuredly shown in the rule over subjects. Now what is "subject" to
this Kingly Being? The Word includes the ages certainly, and all that is in them; "Thy
Kingdom," it says, "is a Kingdom of ages," and, by ages, it means every substance in them
created in infinite space , whether visible or invisible; for in them all things were
created by the Maker of those ages. If, then, the Kingship must always be thought of along
with the King, and the world of subjects is acknowledged to be something other than the
world of rulers, what absurdity it is for these men to contradict themselves thus,
attributing as they do the unction as an expression for the worth of Him Whose very nature
it is to be a King, yet degrading that unction Itself to the rank of a subject, as if
wanting in such worth! If It is a subject by virtue of its nature, then why is It made the
unction of Kingship, and so associated with the Kingly dignity of the Only-be-gotten? If,
on the other hand, the capacity to rule is shown by Its being included in the majesty of
Kingship, where is the necessity of having everything dragged down to a plebeian and
servile lower condition, and numbered with the subject creation? When we affirm of the
Spirit the two conditions, we cannot be in both cases speaking the truth: i. e. that He is
ruling, and that He is subject.

28 If He rules, He is not under any lord, but if He is subject, then He cannot be
comprehended with the Being who is a King. Men are recognized as amongst men, angels
amongst angels, everything amongst its kind; and so the Holy Spirit must needs be believed
to belong to one only of two worlds; to the ruling, or to the inferior world; for between
these two our reason can recognize nothing; no new invention of any natural attribute on
the borderland of the Created and the Uncreated can be thought of, such as would
participate in both, yet be neither entirely; we cannot imagine such an amalgamation and
welding together of opposites by anything being blended of the Created and the Uncreated,
and two opposites thus coalescing into one person, in which case the result of that
strange mixture would not only be a composite thing, but composed of elements that were
unlike, and disagreeing as to time; for that which receives its personality from a
creation is assuredly posterior to that which subsists without a creation.

29 If, then, they declare the Holy Ghost to be blended of both, they must consequently
view that blending as of a prior with a posterior thing; and, according to them, He will
be prior to Himself; and reversely, posterior to Himself; from the Uncreated He will get
the seniority, and from the Created the juniority. But, in the nature of things, this
cannot be; and so it must most certainly be true to affirm of the Holy Spirit one only of
these alternatives, and that is, the attribute of being Uncreated; for notice the amount
of absurdity involved in the other alternative; all things that we can think of in the
actual creation have, by virtue of all having received their existence by an act of
creation, a rank and value perfectly equal in all cases, and so what reason can there be
for separating the Holy Spirit from the rest of the creation, and ranking Him with the
Father and the Son? Logic, then, will discover this about Him; That which is contemplated
as part of the Uncreated, does not exist by creation; or, if It does, then It has no more
power than its kindred creation, It cannot associate itself with that Transcendent Nature;

30 if, on the other hand, they declare that He is a created being, and at the same time
has a power which is above the creation, then the creation will be found at variance with
itself, divided into ruler and ruled, so that part of it is the benefactor, part the
benefited, part the sanctifier, part the sanctified; and all that fund of blessings which
we believe to be provided for the creation by the Holy Spirit are present in Him, welling
up abundantly, and pouring forth upon others, while the creation remains in need of the
thence-issuing help and grace, and receives, as a mere dole, those blessings which can be
passed to it from a fellow-creature! That would be like favouritism and respecting of
persons; when we know that there is no such partiality in the nature of things, as that
those existences which differ in no way from each other on the score of substance should
not have equal power; and I think that no one who reflects will admit such views. Either
He imparts nothing to others, if He possesses nothing essentially; or, if we do believe
that He does give, His possession beforehand of that gift must be granted; this capacity
of giving blessings, whilst needing oneself no such extraneous help, is the peculiar and
exquisite privilege of Deity, and of no other.

31 Then let us look to this too. In Holy Baptism, what is it that we secure thereby? Is it
not a participation in a life no longer subject to death? I think that no one who can in
any way be reckoned amongst Christians will deny that statement. What then? Is that life-
giving power in the water itself which is employed to convey the grace of Baptism? Or is
it not rather clear to every one that this element is only employed as a means in the
external ministry, and of itself contributes nothing towards the sanctification, unless it
be first transformed itself by the sanctification; and that what gives life to the
baptized is the Spirit; as our Lord Himself says in respect to Him with His own lips, "It
is the Spirit that giveth life; but for the completion of this grace He alone, received by
faith, does not give life, but belief in our Lord must precede, in order that the lively
gift may come upon the believer, as our Lord has spoken, "He giveth life to whom He
willeth. But further still, seeing that this grace administered through the Son is
dependent on the Ungenerate Source of all, Scripture accordingly teaches us that belief in
the Father Who engendereth all things is to come first; so that this life-giving grace
should be completed, for those fit to receive it, after starting from that Source as from
a spring pouring life abundantly, through the Only-begotten Who is the True life, by the
operation of the Holy Spirit.

32 If, then, life comes in baptism, and baptism receives its completion in the name of
Father, Son, and Spirit, what do these men mean who count this Minister of life as
nothing? If the gift is a slight one, they must tell us the thing that is more precious
than this life. But if everything whatever that is precious is second to this life, I mean
that higher and precious life in which the brute creation has no part, how can they dare
to depreciate so great a favour, or rather the actual Being who grants the favour, and to
degrade Him in their conceptions of Him to a subject world by disjoining Him from the
higher world of deity . Finally, if they will have it that this bestowal of life is a
small thing, and that it means nothing great and awful in the nature of the Bestower, how
is it they do not draw the conclusion which this very view makes inevitable, namely, that
we must suppose, even with regard to the Only-begotten and the Father Himself, nothing
great in Their life, the same as that which we have through the Holy Spirit, supplied as
it is from the Father through the Son?

33 So that if these despisers and impugners of their very own life conceive of the gift as
a little one, and decree accordingly to slight the Being who imparts the gift, let them be
made aware that they cannot limit to one Person only their ingratitude, but must extend
its profanity beyond the Holy Spirit to the Holy Trinity Itself. For like as the grace
flows down in an unbroken stream from the Father, through the Son and the Spirit, upon the
persons worthy of it, so does this profanity return backward, and is transmitted from the
Son to the God of all the world, passing from one to the other. If, when a man is
slighted, He Who sent him is slighted (yet what a distance there was between the man and
the Sender!), what criminality is thereby implied in those who thus defy the Holy Spirit!
Perhaps this is the blasphemy against our Law-giver for which the judgment without
remission has been decreed; since in Him the entire Being, Blessed and Divine, is insulted
also.

34 As the devout worshipper of the Spirit sees in Him the glory of the Only-begotten, and
in that sight beholds the image of the Infinite God, and by means of that image makes an
outline, upon his own cognition , of the Original, so most plainly does this contemner (of
the Spirit), whenever he advances any of his bold statements against the glory of the
Spirit, extend, by virtue of the same reasoning, his profanity to the Son, and beyond Him
to the Father. Therefore, those who reflect must have fear lest they perpetrate an
audacity the result of which will be the complete blotting out of the perpetrator of it;
and while they exalt the Spirit in the naming, they will even before the naming exalt Him
in their thought, it being impossible that words can mount along with thought; still when
one shall have reached the highest limit of human faculties, the utmost height and
magnificence of idea to which the mind can ever attain, even then one must believe it is
far below the glory that belongs to Him, according to the words in the Psalms, that "after
exalting the Lord our God, even then ye scarcely worship the footstool beneath His feet":
and the cause of this dignity being so incomprehensible is nothing else than that He is
holy.

35 If, then, every height of man's ability falls below the grandeur of the Spirit (for
that is what the Word means in the metaphor of "footstool"), what vanity is theirs who
think that there is within themselves a power so great that it rests with them to define
the amount of value to be attributed to a being who is invaluable! And so they pronounce
the Holy Spirit unworthy of some things which are associated with the idea of value, as if
their own abilities could do far more than the Spirit, as estimated by them, is capable
of. What pitiable, what wretched madness! They understand not what they are themselves
when they talk like this, and what the Holy Spirit against Whom they insolently range
themselves. Who will tell these people that men are "a spirit that goeth forth and
returneth not again ," built up in their mother's womb by means of a soiled conception,
and returning all of them to a soiled earth; inheriting a life that is likened unto grass;
blooming for a little during life's illusion , and then withering away, and all the bloom
upon them being shed and vanishing; they themselves not knowing with certainty what they
were before their birth, nor into what they will be changed, their soul being ignorant of
her peculiar destiny as long as she tarries in the flesh? Such is man.

36 On the contrary the Holy Spirit is, to begin with, because of qualities that are
essentially holy, that which the Father, essentially Holy, is; and such as the Only-
begotten is, such is the Holy Spirit; then, again, He is so by virtue of life-giving, of
imperishability, of unvariableness, of everlastingness, of justice, of wisdom, of
rectitude, of sovereignty, of goodness, of power, of capacity to give all good things, and
above them all life itself, and by being everywhere, being present in each, filling the
earth, residing in the heavens, shed abroad upon supernatural Powers, filling all things
according to the deserts of each, Himself remaining full, being with all who are worthy,
and yet not parted from the Holy Trinity. He ever "searches the deep things of God," ever
"receives" from the Son, ever is being "sent," and yet not separated, and being
"glorified," and yet He has always had glory. It is plain, indeed, that one who gives
glory to another must be found himself in the possession of superabundant glory; for how
could one devoid of glory glorify another? Unless a thing be itself light, how can it
display the gracious gift of light? So the power to glorify could never be displayed by
one who was not himself glory , and honour, and majesty, and greatness. Now the Spirit
does glorify the Father and the Son. Neither does He lie Who saith, "Them that glorify Me
I glorify" ; and "I have glorified Thee ," is said by our Lord to the Father;

37 and again He says, "Glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the
world was . The Divine Voice answers, "I have both glorified, and will glorify again . You
see the revolving circle of the glory moving from Like to Like. The Son is glorified by
the Spirit; the Father is glorified by the Son; again the Son has His glory from the
Father; and the Only-begotten thus becomes the glory of the Spirit. For with what shall
the Father be glorified, but with the true glory of the Son: and with what again shall the
Son be glorified, but with the majesty of the Spirit? In like manner, again, Faith
completes the circle, and glorifies the Son by means of the Spirit, and the Father by
means of the Son. 38 If such, then, is the greatness of the Spirit, and whatever is
morally beautiful, whatever is good, coming from God as it does through the Son, is
completed by the instrumentality of the Spirit that "worketh all in all," why do they set
themselves against their own life? Why do they alienate themselves from the hope belonging
to "such as are to be saved"? Why do they sever themselves from their cleaving unto God?
For how can any man cleave unto the Lord unless the Spirit operates within us that union
of ourselves with Him? Why do they haggle with us about the amount of service and of
worship? Why do they use that word "worship" in an ironical sense, derogatory to a Divine
and entirely Independent Being, supposing that they desire their own salvation? We would
say to them, "Your supplication is the advantage of you who ask, and not the honouring of
Him Who grants it. Why, then, do you approach your Benefactor as if you had something to
give? Or rather, why do you refuse to name as a benefactor at all Him Who gives you your
blessings, and slight the Life-giver while clinging to Life? Why, seeking for His
sanctification, do you misconceive of the Dispenser of the Grace of sanctification; and as
to the giving of those blessings, why, not denying that He has the power, do you deem Him
not worthy to be asked to give, and fail to take this into consideration, viz.

39 how much greater a thing it is to give some blessing than to be asked to give it? The
asking does not unmistakably witness to greatness in him who is asked; for it is possible
that one who does not have the thing to give might be asked for it, for the asking depends
only on the will of the asker. But one who actually bestows some blessing has thereby
given undoubted evidence of a power residing in him. Why then, while testifying to the
greater thing in Him,-I mean the power to bestow everything that is morally beautiful -do
you deprive Him of the asking, as of something of importance; although his asking, as we
have said, is often performed in the case of those who have nothing in their power, owing
to the delusion of their devotees? For instance, the slaves of superstition ask the idols
for the objects of their wishes; but the asking does not, in this instance of the idols,
confer any glory; only people pay that attention to them owing to the deluded expectation
that they will get some one of the things they ask for, and so they do not cease to ask.

40 But you, persuaded as you are of what and how great things the Holy Spirit is the
Giver, do you neglect the asking them from Him, taking refuge in the law which bids you
`worship God and serve Him only ?' Well, how will you worship Him only, tell me, when you
have severed Him from His intimate union with His own Only-begotten and His own Spirit?
This worship is simply Jewish. 41 But you will say, "When I think of the Father it is the
Son (alone) that I have included as well in that term." But tell me; when you have grasped
the notion of the Son have you not admitted therein that of the Holy Spirit too? For how
can you confess the Son except by the Holy Spirit? At what moment, then, is the Spirit in
a state of separation from the Son, so that when the Father is being worshipped, the
worship of the Spirit is not included along with that of the Son? And as regards their
worship itself, what in the world do they reckon it to be? They bestow it, as some
exquisite piece of honour, upon the God over all, and convey it over, sometimes, so as to
reach the Only-begotten also; but the Holy Spirit they regard as unworthy of such a
privilege. Now, in the common parlance of mankind, that self-prostration of inferiors upon
the ground which they practise when they salute their betters is termed worship. Thus, it
was by such a posture that the patriarch Jacob, in his self-humiliation, seems to have
wished to show his inferiority when coming to meet his brother and to appease his wrath;
for "he bowed himself to the ground," says the Scripture, "three times" ; and Joseph's
brethren, as long as they knew him not, and he pretended before them that he knew them
not, by reason of the exaltation of his rank reverenced his sovereignty with this worship;
and even the great Abraham himself "bowed himself " "to the children of Heth," a stranger
amongst the natives of that land, showing, I opine, by that action, how far more powerful
those natives were than sojourners. It is possible to speak of many such actions both in
the ancient records, and from examples before our eyes in the world now .

42 Do they too, then, mean this by their worship? Well, is it anything but absurdity to
think that it is wrong to honour the Holy Spirit with that with which the patriarch
honoured even Canaanites? Or do they consider their "worship" something different to this,
as if one sort were fitting for men, another sort for the Supreme Being? But then, how is
it that they omit worship altogether in the instance of the Spirit, not even bestowing
upon Him the worship conceded in the case of men? And what kind of worship do they imagine
to be reserved especially for the Deity? Is it to be spoken word, or acted gesture? Well,
but are not these marks of honour shared by men as well? In their case words are spoken
and gestures acted. Is it not, then, plain to every one who possesses the least amount of
reflection, that any gift worthy of the Deity mankind has not got to give; for the Author
of all blessings has no need of us. But it is we men who have transferred these
indications of respect and admiration, which we adopt towards each other, when we would
show by the acknowledgment of a neighbour's superiority that one of us is in a humbler
position than another, to our attendance upon a Higher Power; out of our possessions we
make a gift of what is most precious to a priceless Nature.

43 Therefore, since men, approaching emperors and potentates for the objects which they
wish in some way to obtain from those rulers, do not bring to them their mere petition
only, but employ every possible means to induce them to feel pity and favour towards
themselves, adopting a humble voice, and a kneeling position , clasping their knees,
prostrating themselves on the ground, and putting forward to plead for their petition all
sorts of pathetic signs, to wake that pity,-so it is that those who recognize the True
Potentate, by Whom all things in existence are controlled, when they are supplicating for
that which they have at heart, some lowly in spirit because of pitiable conditions in this
world, some with their thoughts lifted up because of their eternal mysterious hopes,
seeing that they know not how to ask, and that their humanity is not capable of displaying
any reverence that can reach to the grandeur of that Glory, carry the ceremonial used in
the case of men into the service of the Deity. And this is what "worship" is,-that, I
mean, which is offered for objects we have at heart along with supplication and
humiliation. Therefore Daniel too bends the knees to the Lord, when asking His love for
the captive people;

44 and He Who "bare our sicknesses," and intercedes for us, is recorded in the Gospel to
have fallen on His face, because of the man that He had taken upon Him, at the hour of
prayer, and in this posture to have made His petition, enjoining thereby, I think, that at
the time of our petition our voice is not to be bold, but that we are to assume the
attitude of the wretched; since the Lord "resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the
humble; and somewhere else (He says), "he that exalteth himself shall be abased. If, then,
"worship" is a sort of suppliant state, or pleading put forward for the object of the
petition, what is the intention of these new-fashioned regulations? These men do not even
deign to ask of the Giver, nor to kneel to the Ruler, nor to attend upon the Potentate.


ON THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST
========================

ON THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST Gregory of Nyssa

c. AD 335–395

Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil; theologian and mystic.

ON THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

A Sermon for the Day of the Lights.

1 Now I recognize my own flock: to-day I behold the wonted figure of the Church, when,
tuning with aversion from the occupation even of the cares of the flesh, you come together
in your undiminished numbers for the service of God-when the people crowds the house,
coming within the sacred sanctuary, and when the multitude that can find no place within
fills the space outside in the precincts like bees. For of them some are at their labours
within, while others outside hum around the hive. So do, my children: and never abandon
this zeal. For I confess that I feel a shepherd's affections, and I wish, when I am set
upon this watch-tower, to see the flock gathered round about the mountain's foot: and when
it so happens to me, I am filled with wonderful earnestness, and work with pleasure at my
sermon, as the shepherds do at their rustic strains. But when things are otherwise, and
you are straying in distant wanderings, as you did but lately, the last Lord's Day, I am
much troubled, and glad to be silent; and I consider the question of flight from hence,
and seek for the Carmel of the prophet Elijah, or for some rock without inhabitant; for
men in depression naturally choose loneliness and solitude. But now, when I see you
thronging here with all your families, I am reminded of the prophetic saying, which Isaiah
proclaimed from afar off, addressing by anticipation the Church with her fair and numerous
children:-"Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves with their young to me "? Yes,
and he adds moreover this also, "The place is too strait for me; give place that I may
dwell ." For these predictions the power of the Spirit made with reference to the populous
Church of God, which was afterwards to fill the whole world from end to end of the earth.

2 The time, then, has come, and bears in its course the remembrance of holy mysteries,
purifying man,-mysteries which purge out from soul and body even that sin which is hard to
cleanse away, and which bring us back to that fairness of our first estate which God, the
best of artificers, impressed upon us. Therefore it is that you, the initiated people, are
gathered together; and you bring also that people who have not made trial of them,
leading, like good fathers, by careful guidance, the uninitiated to the perfect reception
of the faith. I for my part rejoice over both;-over you that are initiated, because you
are enriched with a great gift: over you that are uninitiated, because you have a fair
expectation of hope-remission of what is to be accounted for, release from bondage, close
relation to God, free boldness of speech, and in place of servile subjection equality with
the angels. For these things, and all that follow from them, the grace of Baptism secures
and conveys to us. Therefore let us leave the other matters of the Scriptures for other
occasions, and abide by the topic set before us, offering, as far as we may, the gifts
that are proper and fitting for the feast: for each festival demands its own treatment. So
we welcome a marriage with wedding songs; for mourning we bring the due offering with
funeral strains; in times of business we speak seriously, at times of festivity we relax
the concentration and strain of our minds; but each time we keep free from disturbance by
things that are alien to its character.

3 Christ, then, was born as it were a few days ago-He Whose generation was before all
things, sensible and intellectual. To-day He is baptized by John that He might cleanse him
who was defiled, that He might bring the Spirit from above, and exalt man to heaven, that
he who had fallen might be raised up and he who had cast him down might be put to shame.
And marvel not if God showed so great earnestness in our cause: for it was with care on
the part of him who did us wrong that the plot was laid against us; it is with forethought
on the part of our Maker that we are saved. And he, that evil charmer, framing his new
device of sin against our race, drew along his serpent train, a disguise worthy of his own
intent, entering in his impurity into what was like himself,-dwelling, earthly and mundane
as he was in will, in that creeping thing. But Christ, the repairer of his evil-doing,
assumes manhood in its fulness, and saves man, and becomes the type and figure of us all,
to sanctify the first-fruits of every action, and leave to His servants no doubt in their
zeal for the tradition. Baptism, then, is a purification from sins, a remission of
trespasses, a cause of renovation and regeneration.

4 By regeneration, understand regeneration conceived in thought, not discerned by bodily
sight For we shall not, according to the Jew Nicodemus and his somewhat dull intelligence,
change the old man into a child, nor shall we form anew him who is wrinkled and gray-
headed to tenderness and youth, if we bring back the man again into his mother's womb: but
we do bring back, by royal grace, him who bears the scars of sin, and has grown old in
evil habits, to the innocence of the babe. For as the child new-born is free from
accusations and from penalties, so too the child of regeneration has nothing for which to
answer, being released by royal bounty from accountability . And this gift it is not the
water that bestows (for in that case it were a thing more exalted than all creation), but
the command of God, and the visitation of the Spirit that comes sacramentally to set us
free. But water serves to express the cleansing. For since we are wont by washing in water
to render our body clean when it is soiled by dirt or mud, we therefore apply it also in
the sacramental action, and display the spiritual brightness by that which is subject to
our senses. Let us however, if it seems well, persevere in enquiring more fully and more
minutely concerning Baptism, starting, as from the fountain-head, from the Scriptural
declaration, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God .

5 Why are both named, and why is not the Spirit alone accounted sufficient for the
completion of Baptism? Man, as we know full well, is compound, not simple: and therefore
the cognate and similar medicines are assigned for healing to him who is twofold and
conglomerate:-for his visible body, water, the sensible element,-for his soul, which we
cannot see, the Spirit invisible, invoked by faith, present unspeakably. For "the Spirit
breathes where He wills, and thou hearest His voice, but canst not tell whence He cometh
or whither He goeth . He blesses the body that is baptized, and the water that baptizes.
Despise not, therefore, the Divine laver, nor think lightly of it, as a common thing, on
account of the use of water. For the power that operates is mighty, and wonderful are the
things that are wrought thereby. For this holy altar, too, by which I stand, is stone,
ordinary in its nature, nowise different from the other slabs of stone that build our
houses and adorn our pavements; but seeing that it was consecrated to the service of God,
and received the benediction, it is a holy table, an altar undefiled, no longer touched by
the hands of all, but of the priests alone, and that with reverence. The bread again is at
first common bread, but when the sacramental action consecrates it, it is called, and
becomes, the Body of Christ. So with the sacramental oil; so with the wine:

6 though before the benediction they are of little value, each of them, after the
sanctification bestowed by the Spirit, has its several operation. The same power of the
word, again, also makes the priest venerable and honourable, separated, by the new
blessing bestowed upon him, from his community with the mass of men. While but yesterday
he was one of the mass, one of the people, he is suddenly rendered a guide, a president, a
teacher of righteousness, an instructor in hidden mysteries; and this he does without
being at all changed in body or in form; but, while continuing to be in all appearance the
man he was before, being, by some unseen power and grace, transformed in respect of his
unseen soul to the higher condition. And so there are many things, which if you consider
you will see that their appearance is contemptible, but the things they accomplish are
mighty: and this is especially the case when you collect from the ancient history
instances cognate and similar to the subject of our inquiry. The rod of Moses was a hazel
wand. And what is that, but common wood that every hand cuts and carries, and fashions to
what use it chooses, and casts as it will into the fire? But when God was pleased to
accomplish by that rod those wonders, lofty, and passing the power of language to express,
the wood was changed into a serpent.

7 And again, at another time, he smote the waters, and now made the water blood, now made
to issue forth a countless brood of frogs: and again he divided the sea, severed to its
depths without flowing together again. Likewise the mantle of one of the prophets, though
it was but a goat's skin, made Elisha renowned in the whole world. And the wood of the
Cross is of saving efficacy for all men, though it is, as I am informed, a piece of a poor
tree, less valuable than most trees are. So a bramble bush showed to Moses the
manifestation of the presence of God: so the remains of Elisha raised a dead man to life;
so clay gave sight to him that was blind from the womb. And all these things, though they
were matter without soul or sense, were made the means for the performance of the great
marvels wrought by them, when they received the power of God. Now by a similar train of
reasoning, water also, though it is nothing else than water, renews the man to spiritual
regeneration , when the grace from above hallows it. And if any one answers me again by
raising a difficulty, with his questions and doubts, continually asking and inquiring how
water and the sacramental act that is performed therein regenerate, I most justly reply to
him, "Show me the mode of that generation which is after the flesh, and I will explain to
you the power of regeneration in the soul.

8 You will say perhaps, by way of giving an account of the matter, "It is the cause of the
seed which makes the man. Learn then from us in return, that hallowed water cleanses and
illuminates the man. And if you again object to me your "How? I shall more vehemently cry
in answer, "How does the fluid and formless substance become a man? and so the argument as
it advances will be exercised on everything through all creation. How does heaven exist?
how earth? how sea? how every single thing? For everywhere men's reasoning, perplexed in
the attempt at discovery, falls back upon this syllable "how," as those who cannot walk
fall back upon a seat. To speak concisely, everywhere the power of God and His operation
are incomprehensible and incapable of being reduced to rule, easily producing whatever He
wills, while concealing from us the minute knowledge of His operation. Hence also the
blessed David, applying his mind to the magnificence of creation, and filled with
perplexed wonder in his soul, spake that verse which is sung by all, "O Lord, how manifold
are Thy works: in wisdom hast Thou made them all . The wisdom he perceived: but the art of
the wisdom he could not discover. Let us then leave the task of searching into what is
beyond human power, and seek rather that which shows signs of being partly within our
comprehension:-what is the reason why the cleansing is effected by water? and to what
purpose are the three immersions received?

9 That which the fathers taught, and which our mind has received and assented to, is as
follows:-We recognize four elements, of which the world is composed, which every one knows
even if their names are not spoken; but if it is well, for the sake of the more simple, to
tell you their names, they are fire and air, earth and water. Now our God and Saviour, in
fulfilling the Dispensation for our sakes, went beneath the fourth of these, the earth,
that He might raise up life from thence. And we in receiving Baptism, in imitation of our
Lord and Teacher and Guide, are not indeed buried in the earth (for this is the shelter of
the body that is entirely dead, covering the infirmity and decay of our nature), but
coming to the element akin to earth, to water, we conceal ourselves in that as the Saviour
did in the earth: and by doing this thrice we represent for ourselves that grace of the
Resurrection which was wrought in three days: and this we do, not receiving the sacrament
in silence, but while there are spoken over us the Names of the Three Sacred Persons on
Whom we believed, in Whom we also hope, from Whom comes to us both the fact of our present
and the fact of our future existence. It may be thou art offended, thou who contendest
boldly against the glory of the Spirit, and that thou grudgest to the Spirit that
veneration wherewith He is reverenced by the godly.

10 Leave off contending with me: resist, if thou canst, those words of the Lord which gave
to men the rule of the Baptismal invocation. What says the Lord's command? "Baptizing them
in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost . How in the Name of the
Father? Because He is the primal cause of all things. How in the Name of the Son? Because
He is the Maker of the Creation. How in the Name of the Holy Ghost? Because He is the
power perfecting all. We bow ourselves therefore before the Father, that we may be
sanctified: before the Son also we bow, that the same end may be fulfilled: we bow also
before the Holy Ghost, that we may be made what He is in fact and in Name. There is not a
distinction in the sanctification, in the sense that the Father sanctifies more, the Son
less, the Holy Spirit in a less degree than the other Two. Why then dost thou divide the
Three Persons into fragments of different natures, and make Three Gods, unlike one to
another, whilst from all thou dost receive one and the same grace?

11 As, however, examples always render an argument more vivid to the hearers, I propose to
instruct the mind of the blasphemers by an illustration, explaining, by means of earthly
and lowly matters, those matters which are great, and invisible to the senses. If it befel
thee to be enduring the misfortune of captivity among enemies, to be in bondage and in
misery, to be groaning for that ancient freedom which thou once hadst-and if all at once
three men, who were notable men and citizens in the country of thy tyrannical masters, set
thee free from the constraint that lay upon thee, giving thy ransom equally, and dividing
the charges of the money in equal shares among themselves, wouldst thou not then, meeting
with this favour, look upon the three alike as benefactors, and make repayment of the
ransom to them in equal shares, as the trouble and the cost on thy behalf was common to
them all-if, that is, thou wert a fair judge of the benefit done to thee? This we may see,
so far as illustration goes , for our aim at present is not to render a strict account of
the Faith. Let us return to the present season, and to the subject it sets before us.

12 I find that not only do the Gospels, written after the Crucifixion, proclaim the grace
of Baptism, but, even before the Incarnation of our Lord, the ancient Scripture everywhere
prefigured the likeness of our regeneration; not clearly manifesting its form, but fore-
showing, in dark sayings, the love of God to man. And as the Lamb was proclaimed by
anticipation, and the Cross was foretold by anticipation, so, too, was Baptism shown forth
by action and by word. Let us recall its types to those who love good thoughts-for the
festival season of necessity demands their recollection. 13 Hagar, the handmaid of Abraham
(whom Paul treats allegorically in reasoning with the Galatians ), being sent forth from
her master's house by the anger of Sarah-for a servant suspected in regard to her master
is a hard thing for lawful wives to bear-was wandering in desolation to a desolate land
with her babe Ishmael at her breast. And when she was in straits for the needs of life,
and was herself nigh unto death, and her child yet more sore for the water in the skin was
spent(since it was not possible that the Synagogue, she who once dwelt among the figures
of the perennial Fountain, should have all that was needed to support life), an angel
unexpectedly appears, and shows I her a well of living water, and drawing thence, she
saves Ishmael. Behold, then, a sacramental type: how from the very first it is by the
means of living water that salvation comes to him that was perishing-water that was not
before, but was given as a boon by an angel's means. Again, at a later time, Isaac-the
same for whose sake Ishmael was driven with his mother from his father's home-was to be
wedded. Abraham's servant is sent to make the match, so as to secure a bride for his
master, and finds Rebekah at the well: and a marriage that was to produce the race of
Christ had its beginning and its first covenant in water .

14 Yes, and Isaac himself also, when he was ruling his flocks, digged wells at all parts
of the desert, which the aliens stopped and filled up , for a type of all those impious
men of later days who hindered the grace of Baptism, and talked loudly in their struggle
against the truth. Yet the martyrs and the priests overcame them by digging the wells, and
the gift of Baptism over-flowed the whole world. According to the same force of the text,
Jacob also, hastening to seek a bride, met Rachel unexpectedly at the well. And a great
stone lay upon the well, which a multitude of shepherds were wont to roll away when they
came together, and then gave water to themselves and to their flocks. But Jacob alone
rolls away the stone, and waters the flocks of his spouse . The thing is, I think, a dark
saying, a shadow of what should come. For what is the stone that is laid but Christ
Himself? for of Him Isaiah says, "And I will lay in the foundations of Sion a costly
stone, precious, elect : and Daniel likewise, "A stone was cut out without hands ," that
is, Christ was born without a man. For as it is a new and marvellous thing that a stone
should be cut out of the rock without a hewer or stone-cutting tools, so it is a thing
beyond all wonder that an offspring should appear from an unwedded Virgin.

15 There was lying, then, upon the well the spiritual stone, Christ, concealing in the
deep and in mystery the layer of regeneration which needed much time-as it were a long
rope-to bring it to light. And none rolled away the stone save Israel, who is mind seeing
God. But he both draws up the water and gives drink to the sheep of Rachel; that is, he
reveals the hidden mystery, and gives living water to the flock of the Church. Add to this
also the history of the three rods of Jacob . For from the time when the three rods were
laid by the well, Laban the polytheist thenceforth became poor, and Jacob became rich and
wealthy in herds. Now let Laban be interpreted of the devil, and Jacob of Christ. For
after the institution of Baptism Christ took away all the flock of Satan and Himself grew
rich. Again, the great Moses, when he was a goodly child, and yet at the breast, falling
under the general and cruel decree which the hard-hearted Pharaoh made against the men-
children, was exposed on the banks of the river-not naked, but laid in an ark, for it was
fitting that the Law should typically be enclosed in a coffer . And he was laid near the
water; for the Law, and those daily sprinklings of the Hebrews which were a little later
to be made plain in the perfect and marvellous Baptism, are near to grace.

16 Again, according to the view of the inspired Paul , the people itself, by passing
through the Red Sea, proclaimed the good tidings of salvation by water. The people passed
over, and the Egyptian king with his host was engulfed, and by these actions this
Sacrament was foretold. For even now, whensoever the people is in the water of
regeneration, fleeing from Egypt, from the burden of sin, it is set free and saved; but
the devil with his own servants (I mean, of course, the spirits of evil), is choked with
grief, and perishes, deeming the salvation of men to be his own misfortune. 17 Even these
instances might be enough to confirm our present position; but the lover of good thoughts
must yet not neglect what follows. The people of the Hebrews, as we learn, after many
sufferings, and after accomplishing their weary course in the desert, did not enter the
land of promise until it had first been brought, with Joshua for its guide and the pilot
of its life, to the passage of the Jordan . But it is clear that Joshua also, who set up
the twelve stones in the stream , was anticipating the coming of the twelve disciples, the
ministers of Baptism. Again, that marvellous sacrifice of the old Tishbite , that passes
all human understanding, what else does it do but prefigure in action the Faith in the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and redemption? For when all the people of the
Hebrews had trodden underfoot the religion of their fathers, and fallen into the error of
polytheism, and their king Ahab was deluded by idolatry, with Jezebel, of ill-omened name,
as the wicked partner of his life, and the vile prompter of his impiety, the prophet,
filled with the grace of the Spirit, coming to a meeting with Ahab, withstood the priests
of Baal in a marvellous and wondrous contest in the sight of the king and all the people;
and by proposing to them the task of sacrificing the bullock without fire, he displayed
them in a ridiculous and wretched plight, vainly praying and crying aloud to gods that
were not.

18 At last, himself invoking his own and the true God, he accomplished the test proposed
with further exaggerations and additions. For he did not simply by prayer bring down the
fire from heaven upon the wood when it was dry, but exhorted and enjoined the attendants
to bring abundance of water. And when he had thrice poured out the barrels upon the cleft
wood, he kindled at his prayer the fire from out of the water, that by the contrariety of
the elements, so concurring in friendly cooperation, he might show with superabundant
force the power of his own God. Now herein, I by that wondrous sacrifice, Elijah clearly
proclaimed to us the sacramental rite of Baptism that should afterwards be instituted. For
the fire was kindled by water thrice poured upon it, so that it is clearly shown that
where the mystic water is, there is the kindling, warm, and fiery Spirit, that burns up
the ungodly, and illuminates the faithful. Yes, and yet again his disciple Elisha, when
Naaman the Syrian, who was diseased with leprosy, had come to him as a suppliant, cleanses
the sick man by washing him in Jordan , clearly indicating what should come, both by the
use of water generally, and by the dipping in the river in particular. For Jordan alone of
rivers, receiving in itself the first-fruits of sanctification and benediction, conveyed
in its channel to the whole world, as it were from some fount in the type afforded by
itself, the grace of Baptism.

19 These then are indications in deed and act of regeneration by Baptism. Let us for the
rest consider the prophecies of it in words and language. Isaiah cried saying, "Wash you,
make you clean, put away evil from your souls ; and David, "Draw nigh to Him and be
enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed . And Ezekiel, writing more clearly and
plainly than them both, says, "And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be
cleansed: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I give you: and I will take away the
stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh, and my Spirit will I
put within you . Most manifestly also does Zechariah prophesy of Joshua , who was clothed
with the filthy garment (to wit, the flesh of a servant, even ours), and stripping him of
his ill-favoured raiment adorns him with the clean arid fair apparel; teaching us by the
figurative illustration that verily in the Baptism of Jesus all we, putting off our sins
like some poor and patched garment, are clothed in the holy and most fair garment of
regeneration. And where shall we place that oracle of Isaiah, which cries to the
wilderness, "Be glad, O thirsty wilderness: let the desert rejoice and blossom as a lily:
and the desolate places of Jordan shall blossom and shall rejoice "?

20 For it is clear that it is not to places without soul or sense that he proclaims the
good tidings of joy: but he speaks, by the figure of the desert, of the soul that is
parched and unadorned, even as David also, when he says, "My soul is unto Thee as a
thirsty land ," and, "My soul is athirst for the mighty, for the living God . So again the
Lord says in the Gospels, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink ; and to the
woman of Samaria, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst . And "the excellency of
Carmel" is given to the soul that bears the likeness to the desert, that is, the grace
bestowed through the Spirit. For since Elijah dwelt in Carmel, and the mountain became
famous and renowned by the virtue of him who dwelt there, and since moreover John the
Baptist, illustrious in the spirit of Elijah, sanctified the Jordan, therefore the prophet
foretold that "the excellency of Carmel" should be given to the river. And "the glory of
Lebanon ," from the similitude of its lofty trees, he transfers to the river. For as great
Lebanon presents a sufficient cause of wonder in the very trees which it brings forth and
nourishes, so is the Jordan glorified by regenerating men and planting them in the
Paradise of God:

21 and of them, as the words of the Psalmist say, ever blooming and bearing the foliage of
virtues, "the leaf shall not wither ," and God shall be glad, receiving their fruit in due
season, rejoicing, like a good planter, in his own works. And the inspired David,
foretelling also the voice which the Father uttered from heaven upon the Son at His
Baptism, that He might lead the hearers, who till then had looked upon that low estate of
His Humanity which was perceptible by their senses, to the dignity of nature that belongs
to the Godhead, wrote in his book that passage, "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters,
the voice of the Lord in majesty . But here we must make an end of the testimonies from
the Divine Scriptures: for the discourse would extend to an infinite length if one should
seek to select every passage in detail, and set them forth in a single book.

22 But do ye all, as many as are made glad, by the gift of regeneration, and make your
boast of that saving renewal, show me, after the sacramental grace, the change in your
ways that should follow it, and make known by the purity of your conversation the
difference effected by your transformation for the better. For of those things which are
before our eyes nothingis altered: the characteristics of the body remain unchanged, and
the mould of the visible nature is nowise different. But there is certainly need of some
manifest proof, by which we may recognize the new-born man, discerning by clear tokens the
new from the old. And these I think are to be found in the intentional motions of the
soul, whereby it separates itself from its old customary life, and enters on a newer way
of conversation, and will clearly teach those acquainted with it that it has become
something different from its former self, bearing in it no token by which the old self was
recognized. This, if you be persuaded by me, and keep my words as a law, is the mode of
the transformation. The man that was before Baptism was wanton, covetous, grasping at the
goods of others, a reviler, a liar, a slanderer, and all that is kindred with these
things, and consequent from them. Let him now become orderly, sober, content with his own
possessions, and imparting from them to those in poverty, truthful, courteous, affable-in
a word, following every laudable course of conduct.

23 For as darkness is dispelled by light, and black disappears as whiteness is spread over
it, so the old man also disappear when adorned with the works of righteousness. Thou seest
how Zacchaeus also by the change of his life slew the publican, making fourfold
restitution to those whom he had unjustly damaged, and the rest he divided with the poor-
the treasure which he had before got by ill means from the poor whom he oppressed. The
Evangelist Matthew, another publican, of the same business with Zacchaeus, at once after
his call changed his life as if it had been a mask. Paul was a persecutor, but after the
grace bestowed on him an Apostle, bearing the weight of his fetters for Christ's sake, as
an act of amends and repentance for those unjust bonds which he once received from the
Law, and bore for use against the Gospel. Such ought you to be in your regeneration: so
ought you to blot out your habits that tend to sin; so ought the sons of God to have their
conversation: for after the grace bestowed we are called His children. And therefore we
ought narrowly to scrutinize our Father's characteristics, that by fashioning and framing
ourselves to the likeness of our Father, we may appear true children of Him Who calls us
to the adoption according to grace. For the bastard and the supposititious son, who belies
his father's nobility in his deeds, is a sad reproach.

24 Therefore also, methinks, it is that the Lord Himself, laying down for us in the
Gospels the rules of our life, uses these words to His disciples, "Do good to them that
hate you, pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the
children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and
on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust . For then He says they are
sons when in their own modes of thought they are fashioned in loving kindness towards
their kindred, after the likeness of the Father's goodness. 25 Therefore, also, it is that
after the dignity of adoption the devil plots more vehemently against us, pining away with
envious glance, when he beholds the beauty of the new-born man, earnestly tending towards
that heavenly city, from which he fell: and he raises up against us fiery temptations,
seeking earnestly to despoil us of that second adornment, as he did of our former array.
But when we are aware of his attacks, we ought to repeat to ourselves the apostolic words,
"As many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death ." Now if we have
been conformed to His death, sin henceforth in us is surely a corpse, pierced through by
the javelin of Baptism, as that fornicator was thrust through by the zealous Phinehas .
Flee therefore from us, ill-omened one! for it is a corpse thou seekest to despoil, one
long ago joined to thee, one who long since lost his senses for pleasures. A corpse is not
enamoured of bodies, a corpse is not captivated by wealth, a corpse slanders not, a corpse
lies not, snatches not at what is not its own, reviles not those who encounter it. My way
of living is regulated for another life: I have learnt to despise the things that are in
the world, to pass by the things of earth, to hasten to the things of heaven, even as Paul
expressly testifies, that the world is crucified to him, and he to the world . These am
the words of a soul truly regenerated: these are the utterances of the newly-baptized man,
who remembers his own profession, which he made to God when the sacrament was administered
to him, promising that he would despise for the sake of love towards Him all torment and
all pleasure alike.

26 And now we have spoken sufficiently for the holy subject of the day, which the circling
year brings to us at appointed periods. We shall do well in what remains to end our
discourse by turning it to the loving Giver of so great a boon, offering to Him a few
words as the requital of great things. For Thou verily, O Lord, art the pure and eternal
fount of goodness, Who didst justly turn away from us, and in loving kindness didst have
mercy upon us. Thou didst hate, and wert reconciled; Thou didst curse, and didst bless;
Thou didst banish us from Paradise, and didst recall us; Thoudidst strip off the fig-tree
leaves, an unseemly covering, and put upon us a costly garment; Thou didst open the
prison, and didst release the condemned; Thou didst sprinkle us with clean water, and
cleanse us from our filthiness. No longer shall Adam be confounded when called by Thee,
nor hide himself, convicted by his conscience, cowering in the thicket of Paradise. Nor
shall the flaming sword encircle Paradise around, and make the entrance inaccessible to
those that draw near; but all is turned to joy for us that were the heirs of sin:
Paradise, yea, heaven itself may be trodden by man: and the creation, in the world and
above the world, that once was at variance with itself, is knit together in friendship:
and we men are made to join in the angels' song, offering the worship of their praise to
God.

27 For all these things then let us sing to God that hymnof joy, which lips touched by the
Spirit long ago sang loudly: "Let my soul be joyful in the Lord: for He hath clothed me
with a garment of salvation, and hath put upon me a robe of gladness: as on a bridegroom
He hath set a mitre upon me, and as a bride hath He adorned me with fair array . And
verily the Adorner of the bride is Christ, Who is, and was, and shall be, blessed now and
for evermore. Amen.


ON THE MAKING OF MAN
====================

ON THE MAKING OF MAN Gregory of Nyssa

c. AD 335–395

Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil; theologian and mystic.

INTRODUCTION

Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, to his Brother Peter, The Servant of God. If we had to honour
with rewards of money those who excel in virtue, the whole world of money, as Solomon says
, would seem but small to be made equal to your virtue in the balance. Since, however, the
debt of gratitude due to your Reverence is greater than can be valued in money, and the
holy Eastertide demands the accustomed gift of love, we offer to your greatness of mind, O
man of God, a gift too small indeed to be worthy of presentation to you, yet not falling
short of the extent of our power. The gift is a discourse, like a mean garment, woven not
without toil from our poor wit, and the subject of the discourse, while it will perhaps be
generally thought audacious, yet seemed not unfitting. For he alone has worthily
considered the creation of God who truly was created after God, and whose soul was
fashioned in the image of Him Who created him,-Basil, our common father and teacher,-who
by his own speculation made the sublime ordering of the universe generally intelligible,
making the world as established by God in the true Wisdom known to those who by means of
his understanding are led to such contemplation: but we, who fall short even of worthily
admiring him, yet intend to add to the great writer's speculations that which is lacking
in them, not so as to interpolate his work by insertion (for it is not to be thought of
that that lofty mouth should suffer the insult of being given as authority for our
discourses), but so that the glory of the teacher may not seem to be failing among his
disciples.

For if, the consideration of man being lacking in his Hexaemeron, none of those who had
been his disciples contributed any earnest effort to supply the defect, the scoffer would
perhaps have had a handle against his great fame, on the ground that he had not cared to
produce in his hearers any habit of intelligence. But now that we venture according to our
powers upon the exposition of what was lacking, if anything should be found in our work
such as to be not unworthy of his teaching, it will surely be referred to our teacher:
while if our discourse does not reach the height of his sublime speculation, he will be
free from this charge and escape the blame of seeming not to wish that his disciples
should have any skill at all, though we perhaps may he answerable to our censurers as
being unable to contain in the littleness of our hear the wisdom of our instructor.

The scope of our proposed enquiry is not small: it is second to none of the wonders of the
world,-perhaps even greater than any of those known to us, because no other existing
thing, save the human creation, has been made like to God: thus we shall readily find that
allowance will be made for what we say by kindly readers, even if our discourse is far
behind the merits of the subject. For it is our business, I suppose, to leave nothing
unexamined of all that concerns man,-of what we believe to have taken place previously, of
what we now see, and of the results which are expected afterwards to appear (for surely
our effort would be convicted of failing of its promise, if, when man is proposed for
contemplation, any of the questions which bear upon the subject were to be omitted); and,
moreover, we must fit together, according to the explanation of Scripture and to that
derived from reasoning, those statements concerning him which seem, by a kind of necessary
sequence, to be opposed, so that our whole subject may be consistent in train of thought
and in order, as the Statements that seem to be contrary are brought (if the Divine power
so discovers a hope for what is beyond hope, and a way for what is inextricable) to one
and the same end: and for clearness' sake I think it well to set forth to you the
discourse by chapters, that you may be able briefly to know the force of the several
arguments of the whole work.

1. Wherein is a partial inquiry into the nature of the world, and a more minute exposition
of the things which preceded the genesis of man. 2. Why man appeared last, after the
creation. 3. That the nature of man is more precious than all the visible creation. 4.
That the construction of man throughout signifies his ruling power. 5. That man is a
likeness of the Divine sovereignty. 6. An examination of the kindred of mind to nature:
wherein by way of digression is refuted the doctrine of the Anomoeans. 7. Why man is
destitute of natural weapons and covering. 8. Why man's form is upright, and that hands
were given him because of reason; wherein also is a speculation on the difference of
souls. 9. That the form of man was framed to serve as an instrument for the use of reason.
10. That the mind works by means of the senses.

11. That the nature of mind is invisible. 12. An examination of the question where the
ruling principle is to be considered to reside; wherein also is a discussion of tears and
laughter, and a physiological speculation as to the interrelation of matter, nature, and
mind. 13. A rationale of sleep, of yawning, and of dreams. 14. That the mind is not in a
part of the body; wherein also is a distinction of the movements of the body and of the
soul. 15. That the soul proper, in fact and name, is the rational soul, while the others
are called so equivocally: wherein also is this statement, that the power of the mind
extends throughout the whole body in fitting contact with every part. 16. A contemplation
of the Divine utterance which said,-"Let us make man after our image and likeness;"
wherein is examined what is the definition of the image, and how the passible and mortal
is like to the Blessed and Impassible, and how in the image there are male and female,
seeing these are not in the Prototype.

17. What we must answer to those who raise the question-"If procreation is after sin, how
would souls have come into being if the first of mankind had remained sinless?" 18. That
our irrational passions have their rise from kindred with irrational nature. 19. To those
who say that the enjoyment of the good things we look for will again consist in meat and
drink, because it is written that by these means man at first lived in Paradise. 20. What
was the life in Paradise, and what was the forbidden tree. 21. That the resurrection is
looked for as a consequence, not so much from the declaration of Scripture as from the
very necessity of things. 22. To those who say, "If the resurrection is a thing excellent
and good, how is it that it has not happened already, but is hoped for in some periods of
time?" 23. That he who confesses the beginning of the world's existence must necessarily
agree also as to its end.

24. An argument against those who say that matter is co-eternal with God. 25. How one even
of those who are without may be brought to believe the Scripture when teaching of the
resurrection. 26. That the resurrection is not beyond probability. 27. That it is
possible, when the human body is dissolved into the elements of the universe, that each
should have his own body restored from the common source. 28. To those who say that souls
existed before bodies, or that bodies were formed before souls: wherein there is also a
refutation of the fables concerning transmigrations of souls. 29. An establishment of the
doctrine that the cause of existence of soul and body is one and the same. 30. A brief
consideration of the construction of our bodies from a medical point of view.

I. WHEREIN IS A PARTIAL INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF THE WORLD, AND A MORE MINUTE EXPOSITION OF THE THINGS WHICH PRECEDED THE GENESIS OF MAN .

1. "This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth ," saith the Scripture, when
all that is seen was finished, and each of the things that are betook itself to its own
separate place, when the body of heaven compassed all things round, and those bodies which
are heavy and of downward tendency, the earth and the water, holding each other in, took
the middle place of the universe; while, as a sort of bond and stability for the things
that were made, the Divine power and skill was implanted in the growth of things, guiding
all things with the reins of a double operation (for it was by rest and motion that it
devised the genesis of the things that were not, and the continuance of the things that
are), driving around, about the heavy and changeless element contributed by the creation
that does not move, as about some fixed path, the exceedingly rapid motion of the sphere,
like a wheel, and preserving the indissolubility of both by their mutual action, as the
circling substance by its rapid motion compresses the compact body of the earth round
about, while that which is firm and unyielding, by reason of its unchanging fixedness,
continually augments the whirling motion of those things which revolve round it, and
intensity is produced in equal measure in each of the natures which thus differ in their
operation, in the stationary nature, I mean, and in the mobile revolution; for neither is
the earth shifted from its own base, nor does the heaven ever relax in its vehemence, or
slacken its motion.

2. These, moreover, were first framed before other things, according to the Divine wisdom,
to be as it were a beginning of the whole machine, the great Moses indicating, I suppose,
where he says that the heaven and the earth were made by God "in the beginning " that all
things that are seen in the creation are the offspring of rest and motion, brought into
being by the Divine will. Now the heaven and the earth being diametrically opposed to each
other in their operations, the creation which lies between the opposites, and has in part
a share in what is adjacent to it, itself acts as a mean between the extremes, so that
there is manifestly a mutual contact of the opposites through the mean; for air in a
manner imitates the perpetual motion and subtlety of the fiery substance, both in the
lightness of its nature, and in its suitableness for motion; yet it is not such as to be
alienated from the solid substance, for it is no more in a state of continual flux and
dispersion than in a permanent state of immobility, but becomes, in its affinity to each,
a kind of borderland of the opposition between operations, at once uniting in itself and
dividing things which are naturally distinct.

3. In the same way, liquid substance also is attached by double qualities to each of the
opposites; for in so far as it is heavy and of downward tendency it is closely akin to the
earthy; but in so far as it partakes of a certain fluid and mobile energy it is not
altogether alien from the nature which is in motion; and by means of this also there is
effected a kind of mixture and concurrence of the opposites, weight being transferred to
motion, and motion finding no hindrance in weight, so that things most extremely opposite
in nature combine with one another, and are mutually joined by those which act as means
between them. 4. But to speak strictly, one should rather say that the very nature of the
contraries themselves is not entirely without mixture of properties, each with the other,
so that, as I think, all that we see in the world mutually agree, and the creation, though
discovered in properties of contrary natures, is yet at union with itself. For as motion
is not conceived merely as local shifting, but is also contemplated in change and
alteration, and on the other hand the immovable nature does not admit motion by way of
alteration, the wisdom of God has transposed these properties, and wrought
unchangeableness in that which is ever moving, and change in that which is immovable;
doing this, it may be, by a providential dispensation, so that that property of nature
which constitutes its immutability and immobility might not, when viewed in any created
object, cause the creature to be accounted as God; for that which may happen to move or
change would cease to admit of the conception of Godhead. Hence the earth is stable
without being immutable, while the heaven, on the contrary, as it has no mutability, so
has not stability either, that the Divine power, by interweaving change in the stable
nature and motion with that which is not subject to change, might, by the interchange of
attributes, at once join them both closely to each other, and make them alien from the
conception of Deity; for as has been said, neither of these (neither that which is
unstable, nor that which is mutable) can be considered to belong to the more Divine
nature.

5. Now all things were already arrived at their own end: "the heaven and the earth ," as
Moses says, "were finished," and all things that lie between them, and the particular
things were adorned with their appropriate beauty; the heaven with the rays of the stars,
the sea and air with the living creatures that swim and fly, and the earth with all
varieties of plants and animals, to all which, empowered by the Divine will, it gave birth
together; the earth was full, too, of her produce, bringing forth fruits at the same time
with flowers; the meadows were full of all that grows therein, and all the mountain
ridges, and summits, and every hillside, and slope, and hollow, were crowned with young
grass, and with the varied produce of the trees, just risen from the ground, yet shot up
at once into their perfect beauty; and all the beasts that had come into life at God's
command were rejoicing, we may suppose, and skipping about, running to and for in the
thickets in herds according to their kind, while every sheltered and shady spot was
ringing with the chants of the songbirds. And at sea, we may suppose, the sight to be seen
was of the like kind, as it had just settled to quiet and calm in the gathering together
of its depths, where havens and harbours spontaneously hollowed out on the coasts made the
sea reconciled with the land; and the gentle motion of the waves vied in beauty with the
meadows, rippling delicately with light and harmless breezes that skimmed the surface; and
all the wealth of creation by land and sea was ready, and none was there to share it.

II. WHY MAN APPEARED LAST, AFTER THE CREATION .

1. For not as yet had that great and precious thing, man, come into the world of being; it
was not to be looked for that the ruler should appear before the subjects of his rule; but
when his dominion was prepared, the next step was that the king should be manifested.
When, then the Maker of all had prepared beforehand, as it were, a royal lodging for the
future king (and this was the land, and islands, and sea, and the heaven arching like a
roof over them), and when all kinds of wealth had been stored in this palace (and by
wealth I mean the whole creation, all that is in plants and trees, and all that has sense,
and breath, and life; and-if we are to account materials also as wealth-all that for their
beauty are reckoned precious in the eyes of men, as gold and silver, and the substances of
your jewels which men delight in-having concealed, I say, abundance of all these also in
the bosom of the earth as in a royal treasure-house), he thus manifests man in the world,
to be the beholder of some of the wonders therein, and the lord of others; that by his
enjoyment he might have knowledge of the Giver, and by the beauty and majesty of the
things he saw might trace out that power of the Maker which is beyond speech and language.

2. For this reason man was brought into the world last after the creation, not being
rejected to the last as worthless, but as one whom it behoved to be king over his subjects
at his very birth. And as a good host does not bring his guest to his house before the
preparation of his feast, but, when he has made all due preparation, and decked with their
proper adornments his house, his couches, his table, brings his guest home when things
suitable forhis refreshment are in readiness, rain the samemanner the rich and munificent
Entertainer of our nature, when He had decked the habitationwith beauties of every kind,
and prepared thisgreat and varied banquet, then introduced man, assigning to him as his
task not the acquiring of what was not there, but the enjoyment of the things which were
there; and for this reason He gives him as foundations the instincts of a twofold
organization, blending the Divine with the earthy, that by means of both he may be
naturally and properly disposed to each enjoyment, enjoying God by means of his more
divine nature, and the good things of earth by the sense that is akin to them.

III. THAT THE NATURE OF MAN IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN ALL THE VISIBLE CREATION .

1. But it is right that we should not leave this point without consideration, that while
the world, great as it is, and its parts, are laid as an elemental foundation for the
formation of the universe, the creation is, so to say, made offhand by the Divine power,
existing at once on His command, while counsel precedes the making of man; and that which
is to be is fore-shown by the Maker in verbal description, and of what kind it is fitting
that it should be, and to what archetype it is fitting that it should bear a likeness, and
for what it shall be made, and what its operation shall be when it is made, and of what it
shall be the ruler, wall these things the saying examines beforehand, so that he has a
rank assigned him before his genesis, and possesses rule over the things that are before
his coming into being; for it says, "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the beasts of the
earth, and the fowls of the heaven, and the cattle, and all the earth "

2. O marvellous! a sun is made, and no counsel precedes; a heaven likewise; and to these
no single thing in creation is equal. So great a wonder is formed by a word alone, and the
saying indicates neither when, nor how, nor any such detail. So too in all particular
cases, the aether, the stars, the intermediate air, the sea, the earth, the animals, the
plants,-all are brought into being with a word, while only to the making of man does the
Maker of all draw near with circumspection, so as to prepare beforehand for him material
for his formation, and to liken his form to an archetypal beauty, and, setting before him
a mark for which he is to come into being, to make for him a nature appropriate and allied
to the operations, and suitable for the object in hand.

IV. THAT THE CONSTRUCTION OF MAN THROUGHOUT SIGNIFIES HIS RULING POWER .

1. For as in our own life artificers fashion a tool in the way suitable to its use, so the
best Artificer made our nature as it were a formation fit for the exercise of royalty,
preparing it at once by superior advantages of soul, and by the very form of the body, to
be such as to be adapted for royalty: for the soul immediately shows its royal and exalted
character, far removed as it is from the lowliness of private station, in that it owns no
lord, and is self-governed, swayed autocratically by its own will; for to whom else does
this belong than to a king? And further, besides these facts, the fact that it is the
image of that Nature which rules over all means nothing else than this, that our nature
was created to be royal from the first. For as, in men's ordinary use, those who make
images of princes both mould the figure of their form, and represent along with this the
royal rank by the vesture of purple, and even the likeness is commonly spoken of as "a
king," so the human nature also, as it was made to rule the rest, was, by its likeness to
the King of all, made as it were a living image, partaking with the archetype both in rank
and in name, not vested in purple, nor giving indication of its rank by sceptre and diadem
(for the archetype itself is not arrayed with these), but instead of the purple robe,
clothed in virtue, which is in truth the most royal of all raiment, and in place of the
sceptre, leaning on the bliss of immortality, and instead of the royal diadem, decked with
the crown of righteousness; so that it is shown to be perfectly like to the beauty of its
archetype in all that belongs to the dignity of royalty.

V. THAT MAN IS A LIKENESS OF THE DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY .

1. It is true, indeed, that the Divine beauty is not adorned with any shape or endowment
of form, by any beauty of colour, but is contemplated as excellence in unspeakable bliss.
As then painters transfer human forms to their pictures by the means of certain colours,
laying on their copy the proper and corresponding tints, so that the beauty of the
original may be accurately transferred to the likeness, so I would have you understand
that our Maker also, painting the portrait to resemble His own beauty, by the addition of
virtues, as it were with colours, shows in us His own sovereignty: and manifold and varied
are the tints, so to say, by which His true form is portrayed: not red, or white , or the
blending of these, whatever it may be called, nor a touch of black that paints the eyebrow
and the eye, and shades, by some combination, the depressions in the figure, and all such
arts which the hands of painters contrive, but instead of these, purity, freedom from
passion, blessedness, alienation from all evil, and all those attributes of the like kind
which help to form in men the likeness of God: with such hues as these did the Maker of
His own image mark our nature.

2. And if you were to examine the other points also by which the Divine beauty is
expressed, you will find that to them too the likeness in the image which we present is
perfectly preserved. The Godhead is mind and word: for "in the beginning was the Word "
and the followers of Paul "have the mind of Christ" which "speaks" in them : humanity too
is not far removed from these: you see in yourself word and understanding, an imitation of
the very Mind and Word. Again, God is love, and the fount of love: for this the great John
declares, that "love is of God," and "God is love ": the Fashioner of our nature has made
this to be our feature too: for "hereby," He says, "shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye love one another ":-thus, if this be absent, the whole stamp of the
likeness is transformed. The Deity beholds and hears all things, and searches all things
out: you too have the power of apprehension of things by means of sight and hearing, and
the understanding that inquires into things and searches them out.

VI. AN EXAMINATION OF THE KINDRED OF MIND TO NATURE: WHEREIN, BY WAY OF DIGRESSION, IS REFUTED THE DOCTRINE OF THE ANOMOEANS .

1. And let no one suppose me to say that the Deity is in touch with existing things in a
manner resembling human operation, by means of different faculties. For it is impossible
to conceive in the simplicity of the Godhead the varied and diverse nature of the
apprehensive operation: not even in our own case are the faculties which apprehend things
numerous, although we are in touch with those things which affect our life in many ways by
means of our senses; for there is one faculty, the implanted mind itself, which passes
through each of the organs of sense and grasps the things beyond: this it is that, by
means of the eyes, beholds what is seen; this it is that, by means of hearing, understands
what is said; that is content with what is to our taste, and turns from what is
unpleasant; that uses the hand for whatever it wills, taking hold or rejecting by its
means, using the help of the organ for this purpose precisely as it thinks expedient.

2. If in men, then, even though the organs formed by nature for purposes of perception may
be different, that which operates and moves by means of all, and uses each appropriately
for the object before it, is one and the same, not changing its nature by the differences
of operations, how could any one suspect multiplicity of essence in God on the ground of
His varied powers? for "He that made the eye," as the prophet says, and "that planted the
ear ," stamped on human nature these operations to be as it were significant characters,
with reference to their models in Himself: for He says, "Let us make man in our image ."
3. But what, I would ask, becomes of the heresy of the Anomoeans? what will they say to
this utterance? how will they defend the vanity of their dogma in view of the words cited?
Will they say that it is possible that one image should be made like to different forms?
if the Son is in nature unlike the Father, how comes it that the likeness He forms of the
different natures is one? for He Who said, "Let us make after our image," and by the
plural signification revealed the Holy Trinity, would not, if the archetypes were unlike
one another, have mentioned the image in the singular: for it would be impossible that
there should be one likeness displayed of things which do not agree with one another: if
the natures were different he would assuredly have begun their images also differently,
making the appropriate image for each: but since the image is one, while the archetype is
not one, who is so far beyond the range of understanding as not to know that the things
which are like the same thing, surely resemble one another? Therefore He says (the word,
it may be, cutting short this wickedness at the very formation of human life), "Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness."

VII. WHY MAN IS DESTITUTE OF NATURAL WEAPONS AND COVERING .

1. But what means the uprightness of his figure? and why is it that those powers which aid
life do not naturally belong to his body? but man is brought into life bare of natural
covering, an unarmed and poor being, destitute of all things useful, worthy, according to
appearances, of pity rather than of admiration, not armed with prominent horns or sharp
claws, nor with hoofs nor with teeth, nor possessing by nature any deadly venom in a
sting,-things such as most animals have in their own power for defence against those who
do them harm: his body is not protected with a covering of hair: and yet possibly it was
to be expected that he who was promoted to rule over the rest of the creatures should be
defended by nature with arms of his own so that he might not need assistance from others
for his own security. Now, however, the lion, the boar, the tiger, the leopard, and all
the like have natural power sufficient for their safety: and the bull has his horn, the
hare his speed, the deer his leap and the certainty of his sight, and another beast has
bulk, others a proboscis, the birds have their wings, and the bee her sting, and generally
in all there is some protective power implanted by nature: but man alone of all is slower
than the beasts that are swift of foot, smaller than those that are of great bulk, more
defenceless than those that are protected by natural arms; and how, one will say, has such
a being obtained the sovereignty over all things?

2. Well, I think it would not be at all hard to show that what seems to be a deficiency of
our nature is a means for our obtaining dominion over the subject creatures. For if man
had had such power as to be able to outrun the horse in swiftness, and to have a foot
that, from its solidity, could not be worn out, but was strengthened by hoofs or claws of
some kind, and to carry upon him horns and stings and claws, he would be, to begin with, a
wild-looking and formidable creature, if such things grew with his body: and moreover he
would have neglected his rule over the other creatures if he had no need of the co-
operation of his subjects; whereas now, the needful services of our life are divided among
the individual animals that are under our sway, for this reason-to make our dominion over
them necessary.

3. It was the slowness and difficult motion of our body that brought the horse to supply
our need, and tamed him: it was the nakedness of our body that made necessary our
management of sheep, which supplies the deficiency of our nature by its yearly produce of
wool: it was the fact that we import from others the supplies for our living which
subjected beasts of burden to such service: furthermore, it was the fact that we cannot
eat grass like cattle which brought the ox to render service to our life, who makes our
living easy for us by his own labour; and because we needed teeth and biting power to
subdue some of the other animals by grip of teeth, the dog gave, together with his
swiftness, his own jaw to supply our need, becoming like a live sword for man; and there
has been discovered by men iron, stronger and more penetrating than prominent horns or
sharp claws, not, as those things do with the beasts, always growing naturally with us,
but entering into alliance with us for the time, and for the rest abiding by itself: and
to compensate for the crocodile's scaly hide, one may make that very hide serve as armour,
by putting it on his skin upon occasion: or, failing that, art fashions iron for this
purpose too, which, when it has served him for a time for war, leaves the man-at-arms once
more free from the burden in time of peace:

and the wing of the birds, too, ministers to our life, so that by aid of contrivance we
are not left behind even by the speed of wings: for some of them become tame and are of
service to those who catch birds, and by their means others are by contrivance subdued to
serve our needs:. moreover art contrives to make our arrows feathered, and by means of the
bow gives us for our needs the speed of wings: while the fact that our feet are easily
hurt and worn in travelling makes necessary the aid which is given by the subject animals:
for hence it comes that we fit shoes to our feet.

VIII. WHY MAN'S FORM IS UPRIGHT; AND THAT HANDS WERE GIVEN HIM BECAUSE OF REASON; WHEREIN ALSO IS A SPECULATION ON THE DIFFERENCE OF SOULS .

1. But man's form is upright, and extends aloft towards heaven, and looks upwards: and
these are marks of sovereignty which show his royal dignity. For the fact that man alone
among existing things is such as this, while all others bow their bodies downwards,
clearly points to the difference of dignity between those which stoop beneath his sway and
that power which rises above them: for all the rest have the foremost limbs of their
bodies in the form of feet, because that which stoops needs something to support it: but
in the formation of man these limbs were made hands, for the upright body found one base,
supporting its position securely on two feet, sufficient for its needs. 2. Especially do
these ministering hands adapt themselves to the requirements of the reason: indeed if one
were to say that the ministration of hands is a special property of the rational nature,
he would not be entirely wrong; and that not only because his thought turns to the common
and obvious fact that we signify our reasoning by means of the natural employment of our
hands in written characters. It is true that this fact, that we speak by writing, and, in
a certain way, converse by the aid of our hands, preserving sounds by the forms of the
alphabet, is not unconnected with the endowment of reason; but I am referring to something
else when I say that the hands co-operate with the bidding of reason.

3. Let us, however, before discussing this point, consider the matter we passed over (for
the subject of the order of created things almost escaped our notice), why the growth of
things that spring from the earth takes precedence, and the irrational animals come next,
and then, after the making of these, comes man: for it may be that we learn from these
facts not only the obvious thought, that grass appeared to the Creator useful for the sake
of the animals, while the animals were made because of man, and that for this reason,
before the animals there was made their food, and before man that which was to minister to
human life. 4. But it seems to me that by these facts Moses reveals a hidden doctrine, and
secretly delivers that wisdom concerning the soul, of which the learning that is without
had indeed some imagination, but no clear comprehension. His discourse then hereby teaches
us that the power of life and soul may be considered in three divisions. For one is only a
power of growth and nutrition supplying what is suitable for the support of the bodies
that are nourished, which is called the vegetative soul, and is to be seen in plants; for
we may perceive in growing plants a certain vital power destitute of sense; and there is
another form of life besides this, which, while it includes the form above mentioned, is
also possessed in addition of the power of management according to sense; and this is to
be found in the nature of the irrational animals: for they are not only the subjects of
nourishment and growth, but also have the activity of sense and perception. But perfect
bodily life is seen in the rational (I mean the human) nature, which both is nourished and
endowed with sense, and also partakes of reason and is ordered by mind.

5. We might make a division of our subject in some such way as this. Of things existing,
part are intellectual, part corporeal. Let us leave alone for the present the division of
the intellectual according to its properties, for our argument is not concerned with
these. Of the corporeal, part is entirely devoid of life, and part shares in vital energy.
Of a living body, again, part has sense conjoined with life, and part is without sense:
lastly, that which has sense is again divided into rational and irrational. For this
reason the lawgiver says that after inanimate matter (as a sort of foundation for the form
of animate things), this vegetative life was made, and had earlier existence in the growth
of plants: then he proceeds to introduce the genesis of those creatures which are
regulated by sense: and since, following the same order, of those things which have
obtained life in the flesh, those which have sense can exist by themselves even apart from
the intellectual nature, while the rational principle could not be embodied save as
blended with the sensitive,-for this reason man was made last after the animals, as nature
advanced in an orderly course to perfection. For this rational animal, man, is blended of
every form of soul;

he is nourished by the vegetative kind of soul, and to the faculty of growth was added
that of sense, which stands midway, if we regard its peculiar nature, between the
intellectual and the more material essence being as much coarser than the one as it is
more refined than the other: then takes place a certain alliance and commixture of the
intellectual essence with the subtle and enlightened element of the sensitive nature: so
that man consists of these three: as we are taught the like thing by the apostle in what
he says to the Ephesians , praying for them that the complete grace of their "body and
soul and spirit" may be preserved at the coming of the Lord; using, the word "body" for
the nutritive part, and denoting the sensitive by the word "soul," and the intellectual by
"spirit. Likewise too the Lord instructs the scribe in the Gospel that he should set
before every commandment that love to God which is exercised with all the heart and soul
and mind : for here also it seems to me that the phrase indicates the same difference,
naming the more corporeal existence "heart," the intermediate "soul," and the higher
nature, the intellectual and mental faculty, "mind."

6. Hence also the apostle recognizes three divisions of dispositions, calling one
"carnal," which is busied with the belly and the pleasures connected with it, another
"natural ," which holds a middle position with regard to virtue and vice, rising above the
one, but without pure participation in the other; and another "spiritual," which perceives
the perfection of godly life: wherefore he says to the Corinthians, reproaching their
indulgence in pleasure and passion, "Ye are carnal ," and incapable of receiving the more
perfect doctrine; while elsewhere, making a comparison of the middle kind with the
perfect, he says, "but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit: for they
are foolishness unto him: but he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is
judged of no man ." As, then, the natural man is higher than the carnal, by the same
measure also the spiritual man rises above the natural.

7. If, therefore, Scripture tells us that man was made last, after every animate thing,
the lawgiver is doing nothing else than declaring to us the doctrine of the soul,
considering that what is perfect comes last, according to a certain necessary sequence in
the order of things: for in the rational are included the others also, while in the
sensitive there also surely exists the vegetative form, and that again is conceived only
in connection with what is material: thus we may suppose that nature makes an ascent as it
were by steps-I mean the various properties of life-from the lower to the perfect form. 8
. Now since man is a rational animal, the instrument of his body must be made suitable for
the use of reason ; as you may see musicians producing their music according to the form
of their instruments, and not piping with harps nor harping upon flutes, so it must needs
be that the organization of these instruments of ours should be adapted for reason, that
when struck by the vocal organs it might be able to sound properly for the use of words.
For this reason the hands were attached to the body; for though we can count up very many
uses in daily life for which these skilfully contrived and helpful instruments, our hands,
that easily follow every art and every operation, alike in war and peace , are
serviceable, yet nature added them to our body pre-eminently for the sake of reason. For
if man were destitute of hands, the various parts of his face would certainly have been
arranged like those of the quadrupeds, to suit the purpose of his feeding:

so that its form would have been lengthened out and pointed towards the nostrils, and his
lips would have projected from his mouth, lumpy, and stiff, and thick, fitted for taking
up the grass, and his tongue would either have lain between his teeth, of a kind to match
his lips, fleshy, and hard, and rough, assisting his teeth to deal with what came under
his grinder, or it would have been moist and hanging out at the side like that of dogs and
other carnivorous beasts, projecting through the gaps in his jagged row of teeth. If,
then, our body had no hands, how could articulate sound have been implanted in it, seeing
that the form of the parts of the mouth would not have had the configuration proper for
the use of speech, so that man must of necessity have either bleated, or "baaed," or
barked, or neighed, or bellowed like oxen or asses, or uttered some bestial sound? but
now, as the hand is made part of the body, the mouth is at leisure for the service of the
reason. Thus the hands are shown to be the property of the rational nature, the Creator
having thus devised by their means a special advantage for reason.

IX. THAT THE FORM OF MAN WAS FRAMED TO SERVE AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE USE OF REASON .

1. Now since our Maker has bestowed upon our formation a certain Godlike grace, by
implanting in His image the likeness of His own excellences, for this reason He gave, of
His bounty, His other good gifts to human nature; but mind and reason we cannot strictly
say that He gave, but that He imparted them, adding to the image the proper adornment of
His own nature. Now since the mind is a thing intelligible and incorporeal, its grace
would have been incommunicable and isolated, if its motion were not manifested by some
contrivance. For this cause there was still need of this instrumental organization, that
it might, like a plectrum, touch the vocal organs and indicate by the quality of the notes
struck, the motion within. 2. And as some skilled musician, who may have been deprived by
some affection of his own voice, and yet wish to make his skill known, might make melody
with voices of others, and publish his art by the aid of flutes or of the lyre, so also
the human mind being a discoverer of all sorts of conceptions, seeing that it is unable,
by the mere soul, to reveal to those who hear by bodily senses the motions of its
understanding, touches, like some skilful composer, these animated instruments, and makes
known its hidden thoughts by means of the sound produced upon them.

3. Now the music of the human instrument is a sort of compound of flute and lyre, sounding
together in combination as in a concerted piece of music. For the breath, as it is forced
up from the air-receiving vessels through the windpipe, when the speaker's impulse to
utterance attunes the harmony to sound, and as it strikes against the internal
protuberances which divide this flute-like passage in a circular arrangement, imitates in
a way the sound uttered through a flute, being driven round and round by the membranous
projections. But the palate receives the sound from below in its own concavity, and
dividing the sound by the two passages that extend to the nostrils, and by the cartilages
about the perforated bone, as it were by some scaly protuberance, makes its resonance
louder; while the cheek, the tongue, the mechanism of the pharynx by which the chin is
relaxed when drawn in, and tightened when extended to a point-all these in many different
ways answer to the motion of the plectrum upon the strings, varying very quickly, as
occasion requires, the arrangement of the tones; and the opening and closing of the lips
has the same effect as players produce when they check the breath of the flute with their
fingers according to the measure of the tune.

X. THAT THE MIND WORKS BY MEANS OF THE SENSES.

1. As the mind then produces the music of reason by means of our instrumental
construction, we are born rational, while, as I think,we should not have had the gift of
reason if we had had to employ our lips to supply the need of the body-the heavy and
toilsome part of the task of providing food. As things are, however, our hands appropriate
this ministration to themselves, and leave the mouth available for the service of reason.
2 . The operation of the instrument , however, is twofold; one for the production of
sound, the other for the reception of concepts from without; and the one faculty does not
blend with the other, but abides in the operation for which it was appointed by nature,
not interfering with its neighbour either by the sense of hearing undertaking to speak, or
by the speech undertaking to hear; for the latter is always uttering something, while the
ear, as Solomon somewhere says, is not filled with continual hearing .

3. That point as to our internal faculties which seems to me to be even in a special
degree matter for wonder, is this:-what is the extent of that inner receptacle into which
flows everything that is poured in by our hearing? who are the recorders of the sayings
that are brought in by it? what sort of storehouses are there for the concepts that are
being put in by our hearing? and how is it, that when many of them, of varied kinds, are
pressing one upon another, there arises no confusion and error in the relative position of
the things that are laid up there? And one may have the like feeling of wonder also with
regard to the operation of sight; for by it also in like manner the mind apprehends those
things which are external to the body, and draws to itself the images of phenomena,
marking in itself the impressions of the things which are seen.

4. And just as if there were some extensive city receiving all comers by different
entrances, all will not congregate at any particular place, but some will go to the
market, some to the houses, others to the churches, or the streets, or lanes, or the
theatres, each according to his own inclination,-some such city of our mind I seem to
discern established in us, which the different entrances through the senses keep filling,
while the mind, distinguishing and examining each of the things that enters, ranks them in
their proper departments of knowledge. 5. And as, to follow the illustration of the city,
it may often be that those who are of the same family and kindred do not enter by the same
gate, coming in by different entrances, as it may happen, but are none the less, when they
come within the circuit of the wall, brought together again, being on close terms with
each other (and one may find the contrary happen; for those who are strangers and mutually
unknown often take one entrance to the city, yet their community of entrance does not bind
them together; for even when they are within they can be separated to join their own
kindred); something of the same kind I seem to discern in the spacious territory of our
mind; for often the knowledge which we gather from the different organs of sense is one,
as the same object is divided into several parts in relation to the senses; and again, on
the contrary, we may learn from some one sense many and varied things which have no
affinity one with another.

6. For instance-for it is better to make our argument clear by illustration-let us suppose
that we are making some inquiry into the property of tastes-what is sweet to the sense,
and what is to be avoided by tasters. We find, then, by experience, both the bitterness of
gall and the pleasant character of the quality of honey; but when these facts are known,
the knowledge is one which is given to us (the same thing being introduced to our
understanding in several ways) by taste, smell, hearing, and often by touch and sight. For
when one sees honey, and hears its name, and receives it by taste, and recognizes its
odour by smell, and tests it by touch, he recognizes the same thing by means of each of
his senses. 7. On the other hand we get varied and multiform information by some one
sense, for as hearing receives all sorts of sounds, and our visual perception exercises
its operation by beholding things of different kinds-for it lights alike on black and
white, and all things that are distinguished by contrariety of colour,-so with taste, with
smell, with perception by touch; each implants in us by means of its own perceptive power
the knowledge of things of every kind.

XI. THAT THE NATURE OF MIND IS INVISIBLE

1. What then is, in its own nature, this mind that distributes itself into faculties of
sensation, and duly receives, by means of each, the knowledge of things? That it is
something else besides the senses, I suppose no reasonable man doubts; for if it were
identical with sense, it would reduce the proper character of the operations carried on by
sense to one, on the the ground that it is itself simple, and that in what is simple no
diversity is to be found. Now however, as all agree that touch is one thing and smell
another, and as the rest of the senses are in like manner so situated with regard to each
other as to exclude intercommunion or mixture, we must surely suppose, since the mind is
duly present in each case, that it is something else besides the sensitive nature, so that
no variation may attach to a thing intelligible.

2. "Who hath known the mind of the Lord ?" the apostle asks; and I ask further, who has
understood his own mind? Let those tell us who consider the nature of God to be within
their comprehension, whether they understand themselves-if they know the nature of their
own mind. "It is manifold and much compounded." How then can that which is intelligible be
composite? or what is the mode of mixture of things that differ in kind? Or, "It is
simple, and incomposite." How then is it dispersed into the manifold divisions of the
senses? how is there diversity in unity? how is unity maintained in diversity? 3. But I
find the solution of these difficulties by recourse to the very utterance of God; for He
says, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ." The image is properly an image
so long as it fails in none of those attributes which we perceive in the archetype; but
where it falls from its resemblance to the prototype it ceases in that respect to be an
image; therefore, since one of the attributes we contemplate in the Divine nature is
incomprehensibility of essence, it is clearly necessary that in this point the image
should be able to show its imitation of the archetype.

4. For if, while the archetype transcends comprehension, the nature of the image were
comprehended, the contrary character of the attributes we behold in them would prove the
defect of the image; but since the nature of our mind, which is the likeness of the
Creator evades our knowledge, it has an accurate resemblance to the superior nature,
figuring by its own unknowableness the incomprehensible Nature.

XII. AN EXAMINATION OF THE QUESTION WHERE THE RULING PRINCIPLE IS TO BE CONSIDERED TO RESIDE; WHEREIN ALSO IS A DISCUSSION OF TEARS AND LAUGHTER, AND A PHYSIOLOGICAL SPECULATION AS TO THE INTER-RELATION OF MATTER, NATURE, AND MINDS.

1. Let there be an end, then, of all the vain and conjectural discussion of those who
confine the intelligible energy to certain bodily organs; of whom some lay it down that
the ruling principle is in the heart, while others say that the mind resides in the brain,
strengthening such opinions by some plausible superficialities. For he who ascribes the
principal authority to the heart makes its local position evidence of his argument
(because it seems that it somehow occupies the middle position in the body ), on the
ground that the motion of the will is easily distributed from the centre to the whole
body, and so proceeds to operation; and he makes the troublesome and passionate
disposition of man a testimony for his argument, because such affections seem to move this
part sympathetically. Those, on the other hand, who consecrate the brain to reasoning, say
that the head has been built by nature as a kind of citadel of the whole body, and that in
it the mind dwells like a king, with a bodyguard of senses surrounding it like messengers
and shield-bearers. And these find a sign of their opinion in the fact that the reasoning
of those who have suffered some injury to the membrane of the brain is abnormally
distorted, and that those whose heads are heavy with intoxication ignore what is seemly.

2. Each of those who uphold these views puts forward some reasons of a more physical
character on behalf of his opinion concerning the ruling principle. One declares that the
motion which proceeds from the understanding is in some way akin to the nature of fire,
because fire and the understanding are alike in perpetual motion; and since heat is
allowed to have its source in the region of the heart, he says on this ground that the
motion of mind is compounded with the mobility of heat, and asserts that the heart, in
which heat is enclosed, is the receptacle of the intelligent nature. The other declares
that the cerebral membrane (for so they call the tissue that surrounds the brain) is as it
were a foundation or root of all the senses, and hereby makes good his own argument, on
the ground that the intellectual energy cannot have its seat save in that part where the
ear, connected with it, comes into concussion with the sounds that fall upon it, and the
sight (which naturally belongs to the hollow of the place where the eyes are situated)
makes its internal representation by means of the images that fall upon the pupils, while
the qualities of scents are discerned in it by being drawn in through the nose, and the
sense of taste is tried by the test of the cerebral membrane, which sends down from
itself, by the veterbrae of the neck, sensitive nerve-processes to the isthmoidal passage,
and unites them with the muscles there.

3. I admit it to be true that the intellectual part of the soul is often disturbed by
prevalence of passions; and that the reason is blunted by some bodily accident so as to
hinder its natural operation; and that the heart is a sort of source of the fiery element
in the body, and is moved in correspondence with the impulses of passion; and moreover, in
addition to this, I do not reject (as I hear very much the same account from those who
spend their time on anatomical researches) the statement that the cerebral membrane
(according to the theory of those who take such a physiological view), enfolding in itself
the brain, and steeped in the vapours that issue from it, forms a foundation for the
senses; yet I do not hold this for a proof that the incorporeal nature is bounded by any
limits of place. 4. Certainly we are aware that mental aberrations do not arise from
heaviness of head alone, but skilled physicians declare that our intellect is also
weakened by the membranes that underlie the sides being affected by disease, when they
call the disease frenzy, since the name given to those membranes is fre/nej. And the
sensation resulting from sorrow is mistakenly supposed to arise at the heart; for while it
is not the heart, but the entrance of the belly that is pained, people ignorantly refer
the affection to the heart. Those, however, who have carefully studied the affections in
question give some such account as follows:-by a compression and closing of the pores,
which naturally takes place over the whole body in a condition of grief, everything that
meets a hindrance in its passage is driven to the cavities in the interior of the body,
and hence also (as the respiratory organs too are pressed by what surrounds them), the
drawing of breath often becomes more violent under the influence of nature endeavouring to
widen what has been contracted, so as to open out the compressed passages; and such
breathing we consider a symptom of grief and call it a groan or a shriek. That, moreover,
which appears to oppress the region of the heart is a painful affection, not of the heart,
but of the entrance of the stomach, and occurs from the same cause (I mean, that of the
compression of the pores), as the vessel that contains the bile, contracting, pours that
bitter and pungent juice upon the entrance of the stomach; and a proof of this is that the
complexion of those in grief becomes sallow and jaundiced, as the bile pours its own juice
into the veins by reason of excessive pressure.

5. Furthermore, the opposite affection, that, I mean, of mirth and laughter, contributes
to establish the argument; for the pores of the body, in the case of those who are
dissolved in mirth by hearing something pleasant, are also somehow dissolved and relaxed.
Just as in the former case the slight and insensible exhalations of the pores are checked
by grief, and, as they compress the internal arrangement of the higher viscera, drive up
towards the head and the cerebral membrane the humid vapour which, being retained in
excess by the cavities of the brain, is driven out by the pores at its base , while the
closing of the eyelids expels the moisture in the form of drops (and the drop is called a
tear), so I would have you think that when the pores, as a result of the contrary
condition, are unusually widened, some air is drawn in through them into the interior, and
thence again expelled by nature through the passage of the mouth, while all the viscera
(and especially, as they say, the liver) join in expelling this air by a certain agitation
and throbbing motion; whence it comes that nature, contriving to give facility for the
exit of the air, widens the passage of the mouth, extending the cheeks on either side
round about the breath; and the result is called laughter.

6. We must not, then, on this account ascribe the ruling principle any more to the liver
than we must think, because of the heatedstate of the blood about the heart in wrathful
dispositions, that the seat of the mind is in the heart; but we must refer these matters
to the character of our bodily organization, and consider that the mind is equally in
contact with each of the parts according to a kind of combination which is indescribable.
7. Even if any should allege to us on this point the Scripture which claims the ruling
principle for the heart, we shall not receive the statement without examination; for he
who makes mention of the heart speaks also of the reins, when he says, "God trieth the
hearts and reins" ; so that they must either confine the intellectual principle to the two
combined or to neither. 8. And although I am aware that the intellectual energies are
blunted, or even made altogether ineffective in a certain condition of the body, I do not
hold this a sufficient evidence for limiting the faculty of the mind by any particular
place, so that it should be forced out of its proper amount of free space by any
inflammations that may arise in the neighbouring parts of the body (for such an opinion is
a corporeal one, that when the receptacle is already occupied by something placed in it,
nothing else can find place there); for the intelligible nature neither dwells in the
empty spaces of bodies, nor is extruded by encroachments of the flesh; but since the whole
body is made like some musical instrument, just as it often happens in the case of those
who know how to play, but are unable, because the unfitness of the instrument does not
admit of their art, to show their skill (for that which is destroyed by time, or broken by
a fall, or rendered useless by rust or decay, is mute and inefficient, even if it be
breathed upon by one who may be an excellent artist in flute-playing); so too the mind,
passing over the whole instrument, and touching each of the parts in a mode corresponding
to its intellectual activities, according to its nature, produces its proper effect on
those parts which are in a natural condition, but remains inoperative and ineffective upon
those which are unable to admit the movement of its art; for the mind is somehow naturally
adapted to be in close relation with that which is in a natural condition, but to be alien
from that which is removed from nature.

9. And here, I think there is a view of the matter more close to nature, by which we may
learn something of the more refined doctrines. For since the most beautiful and supreme
good of all is the Divinity Itself, to which incline all things that have a tendency
towards what is beautiful and good , we therefore say that the mind, as being in the image
of the most beautiful, itself also remains in beauty and goodness so long as it partakes
as far as is possible in its likeness to the archetype; but if it were at all to depart
from this it is deprived of that beauty in which it was. And as we said that the mind was
adorned by the likeness of the archetypal beauty, being formed as though it were a mirror
to receive the figure of that which it expresses, we consider that the nature which is
governed by it is attached to the mind in the same relation, and that it too is adorned by
the beauty that the mind gives, being, so to say, a mirror of the mirror; and that by it
is swayed and sustained the material element of that existence in which the nature is
contemplated.

10. Thus so long as one keeps in touch with the other, the communication of the true
beauty extends proportionally through the whole series, beautifying by the superior nature
that which comes next to it; but when there is any interruption of this beneficent
connection, or when, on the contrary, the superior comes to follow the inferior, then is
displayed the misshapen character of matter, when it is isolated from nature (for in
itself matter is a thing without form or structure), and by its shapelessness is also
destroyed that beauty of nature with which it is adorned through the mind; and so the
transmission of the ugliness of matter reaches through the nature to the mind itself, so
that the image of God is no longer seen in the figure expressed by that which was moulded
according to it; for the mind, setting the idea of good like a mirror behind the back,
turns off the incident rays of the effulgence of the good, and it receives into itself the
impress of the shapelessness of matter.

11. And in this way is brought about the genesis of evil, arising through the withdrawal
of that which is beautiful and good. Now all is beautiful and good that is closely related
to the First Good; but that which departs from its relation and likeness to this is
certainly devoid of beauty and goodness. If, then, according to the statement we have been
considering, that which is truly good is one, and the mind itself also has its power of
being beautiful and good, in so far as it is in the image of the good and beautiful, and
the nature, which is sustained by the mind, has the like power, in so far as it is an
image of the image, it is hereby shown that our material part holds together, and is
upheld when it is controlled by nature; and on the other hand is dissolved and
disorganized when it is separated from that which upholds and sustains it, and is
dissevered from its conjunction with beauty and goodness.

12. Now such a condition as this does not arise except when there takes place an
overturning of nature to the opposite state, in which the desire has no inclination for
beauty and goodness, but for that which is in need of the adorning element; for it must
needs be that that which is made like to matter, destitute as matter is of form of its
own, should be assimilated to it in respect of the absence alike of form and of beauty.
13. We have, however, discussed these points in passing, as following on our argument,
since they were introduced by our speculation on the point before us; for the subject of
enquiry was, whether the intellectual faculty has its seat in any of the parts of us, or
extends equally over them all; for as for those who shut up the mind locally in parts of
the body, and who advance for the establishment of this opinion of theirs the fact that
the reason has not free course in the case of those whose cerebral membranes are in an
unnatural condition, our argument showed that in respect of every part of the compound
nature of man, whereby every man has some natural operation, the power of the soul remains
equally ineffective if the part does not continue in its natural condition. And thus there
came into our argument, following out this line of thought, the view we have just stated,
by which we learn that in the compound nature of man the mind is governed by God, and that
by it is governed our material life, provided the latter remains in its natural state, but
if it is perverted from nature it is alienated also from that operation which is carried
on by the mind.

14. Let us return however once more to the point from which we started-that in those who
are not perverted from their natural condition by some affection, the mind exercises its
own power, and is established firmly in those who are in sound health, but on the contrary
is powerless in those who do not admit its operation; for we may confirm our opinion on
these matters by yet other arguments: and if it is not tedious for those to hear who are
already wearied with our discourse, we shall discuss these matters also, so far as we are
able, in a few words.

XIII. A RATIONALE OF SLEEP, OF YAWNING, AND OF DREAMS .

1. This life of our bodies, material and subject to flux, always advancing by way of
motion, finds the power of its being in this, that it never rests from its motion: and as
some river, flowing on by its own impulse, keeps the channel in which it runs well filled,
yet is not seen in the same water always at the same place, but part of it glides away
while part comes flowing on, so, too, the material element of our life here suffers change
in the continuity of its succession of opposites by way of motion and flux, so that it
never can desist from change, but in its inability to rest keeps up unceasingly its motion
alternating by like ways : and if it should ever cease moving it will assuredly have
cessation also of its being. 2. For instance, emptying succeeds fulness, and on the other
hand after emptiness comes in turn a process of filling: sleep relaxes the strain of
waking, and, again, awakening braces up what had become slack: and neither of these abides
continually, but both give way, each at the other's coming; nature thus by their
interchange so renewing herself as, while partaking of each in turn, to pass from the one
to the other without break. For that the living creature should always be exerting itself
in its operations produces a certain rupture and severance of the overstrained part; and
continual quiescence of the body brings about a certain dissolution and laxity in its
frame: but to be in touch with each of these at the proper times in a moderate degree is a
staying-power of nature, which, by continual transference to the opposed states, gives
herself in each of them rest from the other. Thus she finds the body on the strain through
wakefulness, and devises relaxation for the strain by means of sleep, giving the
perceptive faculties rest for the time from their operations, loosing them like horses
from the chariots after the race.

3. Further, rest at proper times is necessary for the framework of the body, that the
nutriment may be diffused over the whole body through the passages which it contains,
without any strain to hinder its progress. For just as certain misty vapours are drawn up
from the recesses of the earth when it is soaked with rain, whenever the sun heats it with
rays of any considerable warmth, so a similar result happens in the earth that is in us,
when the nutriment within is heated up by natural warmth; and the vapours, being naturally
of upward tendency and airy nature, and aspiring to that which is above them, come to be
in the region of the head like smoke penetrating the joints of a wall: then they are
dispersed thence by exhalation to the passages of the organs of sense, and by them the
senses are of course rendered inactive, giving way to the transit of these vapours. For
the eyes are pressed upon by the eyelids when some leaden instrument , as it were (I mean
such a weight as that I have spoken of), lets down the eyelid upon the eyes; and the
hearing, being dulled by these same vapours, as though a door were placed upon the
acoustic organs, rests from its natural operation: and such a condition is sleep, when the
sense is at rest in the body, and altogether ceases from the operation of its natural
motion, so that the digestive processes of nutriment may have free course for transmission
by the vapours through each of the passages.

4. And for this reason, if the apparatus of the organs of sense should be closed and sleep
hindered by some occupation, the nervous system, becoming filled with the vapours, is
naturally and spontaneously extended so that the part which has had its density increased
by the vapours is rarefied by the process of extension, just as those do who squeeze the
water out of clothes by vehement wringing: and, seeing that the parts about the pharynx
are somewhat circular, and nervous tissue abounds there, whenever there is need for the
expulsion from that part of the density of the vapours-since it is impossible that the
part which is circular in shape should be separated directly, but only by being distended
in the outline of its circumference-for this reason, by checking the breath a yawn the
chin is moved downwards so as to leave a hollow to the uvula, and all the interior parts
being arranged in the figure of a circle, that smoky denseness which had been detained in
the neighbouring parts is emitted together with the exit of the breath. And often the like
may happen even after sleep when any portion of those vapours remains in the region spoken
of undigested and unexhaled.

5. Hence the mind of man clearly proves its claim to connection with his nature, itself
also co-operating and moving with the nature in its sound and waking state, but remaining
unmoved when it is abandoned to sleep, unless any one supposes that the imagery of dreams
is a motion of the mind exercised in sleep. We for our part say that it is only the
conscious and sound action of the intellect which we ought to refer to mind; and as to the
fantastic nonsense which occurs to us in sleep, we suppose that some appearances of the
operations of the mind are accidentally moulded in the less rational part of the soul; for
the soul, being by sleep dissociated from the senses, is also of necessity outside the
range of the operations of the mind; for it is through the senses that the union of mind
with man takes place; therefore when the senses are at rest, the intellect also must needs
be inactive; and an evidence of this is the fact that the dreamer often seems to be in
absurd and impossible situations, which would not happen if the soul were then guided by
reason and intellect.

6. It seems to me, however, that when the soul is at rest so far as concerns its more
excellent faculties (so far, I mean, as concerns the operations of mind and sense), the
nutritive part of it alone is operative during sleep, and that some shadows and echoes of
those things which happen in our waking moments-of the operations both of sense and of
intellect-which are impressed upon it by that part of the soul which is capable of memory,
that these, I say, are pictured as chance will have it, some echo of memory still
lingering in this division of the soul. 7. With these, then, the man is beguiled, not led
to acquaintance with the things that present themselves by any train of thought, but
wandering among confused and inconsequent delusions. But just as in his bodily operations,
while each of the parts individually acts in some way according to the power which
naturally resides in it, there arises also in the limb that is at rest a state sympathetic
with that which is in motion, similarly in the case of the soul, even if one part is at
rest and another in motion, the whole is affected in sympathy with the part; for it is not
possible that the natural unity should be in any way severed, though one of the faculties
included in it is in turn supreme in virtue of its active operation. But as, when men are
awake and busy, the mind is supreme, and sense ministers to it, yet the faculty which
regulates the body is not dissociated from them (for the mind furnishes the food for its
wants, the sense receives what is furnished, and the nutritive faculty of the body
appropriates to itself that which is given to it), so in sleep the supremacy of these
faculties is in some way reversed in us, and while the less rational becomes supreme, the
operation of the other ceases indeed, yet is not absolutely extinguished;

but while the nutritive faculty is then busied with digestion during sleep, and keeps all
our nature occupied with itself, the faculty of sense is neither entirely severed from it
(for that cannot be separated which has once been naturally joined), nor yet can its
activity revive, as it is hindered by the inaction during sleep of the organs of sense;
and by the same reasoning (the mind also being united to the sensitive part of the soul)
it would follow that we should say that the mind moves with the latter when it is in
motion, and rests with it when it is quiescent. 8. As naturally happens with fire when it
is heaped over with chaff, and no breath fans the flame-it neither consumes what lies
beside it, nor is entirely quenched, but instead of flame it rises to the air through the
chaff in the form of smoke; yet if it should obtain any breath of air, it turns the smoke
to flame-in the same way the mind when hidden by the inaction of the senses in sleep is
neither able to shine out through them, nor yet is quite extinguished, but has, so to say,
a smouldering activity, operating to a certain extent, but unable to operate farther. 9.
Again, as a musician, when he touches with the plectrum the slackened strings of a lyre,
brings out no orderly melody (for that which is not stretched will not sound), but his
hand frequently moves skilfully, bringing the plectrum to the position of the notes so far
as place is concerned, yet there is no sound, except that he produces by the vibration of
the strings a sort of uncertain and indistinct hum; so in sleep the mechanism of the
senses being relaxed, the artist is either quite inactive, if the instrument is completely
relaxed by satiety or heaviness; or will act slackly and faintly, if the instrument of the
senses does not fully admit of the exercise of its art.

10. For this cause memory is confused, and foreknowledge, though rendered doubtful by
uncertain veils, is imaged in shadows of our waking pursuits, and often indicates to us
something of what is going to happen: for by its subtlety of nature the mind has some
advantage, in ability to behold things, over mere corporeal grossness; yet it cannot make
its meaning clear by direct methods, so that the information of the matter in hand should
be plain and evident, but its declaration of the future is ambiguous and doubtful,-what
those who interpret such things call an "enigma." 11. So the butler presses the cluster
for Pharaoh's cup: so the baker seemed to carry his baskets; each supposing himself in
sleep to be engaged in those services with which he was busied when awake: for the images
of their customary occupations imprinted on the prescient element of their soul, gave them
for a time the power of foretelling, by this sort of prophecy on the part of the mind,
what should come to pass.

12. But if Daniel and Joseph and others like them were instructed by Divine power, without
any confusion of perception, in the knowledge of things to come, this is nothing to the
present statement; for no one would ascribe this to the power of dreams, since he will be
constrained as a consequence to suppose that those Divine appearances also which took
place in wakefulness were not a miraculous vision but a result of nature brought about
spontaneously. As then, while all men are guided by their own minds, there are some few
who are deemed worthy of evident Divine communication; so, while the imagination of sleep
naturally occurs in a like and equivalent manner for all, some, not all, share by means of
their dreams in some more Divine manifestation: but to all the rest even if a
foreknowledge of anything does occur as a result of dreams, it occurs in the way we have
spoken of.

13. And again, if the Egyptian and the Assyrian king were guided by God to the knowledge
of the future, the dispensation wrought by their means is a different thing: for it was
necessary that the hidden wisdom of the holy men should be made known, that each of them
might not pass his life without profit to the state. For how could Daniel have been known
for what he was, if the soothsayers and magicians had not been unequal to the task of
discovering the dream? And how could Egypt have been preserved while Joseph was shut up in
prison, if his interpretation of the dream had not brought him to notice? Thus we must
reckon these cases as exceptional, and not class them with common dreams. 14. But this
ordinary seeing of dreams is common to all men, and arises in our fancies in different
modes and forms: for either there remain, as we have said, in the reminiscent part of the
soul, the echoes of daily occupations; or, as often happens, the constitution of dreams is
framed with regard to such and such a condition of the body: for thus the thirsty man
seems to be among springs, the man who is in need of food to be at a feast, and the young
man in the heat of youthful vigour is beset by fancies corresponding to his passion.

15. I also knew another cause of the fancies of sleep, when attending one of my relations
attacked by frenzy; who being annoyed by food being given him in too great quantity for
his strength, kept crying out and finding fault with those who were about him for filling
intestines with dung and putting them upon him: and when his body was rapidly tending to
perspire he blamed those who were with him for having water ready to wet him with as he
lay: and he did not cease calling out till the result showed the meaning of these
complaints: for all at once a copious sweat broke out over his body, and a relaxation of
the bowels explained the weight in the intestines. The same condition then which, while
his sober judgment was dulled by disease, his nature underwent, being sympathetically
affected by the condition of the body-not being without perception of what was amiss, but
being unable clearly to express its pain, by reason of the distraction resulting from the
disease-this, probably, if the intelligent principle of the soul were lulled to rest, not
from infirmity but by natural sleep, might appear as a dream to one similarly situated,
the breaking out of perspiration being expressed by water, and the pain occasioned by the
food, by the weight of intestines.

16. This view also is taken by those skilled in medicine, that according to the
differences of complaints the visions of dreams appear differently to the patients: that
the visions of those of weak stomach are of one kind, those of persons suffering from
injury to the cerebral membrane of another, those of persons in fevers of yet another;
that those of patients suffering from bilious and from phlegmatic affections are diverse,
and those again of plethoric patients, and of patients in wasting disease, are different;
whence we may see that the nutritive and vegetative faculty of the soul has in it by
commixture some seed of the intelligent element, which is in some sense brought into
likeness to the particular state of the body, being adapted in its fancies according to
the complaint which has seized upon it. 17. Moreover, most men's dreams are conformed to
the state of their character: the brave man's fancies are of one kind, the coward's of
another; the wanton man's dreams of one kind, the continent man's of another; the liberal
man and the avaricious man are subject to different fancies; while these fancies are
nowhere framed by the intellect, but by the less rational disposition of the soul, which
forms even in dreams the semblances of those things to which each is accustomed by the
practice of his waking hours.


ON THE MAKING OF MAN
====================

ON THE MAKING OF MAN continued

XIV. THAT THE MIND IS NOT IN A PART OF THE BODY; WHEREIN ALSO IS A DISTINCTION OF THE MOVEMENTS OF THE BODY AND OF THE SOUL .

1. But we have wandered far from our subject, for the purpose of our argument was to show
that the mind is not restricted to any part of the body, but is equally in touch with the
whole, producing its motion according to the nature of the part which is under its
influence. There are cases, however, in which the mind even follows the bodily impulses,
and becomes, as it were, their servant; for often the bodily nature takes the lead by
introducing either the sense of that which gives pain or the desire for that which gives
pleasure, so that it may be said to furnish the first beginnings, by producing in us the
desire for food, or, generally, the impulse towards some pleasant thing; while the mind,
receiving such an impulse, furnishes the body by its own intelligence with the proper
means towards the desired object. Such a condition, indeed, does not occur in all, save in
those of a somewhat slavish disposition, who bring the reason into bondage to the impulses
of their nature and pay servile homage to the pleasures of sense by allowing them the
alliance of their mind; but in the case of more perfect men this does not happen; for the
mind takes the lead, and chooses the expedient course by reason and not by passion, while
their nature follows in the tracks of its leader.

2. But since our argument discovered in our vital faculty three different varieties-one
which receives nourishment without perception, another which at once receives nourishment
and is capable of perception, but is without the reasoning activity, and a third rational,
perfect, and co-extensive with the whole faculty-so that among these varieties the
advantage belongs to the intellectual,-let no one suppose on this account that in the
compound nature of man there are three souls welded together, contemplated each in its own
limits, so that one should think man's nature to be a sort of conglomeration of several
souls. The true and perfect soul is naturally one, the intellectual and immaterial, which
mingles with our material nature by the agency of the senses; but all that is of material
nature, being subject to mutation and alteration, will, if it should partake of the
animating power, move by way of growth: if, on the contrary, it should fall away from the
vital energy, it will reduce its motion to destruction.

3. Thus, neither is there perception without material substance, nor does the act of
perception take place without the intellectual faculty. XV. That the Soul Proper, in Fact
and Name, is the Rational Soul, While the Others are Called So Equivocally; Wherein Also
is This Statement, that the Power of the Mind Extends Throughout the Whole Body in Fitting
Contact with Every Part . 1. Now, if some things in creation possess the nutritive
faculty, and others again are regulated by the perceptive faculty, while the former have
no share of perception nor the latter of the intellectual nature, and if for this reason
any one is inclined to the opinion of a plurality of souls, such a man will be positing a
variety of souls in a way not in accordance with their distinguishing definition. For
everything which we conceive among existing things, if it be perfectly that which it is,
is also properly called by the name it bears: but of that which is not every respect what
it is called, the appellation also is vain. For instance:-if one were to show us true
bread, we say that he properly applies the name to the subject: but if one were to show us
instead that which had been made of stone to resemble the natural bread, which had the
same shape, and equal size, and similarity of colour, so as in most points to be the same
with its prototype, but which yet lacks the power of being food, on this account we say
that the stone receives the name of "bread," not properly, but by a misnomer, and all
things which fall under the same description, which are not absolutely what they are
called, have their name from a misuse of terms.

2. Thus, as the soul finds its perfection in that which is intellectual and rational,
everything that is not so may indeed share the name of "soul," but is not really soul, but
a certain vital energy associated with the appellation of "soul ." And for this reason
also He Who gave laws on every matter, gave the animal nature likewise, as not far removed
from this vegetative life , for the use of man, to be for those who partake of it instead
of herbs:-for He says, "Ye shall eat all kinds of flesh even as the green herb ;" for the
perceptive energy seems to have but a slight advantage over that which is nourished and
grows without it. Let this teach carnal men not to bind their intellect closely to the
phenomena of sense, but rather to busy themselves with their spiritual advantages, as the
true soul is found in these, while sense has equal power also among the brute creation.

3. The course of our argument, however, has diverged to another point: for the subject of
our speculation was not the fact that the energy of mind is of more dignity among the
attributes we conceive in man than the material element of his being, but the fact that
the mind is not confined to any one part of us, but is equally in all and through all,
neither surrounding anything without, nor being enclosed within anything: for these
phrases are properly applied to casks or other bodies that are placed one inside the
other; but the union of the mental with the bodily presents a connection unspeakable and
inconceivable,-not being within it (for the incorporeal is not enclosed in a body), nor
yet surrounding it without (for that which is incorporeal does not include anything), but
the mind approaching our nature in some inexplicable and incomprehensible way, and coming
into contact with it, is to be regarded as both in it and around it, neither implanted in
it nor enfolded with it, but in a way which we cannot speak or think, except so far as
this, that while the nature prospers according to its own order, the mind is also
operative; but if any misfortune befalls the former, the movement of the intellect halts
correspondingly.

XVI. A Contemplation of the Divine Utterance Which Said-"Let Us Make Man After Our Image
and Likeness"; Wherein is Examined What is the Definition of the Image, and How the
Passible and Mortal is Like to the Blessed and Impassible, and How in the Image There are
Male and Female, Seeing These are Not in the Prototype . 1. Let us now resume our
consideration of the Divine word, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ." How
mean and how unworthy of the majesty of man are the fancies of some heathen writers, who
magnify humanity, as they supposed, by their comparison of it to this world! for they say
that man is a little world, composed of the same elements with the universe. Those who
bestow on human nature such praise as this by a high-sounding name, forget that they are
dignifying man with the attributes of the gnat and the mouse: for they too are composed of
these four elements,-because assuredly about the animated nature of every existing thing
we behold a part, greater or less, of those elements without which it is not natural that
any sensitive being should exist. What great thing is there, then, in man's being
accounted a representation and likeness of the world,-of the heaven that passes away, of
the earth that changes, of all things that they contain, which pass away with the
departure of that which compasses them round?

2. In what then does the greatness of man consist, according to the doctrine of the
Church? Not in his likeness to the created world, but in his being in the image of the
nature of the Creator. 3. What therefore, you will perhaps say, is the definition of the
image? How is the incorporeal likened to body? how is the temporal like the eternal? that
which is mutable by change like to the immutable? that which is subject to passion and
corruption to the impassible and incorruptible? that which constantly dwells with evil,
and grows up with it, to that which is absolutely free from evil? there is a great
difference between that which is conceived in the archetype, and a thing which has been
made in its image: for the image is properly so called if it keeps its resemblance to the
prototype; but if the imitation be perverted from its subject, the thing is something
else, and no longer an image of the subject.

4. How then is man, this mortal, passible, shortlived being, the image of that nature
which is immortal, pure, and everlasting? The true answer to this question, indeed,
perhaps only the very Truth knows: but this is what we, tracing out the truth so far as we
are capable by conjectures and inferences, apprehend concerning the matter. Neither does
the word of God lie when it says that man was made in the image of God, nor is the
pitiable suffering of man's nature like to the blessedness of the impassible Life: for if
any one were to compare our nature with God, one of two things must needs be allowed in
order that the definition of the likeness may be apprehended in both cases in the same
terms,-either that the Deity is passible, or that humanity is impassible: but if neither
the Deity is passible nor our nature free from passion, what other account remains whereby
we may say that the word of God speaks truly, which says that man was made in the image of
God?

5. We must, then, take up once more the Holy Scripture itself, if we may perhaps find some
guidance in the question by means of what is written. After saying, "Let us make man in
our image," and for what purposes it was said "Let us make him," it adds this saying:-"and
God created man; in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them ." We
have already said in what precedes, that this saying was uttered for the destruction of
heretical impiety, in order that being instructed that the Only-begotten God made man in
the image of God, we should in no wise distinguish the Godhead of the Father and the Son,
since Holy Scripture gives to each equally the name of God,-to Him Who made man, and to
Him in Whose image he was made. 6. However, let us pass by our argument upon this point:
let us turn our inquiry to the question before us,-how it is that while the Deity is in
bliss, and humanity is in misery, the latter is yet in Scripture called "like" the former?

7. We must, then, examine the words carefully: for we find, if we do so, that that which
was made "in the image" is one thing, and that which is now manifested in wretchedness is
another. "God created man," it says; "in the image of God created He him ." There is an
end of the creation of that which was made "in the image": then it makes a resumption of
the account of creation, and says, "male and female created He them." I presume that every
one knows that this is a departure from the Prototype: for "in Christ Jesus," as the
apostle says, "there is neither male nor female ." Yet the phrase declares that man is
thus divided. 8. Thus the creation of our nature is in a sense twofold: one made like to
God, one divided according to this distinction: for something like this the passage darkly
conveys by its arrangement, where it first says, "God created man, in the image of God
created He him ," and then, adding to what has been said, "male and female created He them
,"-a thing which is alien from our conceptions of God.

9. I think that by these words Holy Scripture conveys to us a great and lofty doctrine;
and the doctrine is this. While two natures-the Divine and incorporeal nature, and the
irrational life of brutes-are separated from each other as extremes, human nature is the
mean between them: for in the compound nature of man we may behold a part of each of the
natures I have mentioned,-of the Divine, the rational and intelligent element, which does
not admit the distinction of male and female; of the irrational, our bodily form and
structure, divided into male and female: for each of these elements is certainly to be
found in all that partakes of human life. That the intellectual element, however, precedes
the other, we learn as from one who gives in order an account of the making of man; and we
learn also that his community and kindred with the irrational is for man a provision for
reproduction. For he says first that "God created man in the image of God" (showing by
these words, as the Apostle says, that in such a being there is no male or female): then
he adds the peculiar attributes of human nature, "male and female created He them ."

10. What, then, do we learn from this? Let no one, I pray, be indignant if I bring from
far an argument to bear upon the present subject. God is in His own nature all that which
our mind can conceive of good;-rather, transcending all good that we can conceive or
comprehend. He creates man for no other reason than that He is good; and being such, and
having this as His reason for entering upon the creation of our nature, He would not
exhibit the power of His goodness in an imperfect form, giving our nature some one of the
things at His disposal, and grudging it a share in another: but the perfect form of
goodness is here to be seen by His both bringing man into being from nothing, and fully
supplying him with all good gifts: but since the list of individual good gifts is a long
one, it is out of the question to apprehend it numerically. The language of Scripture
therefore expresses it concisely by a comprehensive phrase, in saying that man was made
"in the image of God": for this is the same as to say that He made human nature
participant in all good; for if the Deity is the fulness of good, and this is His image,
then the image finds its resemblance to the Archetype in being filled with all good.

11. Thus there is in us the principle of all excellence, all virtue and wisdom, and every
higher thing that we conceive: but pre-eminent among all is the fact that we are free from
necessity, and not in bondage to any natural power, but have decision in our own power as
we please; for virtue is a voluntary thing, subject to no dominion: that which is the
result of compulsion and force cannot be virtue. 12. Now as the image bears in all points
the semblance of the archetypal excellence, if it had not a difference in some respect,
being absolutely without divergence it would no longer be a likeness, but will in that
case manifestly be absolutely identical with the Prototype. What difference then do we
discern between the Divine and that which has been made like to the Divine? We find it in
the fact that the former is uncreate, while the latter has its being from creation: and
this distinction of property brings with it a train of other properties; for it is very
certainly acknowledged that the uncreated nature is also immutable, and always remains the
same, while the created nature cannot exist without change; for its very passage from
nonexistence to existence is a certain motion and change of the non-existent transmuted by
the Divine purpose into being.

13. As the Gospel calls the stamp upon the coin "the image of Caesar ," whereby we learn
that in that which was fashioned to resemble Caesar there was resemblance as to outward
look, but difference as to material, so also in the present saying, when we consider the
attributes contemplated both in the Divine and human nature, in which the likeness
consists, to be in the place of the features, we find in what underlies them the
difference which we behold in the uncreated and in the created nature. 14. Now as the
former always remains the same, while that which came into being by creation had the
beginning of its existence from change, and has a kindred connection with the like
mutation, for this reason He Who, as the prophetical writing says, "knoweth all things
before they be ," following out, or rather perceiving beforehand by His power of
foreknowledge what, in a state of independence and freedom, is the tendency of the motion
of man's will,-as He saw, I say, what would be, He devised for His image the distinction
of male and female, which has no reference to the Divine Archetype, but, as we have said,
is an approximation to the less rational nature.

15. The cause, indeed, of this device, only those can know who were eye-witnesses of the
truth and ministers of the Word; but we, imagining the truth, as far as we can, by means
of conjectures and similitudes, do not set forth that which occurs to our mind
authoritatively, but will place it in the form of a theoretical speculation before our
kindly hearers. 16. What is it then which we understand concerning these matters? In
saying that "God created man" the text indicates, by the indefinite character of the term,
all mankind; for was not Adam here named together with the creation, as the history tells
us in what follows ? yet the name given to the man created is not the particular, but the
general name: thus we are led by the employment of the general name of our nature to some
such view as this-that in the Divine foreknowledge and power all humanity is included in
the first creation; for it is fitting for God not to regard any of the things made by Him
as indeterminate, but that each existing thing should have some limit and measure
prescribed by the wisdom of its Maker.

17. Now just as any particular man is limited by his bodily dimensions, and the peculiar
size which is conjoined with the superficies of his body is the measure of his separate
existence, so I think that the entire plenitude of humanity was included by the God of
all, by His power of foreknowledge, as it were in one body, and that this is what the text
teaches us which says, "God created man, in the image of God created He him." For the
image is not in part of our nature, nor is the grace in any one of the things found in
that nature, but this power extends equally to all the race: and a sign of this is that
mind is implanted alike in all: for all have the power of understanding and deliberating,
and of all else whereby the Divine nature finds its image in that which was made according
to it: the man that was manifested at the first creation of the world, and he that shall
be after the consummation of all, are alike: they equally bear in themselves the Divine
image .

18. For this reason the whole race was spoken of as one man, namely, that to God's power
nothing is either past or future, but even that which we expect is comprehended, equally
with what is at present existing, by the all-sustaining energy. Our whole nature, then,
extending from the first to the last, is, so to say, one image of Him Who is; but the
distinction of kind in male and female was added to His work lash as I suppose, for the
reason which follows .

XVII. WHAT WE MUST ANSWER TO THOSE WHO RAISE THE QUESTION-"IF PROCREATION IS AFTER SIN, HOW WOULD SOULS HAVE CAME INTO BEING IF THE FIRST OF MANKIND HAD REMAINED SINLESS" ?

1. It is better for us however, perhaps, rather to inquire, before investigating this
point, the solution of the question put forward by our adversaries; for they say that
before the sin there is no account of birth, or of travail, or of the desire that tends to
procreation, but when they were banished from Paradise after their sin, and the woman was
condemned by the sentence of travail, Adam thus entered with his consort upon the
intercourse of married life, and then took place the beginning of procreation. If, then,
marriage did not exist in Paradise, nor travail, nor birth, they say that it follows as a
necessary conclusion that human souls would not have existed in plurality had not the
grace of immortality fallen away to mortality, and marriage preserved our race by means of
descendants, introducing the offspring of the departing to take their place, so that in a
certain way the sin that entered into the world was profitable for the life of man: for
the human race would have remained in the pair of the first-formed, had not the fear of
death impelled their nature to provide succession.

2. Now here again the true answer, whatever it may be, can be clear to those only who,
like Paul, have been instructed in the mysteries of Paradise; but our answer is as
follows. When the Sadducees once argued against the doctrine of the resurrection, and
brought forward, to establish their own opinion, that woman of many marriages, who had
been wife to seven brethren, and thereupon inquired whose wife she will be after the
resurrection, our Lord answered their argument so as not only to instruct the Sadducees,
but also to reveal to all that come after them the mystery of the resurrection-life: "for
in the resurrection," He says, "they neither marry, nor are given in marriage neither can
they die any more, for they are equal to the angels, and are the children of God, being
the children of the resurrection . Now the resurrection promises us nothing else than the
restoration of the fallen to their ancient state; for the grace we look for is a certain
return to the first life, bringing back again to Paradise him who was cast out from it. If
then the life of those restored is closely related to that of the angels, it is clear that
the life before the transgression was a kind of angelic life, and hence also our return to
the ancient condition of our life is compared to the angels. Yet while, as has been said,
there is no marriage among them, the armies of the angels are in countless myriads;

for so Daniel declared in his visions: so, in the same way, if there had not come upon us
as the result of sin a change for the worse, and removal from equality with the angels,
neither should we have needed marriage that we might multiply but whatever the mode of
increase in the angelic nature is (unspeakable and inconceivable by human conjectures,
except that it assuredly exists), it would have operated also in the case of men, who were
"made a little lower than the angels ," to increase mankind to the measure determined by
its Maker. 3. But if any one finds a difficulty in an inquiry as to the manner of the
generation of souls, had man not needed the assistance of marriage, we shall ask him in
turn, what is the mode of the angelic existence, how they exist in countless myriads,
being one essence, and at the same time numerically many; for we shall be giving a fit
answer to one who raises the question how man would have been without marriage, if we say,
"as the angels are without marriage;" for the fact that man was in a like condition with
them before the transgression is shown by the restoration to that state.

4. Now that we have thus cleared up these matters, let us return to our former point,-how
it was that after the making of His image God contrived for His work the distinction of
male and female. I say that the preliminary speculation we have completed is of service
for determining this question; for He Who brought all things into being and fashioned Man
as a whole by His own will to the Divine image, did not wait to see the number of souls
made up to its proper fulness by the gradual additions of those coming after; but while
looking upon the nature of man in its entirety and fulness by the exercise of His
foreknowledge, and bestowing upon it a lot exalted and equal to the angels, since He saw
beforehand by His all-seeing power the failure of their will to keep a direct course to
what is good, and its consequent declension from the angelic life, in order that the
multitude of human souls might not be cut short by its fall from that mode by which the
angels were increased and multiplied,-for this reason, I say, He formed for our nature
that contrivance for increase which befits those who had fallen into sin, implanting in
mankind, instead of the angelic majesty of nature, that animal and irrational mode by
which they now succeed one another.

5. Hence also, it seems to me, the great David pitying the misery of man mourns over his
nature with such words as these, that, "man being in honour knew it not" (meaning by
"honour" the equality with the angels), therefore, he says, "he is compared to the beasts
that have no understanding, and made like unto them ." For he truly was made like the
beasts, who received in his nature the present mode of transient generation, on account of
his inclination to material things.

XVIII. THAT OUR IRRATIONAL PASSIONS HAVE THEIR RISE FROM KINDRED WITH IRRATIONAL NATURE.

1. For I think that from this beginning all our passions issue as from a spring, and pour
their flood over man's life; and an evidence of my words is the kinship of passions which
appears alike in ourselves and in the brutes; for it is not allowable to ascribe the first
beginnings of our constitutional liability to passion to that human nature which was
fashioned in the Divine likeness; but as brute life first entered into the world, and man,
for the reason already mentioned, took something of their nature (I mean the mode of
generation), he accordingly took at the same time a share of the other attributes
contemplated in that nature; for the likeness of man to God is not found in anger, nor is
pleasure a mark of the superior nature; cowardice also, and boldness, and the desire of
gain, and the dislike of loss, and all the like, are far removed from that stamp which
indicates Divinity.

2. These attributes, then, human nature took to itself from the side of the brutes; for
those qualities with which brute life was armed for self-preservation, when transferred to
human life, became passions; for the carnivorous animals are preserved by their anger, and
those which breed largely by their love of pleasure cowardice preserves the weak, fear
that which is easily taken by more powerful animals, and greediness those of great bulk;
and to miss anything that tends to pleasure is for the brutes a matter of pain. All these
and the like affections entered man's composition by reason of the animal mode of
generation. 3. I may be allowed to describe the human image by comparison with some
wonderful piece of modelling. For, as one may see in models those carved shapes which the
artificers of such things contrive for the wonder of beholders, tracing out upon a single
head two forms of faces; so man seems to me to bear a double likeness to opposite things-
being moulded in the Divine element of his mind to the Divine beauty, but bearing, in the
passionate impulses that arise in him, a likeness to the brute nature; while often even
his reason is rendered brutish, and obscures the better element by the worse through its
inclination and disposition towards what is irrational; for whenever a man drags down his
mental energy to these affections, and forces his reason to become the servant of his
passions, there takes place a sort of conversion of the good stamp in him into the
irrational image, his whole nature being traced anew after that design, as his reason, so
to say, cultivates the beginnings of his passions, and gradually multiplies them; for once
it lends its co-operation to passion, it produces a plenteous and abundant crop of evils.

4. Thus our love of pleasure took its beginning from our being made like to the irrational
creation, and was increased by the transgressions of men, becoming the parent of so many
varieties of sins arising from pleasure as we cannot find among the irrational animals.
Thus the rising of anger in us is indeed akin to the impulse of the brutes; but it grows
by the alliance of thought: for thence come malignity, envy, deceit, conspiracy,
hypocrisy; all these are the result of the evil husbandry of the mind; for if the passion
were divested of the aid it receives from thought, the anger that is left behind is short-
lived and not sustained, like a bubble, perishing straightway as soon as it comes into
being. Thus the greediness of swine introduces covetousness, and the high spirit of the
horse becomes the origin of pride; and all the particular forms that proceed from the want
of reason in brute nature become vice by the evil use of the mind.

5. So, likewise, on the contrary, if reason instead assumes sway over such emotions, each
of them is transmuted to a form of virtue; for anger produces courage, terror caution,
fear obedience, hatred aversion from vice, the power of love the desire for what is truly
beautiful; high spirit in our character raises our thought above the passions, and keeps
it from bondage to what is base; yea, the great Apostle, even, praises such a form of
mental elevation when he bids us constantly to "think those things that are above ;" and
so we find that every such motion, when elevated by loftiness of mind, is conformed to the
beauty of the Divine image. 6. But the other impulse is greater, as the tendency of sin is
heavy and downward; for the ruling element of our soul is more inclined to be dragged
downwards by the weight of the irrational nature than is the heavy and earthy element to
be exalted by the loftiness of the intellect; hence the misery that encompasses us often
causes the Divine gift to be forgotten, and spreads the passions of the flesh, like some
ugly mask, over the beauty of the image.

7. Those, therefore, are in some sense excusable, who do not admit, when they look upon
such cases, that the Divine form is there; yet we may behold the Divine image in men by
the medium of those who have ordered their lives aright. For if the man who is subject to
passion, and carnal, makes it incredible that man was adorned, as it were, with Divine
beauty, surely the man of lofty virtue and pure from pollution will confirm you in the
better conception of human nature. 8. For instance (for it is better to make our argument
clear by an illustration), one of those noted for wickedness-some Jechoniah, say, or some
other of evil memory-has obliterated the beauty of his nature by the pollution of
wickedness; yet in Moses and in men like him the form of the image was kept pure. Now
where the beauty of the form has not been obscured, there is made plain the faithfulness
of the saying that man is an image of God.

9. It may be, however, that some one feels shame at the fact that our life, like that of
the brutes, is sustained by food, and for this reason deems man unworthy of being supposed
to have been framed in the image of God; but he may expect that freedom from this function
will one day be bestowed upon our nature in the life we look for; for, as the Apostle
says, "the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink ;" and the Lord declared that "man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God ."
Further, as the resurrection holds forth to us a life equal with the angels, and with the
angels there is no food, there is sufficient ground for believing that man, who will live
in like fashion with the angels, will be released from such a function.

XIX. TO THOSE WHO SAY THAT THE ENJOYMENT OF THE GOOD THINGS WE LOOK FOR WILL AGAIN CONSIST IN MEAT AND DRINK, BECAUSE IT IS WRITTEN THAT BY THESE MEANS MAN AT FIRST LIVED IN PARADISE .

1. But some one perhaps will say that man will not be returning to the same form of life,
if as it seems, we formerly existed by eating, and shall hereafter be free from that
function. I, however, when I hear the Holy Scripture, do not understand only bodily meat,
or the pleasure of the flesh; but I recognize another kind of food also, having a certain
analogy to that of the body, the enjoyment of which extends to the soul alone: "Eat of my
bread ," is the bidding of Wisdom to the hungry; and the Lord declares those blessed who
hunger for such food as this, and says, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and
drink": and "drink ye joy ," is the great Isaiah's charge to those who are able to hear
his sublimity. There is a prophetic threatening also against those worthy of vengeance,
that they shall be punished with famine; but the "famine" is not a lack of bread and
water, but a failure of the word:- "not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a
famine of hearing the word of the Lord."

2. We ought, then, to conceive that the fruit in Eden was something worthy of God's
planting (and Eden is interpreted to mean "delight"), and not to doubt that man was hereby
nourished: nor should we at all conceive, concerning the mode of life in Paradise, this
transitory and perishable nutriment: "of every tree of the garden," He says, "thou mayest
freely eat ." 3. Who will give to him that has a healthful hunger that tree that is in
Paradise, which includes all good, which is named "every tree," in which this passage
bestows on man the right to share? for in the universal and transcendent saying every form
of good is in harmony with itself, and the whole is one. And who will keep me back from
that tasting of the tree which is of mixed and doubtful kind? for surely it is clear to
all who are at all keen-sighted what that "every" tree is whose fruit is life, and what
again that mixed tree is whose end is death: for He Who presents ungrudgingly the
enjoyment of "every" tree, surely by some reason and forethought keeps man from
participation in those which are of doubtful kind.

4. It seems to me that I may take the great David and the wise Solomon as my instructors
in the interpretation of this text: for both understand the grace of the permitted delight
to be one,-that very actual Good, which in truth is "every" good;-David, when he says,
"Delight thou in the Lord ," and Solomon, when he names Wisdom herself (which is the Lord)
"a tree of life ." 5. Thus the "every" tree of which the passage gives food to him who was
made in the likeness of God, is the same with the tree of life; and there is opposed to
this tree another tree, the food given by which is the knowledge of good and evil:-not
that it bears in turn as fruit each of these things of opposite significance, but that it
produces a fruit blended and mixed with opposite qualities, the eating of which the Prince
of Life forbids, and the serpent counsels, that he may prepare an entrance for death: and
he obtained credence for his counsel, covering over the fruit with a fair appearance and
the show of pleasure, that it might be pleasant to the eyes and stimulate the desire to
taste.

XX. WHAT WAS THE LIFE IN PARADISE, AND WHAT WAS THE FORBIDDEN TREE ?

1. What then is that which includes the knowledge of good and evil blended together, and
is decked with the pleasures of sense? I think I am not aiming wide of the mark in
employing, as a starting-point for my speculation, the sense of "knowable ." It is not, I
think, "science" which the Scripture here means by "knowledge"; but I find a certain
distinction, according to Scriptural use, between "knowledge" and "discernment": for to
"discern" skilfully the good from the evil, the Apostle says is a mark of a more perfect
condition and of "exercised senses ," for which reason also he bids us "prove all things
," and says that "discernment" belongs to the spiritual man : but "knowledge" is not
always to be understood of skill and acquaintance with anything, but of the disposition
towards what is agreeable,-as "the Lord knoweth them that are His "; and He says to Moses,
"I knew thee above all "; while of those condemned in their wickedness He Who knows all
things says, "I never knew you ."

2. The tree, then, from which comes this fruit of mixed knowledge, is among those things
which are forbidden; and that fruit is combined of opposite qualities, which has the
serpent to commend it, it may be for this reason, that the evil is not exposed in its
nakedness, itself appearing in its own proper nature-for wickedness would surely fail of
its effect were it not decked with some fair colour to entice to the desire of it him whom
it deceives-but now the nature of evil is in a manner mixed, keeping destruction like some
snare concealed in its depths, and displaying some phantom of good in the deceitfulness of
its exterior. The beauty of the substance seems good to those who love money: yet "the
love of money is a root of all evil ": and who would plunge into the unsavoury mud of
wantonness, were it not that he whom this bait hurries into passion thinks pleasure a
thing fair and acceptable? so, too, the other sins keep their destruction hidden, and seem
at first sight acceptable, and some deceit makes them earnestly sought after by unwary men
instead of what is good.

3. Now since the majority of men judge the good to lie in that which gratifies the senses,
and there is a certain identity of name between that which is, and that which appears to
be "good,"-for this reason that desire which arises towards what is evil, as though
towards good, is called by Scripture "the knowledge of good and evil;" "knowledge," as we
have said, expressing a certain mixed disposition. It speaks of the fruit of the forbidden
tree not as a thing absolutely evil (because it is decked with good), nor as a thing
purely good (because evil is latent in it), but as compounded of both, and declares that
the tasting of it brings to death those who touch it; almost proclaiming aloud the
doctrine that the very actual good is in its nature simple and uniform, alien from all
duplicity or conjunction with its opposite, while evil is many-coloured and fairly
adorned, being esteemed to be one thing and revealed by experience as another, the
knowledge of which (that is, its reception by experience) is the beginning and antecedent
of death and destruction.

4. It was because he saw this that the serpent points out the evil fruit of sin, not
showing the evil manifestly in its own nature (for man would not have been deceived by
manifest evil), but giving to what the woman beheld the glamour of a certain beauty, and
conjuring into its taste the spell of a sensual pleasure, he appeared to her to speak
convincingly: "and the woman saw," it says, "that the tree was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes to behold, and fair to see; and she took of the fruit thereof and
did eat ," and that eating became the mother of death to men. This, then, is that fruit-
bearing of mixed character, where the passage clearly expresses the sense in which the
tree was called "capable of the knowledge of good and evil," because, like the evil nature
of poisons that are prepared with honey, it appears to be good in so far as it affects the
senses with sweetness: but in so far as it destroys him who touches it, it is the worst of
all evil. Thus when the evil poison worked its effect against man's life, then man, that
noble thing and name, the image of God's nature, was made, as the prophet says, "like unto
vanity ."

5. The image, therefore, properly belongs to the better part of our attributes; but all in
our life that is painful and miserable is far removed from the likeness to the Divine.

XXI. THAT THE RESURRECTION IS LOOKED FOR AS A CONSEQUENCE, NOT SO MUCH FROM THE DECLARATION OF SCRIPTURE AS FROM THE VERY NECESSITY OF THINGS .

1. Wickedness, however, is not so strong as to prevail over the power of good; nor is the
folly of our nature more powerful and more abiding than the wisdom of God: for it is
impossible that that which is always mutable and variable should be more firm and more
abiding than that which always remains the same and is firmly fixed in goodness: but it is
absolutely certain that the Divine counsel possesses immutability, while the
changeableness of our nature does not remain settled even in evil. 2. Now that which is
always in motion, if its progress be to good, will never cease moving onwards to what lies
before it, by reason of the infinity of the course to be traversed:-for it will not find
any limit of its object such that when it has apprehended it, it will at last cease its
motion: but if its bias be in the opposite direction, when it has finished the course of
wickedness and reached the extreme limit of evil, then that which is ever moving, finding
no halting point for its impulse natural to itself when it has run through the lengths
that can be run in wickedness, of necessity turns its motion towards good: for as evil
does not extend to infinity, but is comprehended by necessary limits, it would appear that
good once more follows in succession upon the limit of evil; and thus, as we have said,
the ever-moving character of our nature comes to run its course at the last once more back
towards good, being taught the lesson of prudence by the memory of its former misfortunes,
to the end that it may never again be in like case.

3. Our course, then, will once more lie in what is good, by reason of the fact that the
nature of evil is bounded by necessary limits. For just as those skilled in astronomy tell
us that the whole universe is full of light, and that darkness is made to cast its shadow
by the interposition of the body formed by the earth; and that this darkness is shut off
from the rays of the sun, in the shape of a cone, according to the figure of the sphere-
shaped body, and behind it; while the sun, exceeding the earth by a size many times as
great as its own, enfolding it round about on all sides with its rays, unites at the limit
of the cone the concurrent streams of light; so that if (to suppose the case) any one had
the power of passing beyond the measure to which the shadow extends, he would certainly
find himself in light unbroken by darkness;-even so I think that we ought to understand
about ourselves, that on passing the limit of wickedness we shall again have our
conversation in light, as the nature of good, when compared with the measure of
wickedness, is incalculably superabundant.

4. Paradise therefore will be restored, that tree will be restored which is in truth the
tree of life;-there will be restored the grace of the image, and the dignity of rule. It
does not seem to me that our hope is one for those things which are now subjected by God
to man for the necessary uses of life, but one for another kingdom, of a description that
belongs to unspeakable mysteries.

XXII. TO THOSE WHO SAY, "IF THE RESURRECTION IS A THING EXCELLENT AND GOOD, HOW IS IT THAT IT HAS NOT HAPPENED ALREADY, BUT IS HOPED FAR IN SOME PERIODS OF TIME?"

1. Let us give our attention, however, to the next point of our discussion. It may be that
some one, giving his thought wings to soar towards the sweetness of our hope, deems it a
burden and a loss that we are not more speedily placed in that good state which is above
man's sense and knowledge, and is dissatisfied with the extension of the time that
intervenes between him and the object of his desire. Let him cease to vex himself like a
child that is discontented at the brief delay of something that gives him pleasure; for
since all things are governed by reason and wisdom, we must by no means suppose that
anything that happens is done without reason itself and the wisdom that is therein. 2. You
will say then, What is this reason, in accordance with which the change of our painful
life to that which we desire does not take place at once, but this heavy and corporeal
existence of ours waits, extended to some determinate time, for the term of the
consummation of all things, that then man's life may be set free as it were from the
reins, and revert once more, released and free, to the life of blessedness and
impassibility?

3. Well, whether our answer is near the truth of the matter, the Truth Itself may clearly
know; but at all events what occurs to our intelligence is as follows. I take up then once
more in my argument our first text:-God says, "Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness, and God created man, in the image of God created He him ." Accordingly, the
Image of God, which we behold in universal humanity, had its consummation then ; but Adam
as yet was not; for the thing formed from the earth is called Adam, by etymological
nomenclature, as those tell us who are acquainted with the Hebrew tongue-wherefore also
the apostle, who was specially learned in his native tongue, the tongue of the Israelites,
calls the man "of the earth " xoi/koj, as though translating the name Adam into the Greek
word. 4. Man, then, was made in the image of God; that is, the universal nature, the thing
like God; not part of the whole, but all the fulness of the nature together was so made by
omnipotent wisdom. He saw, Who holds all limits in His grasp, as the Scripture tells us
which says, "in His hand are all the corners of the earth ," He saw, "Who knoweth all
things" even "before they be ," comprehending them in His knowledge, how great in number
humanity will be in the sum of its individuals. But as He perceived in our created nature
the bias towards evil, and the fact that after its voluntary fall from equality with the
angels it would acquire a fellowship with the lower nature, He mingled, for this reason,
with His own image, an element of the irrational (for the distinction of male and female
does not exist in the Divine and blessed nature);-transferring, I say, to man the special
attribute of the irrational formation, He bestowed increase upon our race not according to
the lofty character of our creation; for it was not when He made that which was in His own
image that He bestowed on man the power of increasing and multiplying; but when He divided
it by sexual distinctions, then He said, "Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth
." For this belongs not to the Divine, but to the irrational element, as the history
indicates when it narrates that these words were first spoken by God in the case of the
irrational creatures; since we may be sure that, if He had bestowed on man, before
imprinting on our nature the distinction of male and female, the power for increase
conveyed by this utterance, we should not have needed this form of generation by which the
brutes are generated.

5. Now seeing that the full number of men pre-conceived by the operation of foreknowledge
will come into life by means of this animal generation, God, Who governs all things in a
certain order and sequence,-since the inclination of our nature to what was beneath it
(which He Who beholds the future equally with the present saw before it existed) made some
such form of generation absolutely necessary for mankind,-therefore also foreknew the time
coextensive with the creation of men, so that the extent of time should be adapted for the
entrances of the pre-determined souls, and that the flux and motion of time should halt at
the moment when humanity is no longer produced by means of it; and that when the
generation of men is completed, time should cease together with its completion, and then
should take place the restitution of all things, and with the World-Reformation humanity
also should be changed from the corruptible and earthly to the impassible and eternal.

6. And this it seems to me the Divine apostle considered when he declared in his epistle
to the Corinthians the sudden stoppage of time, and the change of the things that are now
moving on back to the opposite end where he says, "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall
not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump ." For when, as I suppose, the full complement of human nature has reached
the limit of the pre-determined measure, because there is no longer anything to be made up
in the way of increase to the number of souls, he teaches us that the change in existing
things will take place in an instant of time, giving to that limit of time which has no
parts or extension the names of "a moment," and "the twinkling of an eye"; so that it will
no more be possible for one who reaches the verge of time (which is the last and extreme
point, from the fact that nothing is lacking to the attainment of its extremity) to obtain
by death this change which takes place at a fixed period, but only when the trumpet of the
resurrection sounds, which awakens the dead, and transforms those who are left in life,
after the likeness of those who have undergone the resurrection change, at once to
incorruptibility; so that the weight of the flesh is no longer heavy, nor does its burden
hold them down to earth, but they rise aloft through the air-for, "we shall be caught up,"
he tells us, "in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the
Lord ."

7. Let him therefore wait for that time which is necessarily made co-extensive with the
development of humanity. For even Abraham and the patriarchs, while they had the desire to
see the promised good things, and ceased not to seek the heavenly country, as the apostle
says, are yet even now in the condition of hoping for that grace, "God having provided
some better thing for us," according to the words of Paul, "that they without us should
not be made perfect ." If they, then, bear the delay who by faith only and by hope saw the
good things "afar off" and "embraced them ," as the apostle bears witness, placing their
certainty of the enjoyment of the things for which they hoped in the fact that they
"judged Him faithful Who has promised ," what ought most of us to do, who have not, it may
be, a hold upon the better hope from the character of our lives? Even the prophet's soul
fainted with desire, and in his psalm he confesses this passionate love, saying that his
"soul hath a desire and longing to be in the courts of the Lord ," even if he must needs
be rejected to a place amongst the lowest, as it is a greater and more desirable thing to
be last there than to be first among the ungodly tents of this life; nevertheless he was
patient of the delay, deeming, indeed, the life there blessed, and accounting a brief
participation in it more desirable than "thousands" of time-for he says, "one day in Thy
courts is better than thousands "-yet he did not repine at the necessary dispensation
concerning existing things, and thought it sufficient bliss for man to have those good
things even by way of hope; wherefore he says at the end of the Psalm, "O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the man that hopeth in Thee ."

8. Neither, then, should we be troubled at the brief delay of what we hope for, but give
diligence that we may not be cast out from the object of our hopes; for just as though, if
one were to tell some inexperienced person beforehand, "the gathering of the crops will
take place in the season of summer, and the stores will be filled, and the table
abundantly supplied with food at the time of plenty," it would be a foolish man who should
seek to hurry on the coming of the fruit-time, when he ought to be sowing seeds and
preparing the crops for himself by diligent care; for the fruit-time will surely come,
whether he wishes or not, at the appointed time; and it will be looked on differently by
him who has secured for himself beforehand abundance of crops, and by him who is found by
the fruit-time destitute of all preparation. Even so I think it is one's duty, as the
proclamation is clearly made to all that the time of change will come, not to trouble
himself about times (for He said that "it is not for us to know the times and the seasons
"), nor to pursue calculations by which he will be sure to sap the hope of the
resurrection in the soul; but to make his confidence in the things expected as a prop to
lean on, and to purchase for himself, by good conversation, the grace that is to come.

XXIII. THAT HE WHO CONFESSES THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD'S EXISTENCE MUST NECESSARILY ALSO AGREE AS TO ITS END .

But if some one, beholding the present course of the world, by which intervals of time are
marked, going on in a certain order, should say that it is not possible that the predicted
stoppage of these moving things should take place, such a man clearly also does not
believe that in the beginning the heaven and the earth were made by God; for he who admits
a beginning, of motion surely does not doubt as to its also having an end; and he who does
not allow its end, does not admit its beginning either; but as it is by believing that "we
understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God," as the apostle says, "so that
things which are seen were not made of things which do appear ," we must use the same
faith as to the word of God when He foretells the necessary stoppage of existing things.

2. The question of the "how" must, however, be put beyond the reach of our meddling; for
even in the case mentioned it was "by faith" that we admitted that the thing seen was
framed from things not yet apparent, omitting the search into things beyond our reach. And
yet our reason suggests difficulties on many points, offering no small occasions for doubt
as to the things which we believe. 3. For in that case too, argumentative men might by
plausible reasoning upset our faith, so that we should not think that statement true which
Holy Scripture delivers concerning the material creation, when it asserts that all
existing things have their beginning of being from God. For those who abide by the
contrary view maintain that matter is co-eternal with God, and employ in support of their
own doctrine some such arguments as these. If God is in His nature simple and immaterial,
without quantity , or size, or combination, and removed from the idea of circumscription
by way of figure, while all matter is apprehended in extension measured by intervals, and
does not escape the apprehension of our senses, but becomes known to us in colour, and
figure, and bulk, and size, and resistance, and the other attributes belonging to it, none
of which it is possible to conceive in the Divine nature,-what method is there for the
production of matter from the immaterial, or of the nature that has dimensions from that
which is unextended? for if these things are believed to have their existence from that
source, they clearly come into existence after being in Him in some mysterious way; but if
material existence was in Him, how can He be immaterial while including matter in Himself?
and similarly with all the other marks by which the material nature is differentiated; if
quantity exists in God, how is God without quantity? if the compound nature exists in Him,
how is He simple, without parts and without combination? so that the argument forces us to
think either that He is material, because matter has its existence from Him as a source;
or, if one avoids this, it is necessary to suppose that matter was imported by Him ab
extra for the making of the universe.

4. If, then, it was external to God, something else surely existed besides God, conceived,
in respect of eternity, together with Him Who exists ungenerately; so that the argument
supposes two eternal and unbegotten existences, having their being concurrently with each
other -that of Him Who operates as an artificer, and that of the thing which admits this
skilled operation; and if any one under pressure of this argument should assume a material
substratum for the Creator of all things, what a support will the Manichaean find for his
special doctrine, who opposes by virtue of ungenerateness a material existence to a Good
Being. Yet we do believe that all things are of God, as we hear the Scripture say so; and
as to the question how they were in God, a question beyond our reason, we do not seek to
pry into it, believing that all things are within the capacity of God's power-both to give
existence to what is not, and to implant qualities at His pleasure in what is.

5. Consequently, as we suppose the power of the Divine will to be a sufficient cause to
the things that are, for their coming into existence out of nothing, so too we shall not
repose our belief on anything beyond probability in referring the World-Reformation to the
same power. Moreover, it might perhaps be possible, by some skill in the use of words, to
persuade those who raise frivolous objections on the subject of matter not to think that
they can make an unanswerable attack on our statement.

XXIV. AN ARGUMENT AGAINST THOSE WHO SAY THAT MATTER IS CO-ETERNAL WITH GOD

1. For after all that opinion on the subject of matter does not turn out to be beyond what
appears consistent, which declares that it has its existence from Him Who is intelligible
and immaterial. For we shall find all matter to be composed of certain qualities, of which
if it is divested it can, in itself, be by no means grasped by idea. Moreover in idea each
kind of quality is separated from the substratum; but idea is an intellectual and not a
corporeal method of examination. If, for instance, some animal or tree is presented to our
notice, or any other of the things that have material existence, we perceive in our mental
discussion of it many things concerning the substratum, the idea of each of which is
clearly distinguished from the object we contemplate: for the idea of colour is one, of
weight another; so again that of quantity and of such and such a peculiar quality of
touch: for "softness," and "two cubits long," and the rest of the attributes we spoke of,
are not connected in idea either with one another or with the body: each of them has
conceived concerning it its own explanatory definition according to its being, having
nothing in common with any other of the qualities that are contemplated in the substratum.

2. If, then, colour is a thing intelligible, and resistance also is intelligible, and so
with quantity and the rest of the like properties, while if each of these should be
withdrawn from the substratum, the whole idea of the body is dissolved; it would seem to
follow that we may suppose the concurrence of those things, the absence of which we found
to be a cause of the dissolution of the body, to produce the material nature: for as that
is not a body which has not colour, and figure, and resistance, and extension, and weight,
and the other properties, while each of these in its proper existence is found to be not
the body but something else besides the body, so, conversely, whenever the specified
attributes concur they produce bodily existence. Yet if the perception of these properties
is a matter of intellect, and the Divinity is also intellectual in nature, there is no
incongruity in supposing that these intellectual occasions for the genesis of bodies have
their existence from the incorporeal nature, the intellectual nature on the one hand
giving being to the intellectual potentialities, and the mutual concurrence of these
bringing to its genesis the material nature.

3. Let this discussion, however, be by way of digression: we must direct our discourse
once more to the faith by which we accept the statement that the universe took being from
nothing, and do not doubt, when we are taught by Scripture, that it will again be
transformed into some other state.

XXV. HOW ONE EVEN OF THOSE WHO ARE WITHOUT MAY BE BROUGHT TO BELIEVE THE SCRIPTURE WHEN TEACHING OF THE RESURRECTION .

1. Some one, perhaps, having regard to the dissolution of bodies, and judging the Deity by
the measure of his own power, asserts that the idea of the resurrection is impossible,
saying that it cannot be that both those things which are now in motion should become
stationary, and those things which are now without motion should rise again. 2. Let such
an one, however, take as the first and greatest evidence of the truth touching the
resurrection the credibility of the herald who proclaims it. Now the faith of what is said
derives its certainty from the result of the other predictions: for as the Divine
Scripture delivers statements many and various, it is possible by examining how the rest
of the utterances stand in the matter of falsehood and truth to survey also, in the light
of them, the doctrine concerning the resurrection. For if in the other matters the
statements are found to be false and to have failed of true fulfilment, neither is this
out of the region of falsehood; but if all the others have experience to vouch for their
truth, it would seem logical to esteem as true, on their account, the prediction
concerning the resurrection also. Let us therefore recall one or two of the predictions
that have been made, and compare the result with what was foretold, so that we may know by
means of them whether the idea has a truthful aspect.

3. Who knows not how the people of Israel flourished of old, raised up against all the
powers of the world; what were the palaces in the city of Jerusalem, what the walls, the
towers, the majestic structure of the Temple? things that seemed worthy of admiration even
to the disciples of the Lord, so that they asked the Lord to take notice of them, in their
disposition to marvel, as the Gospel history shows us, saying, "What works, and what
buildings !" But He indicates to those who wondered at its present state the future
desolation of the place and the disappearance of that beauty, saying that after a little
while nothing of what they saw should be left. And, again, at the time of His Passion, the
women followed, bewailing the unjust sentence against Him,-for they could not yet see into
the dispensation of what was being done:-but He bids them be silent as to what is
befalling Him, for it does not demand their tears, but to reserve their wailing and
lamentation for the true time for tears, when the city should be compassed by besiegers,
and their sufferings reach so great a strait that they should deem him happy who had not
been born: and herein He foretold also the horrid deed of her who devoured her child, when
He said that in those days the womb should be accounted blest that never bare . Where then
are those palaces? where is the Temple? where are the walls? where are the defences of the
towers? where is the power of the Israelites? were not they scattered in different
quarters over almost the whole world? and in their overthrow the palaces also were brought
to ruin.

4. Now it seems to me that the Lord foretold these things and others like them not for the
sake of the matters themselves-for what great advantage to the hearers, at any rate, was
the prediction of what was about to happen? they would have known by experience, even if
they had not previously learnt what would come;-but in order that by these means faith on
their part might follow concerning more important matters: for the testimony of facts in
the former cases is also a proof of truth in the latter. 5. For just as though, if a
husbandman were explaining the virtue of seeds, it were to happen that some person
inexperienced in husbandry should disbelieve him, it would be sufficient as proof of his
statement for the agriculturist to show him the virtue existing in one seed of those in
the bushel and make it a pledge of the rest-for he who should see the single grain of
wheat or barley, or whatever might chance to be the contents of the bushel, grow into an
ear after being cast into the ground, would by the means of the one cease also to
disbelieve concerning the others-so the truthfulness which confessedly belongs to the
other statements seems to me to be sufficient also for evidence of the mystery of the
resurrection.

6. Still more, however, is this the case with the experience of actual resurrection which
we have learnt not so much by words as by actual facts: for as the marvel of resurrection
was great and passing belief, He begins gradually by inferior instances of His miraculous
power, and accustoms our faith, as it were, for the reception of the greater. 7. For as a
mother who nurses her babe with due care for a time supplies milk by her breast to its
mouth while still tender and soft; and when it begins to grow and to have teeth she gives
it bread, not hard or such as it cannot chew, so that the tender and unpractised gums may
not be chafed by rough food; but softening it with her own teeth, she makes it suitable
and convenient for the powers of the eater; and then as its power increases by growth she
gradually leads on the babe, accustomed to tender food, to more solid nourishment; so the
Lord, nourishing and fostering with miracles the weakness of the human mind, like some
babe not fully grown, makes first of all a prelude of the power of the resurrection in the
case of a desperate disease, which prelude, though it was great in its achievement, yet
was not such a thing that the statement of it would be disbelieved: for by "rebuking the
fever." which was fiercely consuming Simon's wife's mother, He produced so great a removal
of the evil as to enable her who was already expected to be near death, to "minister " to
those present.

8. Next He makes a slight addition to the power, and when the nobleman's son lies in
acknowledged danger of death (for so the history tells us, that he was about to die, as
his father cried, "come down, ere my child die "), He again brings about the resurrection
of one who was believed about to die; accomplishing the miracle with a greater act of
power in that He did not even approach the place, but sent life from afar off by the force
of His command. 9. Once more in what follows He ascends to higher wonders. For having set
out on His way to the ruler of the synagogue's daughter, he voluntarily made a halt in His
way, while making public the secret cure of the woman with an issue of blood, that in this
time death might overcome the sick. When, then, the soul had just been parted from the
body, and those who were wailing over the sorrow were making a tumult with their mournful
cries, He raises the damsel to life again, as if from sleep, by His word of command,
leading on human weakness, by a sort of path and sequence, to greater things.

10. Still in addition to these acts He exceeds them in wonder, and by a more exalted act
of power prepares for men the way of faith in the resurrection. The Scripture tells us of
a city called Nain in Judaea: a widow there had an only child, no longer a child in the
sense of being among boys, but already passing from childhood to man's estate: the
narrative calls him "a young man. The story conveys much in few words: the very recital is
a real lamentation: the dead man's mother, it says, "was a widow. See you the weight of
her misfortune, how the text briefly sets out the tragedy of her suffering? for what does
the phrase mean? that she had no more hope of bearing sons, to cure the loss she had just
sustained in him who had departed; for the woman was a widow: she had not in her power to
look to another instead of to him who was gone; for he was her only child; and how great a
grief is here expressed any one may easily see who is not an utter stranger to natural
feeling. Him alone she had known in travail him alone she had nursed at her breast; he
alone made her table cheerful, he alone was the cause of brightness in her home, in play,
in work, in learning, in gaiety, at processions, at sports, at gatherings of youth; he
alone was all that is sweet and precious in a mother's eyes.

Now at the age of marriage, he was the stock of her race, the shoot of its succession, the
staff of her old age. Moreover, even the additional detail of his time of life is another
lament: for he who speaks of him as "a young man" tells of the flower of his faded beauty,
speaks of him as just covering his face with down, not yet with a full thick beard, but
still bright with the beauty of his cheeks. What then, think you, were his mother's
sorrows for him? how would her heart be consumed as it were with a flame; how bitterly
would she prolong her lament over him, embracing the corpse as it lay before her,
lengthening out her mourning for him as far as possible, so as not to hasten the funeral
of the dead, but to have her fill of sorrow! Nor does the narrative pass this by: for
Jesus "when He saw her," it says, "had compassion"; "and He came and touched the bier; and
they that bare him stood still; and He said to the dead, "Young man, I say unto thee,
arise " "and He delivered him to his mother" alive. Observe that no short time had
intervened since the dead man had entered upon that state, he was all but laid in the
tomb; the miracle wrought by the Lord is greater, though the command is the same.

11. His miraculous power proceeds to a still more exalted act, that its display may more
closely approach that miracle of the resurrection which men doubt. One of the Lord's
companions and friends is ill (Lazarus is the sick man's name); and the Lord deprecates
any visiting of His friend, though far away from the sick man, that in the absence of the
Life, death might find room and power to do his own work by the agency of disease. The
Lord informs His disciples in Galilee of what has befallen Lazarus, and also of his own
setting out to him to raise him up when laid low. They, however, were exceedingly afraid
on account of the fury of the Jews, thinking it a difficult and dangerous matter to turn
again towards Judaea, in the midst of those who sought to slay Him: and thus, lingering
and delaying, they return slowly from Galilee: but they do return, for His command
prevailed, and the disciples were led by the Lord to be initiated at Bethany in the
preliminary mysteries of the general resurrection. Four days had already passed since the
event; all due rites had been performed for the departed; the body was hidden in the tomb:
it was probably already swollen and beginning to dissolve into corruption, as the body
mouldered in the dank earth and necessarily decayed: the thing was one to turn from, as
the dissolved body under the constraint of nature changed to offensiveness .

At this point the doubted fact of the general resurrection is brought to proof by a more
manifest miracle; for one is not raised from severe sickness, nor brought back to life
when at the last breath-nor is a child just dead brought to life, nor a young man about to
be conveyed to the tomb released from his bier; but a man past the prime of life, a
corpse, decaying, swollen, yea already in a state of dissolution, so that even his own
kinsfolk could not suffer that the Lord should draw near the tomb by reason of the
offensiveness of the decayed body there enclosed, brought into life by a single call,
confirms the proclamation of the resurrection, that is to say, that expectation of it as
universal, which we learn by a particular experience to entertain. For as in the
regeneration of the universe the Apostle tells us that "the Lord Himself will descend with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel ," and by a trumpet sound raise up the dead to
incorruption-so now too he who is in the tomb, at the voice of command, shakes off death
as if it were a sleep, and ridding himself from the corruption that had come upon his
condition of a corpse, leaps forth from the tomb whole and sound, not even hindered in his
egress by the bonds of the grave-cloths round his feet and hands.

12. Are these things too small to produce faith in the resurrection of the dead? or dost
thou seek that thy judgment on this point should be confirmed by yet other proofs? In
truth the Lord seems to me not to have spoken in vain to them of Capernaum, when He said
to Himself, as in the person of men, "Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, `Physician,
heal thyself .'" For it behoved Him, when He had accustomed men to the miracle of the
resurrection in other bodies, to confirm His word in His own humanity. Thou sawest the
thing proclaimed working in others-those who were about to die, the child which had just
ceased to live, the young man at the edge of the grave, the putrefying corpse, all alike
restored by one command to life. Dost thou seek for those who have come to death by wounds
and bloodshed? does any feebleness of life-giving power hinder the grace in them? Behold
Him Whose hands were pierced with nails: behold Him Whose side was transfixed with a
spear; pass thy fingers through the print of the nails thrust thy hand into the spear-
wound ; thou canst surely guess how far within it is likely the point would reach, if thou
reckonest the passage inwards by the breadth of the external scar; for the wound that
gives admission to a man's hand, shows to what depth within the iron entered. If He then
has been raised, well may we utter the Apostle's exclamation, "How say some that there is
no resurrection of the dead ?"

13. Since, then, every prediction of the Lord is shown to be true by the testimony of
events, while we not only have learnt this by His words, but also received the proof of
the promise in deed, from those very persons who returned to life by resurrection, what
occasion is left to those who disbelieve? Shall we not bid farewell to those who pervert
our simple faith by "philosophy and vain deceit ," and hold fast to our confession in its
purity, learning briefly through the prophet the mode of the grace, by his words, "Thou
shalt take away their breath and they shall fail, and turn to their dust. Thou shalt send
forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth ;"
at which time also he says that the Lord rejoices in His works, sinners having perished
from the earth: for how shall any one be called by the name of sin, when sin itself exists
no longer?

XXVI. THAT THE RESURRECTION IS NOT BEYOND PROBABILITY .

1. There are, however, some who, owing to the feebleness of human reasoning, judging the
Divine power by the compass of our own, maintain that what is beyond our capacity is not
possible even to God. They point to the disappearance of the dead of old time, and to the
remains of those who have been reduced to ashes by fire; and further, besides these, they
bring forward in idea the carnivorous beasts, and the fish that receives in its own body
the flesh of the shipwrecked sailor, while this again in turn becomes food for men, and
passes by digestion into the bulk of him who eats it: and they rehearse many such
trivialities, unworthy of God's great power and authority, for the overthrow of the
doctrine, arguing as though God were not able to restore to man his own, by return through
the same ways. 2. But we briefly cut short their long circuits of logical folly by
acknowledging that dissolution of the body into its component parts does take place, and
not only does earth, according to the Divine word, return to earth, but air and moisture
also revert to the kindred element, and there takes place a return of each of our
components to that nature to which it is allied; and although the human body be dispersed
among carnivorous birds, or among the most savage beasts by becoming their food, and
although it pass beneath the teeth of fish, and although it be changed by fire into vapour
and dust, wheresoever one may in argument suppose the man to be removed, he surely remains
in the world; and the world, the voice of inspiration tells us, is held by the hand of
God. If thou, then, art not ignorant of any of the things in thy hand, dost thou deem the
knowledge of God to be feebler than thine own power, that it should fail to discover the
most minute of the things that are within the compass of the Divine span?

XXVII. THAT IT IS POSSIBLE, WHEN THE HUMAN BODY IS DISSOLVED INTO THE ELEMENTS OF THE UNIVERSE, THAT EACH SHOULD HAVE HIS OWN BODY RESTORED FROM THE COMMON SOURCE .

1. Yet it may be thou thinkest, having regard to the elements of the universe, that it is
a hard thing when the air in us has been resolved into its kindred element, and the
warmth, and moisture, and the earthy nature have likewise been mingled with their own
kind, that from the common source there should return to the individual what belongs to
itself. 2. Dost thou not then judge by human examples that even this does not surpass the
limits of the Divine power? Thou hast seen surely somewhere among the habitations of men a
common herd of some kind of animals collected from every quarter: yet when it is again
divided among its owners, acquaintance with their homes and the marks put upon the cattle
serve to restore to each his own. If thou conceivest of thyself also something like to
this, thou wilt not be far from the right way: for as the soul is disposed to cling to and
long for the body that has been wedded to it, there also attaches to it in secret a
certain close relationship and power of recognition, in virtue of their commixture, as
though some marks had been imprinted by nature, by the aid of which the community remains
unconfused, separated by the distinctive signs. Now as the soul attracts again to itself
that which is its own and properly belongs to it, what labour, I pray you, that is
involved for the Divine power, could be a hindrance to concourse of kindred things when
they are urged to their own place by the unspeakable attraction of nature, whatever it may
be? For that some signs of our compound nature remain in the soul even after dissolution
is shown by the dialogue in Hades , where the bodies had been conveyed to the tomb, but
some bodily token still remained in the souls by which both Lazarus was recognized and the
rich man was not unknown.

3. There is therefore nothing beyond probability in believing that in the bodies that rise
again there will be a return from the common stock to the individual, especially for any
one who examines our nature with careful attention. For neither does our being consist
altogether in flux and change-for surely that which had by nature no stability would be
absolutely incomprehensible-but according to the more accurate statement some one of our
constituent parts is stationary while the rest goes through a process of alteration: for
the body is on the one hand altered by way of growth and diminution, changing, like
garments, the vesture of its successive statures, while the form, on the other hand,
remains in itself unaltered through every change, not varying from the marks once imposed
upon it by nature, but appearing with its own tokens of identity in all the changes which
the body undergoes.

4. We must except, however, from this statement the change which happens to the form as
the result of disease: for the deformity of sickness takes possession of the form like
some strange mask, and when this is removed by the word , as in the case of Naaman the
Syrian, or of those whose story is recorded in the Gospel, the form that had been hidden
by disease is once more by means of health restored to sight again with its own marks of
identity. 5. Now to the element of our soul which is in the likeness of God it is not that
which is subject to flux and change by way of alteration, but this stable and unalterable
element in our composition that is allied: and since various differences of combination
produce varieties of forms (and combination is nothing else than the mixture of the
elements-by elements we mean those which furnish the substratum for the making of the
universe, of which the human body also is composed), while the form necessarily remains in
the soul as in the impression of a seal, those things which have received from the seal
the impression of its stamp do not fail to be recognized by the soul, but at the time of
the World-Reformation, it receives back to itself all those things which correspond to the
stamp of the form: and surely all those things would so correspond which in the beginning
were stamped by the form; thus it is not beyond probability that what properly belongs to
the individual should once more return to it from the common source .

6. It is said also that quicksilver, if poured out from the vessel that contains it down a
dusty slope, forms small globules and scatters itself over the ground, mingling with none
of those bodies with which it meets: but if one should collect at one place the substance
dispersed in many directions, it flows back to its kindred substance, if not hindered by
anything intervening from mixing with its own kind. Something of the same sort, I think,
we ought to understand also of the composite nature of man, that if only the power were
given it of God, the proper parts would spontaneously unite with those belonging to them,
without any obstruction on their account arising to Him Who reforms their nature. 7.
Furthermore, in the case of plants that grow from the ground, we do not observe any labour
on the part of nature spent on the wheat or millet or any other seed of grain or pulse, in
changing it into stalk or spike or ears; for the proper nourishment passes spontaneously,
without trouble, from the common source to the individuality of each of the seeds. If,
then, while the moisture supplied to all the plants is common, each of those plants which
is nourished by it draws the due supply for its own growth, what new thing is it if in the
doctrine of the resurrection also, as in the case of the seeds, it happens that there is
an attraction on the part of each of those who rise, of what belongs to himself?

8. So that we may learn on all hands, that the preaching of the resurrection contains
nothing beyond those facts which are known to us experimentally. 9. And yet we have said
nothing of the most notable point concerning ourselves; I mean the first beginning of our
existence. Who knows not the miracle of nature, what the maternal womb receives-what it
produces? Thou seest how that which is implanted in the womb to be the beginning of the
formation of the body is in a manner simple and homogeneous: but what language can express
the variety of the composite body that is framed? and who, if he did not learn such a
thing in nature generally, would think that to be possible which does take place-that that
small thing of no account is the beginning of a thing so great? Great, I say, not only
with regard to the bodily formation, but to what is more marvellous than this, I mean the
soul itself, and the attributes we behold in it.

XXVIII. TO THOSE WHO SAY THAT SOULS EXISTED BEFORE BODIES, OR THAT BODIES WERE FORMED BEFORE SOULS; WHEREIN THERE IS ALSO A REFUTATION OF THE FABLES CONCERNING TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS .

1. For it is perhaps not beyond our present subject to discuss the question which has been
raised in the churches touching soul and body. Some of those before our time who have
dealt with the question of "principles" think it right to say that souls have a previous
existence as a people in a society of their own, and that among them also there are
standards of vice and of virtue, and that the soul there, which abides in goodness,
remains without experience of conjunction with the body; but if it does depart from its
communion with good, it falls down to this lower life, and so comes to be in a body.
Others, on the contrary, marking the order of the making of man as stated by Moses, say,
that the soul second to the body in order of time, since God first took dust from the
earth and formed man, and then animated the being thus formed by His breath : and by this
argument they prove that the flesh is more noble than the soul; that which was previously
formed than that which was afterwards infused into it: for they say that the soul was made
for the body, that the thing formed might not be without breath and motion; and that
everything that is made for something else is surely less precious than that for which it
is made, as the Gospel tells us that "the soul is more than meat and the body than raiment
," because the latter things exist for the sake of the former-for the soul was not made
for meat nor our bodies for raiment, but when the former things were already in being the
latter were provided for their needs.

2. Since then the doctrine involved in both these theories is open to criticism-the
doctrine alike of those who ascribe to souls a fabulous pre-existence in a special state,
and of those who think they were created at a later time than the bodies, it is perhaps
necessary to leave none of the statements contained in the doctrines without examination:
yet to engage and wrestle with the doctrines on each side completely, and to reveal all
the absurdities involved in the theories, would need a large expenditure both of argument
and of time; we shall, however, briefly survey as best we can each of the views mentioned,
and then resume our subject. 3. Those who stand by the former doctrine, and assert that
the state of souls is prior to their life in the flesh, do not seem to me to be clear from
the fabulous doctrines of the heathen which they hold on the subject of successive
incorporation: for if one should search carefully, he will find that their doctrine is of
necessity brought down to this. They tell us that one of their sages said that he, being
one and the same person, was born a man, and afterwards assumed the form of a woman, and
flew about with the birds, and grew as a bush, and obtained the life of an aquatic
creature;-and he who said these things of himself did not, so far as I can judge, go far
from the truth: for such doctrines as this of saying that one soul passed through so many
changes are really fitting for the chatter of frogs or jackdaws, or the stupidity of
fishes, or the insensibility of trees.

4. And of such absurdity the cause is this-the supposition of the pre-existence of souls
for the first principle of such doctrine leads on the argument by consequence to the next
and adjacent stage, until it astonishes us by reaching this point. For if the soul, being
severed from the more exalted state by some wickedness after having once, as they say,
tasted corporeal life, again becomes a man, and if the life in the flesh is, as may be
presumed, acknowledged to be, in comparison with the eternal and incorporeal life, more
subject to passion, it naturally follows that that which comes to be in a life such as to
contain more occasions of sin, is both placed in a region of greater wickedness and
rendered more subject to passion than before (now passion in the human soul is a
conformity to the likeness of the irrational); and that being brought into close
connection with this, it descends to the brute nature: and that when it has once set out
on its way through wickedness, it does not cease its advance towards evil even when found
in an irrational condition: for a halt in evil is the beginning of the impulse towards
virtue, and in irrational creatures virtue does not exist. Thus it will of necessity be
continually changed for the worse, always proceeding to what is more degraded and always
finding out what is worse than the nature in which it is: and just as the sensible nature
is lower than the rational, so too there is a descent from this to the insensible.

5. Now so far in its course their doctrine, even if it does overstep the bounds of truth,
at all events derives one absurdity from anotherby a kind of logical sequence: but from
this point onwards their teaching takes the form of incoherent fable. Strict inference
points to the complete destruction of the soul; for that which has once fallen from the
exalted state will be unable to halt at any measure of wickedness, but will pass by means
of its relation with the passions from rational to irrational, and from the latter state
will be transferred to the insensibility of plants; and on the insensible there borders,
so to say, the inanimate; and on this again follows the non-existent, so that absolutely
by this train of reasoning they will have the soul to pass into nothing: thus a return
once more to the better state is impossible for it: and yet they make the soul return from
a bush to the man: they therefore prove that the life in a bush is more precious than an
incorporeal state .

6. It has been shown that the process of deterioration which takes place in the soul
willprobably be extended downwards; and lower than the insensible we find the inanimate,
to which, by consequence, the principle of their doctrine brings the soul: but as they
will not have this, they either exclude the soul from insensibility, or, if they are to
bring it back to human life, they must, as has been said, declare the life of a tree to be
preferable to the original state-if, that is, the fall towards vice took place from the
one, and the return towards virtue takes place from the other. 7. Thus this doctrine of
theirs, which maintains that souls have a life by themselves before their life in the
flesh, and that they are by reason of wickedness bound to their bodies, is shown to have
neither beginning nor conclusion: and as for those who assert that the soul is of later
creation than the body, their absurdity was already demonstrated above .

8. The doctrine of both, then, is equally to be rejected; but I think that we ought to
direct our own doctrine in the way of truth between these theories: and this doctrine is
that we are not to suppose, according to the error of the heathen that the souls that
revolve with the motion of the universe weighed down by some wickedness, fall to earth by
inability to keep up with the swiftness of the motion of the spheres.


ON THE MAKING OF MAN
====================

ON THE MAKING OF MAN continued

XXIX. AN ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOCTRINE THAT THE CAUSE OF THE EXISTENCE OF SOUL AND BODY IS ONE AND THE SAME.

1. Nor again are we in our doctrine to begin by making up man like a clay figure, and to
say that the soul came into being for the sake of this; for surely in that case the
intellectual nature would be shown to be less precious than the clay figure. But as man is
one, the being consisting of soul and body, we are to suppose that the beginning of his
existence is one, common to both parts, so that he should not be found to be antecedent
and posterior to himself, if the bodily element were first in point of time, and the other
were a later addition; but we are to say that in the power of God's foreknowledge
(according to the doctrine laid down a little earlier in our discourse), all the fulness
of human nature had pre-existence (and to this the prophetic writing bears witness, which
says that God "knoweth all things before they be "), and in the creation of individuals
not to place the one element before the other, neither the soul before the body, nor the
contrary, that man may. not be at strife against himself, by being divided by the
difference in point of time.

2. For as our nature is conceived as twofold, according to the apostolic teaching, made up
of the visible man and the hidden man, if the one came first and the other supervened, the
power of Him that made us will be shown to be in some way imperfect, as not being
completely sufficient for the whole task at once, but dividing the work, and busying
itself with each of the halves in turn. 3. But just as we say that in wheat, or in any
other grain, the whole form of the plant is potentially included-the leaves, the stalk,
the joints, the grain, the beard-and do not say in our account of its nature that any of
these things has pre-existence, or comes into being before the others, but that the power
abiding in the seed is manifested in a certain natural order, not by any means that
another nature is infused into it-in the same way we suppose the human germ to possess the
potentiality of its nature, sown with it at the first start of its existence, and that it
is unfolded and manifested by a natural sequence as it proceeds to its perfect state, not
employing anything external to itself as a stepping-stone to perfection, but itself
advancing its own self in due course to the perfect state; so that it is not true to say
either that the soul exists before the body, or that the body exists without the soul, but
that there is one beginning of both, which according to the heavenly view was laid as
their foundation in the original will of God; according to the other, came into existence
on the occasion of generation.

4. For as we cannot discern the articulation of the limbs in that which is implanted for
the conception of the body before it begins to take form, so neither is it possible to
perceive in the same the properties of the soul before they advance to operation; and just
as no one would doubt that the thing so implanted is fashioned into the different
varieties of limbs and interior organs, not by the importation of any other power from
without, but by the power which resides in it transforming it to this manifestation of
energy,-so also we may by like reasoning equally suppose in the case of the soul that even
if it is not visibly recognized by any manifestations of activity it none the less is
there; for even the form of the future man is there potentially, but is concealed because
it is not possible that it should be made visible before the necessary sequence of events
allows it; so also the soul is there, even though it is not visible, and will be
manifested by means of its own proper and natural operation, as it advances concurrently
with the bodily growth.

5. For since it is not from a dead body that the potentiality for conception is secreted,
but from one which is animate and alive, we hence affirm that it is reasonable that we
should not suppose that what is sent forth from a living body to be the occasion of life
is itself dead and inanimate; for in the flesh that which is inanimate is surely dead; and
the condition of death arises by the withdrawal of the soul. Would not one therefore in
this case be asserting that withdrawal is antecedent to possession-if, that is, he should
maintain that the inanimate state which is the condition of death is antecedent to the
soul ? And if any one should seek for a still clearer evidence of the life of that
particle which becomes the beginning of the living creature in its formation, it is
possible to obtain an idea on this point from other signs also, by which what is animate
is distinguished from what is dead. For in the case of men we consider it an evidence of
life that one is warm and operative and in motion, but the chill and motionless state in
the case of bodies is nothing else than deadness.

6. Since then we see that of which we are speaking to be warm and operative, we thereby
draw the further inference that it is not inanimate; but as, in respect of its corporeal
part, we do not say that it is flesh, and bones, and hair, and all that we observe in the
human being, but that potentially it is each of these things, yet does not visibly appear
to be so; so also of the part which belongs to the soul, the elements of rationality, and
desire, and anger, and all the powers of the soul are not yet visible; yet we assert that
they have their place in it, and that the energies of the soul also grow with the subject
in a manner similar to the formation and perfection of the body. 7. For just as a man when
perfectly developed has a specially marked activity of the soul, so at the beginning of
his existence he shows in himself that co-operation of the soul which is suitable and
conformable to his existing need, in its preparing for itself its proper dwelling-place by
means of the implanted matter; for we do not suppose it possible that the soul is adapted
to a strange building, just as it is not possible that the seal impressed on wax should be
fitted to an engraving that does not agree with it.

8. For as the body proceeds from a very small original to the perfect state, so also the
operation of the soul, growing in correspondence with the subject, gains and increases
with it. For at its first formation there comes first of all its power of growth and
nutriment alone, as though it were some root buried in the ground; for the limited nature
of the recipient does not admit of more; then, as the plant comes forth to the light and
shows its shoot to the sun, the gift of sensibility blossoms in addition, but when at last
it is ripened and has grown up to its proper height, the power of reason begins to shine
forth like a fruit, not appearing in its whole vigour all at once, but by care increasing
with the perfection of the instrument, bearing always as much fruit as the powers of the
subject allow.

9. If, however, thou seekest to trace the operation of the soul in the formation of the
body, "take heed to thyself ," as Moses says, and thou wilt read, as in a book, the
history of the works of the soul; for nature itself expounds to thee, more clearly than
any discourse, the varied occupations of the soul in the body, alike in general and in
particular acts of construction. 10. But I deem it superfluous to declare at length in
words what is to be found in ourselves, as though we were expounding some wonder that lay
beyond our boundaries:-who that looks on himself needs words to teach him his own nature?
For it is possible for one who considers the mode of his own life, and learns how closely
concerned the body is in every vital operation, to know in what the vegetative principle
of the soul was occupied on the occasion of the first formation of that which was
beginning its existence; so that hereby also it is clear to those who have given any
attention to the matter, that the thing which was implanted by separation from the living
body for the production of the living. being was not a thing dead or inanimate? the
laboratory of nature.

11. Moreover we plant in the ground the kernels of fruits, and portions torn from roots,
not deprived by death of the vital power which naturally resides in them, but preserving
in themselves, hidden indeed, yet surely living, the property of their prototype; the
earth that surrounds them does not implant such a power from without, infusing it from
itself (for surely then even dead wood would proceed to growth), but it makes that
manifest which resides in them, nourishing it by its own moisture, perfecting the plant
into root, and bark, and pith, and shoots of branches, which could not happen were not a
natural power implanted with it, which drawing to itself from its surroundings its kindred
and proper nourishment, becomes a bush, or a tree, or an ear of grain, or some plant of
the class of shrubs.

XXX. A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF OUR BODIES FROM A MEDICAL POINT OF VIEW. .

1. Now the exact structure of our body each man teaches himself by his experiences of
sight and light and perception, having his own nature to instruct him; any one too may
learn everything accurately who takes up the researches which those skilled in such
matters have worked out in books. And of these writers some learnt by dissection the
position of our individual organs; others also considered and expounded the reason for the
existence of all the parts of the body; so that the knowledge of the human frame which
hence results is sufficient for students. But if any one further seeks that the Church
should be his teacher on all these points, so that he may not need for anything the voice
of those without (for this is the wont of the spiritual sheep, as the Lord says, that they
hear not a strange voice ), we shall briefly take in hand the account of these matters
also.

2. We note concerning our bodily nature three things, for the sake of which our particular
pans were formed. Life is the cause of some, good life of others, others again are adapted
with a view to the succession of descendants. All things in us which are of such a kind
that without them it is not possible that human life should exist, we consider as being in
three parts; in the brain, the heart, and the liver. Again, all that are a sort of
additional blessings, nature's liberality, whereby she bestows on man the gift of living
well, are the organs of sense; for such things do not constitute our life, since even
where some of them are wanting man is often none the less in a condition of life; but
without these forms of activity it is impossible to enjoy participation in the pleasures
of life. The third aim regards the future, and the succession of life. There are also
certain other organs besides these, which help, in common with all the others, to subserve
the continuance of life, importing by their own means the proper supplies, as the stomach
and the lungs, the latter fanning by respiration the fire at the heart, the former
introducing the nourishment for the internal organs.

3. Our structure, then, being thus divided, we have carefully to mark that our faculty for
life is not supported in any one way by some single organ, but nature, while distributing
the means for our existence among several parts, makes the contribution of each individual
necessary for the whole; just as the things which nature contrives for the security and
beauty of life are also numerous, and differ much among themselves. 4. We ought, however,
I think, first to discuss briefly the first beginnings of the things which contribute to
the constitution of our life. As for the material of the whole body which serves as a
common substratum for the particular members, it may for the present be left without
remark; for a discussion as to natural substance in general will not be of any assistance
to our purpose with regard to the consideration of the parts. 5. As it is then
acknowledged by all that there is in us a share of all that we behold as elements in the
universe-of heat and cold, and of the other pair of qualities of moisture and dryness-we
must discuss them severally.

6. We see then that the powers which control life are three, of which the first by its
heat produces general warmth, the second by its moisture keeps damp that which is warmed,
so that the living being is kept in an intermediate condition by the equal balance of the
forces exerted by the quality of each of the opposing natures (the moist element not being
dried up by excess of heat, nor the hot element quenched by the prevalence of moisture);
and the third power by its own agency holds together the separate members in a certain
agreement and harmony, connecting them by the ties which it itself furnishes, and sending
into them all that self-moving and determining force, on the failure of which the member
becomes relaxed and deadened, being left destitute of the determining spirit. 7. Or
rather, before dealing with these, it is right that we should mark the skilled workmanship
of nature in the actual construction of the body. For as that which is hard and resistent
does not admit the action of the senses (as we may see in the instance of our own bones,
and in that of plants in the ground, where we remark indeed a certain form of life in that
they grow and receive nourishment, yet the resistent character of their substance does not
allow them sensation), for this reason it was necessary that some wax-like formation, so
to say, should be supplied for the action of the senses, with the faculty of being
impressed with the stamp of things capable of striking them, neither becoming confused by
excess of moisture (for the impress would not remain in moist substance), nor resisting by
extraordinary solidity (for that which is unyielding would not receive any mark from the
impressions), but being in a state between softness and hardness, in order that the living
being might not be destitute of the fairest of all the operations of nature-I mean the
motion of sense.

8. Now as a soft and yielding substance, if it had no assistance from the hard parts,
would certainly have, like molluscs, neither motion nor articulation, nature accordingly
mingles in the body the hardness of the bones, and uniting these by close connection one
to another, and knitting their joints together by means of the sinews, thus plants around
them the flesh which receives sensations, furnished with a somewhat harder and more
highly-strung surface than it would otherwise have had. 9. While resting, then, the whole
weight of the body on this substance of the bones, as on some columns that carry a mass of
building, she did not implant the bone undivided through the whole structure: for in that
case man would have remained without motion or activity, if he had been so constructed,
just like a tree that stands on one spot without either the alternate motion of legs to
advance its motion or the service of hands to minister to the conveniences of life: but
now we see that she contrived that the instrument should be rendered capable of walking
and working by this device, after she had implanted in the body, by the determining spirit
which extends through the nerves, the impulse and power for motion. And hence is produced
the service of the hands, so varied and multiform, and answering to every thought. Hence
are produced, as though by some mechanical contrivance, the turnings of the neck, and the
bending and raising of the head, and the action of the chin, and the separation of the
eyelids, that takes place with a thought, and the movements of the other joints, by the
tightening or relaxation of certain nerves. And the power that extends through these
exhibits a sort of independent impulse, working with the spirit of its will by a sort of
natural management, in each particular part; but the root of all, and the principle of the
motions of the nerves, is found in the nervous tissue that surrounds the brain.

10. We consider, then, that we need not spend more time in inquiring in which of the vital
members such a thing resides, when the energy of motion is shown to be here. But that the
brain contributes to life in a special degree is shown clearly by the result of the
opposite conditions: for if the tissue surrounding it receives any wound or lesion, death
immediately follows the injury, nature being unable to endure the hurt even for a moment;
just as, when a foundation is withdrawn, the whole building collapses with the part; and
that member, from an injury to which the destruction of the whole living being clearly
follows, may properly be acknowledged to contain the cause of life. 11. But as furthermore
in those who have ceased to live, when the heat that is implanted in our nature is
quenched, that which has become dead grows cold, we hence recognize the vital cause also
in heat: for we must of necessity acknowledge that the living being subsists by the
presence of that, which failing, the condition of death supervenes. And of such a force we
understand the heart to be as it were the fountain-head and principle, as from it pipe-
like passages, growing one from another in many ramifications, diffuse in the whole body
the warm and fiery spirit.

12. And since some nourishment must needs also be provided by nature for the element of
heat-for it is not possible that the fire should last by itself, without being nourished
by its proper food-therefore the channels of the blood, issuing from the liver as from a
fountainhead, accompany the warm spirit everywhere in its way throughout the body, that
the one may not by isolation from the other become a disease and destroy the constitution.
Let this instruct those who go beyond the bounds of fairness, as they learn from nature
that covetousness is a disease that breeds destruction. 13. But since the Divinity alone
is free from needs, while human poverty requires external aid for its own subsistence,
nature therefore, in addition to those three powers by which we said that the whole body
is regulated, brings in imported matter from without, introducing by different entrances
that which is suitable to those powers.

14. For to the fount of the blood, which is the liver, she furnishes its supply by food:
for that which from time to time is imported in this way prepares the springs of blood to
issue from the liver, as the snow on the mountain by its own moisture increases the
springs in the low ground, forcing its own fluid deep down to the veins below. 15. The
breath in the heart is supplied by means of the neighbouring organ, which is called the
lungs, and is a receptacle for air, drawing the breath from without through the windpipe
inserted in it, which extends to the mouth. The heart being placed in the midst of this
organ (and itself also moving incessantly in imitation of the action of the ever-moving
fire), draws to itself, somewhat as the bellows do in the forges, a supply from the
adjacent air, filling its recesses by dilatation, and while it fans its own fiery element,
breathes upon the adjoining tubes; and this it does not cease to do, drawing the external
air into its own recesses by dilatation, and by compression infusing the air from itself
into the tubes.

16. And this seems to me to be the cause of this spontaneous respiration of ours; for
often the mind is occupied in discourse with others, or is entirely quiescent when the
body is relaxed in sleep, but the respiration of air does not cease, though the will gives
no co-operation to this end. Now I suppose, since the heart is surrounded by the lungs,
and in the back part of its own structure is attached to them, moving that organ by its
own dilatations and compressions, that the inhaling and exhaling of the air is brought
about by the lungs: for as they are a lightly built and porous body, and have all their
recesses opening at the base of the windpipe, when they contract and are compressed they
necessarily force out by pressure the air that is left in their cavities; and, when they
expand and open, draw the air, by their distention, into the void by suction.

17. This then is the cause of this involuntary respiration-the impossibility that the
fiery element should remain at rest: for as the operation of motion is proper to heat, and
we understand that the principle of heat is to be found in the heart, the continual motion
going on in this organ produces the incessant inspiration and exhalation of the air
through the lungs: wherefore also when the fiery element is unnaturally augmented, the
breathing of those fevered subjects becomes more rapid, as though the heart were
endeavouring to quench the flame implanted in it by more violent breathing. 18. But since
our nature is poor and in need of supplies for its own maintenance from all quarters, it
not only lacks air of its own, and the breath which excites heat, which it imports from
without for the preservation of the living being, but the nourishment it finds to fill out
the proportions of the body is an importation. Accordingly, it supplies the deficiency by
food and drink, implanting in the body a certain faculty for appropriating that which it
requires, and rejecting that which is superfluous, and for this purpose too the fire of
the heart gives nature no small assistance.

19. For since, according to the account we have given, the heart which kindles by its warm
breath the individual parts, is the most important of the vital organs, our Maker caused
it to be operative with its efficacious power at all points, that no part of it might be
left ineffectual or unprofitable for the regulation of the whole organism. Behind,
therefore, it enters the lungs, and, by its continuous motion, drawing that organ to
itself, it expands the passages to inhale the air, and compressing them again it brings
about the exspiration of the imprisoned air; while in front, attached to the space at the
upper extremity of the stomach, it warms it and makes it respond by motion to its own
activity, rousing it, not to inhale air, but to receive its appropriate food: for the
entrances for breath and food are near one another, extending lengthwise one alongside the
other, and are terminated in their upper extremity by the same boundary, so that their
mouths are contiguous and the passages come to an end together in one mouth, from which
the entrance of food is effected through the one, and that of the breath through the
other.

20. Internally, however, the closeness of the connection of the passages is not maintained
throughout; for the heart intervening between the base of the two, infuses in the one the
powers for respiration, and in the other for nutriment. Now the fiery element is naturally
inclined to seek for the material which serves as fuel, and this necessarily happens with
regard to the receptacle of nourishment; for the more it becomes penetrated by fire
through the neighbouring warmth, the more it draws to itself what nourishes the heat. And
this sort of impulse we call appetite. 21. But if the organ which contains the food should
obtain sufficient material, not even so does the activity of the fire become quiescent:
but it produces a sort of melting of the material just as in a foundry, and, dissolving
the solids, pours them out and transfers them, as it were from a funnel, to the
neighbouring passages: then separating the coarser from the pure substance, it passes the
fine part through certain channels to the entrance of the liver, and expels the
sedimentary matter of the food to the wider passages of the bowels, and by turning it over
in their manifold windings retains the food for a time in the intestines, lest if it were
easily got rid of by a straight passage it might at once excite the animal again to
appetite, and man, like the race of irrational animals, might never cease from this sort
of occupation.

22. As we saw, however, that the liver has especial need of the co-operation of heat for
the conversion of the fluids into blood, while this organ is in position distant from the
heart (for it would, I imagine, have been impossible that, being one principle or root of
the vital power, it should not be hampered by vicinity with another such principle), in
order that the system may suffer no injury by the distance at which the heat-giving
substance is placed, a muscular passage (and this, by those skilled in such matters, is
called the artery) receives the heated air from the heart and conveys it to the liver,
making its opening there somewhere beside the point at which the fluids enter, and, as it
warms the moist substance by its heat, blends with the liquid something akin to fire, and
makes the blood appear red with the fiery tint it produces.

23. Issuing thence again, certain twin channels, each enclosing its own current like a
pipe, disperse air and blood (that the liquid substance may have free course when
accompanied and lightened by the motion of the heated substance) in divers directions over
the whole body, breaking at every part into countless branching channels; while as the two
principles of the vital powers mingle together (that alike which disperses heat, and that
which supplies moisture to all parts of the body), they make, as it were, a sort of
compulsory contribution from the substance with which they deal to the supreme force in
the vital economy. 24. Now this force is that which is considered as residing in the
cerebral membranes and the brain, from which it comes that every movement of a joint,
every contraction of the muscles, every spontaneous influence that is exerted upon the
individual members, renders our earthen statue active and mobile as though by some
mechanism. For the most pure form of heat and the most subtle form of liquid, being united
by their respective forces through a process of mixture and combination, nourish and
sustain by their moisture the brain, and hence in turn, being rarefied to the most pure
condition, the exhalation that proceeds from that organ anoints the membrane which
encloses the brain, which, reaching from above downwards like a pipe, extending through
the successive vertebrae, is (itself and the marrow which is contained in it) conterminous
with the base of the spine, itself giving like a charioteer the impulse and power to all
the meeting-points of bones and joints, and to the branches of the muscles, for the motion
or rest of the particular parts.

25. For this cause too it seems to me that it has been granted a more secure defence,
being distinguished, in the head, by a double shelter of bones round about, and in the
vertebrae of the neck by the bulwarks formed by the projections of the spine as well as by
the diversified interlacings of the very form of those vertebrae, by which it is kept in
freedom from all harm, enjoying safety by the defence that surrounds it. 26. So too one
might suppose of the heart, that it is itself like some safe house fitted with the most
solid defences, fortified by the enclosing walls of the bones round about; for in rear
there is the spine, strengthened on either side by the shoulder-blades, and on each flank
the enfolding position of the ribs makes that which is in the midst between them difficult
to injure; while in front the breast-bone and the juncture of the collar-bone serve as a
defence, that its safety may be guarded at all points from external causes of danger.

27. As we see in husbandry, when the rain fall from the clouds or the overflow from the
river channels causes the land beneath it to be saturated with moisture (let us suppose
for our argument a garden, nourishing within its own compass countless varieties of trees,
and all the forms of plants that grow from the ground, and whereof we contemplate the
figure, quality, and individuality in great variety of detail); then, as these are
nourished by the liquid element while they are in one spot, the power which supplies
moisture to each individual among them is one in nature; but the individuality of the
plants so nourished changes the liquid element into different qualities; for the same
substance becomes bitter in wormwood, and is changed into a deadly juice in hemlock, and
becomes different in different other plants, in saffron, in balsam, in the poppy: for in
one it becomes hot, in another cold, in another it obtains the middle quality: and in
laurel and mastick it is scented, and in the fig and the pear it is sweetened, and by
passing through the vine it is turned into the grape and into wine; while the juice of the
apple, the redness of the rose, the radiance of the lily, the blue of the violet, the
purple of the hyacinthine dye, and all that we behold in the earth, arise from one and the
same moisture, and are separated into so many varieties in respect of figure and aspect
and quality;

the same sort of wonder is wrought in the animated soil of our being by Nature, or rather
by Nature's Lord. Bones, cartilages, veins, arteries, nerves, ligatures, flesh, skin, fat,
hair, glands, nails, eyes, nostrils, ears,-all such things as these, and countless others
in addition, while separated from one another by various peculiarities, are nourished by
the one form of nourishment in ways proper to their own nature, in the sense that the
nourishment, when it is brought into close relation with any of the subjects, is also
changed according to that to which it approaches, and becomes adapted and allied to the
special nature of the part. For if it should be in the neighbourhood of the eye, it blends
with the visual part and is appropriately distributed by the difference of the coats round
the eye, among the single parts; or, if it flow to the auditory parts, it is mingled with
the auscultatory nature, or if it is in the lip, it becomes lip; and it grows solid in
bone, and grows soft in marrow, and is made tense with the sinew, and extended with the
surface, and passes into the nails, and is fined down for the growth of the hair, by
correspondent exhalations, producing hair that is somewhat curly or wavy if it makes its
way through winding passages, while, if the course of the exhalations that go to form the
hair lies straight, it renders the hair stiff and straight.

28. Our argument, however, has wandered far from its purpose, going deep into the works of
nature, and endeavouring to describe how and from what materials our particular organs are
formed, those, I mean, intended for life and for good life, and any other class which we
included with these in our first division. 29. For our purpose was to show that the
seminal cause of our constitution is neither a soul without body, nor a body without soul,
but that, from animated and living bodies, it is generated at the first as a living and
animate being, and that our humanity takes it and cherishes it like a nursling with the
resources she herself possesses, and it thus grows on both sides and makes its growth
manifest correspondingly in either part:-for it at once displays, by this artificial and
scientific process of formation, the power of soul that is interwoven in it, appearing at
first somewhat obscurely, but afterwards increasing in radiance concurrently with the
perfecting of the work.

30. And as we may see with stone-carvers-for the artist's purpose is to produce in stone
the figure of some animal; and with this in his mind, he first severs the stone from its
kindred matter, and then, by chipping away the superfluous parts of it, advances somehow
by the intermediate step of his first outline to the imitation which he has in his
purpose, so that even an unskilled observer may, by what he sees, conjecture the aim of
his art; again, by working at it, he brings it more nearly to the semblance of the object
he has in view; lastly, producing in the material the perfect and finished figure, he
brings his art to its conclusion, and that which a little before was a shapeless stone is
a lion, or a man, or whatsoever it may be that the artist has made, not by the change of
the material into the figure, but by the figure being wrought upon the material. If one
supposes the like in the case of the soul he is not far from probability; for we say that
Nature, the all-contriving, takes from its kindred matter the part that comes from the
man, and moulds her statue within herself.

And as the form follows upon the gradual working of the stone, at first somewhat
indistinct, but more perfect after the completion of the work, so too in the moulding of
its instrument the form of the soul is expressed in the substratum, incompletely in that
which is still incomplete, perfect in that which is perfect; indeed it would have been
perfect from the beginning had our nature not been maimed by evil. Thus our community in
that generation which is subject to passion and of animal nature, brings it about that the
Divine image does not at once shine forth at our formation, but brings man to perfection
by a certain method and sequence, through those attributes of the soul which are material,
and belong rather to the animal creation. 31. Some such doctrine as this the great apostle
also teaches us in his Epistle to the Corinthians, when he says, "When I was a child, I
spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I
put away childish things "; not that the soul which arises in the man is different from
that which we know to be in the boy, and the childish intellect fails while the manly
intellect takes its being in us; but that the same soul displays its imperfect condition
in the one, its perfect state in the other. 32. For we say that those things are alive
which spring up and grow, and no one would deny that all things that participate in life
and natural motion are animate, yet at the same time one cannot say that such life
partakes of a perfect soul,-for though a certain animate operation exists in plants, it
does not attain to the motions of sense; and on the other hand, though a certain further
animate power exists in the brutes, neither does this attain perfection, since it does not
contain in itself the grace of reason and intelligence.

33. And even so we say that the true and perfect soul is the human soul, recognized by
every operation; and anything else that shares in life we call animate by a sort of
customary misuse of language, because in these cases the soul does not exist in a perfect
condition, but only certain parts of the operation of the soul, which in man also
(according to Moses' mystical account of man's origin) we learn to have accrued when he
made himself like this sensuous world. Thus Paul, advising those who were able to hear him
to lay hold on perfection, indicates also the mode in which they may attain that object,
telling them that they must "put off the old man," and put on the man "which is renewed
after the image of Him that created him ." 34. Now may we all return to that Divine grace
in which God at the first created man, when He said, "Let us make man in our image and
likeness"; to Whom be glory and might for ever and ever. Amen.


ON THE SOUL AND THE RESURRECTION
================================

ON THE SOUL AND THE RESURRECTION Gregory of Nyssa

c. AD 335–395

Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil; theologian and mystic.

ON THE SOUL AND THE RESURRECTION

Argument

1 The mind, in times of bereavement, craves a certainty gained by reasoning as to the
existence of the soul after death. First, then: Virtue will be impossible, if deprived of
the life of eternity, her only advantage. But this is a moral argument. The case calls for
speculative and scientific treatment. How is the objection that the nature of the soul, as
of real things, is material, to be met? Thus; the truth of this doctrine would involve the
truth of Atheism; whereas Atheism is refuted by the fact of the wise order that reigns in
the world. In other words, the spirituality of God cannot be denied: and this proves the
possibility of spiritual or immaterial existence: and therefore, that of the soul. But is
God, then, the same thing as the soul? No: but man is "a little world in himself;" and we
may with the same right conclude from this Microcosm to the actual existence of an
immaterial soul, as from the phenomena of the world to the reality of God's existence.

2 A Definition of the soul is then given, for the sake of clearness in the succeeding
discussion. It is a created, living, intellectual being, with the power, as long as it is
provided with organs, of sensuous perception. For "the mind sees," not the eye; take, for
instance, the meaning of the phases of the moon. The objection that the "organic machine"
of the body produces all thought is met by the instance of the water-organ. Such machines,
if thought were really an attribute of matter, ought to build themselves spontaneously:
whereas they are a direct proof of an invisible thinking power in man. A work of Art means
mind: there is a thing perceived, and a thing not perceived. But still, what is this thing
not perceived? If it has no sensible quality whatever-Where is it? The answer is, that the
same question might be asked about the Deity (Whose existence is not denied).

3 Then the Mind and the Deity are identical? Not so: in its substantial existence, as
separable from matter, the soul is like God; but this likeness does not extend to
sameness; it resembles God as a copy the original. As being "simple and uncompounded" the
soul survives the dissolution of the composite body, whose scattered elements it will
continue to accompany, as if watching over its property till the Resurrection, when it
will clothe itself in them anew. The soul was defined "an intellectual being." But anger
and desire are not of the body either. Are there, then, two or three souls?-Answer. Anger
and desire do not belong to the essence of the soul, but are only among its varying
states; they are not originally part of ourselves, and we can and must rid ourselves of
them, and bring them, as long as they continue to mark our community with the brute
creation, into the service of the good. They are the "tares" of the heart, while they
serve any other purpose.

4 But where will the soul "accompany its elements"?-Hades is not a particular spot; it
means the Invisible; those passages in the Bible in which the regions under the earth are
alluded to are explained as allegorical, although the partizans of the opposite
interpretation need not be combated. But how will the soul know the scattered elements of
the once familiar form? This is answered by two illustrations (not analogies). The skill
of the painter, the force that has united numerous colours to form a single tint, will, if
(by some miracle) that actual tint was to fall back into those various colours, be
cognizant of each one of these last, e. g. the tone and size of the drop of gold, of red,
&c.; and could at will recombine them. The owner of a cup of clay would know its fragments
(by their shape) amidst a mass of fragments of clay vessels of other shapes, or even if
they were plunged again into their native clay. So the soul knows its elements amidst
their "kindred dust"; or when each one has flitted back to its own primeval source on the
confines of the Universe.

5 But how does this harmonize with the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus? The bodies of
both were in the grave: and so all that is said of them is in a spiritual sense. But the
soul can suffer still, being cognizant, not only of the elements of the whole body, but of
those that formed each member, e. g. the tongue. By the relations of the Rich Man are
meant the impressions made on his soul by the things of flesh and blood. But if we must
have no emotions in the next world, how shall there be virtue, and how shall there be love
of God? For anger, we saw, contributed to the one, desire to the other. We shall be like
God so far that we shall always contemplate the Beautiful in Him. Now, God, in
contemplating Himself, has no desire and hope, no regret and memory. The moment of
fruition is always present, and so His Love is perfect, without the need of any emotion.
So will it be with us. God draws "that which belongs to Him" to this blessed
passionlessness; and in this very drawing consists the torment of a passion-laden soul.
Severe and long-continued pains in eternity are thus decreed to sinners, not because God
hates them, nor for the sake alone of punishing them; but "because what belongs to God
must at any cost be preserved for Him." The degree of pain which must be endured by each
one is necessarily proportioned to the measure of the wickedness.

6 God will thus be "all in all"; yet the loved one's form will then be woven, though into
a more ethereal texture, of the same elements as before. (This is not Nirvana.) Here the
doctrine of the Resurrection is touched. The Christian Resurrection and that of the
heathen philosophies coincide in that the soul is reclothed from some elements of the
Universe. But there are fatal objections to the latter under its two formsTransmigration
pure and simple;The Platonic Soul-rotation. The first- 1. Obliterates the distinction
between the mineral or vegetable, and the spiritual, world. 2. Makes it a sin to eat and
drink. Both- 3. Confuse the moral choice. 4. Make heaven the cradle of vice, and earth of
virtue. 5. Contradict the truth that they assume, that there is no change in heaven. 6.
Attribute every birth to a vice, and therefore are either Atheist or Manichaean. 7. Make a
life a chapter of accidents.

7 8. Contradict facts of moral character. God is the cause of our life, both in body and
soul. But when and how does the soul come into existence? The how we can never know. There
are objections to seeking the material for any created thing either in God, or outside
God. But we may regard the whole Creation as the realized thoughts of God. (Anticipation
of Malebranche.) The when may be determined. Objections to the existence of soul before
body have been given above. But soul is necessary to life, and the embryo lives. Therefore
soul is not born after body. So body and soul are born together. As to the number of
souls, Humanity itself is a thought of God not yet completed, as these continual additions
prove. When it is completed, this "progress of Humanity" will cease, by there being no
more births: and no births, no deaths.

8 Before answering objections to the Scriptural doctrine of the Resurrection, the passages
that contain it are mentioned: especially Psalm cxviii. 27 (LXX.). The various objections
to it, to the Purgatory to follow, and to the Judgment, are then stated; especially that A
man is not the same being (physically) two days together. Which phase of him, then, is to
rise again, be tortured (if need be), and judged? They are all answered by a Definition of
the Resurrection, i.e. the restoration of man to his original state. In that, there is
neither age nor infancy; and the "coats of skins" are laid aside. When the process of
purification has been completed, the better attributes of the soul appear-imperishability,
life, honour, grace, glory, power, and, in short, all that belongs to human nature as the
image of Deity.

On the Soul and the Resurrection

9 Basil, great amongst the saints, had departed from this life to God; and the impulse to
mourn for him was shared by all the churches. But his sister the Teacher was still living;
and so I journeyed to her , yearning for an interchange of sympathy over the loss of her
brother. My soul was right sorrow-stricken by this grievous blow, and I sought for one who
could feel it equally, to mingle my tears with. But when we were in each other's presence
the sight of the Teacher awakened all my pain; for she too was lying in a state of
prostration even unto death. Well, she gave in to me for a little while, like a skilful
driver, in the ungovernable violence of my grief; and then she tried to check me by
speaking, and to correct with the curb of her reasonings the disorder of my soul. She
quoted the Apostle's words about the duty of not being "grieved for them that sleep";
because only "men without hope" have such feelings. With a heart still fermenting with my
pain, I asked-

10 How can that ever be practised by mankind? There is such an instinctive and deep-seated
abhorrence of death in all! Those who look on a death-bed can hardly bear the sight; and
those whom death approaches recoil from him all they can. Why, even the law that controls
us puts death highest on the list of crimes, and highest on the list of punishments. By
what device, then, can we bring ourselves to regard as nothing a departure from life even
in the case of a stranger, not to mention that of relations, when so be they cease to
live? We see before us the whole course of human life aiming at this one thing, viz. how
we may continue in this life; indeed it is for this that houses have been invented by us
to live in; in order that our bodies may not be prostrated in their environment by cold or
heat. Agriculture, again, what is it but the providing of our sustenance? In fact all
thought about how we are to go on living is occasioned by the fear of dying. Why is
medicine so honoured amongst men? Because it is thought to carry on the combat with death
to a certain extent by its methods. Why do we have corslets, and long shields, and
greaves, and helmets, and all the defensive armour, and inclosures of fortifications, and
ironbarred gates, except that we fear to die? Death then being naturally so terrible to
us, how can it be easy for a survivor to obey this command to remain unmoved over friends
departed?

11 Why, what is the especial pain you feel, asked the Teacher, in the mere necessity
itself of dying? This common talk of unthinking persons is no sufficient accusation. What!
is there no occasion for grieving, I replied to her, when we see one who so lately lived
and spoke becoming all of a sudden lifeless and motionless, with the sense of every bodily
organ extinct, with no sight or hearing in operation, or any other faculty of apprehension
that sense possesses; and if you apply fire or steel to him, even if you were to plunge a
sword into the body, or cast it to the beasts of prey, or if you bury it beneath a mound,
that dead man is alike unmoved at any treatment? Seeing, then, that this change is
observed in all these ways, and that principle of life, whatever it might be, disappears
all at once out of sight, as the flame of an extinguished lamp which burnt on it the
moment before neither remains upon the wick nor passes to some other place, but completely
disappears, how can such a change be borne without emotion by one who has no clear ground
to rest upon? We hear the departure of the spirit, we see the shell that is left; but of
the part that has been separated we are ignorant, both as to its nature, and as to the
place whither it has fled; for neither earth, nor air, nor water, nor any other element
can show as residing within itself this force that has left the body, at whose withdrawal
a corpse only remains, ready for dissolution.

12 Whilst I was thus enlarging on the subject, the Teacher signed to me with her hand ,
and said: Surely what alarms and disturbs your mind is not the thought that the soul,
instead of lasting for ever, ceases with the body's dissolution! I answered rather
audaciously, and without due consideration of what I said, for my passionate grief had not
yet given me back my judgment. In fact, I said that the Divine utterances seemed to me
like mere commands compelling us to believe that the soul lasts for ever; not, however,
that we were led by them to this belief by any reasoning. Our mind within us appears
slavishly to accept the opinion enforced, but not to acquiesce with a spontaneous impulse.
Hence our sorrow over the departed is all the more grievous; we do not exactly know
whether this vivifying principle is anything by itself; where it is, or how it is;
whether, in fact, it exists in any way at all anywhere. This uncertainty about the real
state of the case balances the opinions on either side; many adopt the one view, many the
other; and indeed there are certain persons, of no small philosophical reputation amongst
the Greeks, who have held and maintained this which I have just said.

13 Away, she cried, with that pagan nonsense! For therein the inventor of lies fabricates
false theories only to harm the Truth. Observe this, and nothing else; that such a view
about the soul amounts to nothing less than the abandoning of virtue, and seeking the
pleasure of the moment only; the life of eternity, by which alone virtue claims the
advantage, must be despaired of. And pray how, I asked, are we to get a firm and unmovable
belief in the soul's continuance? I, too, am sensible of the fact that human life will be
bereft of the most beautiful ornament that life has to give, I mean virtue, unless an
undoubting confidence with regard to this be established within us. What, indeed, has
virtue to stand upon in the case of those persons who conceive of this present life as the
limit of their existence, and hope for nothing beyond?

14 Well, replied the Teacher, we must seek where we may get a beginning for our discussion
upon this point; and if you please, let the defence of the opposing views be undertaken by
yourself; for I see that your mind is a little inclined to accept such a brief. Then,
after the conflicting belief has been stated, we shall be able to look for the truth. When
she made this request, and I had deprecated the suspicion that I was making the objections
in real earnest, instead of only wishing to get a firm ground for the belief about the
soul by calling into court first what is aimed against this view, I began- 15 Would not
the defenders of the opposite belief say this: that the body, being composite, must
necessarily be resolved into that of which it is composed? And when the coalition of
elements in the body ceases, each of those elements naturally gravitates towards its
kindred element with the irresistible bias of like to like; the heat in us will thus unite
with heat, the earthy with the solid, and each of the other elements also will pass
towards its like. Where, then, will the soul be after that? If one affirm that it is in
those elements, one will be obliged to admit that it is identical with them, for this
fusion could not possibly take place between two things of different natures. But this
being granted, the soul must necessarily be viewed as a complex thing, fused as it is with
qualities so opposite. But the complex is not simple, but must be classed with the
composite, and the composite is necessarily dissoluble; and dissolution means the
destruction of the compound; and the destructible is not immortal, else the flesh itself,
resolvable as it is into its constituent elements, might so be called immortal. If, on the
other hand, the soul is something other than these elements, where can our reason suggest
a place for it to be, when it is thus, by virtue of its alien nature, not to be discovered
in those elements, and there is no other place in the world, either, where it may
continue, in harmony with its own peculiar character, to exist? But, if a thing can be
found nowhere, plainly it has no existence.

16 The Teacher sighed gently at these words of mine, and then said; Maybe these were the
objections, or such as these, that the Stoics and Epicureans collected at Athens made in
answer to the Apostle. I hear that Epicurus carried his theories in this very direction.
The framework of things was to his mind a fortuitous and mechanical affair, without a
Providence penetrating its operations; and, as a piece with this, he thought that human
life was like a bubble, existing only as long as the breath within was held in by the
enveloping substance , inasmuch as our body was a mere membrane, as it were, encompassing
a breath; and that on the collapse of the inflation the imprisoned essence was
extinguished. To him the visible was the limit of existence; he made our senses the only
means of our apprehension of things; he completely dosed the eyes of his soul, and was
incapable of seeing anything in the intelligible and immaterial world, just as a man, who
is imprisoned in a cabin whose walls and roof obstruct the view outside, remains without a
glimpse of all the wonders of the sky. Verily, everything in the universe that is seen to
be an object of sense is as an earthen wall, forming in itself a barrier between the
narrower souls and that intelligible world which is ready for their contemplation; and it
is the earth and water and fire alone that such behold;

17 whence comes each of these elements, in what and by what they are encompassed, such
souls because of their narrowness cannot detect. While the sight of a garment suggests to
any one the weaver of it, and the thought of the shipwright comes at the sight of the
ship, and the hand of the builder is brought to the mind of him who sees the building,
these little souls gaze upon the world, but their eyes are blind to Him whom all this that
we see around us makes manifest; and so they propound their clever and pungent doctrines
about the soul's evanishment;-body from elements, and elements from body, and, besides,
the impossibility of the soul's self-existence (if it is not to be one of these elements,
or lodged in one); for if these opponents suppose that by virtue of the soul not being
akin to the elements it is nowhere after death, they must propound, to begin with, the
absence of the soul from the fleshly life as well, seeing that the body itself is nothing
but a concourse of those elements; and so they must not tell us that the soul is to be
found there either, independently vivifying their compound. If it is not possible for the
soul to exist after death, though the elements do, then, I say, according to this teaching
our life as well is proved to be nothing else but death.

18 But if on the other hand they do not make the existence of the soul now in the body a
question for doubt, how can they maintain its evanishment when the body is resolved into
its elements? Then, secondly, they must employ an equal audacity against the God in this
Nature too. For how can they assert that the intelligible and immaterial Unseen can be
dissolved and diffused into the wet and the soft, as also into the hot and the dry, and so
hold together the universe in existence through being, though not of a kindred nature with
the things which it penetrates, yet not thereby incapable of so penetrating them? Let
them, therefore, remove from their system the very Deity Who upholds the world. 19 That is
the very point, I said, upon which our adversaries cannot fail to have doubts; viz. that
all things depend on God and are encompassed by Him, or, that there is any divinity at all
transcending the physical world.

20 It would be more fitting, she cried, to be silent about such doubts, and not to deign
to make any answer to such foolish and wicked propositions; for there is a Divine precept
forbidding us to answer a fool in his folly; and he must be a fool, as the Prophet
declares, who says that there is no God. But since one needs must speak, I will urge upon
you an argument which is not mine nor that of any human being (for it would then be of
small value, whosoever spoke it), but an argument which the whole Creation enunciates by
the medium of its wonders to the audience of the eye, with a skilful and artistic
utterance that reaches the heart. The Creation proclaims outright the Creator; for the
very heavens, as the Prophet says, declare the glory of God with their unutterable words.
We see the universal harmony in the wondrous sky and on the wondrous earth; how elements
essentially opposed to each other are all woven together in an ineffable union to serve
one common end, each contributing its particular force to maintain the whole; how the
unmingling and mutually repellent do not fly apart from each other by virtue of their
peculiarities, any more than they are destroyed, when compounded, by such contrariety;

21 how those elements which are naturally buoyant move downwards, the heat of the sun, for
instance, descending in the rays, while the bodies which possess weight are lifted by
becoming rarefied in vapour, so that water contrary to its nature ascends, being conveyed
through the air to the upper regions; how too that fire of the firmament so penetrates the
earth that even its abysses feel the heat; how the moisture of the rain infused into the
soil generates, one though it be by nature, myriads of differing germs, and animates in
due proportion each subject of its influence; how very swiftly the polar sphere revolves,
how the orbits within it move the contrary way, with all the eclipses, and conjunctions,
and measured intervals of the planets. We see all this with the piercing eyes of mind, nor
can we fail to be taught by means of such a spectacle that a Divine power, working with
skill and method, is manifesting itself in this actual world, and, penetrating each
portion, combines those portions with the whole and completes the whole by the portions,
and encompasses the universe with a single all-controlling force, self-centred and self-
contained, never ceasing from its motion, yet never altering the position which it holds.

22 And pray how, I asked, does this belief in the existence of God prove along with it the
existence of the human soul? For God, surely, is not the same thing as the soul, so that,
if the one were believed in, the other must necessarily be believed in. She replied: It
has been said by wise men that man is a little world in himself and contains all the
elements which go to complete the universe. If this view is a true one (and so it seems),
we perhaps shall need no other ally than it to establish the truth of our conception of
the soul. And our conception of it is this; that it exists, with a rare and peculiar
nature of its own, independently of the body with its gross texture. We get our exact
knowledge of this outer world from the apprehension of our senses, and these sensational
operations themselves lead us on to the understanding of the super-sensual world of fact
and thought, and our eye thus becomes the interpreter of that almighty wisdom which is
visible in the universe, and points in itself to the Being Who encompasses it. Just so,
when we look to our inner world, we find no slight grounds there also, in the known, for
conjecturing the unknown; and the unknown there also is that which, being the object of
thought and not of sight, eludes the grasp of sense.

23 I rejoined, Nay, it may be very possible to infer a wisdom transcending the universe
from the skilful and artistic designs observable in this harmonized fabric of physical
nature; but, as regards the soul, what knowledge is possible to those who would trace,
from any indications the body has to give, the unknown through the known? Most certainly,
the Virgin replied, the soul herself, to those who wish to follow the wise proverb and
know themselves, is a competent instructress; of the fact, I mean, that she is an
immaterial and spiritual thing, working and moving in a way corresponding to her peculiar
nature, and evincing these peculiar emotions through the organs of the body. For this
bodily organization exists the same even in those who have just been reduced by death to
the state of corpses, but it remains without motion or action because the force of the
soul is no longer in it. It moves only when there is sensation in the organs, and not only
that, but the mental force by means of that sensation penetrates with its own impulses and
moves whither it will all those organs of sensation.

24 What then, I asked, is the soul? Perhaps there may be some possible means of
delineating its nature; so that we may have some comprehension of this subject, in the way
of a sketch. Its definition, the Teacher replied, has been attempted in different ways by
different writers, each according to his own bent; but the following is our opinion about
it. The soul is an essence created, and living, and intellectual, transmitting from itself
to an organized and sentient body the power of living and of grasping objects of sense, as
long as a natural constitution capable of this holds together. 25 Saying this she pointed
to the physician 434who was sitting to watch her state, and said: There is a proof of what
I say close by us. How, I ask, does this man, by putting his fingers to feel the pulse,
hear in a manner, through this sense of touch, Nature calling loudly to him and telling
him of her peculiar pain; in fact, that the disease in the body is an inflammatory one ,
and that the malady originates in this or that internal organ; and that there is such and
such a degree of fever? How too is he taught by the agency of the eye other facts of this
kind, when he looks to see the posture of the patient and watches the wasting of the
flesh? As, too, the state of the complexion, pale somewhat and bilious, and the gaze of
the eyes, as is the case with those in pain, involuntarily inclining to sadness, indicate
the internal condition, so the ear gives information of the like, ascertaining the nature
of the malady by the shortness of the breathing and by the groan that comes with it. One
might say that even the sense of smell in the expert is not incapable of detecting the
kind of disorder, but that it notices the secret suffering of the vitals in the particular
quality of the breath. Could this be so if there were not a certain force of intelligence
present in each organ of the senses?

26 What would our hand have taught us of itself, without thought conducting it from
feeling to understanding the subject before it? What would the ear, as separate from mind,
or the eye or the nostril or any other organ have helped towards the settling of the
question, all by themselves? Verily, it is most true what one of heathen culture is
recorded to have said, that it is the mind that sees and the mind that hears . Else, if
you will not allow this to be true, you must tell me why, when you look at the sun, as you
have been trained by your instructor to look at him, you assert that he is not in the
breadth of his disc of the size he appears to the many, but that he exceeds by many times
the measure of the entire earth. Do you not confidently maintain that it is so, because
you have arrived by reasoning through phenomena at the conception of such and such a
movement, of such distances of time and space, of such causes of eclipse? And when you
look at the waning and waxing moon you are taught other truths by the visible figure of
that heavenly body, viz. that it is in itself devoid of light, and that it revolves in the
circle nearest to the earth, and that it is lit by light from the sun;

27 just as is the case with mirrors, which, receiving the sun upon them, do not reflect
rays of their own, but those of the sun, whose light is given back from their smooth
flashing surface. Those who see this, but do not examine it, think that the light comes
from the moon herself. But that this is not the case is proved by this; that when she is
diametrically facing the sun she has the whole of the disc that looks our way illuminated;
but, as she traverses her own circle of revolution quicker from moving in a narrower
space, she herself has completed this more than twelve times before the sun has once
travelled round his; whence it happens that her substance is not always covered with
light. For her position facing him is not maintained in the frequency of her revolutions;
but, while this position causes the whole side of the moon which looks to us to be
illumined, directly she moves sideways her hemisphere which is turned to us necessarily
becomes partially shadowed, and only that which is turned to him meets his embracing rays;
the brightness, in fact, keeps on retiring from that which can no longer see the sun to
that which still sees him, until she passes right across the sun's disc and receives his
rays upon her hinder part; and then the fact of her being in herself totally devoid of
light and splendour causes the side turned to us to be invisible while the further
hemisphere is all in light;

28 and this is called the completion of her waning. But when again, in her own revolution,
she has passed the sun and she is transverse to his rays, the side which was dark just
before begins to shine a little, for the rays move from the illumined part to that so
lately invisible. You see what the eye does teach; and yet it would never of itself have
afforded this insight, without something that looks through the eyes and uses the data of
the senses as mere guides to penetrate from the apparent to the unseen. It is needless to
add the methods of geometry that lead us step by step through visible delineations to
truths that lie out of sight, and countless other instances which all prove that
apprehension is the work of an intellectual essence deeply seated in our nature, acting
through the operation of our bodily senses.

29 But what, I asked, if, insisting on the great differences which, in spite of a certain
quality of matter shared alike by all elements in their visible form, exist between each
particular kind of matter (motion, for instance, is not the same in all, some moving up,
some down; nor form, nor quality either), some one were to say that there was in the same
manner incorporated in, and belonging to, these elements a certain force as well which
effects these intellectual insights and operations by a purely natural effort of their own
(such effects, for instance, as we often see produced by the mechanists, in whose hands
matter, combined according to the rules of Art, thereby imitates Nature, exhibiting
resemblance not in figure alone but even in motion, so that when the piece of mechanism
sounds in its resonant part it mimics a human voice, without, however, our being able to
perceive anywhere any mental force working out the particular figure, character, sound,
and movement); suppose, I say, we were to affirm that all this was produced as well in the
organic machine of our natural bodies, without any intermixture of a special thinking
substance, but owing simply to an inherent motive power of the elements within us
accomplishing by itself these operations-to nothing else, in fact, but an impulsive
movement working for the cognition of the object before us; would not then the fact stand
proved of the absolute nonexistence of that intellectual and impalpable Being, the soul,
which you talk of?

30 Your instance, she replied, and your reasoning upon it, though belonging to the
counter-argument, may both of them be made allies of our statement, and will contribute
not a little to the confirmation of its truth. Why, how can you say that? 31 Because, you
see, so to understand, manipulate, and dispose the soulless matter, that the art which is
stored away in such mechanisms becomes almost like a soul to this material, in all the
various ways in which it mocks movement, and figure, and voice, and so on, may be turned
into a proof of there being something in man whereby he shows an innate fitness to think
out within himself, through the contemplative and inventive faculties, such thoughts, and
having prepared such mechanisms in theory, to put them into practice by manual skill, and
exhibit in matter the product of his mind. First, for instance, he saw, by dint of
thinking, that to produce any sound there is need of some wind; and then, with a view to
produce wind in the mechanism, he previously ascertained by a course of reasoning and
close observation of the nature of elements, that there is no vacuum at all in the world,
but that the lighter is to be considered a vacuum only by comparison with the heavier;
seeing that the air itself, taken as a separate subsistence, is crowded quite full. It is
by an abuse of language that a jar is said to be "empty"; for when it is empty of any
liquid it is none the less, even in this state, full, in the eyes of the experienced.

32 A proof of this is that a jar when put into a pool of water is not immediately filled,
but at first floats on the surface, because the air it contains helps to buoy up its
rounded sides; till at last the hand of the drawer of the water forces it down to the
bottom, and, when there, it takes in water by its neck; during which process it is shown
not to have been empty even before the water came; for there is the spectacle of a sort of
combat going on in the neck between the two elements, the water being forced by its weight
into the interior, and therefore streaming in; the imprisoned air on the other hand being
straitened for room by the gush of the water along the neck, and so rushing in the
contrary direction; thus the water is checked by the strong current of air, and gurgles
and bubbles against it. Men observed this, and devised in accordance with this property of
the two elements a way of introducing air to work their mechanism . They made a kind of
cavity of some hard stuff, and prevented the air in it from escaping in any direction; and
then introduced water into this cavity through its mouth, apportioning the quantity of
water according to requirement; next they allowed an exit in the opposite direction to the
air, so that it passed into a pipe placed ready to hand, and in so doing, being violently
constrained by the water, became a blast;

33 and this, playing on the structure of the pipe, produced a note. Is it not clearly
proved by such visible results that there is a mind of some kind in man, something other
than that which is visible, which, by virtue of an invisible thinking nature of its own,
first prepares by inward invention such devices, and then, when they have been so matured,
brings them to the light and exhibits them in the subservient matter? For if it were
possible to ascribe such wonders, as the theory of our opponents does, to the actual
constitution of the elements, we should have these mechanisms building themselves
spontaneously; the bronze would not wait for the artist, to be made into the likeness of a
man, but would become such by an innate force; the air would not require the pipe, to make
a note, but would sound spontaneously by its own fortuitous flux and motion; and the jet
of the water upwards would not be, as it now is, the result of an artificial pressure
forcing it to move in an unnatural direction, but the water would rise into the mechanism
of its own accord, finding in that direction a natural channel. But if none of these
results are produced spontaneously by elemental force, but, on the contrary, each element
is employed at will by artifice;

34 and if artifice is a kind of movement and activity of mind, will not the very
consequences of what has been urged by way of objection show us Mind as something other
than the thing perceived? 35 That the thing perceived, I replied, is not the same as the
thing not perceived, I grant; but I do not discover any answer to our question in such a
statement; it is not yet clear to me what we are to think that thing not-perceived to be;
all I have been shown by your argument is that it is not anything material; and I do not
yet know the fitting name for it. I wanted especially to know what it is, not what it is
not. We do learn, she replied, much about many things by this very same method, inasmuch
as, in the very act of saying a thing is "not so and so," we by implication interpret the
very nature of the thing in question . For instance, when we say a "guileless," we
indicate a good man; when we say "unmanly," we have expressed that a man is a coward; and
it is possible to suggest a great many things in like fashion, wherein we either convey
the idea of goodness by the negation of badness , or vice versâ. Well, then, if one thinks
so with regard to the matter now before us, one will not fail to gain a proper conception
of it. The question is,-What are we to think of Mind in its very essence? Now granted that
the inquirer has had his doubts set at rest as to the existence of the thing in question,
owing to the activities which it displays to us, and only wants to know what it is, he
will have adequately discovered it by being told that it is not that which our senses
perceive, neither a colour, nor a form, nor a hardness, nor a weight, nor a quantity, nor
a cubic dimension, nor a point, nor anything else perceptible in matter; supposing, that
is, that there does exist a something beyond all these.

36 Here I interrupted her discourse: If you leave all these out of the account I do not
see how you can possibly avoid cancelling along with them the very thing which you are in
search of. I cannot at present conceive to what, as apart from these, the perceptive
activity is to cling. For on all occasions in investigating with the scrutinizing
intellect the contents of the world, we must, so far as we put our hand at all on what we
are seeking, inevitably touch, as blind men feeling along the walls for the door, some one
of those things aforesaid; we must come on colour, or form, or quantity, or something else
on your list; and when it comes to saying that the thing is none of them, our feebleness
of mind induces us to suppose that it does not exist at all. Shame on such absurdity! said
she, indignantly interrupting. A fine conclusion this narrow-minded, grovelling view of
the world brings us to! If all that is not cognizable by sense is to be wiped out of
existence, the all-embracing Power that presides over things is admitted by this same
assertion not to be; once a man has been told about the non-material and invisible nature
of the Deity, he must perforce with such a premise reckon it as absolutely non-existent.
If, on the other hand, the absence of such characteristics in His case does not constitute
any limitation of His existence, how can the Mind of man be squeezed out of existence
along with this withdrawal one by one of each property of matter?

37 Well, then, I retorted, we only exchange one paradox for another by arguing in this
way; for our reason will be reduced to the conclusion that the Deity and the Mind of man
are identical, if it be true that neither can be thought of, except by the withdrawal of
all the data of sense. 38 Say not so, she replied; to talk so also is blasphemous. Rather,
as the Scripture tells you, say that the one is like the other. For that which is "made in
the image" of the Deity necessarily possesses a likeness to its prototype in every
respect; it resembles it in being intellectual, immaterial, unconnected with any notion of
weight , and in eluding any measurement of its dimensions ; yet as regards its own
peculiar nature it is something different from that other. Indeed, it would be no longer
an "image," if it were altogether identical with that other; but where we have A in that
uncreate prototype we have a in the image; just as in a minute particle of glass, when it
happens to face the light, the complete disc of the sun is often to be seen, not
represented thereon in proportion to its proper size, but so far as the minuteness of the
particle admits of its being represented at all. Thus do the reflections of those
ineffable qualities of Deity shine forth within the narrow limits of our nature; and so
our reason, following the leading of these reflections, will not miss grasping the Mind in
its essence by clearing away from the question all corporeal qualities; nor on the other
hand will it bring the pure and infinite Existence to the level of that which is
perishable and little; it will regard this essence of the Mind as an object of thought
only, since it is the "image" of an Existence which is such;

39 but it will not pronounce this image to be identical with the prototype. Just, then, as
we have no doubts, owing to the display of a Divine mysterious wisdom in the universe,
about a Divine Being and a Divine Power existing in it all which secures its continuance
(though if you required a definition of that Being you would therein find the Deity
completely sundered from every object in creation, whether of sense or thought, while in
these last, too, natural distinctions are admitted), so, too, there is nothing strange in
the soul's separate existence as a substance (whatever we may think that substance to be)
being no hindrance to her actual existence, in spite of the elemental atoms of the world
not harmonizing with her in the definiton of her being. In the case of our living bodies,
composed as they are from the blending of these atoms, there is no sort of communion, as
has been just said, on the score of substance, between the simplicity and invisibility of
the soul, and the grossness of those bodies; but, notwithstanding that, there is not a
doubt that there is in them the soul's vivifying influence exerted by a law which it as
beyond the human understanding to comprehend . Not even then, when those atoms have again
been dissolved into themselves, has that bond of a vivifying influence vanished;

40 but as, while the framework of the body still holds together, each individual part is
possessed of a soul which penetrates equally every component member, and one could not
call that soul hard and resistent though blended with the solid, nor humid, or cold, or
the reverse, though it transmits life to all and each of such parts, so, when that
framework is dissolved, and has returned to its kindred elements, there is nothing against
probability that that simple and incomposite essence which has once for all by some
inexplicable law grown with the growth of the bodily framework should continually remain
beside the atoms with which it has been blended, and should in no way be sundered from a
union once formed. For it does not follow that because the composite is dissolved the
incomposite must be dissolved with it . 41 That those atoms, I rejoined, should unite and
again be separated, and that this constitutes the formation and dissolution of the body,
no one would deny. But we have to consider this. There are great intervals between these
atoms; they differ from each other, both in position, and also in qualitative distinctions
and peculiarities. When, indeed, these atoms have all converged upon the given subject, it
is reasonable that that intelligent and undimensional essence which we call the soul
should cohere with that which is so united; but once these atoms are separated from each
other, and have gone whither their nature impels them, what is to become of the soul when
her vessel is thus scattered in many directions? As a sailor, when his ship has been
wrecked and gone to pieces, cannot float upon all the pieces at once which have been
scattered this way and that over the surface of the sea (for he seizes any bit that comes
to hand, and lets all the rest drift away), in the same way the soul, being by nature
incapable of dissolution along with the atoms, will, if she finds it hard to be parted
from the body altogether, cling to some one of them; and if we take this view, consistency
will no more allow us to regard her as immortal for living in one atom than as mortal for
not living in a number of them.

42 But the intelligent and undimensional, she replied, is neither contracted nor diffused
(contraction and diffusion being a property of body only); but by virtue of a nature which
is formless and bodiless it is present with the body equally in the contraction and in the
diffusion of its atoms, and is no more narrowed by the compression which attends the
uniting of the atoms than it is abandoned by them when they wander off to their kindred,
however wide the interval is held to be which we observe between alien atoms. For
instance, there is a great difference between the buoyant and light as contrasted with the
heavy and solid; between the hot as contrasted with the cold; between the humid as
contrasted with its opposite; nevertheless it is no strain to an intelligent essence to be
present in each of those elements to which it has once cohered; this blending with
opposites does not split it up. In locality, in peculiar qualities, these elemental atoms
are held to be far removed from each other; but an undimensional nature finds it no labour
to cling to what is locally divided, seeing that even now it is possible for the mind at
once to contemplate the heavens above us and to extend its busy scrutiny beyond the
horizon, nor is its contemplative power at all distracted by these excursions into
distances so great. There is nothing, then, to hinder the soul's presence in the body's
atoms, whether fused in union or decomposed in dissolution.

43 Just as in the amalgam of gold and silver a certain methodical force is to be observed
which has fused the metals, and if the one be afterwards smelted out of the other, the law
of this method nevertheless continues to reside in each, so that while, the amalgam is
separated this method does not suffer division along with it (for you cannot make
fractions out of the indivisible), in the same way this intelligent essence of the soul is
observable in the concourse of the atoms, and does not undergo division when they are
dissolved; but it remains with them, and even in their separation it is co-extensive with
them, yet not itself dissevered nor discounted into sections to accord with the number of
the atoms. Such a condition belongs to the material and spacial world, but that which is
intelligent and undimensional is not liable to the circumstances of space. Therefore the
soul exists in the actual atoms which she has once animated, and there is no force to tear
her away from her cohesion with them. What cause for melancholy, then, is there herein,
that the visible is exchanged for the invisible; and wherefore is it that your mind has
conceived such a hatred of death?

44 Upon this I recurred to the definition which she had previously given of the soul, and
I said that to my thinking her definition had not indicated distinctly enough all the
powers of the soul which are a matter of observation. It declares the soul to be an
intellectual essence which imparts to the organic body a force of life by which the senses
operate. Now the soul is not thus operative only in our scientific and speculative
intellect; it does not produce results in that world only, or employ the organs of sense
only for this their natural work. On the contrary, we observe in our nature many emotions
of desire and many of anger; and both these exist in us as qualities of our kind, and we
see both of them in their manifestations displaying further many most subtle differences.
There are many states, for instance, which are occasioned by desire; many others which on
the other hand proceed from anger; and none of them are of the body; but that which is not
of the body is plainly intellectual. Now our definition exhibits the soul as something
intellectual; so that one of two alternatives, both absurd, must emerge when we follow out
this view to this end; either anger and desire are both second souls in us, and a
plurality of souls must take the place of the single soul, or the thinking faculty in us
cannot be regarded as a soul either (if they are not), the intellectual element adhering
equally to all of them and stamping them all as souls, or else excluding every one of them
equally from the specific qualities of soul.

45 You are quite justified, she replied, in raising this question, and it has ere this
been discussed by many elsewhere; namely, what we are to think of the principle of desire
and the principle of anger within us. Are they consubstantial with the soul, inherent in
the soul's very self from her first organization , or are they something different,
accruing to us afterwards? In fact, while all equally allow that these principles are to
be detected in the soul, investigation has not yet discovered exactly what we are to think
of them so as to gain some fixed belief with regard to them. The generality of men still
fluctuate in their opinions about this, which are as erroneous as they are numerous. As
for ourselves, if the Gentile philosophy, which deals methodically with all these points,
were really adequate for a demonstration, it would certainly be superfluous to add a
discussion on the soul to those speculations. But while the latter proceeded, on the
subject of the soul, as far in the direction of supposed consequences as the thinker
pleased, we are not entitled to such licence, I mean that of affirming what we please; we
make the Holy Scriptures the rule and the measure of every tenet; we necessarily fix our
eyes upon that, and approve that alone which may be made to harmonize with the intention
of those writings.

46 We must therefore neglect the Platonic chariot and the pair of horses of dissimilar
forces yoked to it, and their driver, whereby the philosopher allegorizes these facts
about the soul; we must neglect also all that is said by the philosopher who succeeded him
and who followed out probabilities by rules of art , and diligently investigated the very
question now before us, declaring that the soul was mortal by reason of these two
principles; we must neglect all before and since their time, whether they philosophized in
prose or in verse, and we will adopt, as the guide of our reasoning, the Scripture, which
lays it down as an axiom that there is no excellence in the soul which is not a property
as well of the Divine nature. For he who declares the soul to be God's likeness asserts
that anything foreign to Him is outside the limits of the soul; similarity cannot be
retained in those qualities which are diverse from the original. Since, then, nothing of
the kind we are considering is included in the conception of the Divine nature, one would
be reasonable in surmising that such things are not consubstantial with the soul either.
Now to seek to build up our doctrine by rule of dialectic and the science which draws and
destroys conclusions, involves a species of discussion which we shall ask to be excused
from, as being a weak and questionable way of demonstrating truth.

47 Indeed, it is clear to every one that that subtle dialectic possesses a force that may
be turned both ways, as well for the overthrow of truth as for the detection of falsehood;
and so we begin to suspect even truth itself when it is advanced in company with such a
kind of artifice, and to think that the very ingenuity of it is trying to bias our
judgment and to upset the truth. If on the other hand any one will accept a discussion
which is in a naked unsyllogistic form, we will speak upon these points by making our
study of them so far as we can follow the chain of Scriptural tradition. What is it, then,
that we assert? We say that the fact of the reasoning animal man being capable of
understanding and knowing is most surely attested by those outside our faith; and that
this definition would never have sketched our nature so, if it had viewed anger and desire
and all such-like emotions as consubstantial with that nature. In any other case, one
would not give a definition of the subject in hand by putting a generic instead of a
specific quality; and so, as the principle of desire and the principle of anger are
observed equally in rational and irrational natures, one could not rightly mark the
specific quality by means of this generic one.

48 But how can that which, in defining a nature, is superfluous and worthy of exclusion be
treated as a part of that nature, and, so, available for falsifying the definition? Every
definition of an essence looks to the specific quality of the subject in hand; and
whatever is outside that speciality is set aside as having nothing to do with the required
definition. Yet, beyond question, these faculties of anger and desire are allowed to be
common to all reasoning and brute natures; anything common is not identical with that
which is peculiar; it is imperative therefore that we should not range these faculties
amongst those whereby humanity is exclusively meant: but just as one may perceive the
principle of sensation, and that of nutrition and growth in man, and yet not shake thereby
the given definition of his soul (for the quality A being in the soul does not prevent the
quality B being in it too), so, when one detects in humanity these emotions of anger and
desire, one cannot on that account fairly quarrel with this definition, as if it fell
short of a full indication of man's nature.

49 What then, I asked the Teacher, are we to think about this? For I cannot yet see how we
can fitly repudiate faculties which are actually within us. 50 You see, she replied, there
is a battle of the reason with them and a struggle to rid the soul of them; and there are
men in whom this struggle has ended in success; it was so with Moses, as we know; he was
superior both to anger and to desire; the history testifying of him in both respects, that
he was meek beyond all men (and by meekness it indicates the absence of all anger and a
mind quite devoid of resentment), and that he desired none of those things about which we
see the desiring faculty in the generality so active. This could not have been so, if
these faculties were nature, and were referable to the contents of man's essence . For it
is impossible for one who has come quite outside of his nature to be in Existence at all.
But if Moses was at one and the same time in Existence and not in these conditions, then
it follows that these conditions are something other than nature and not nature itself.
For if, on the one hand, that is truly nature in which the essence of the being is found,
and, on the other, the removal of these conditions is in our power, so that their removal
not only does no harm, but is even beneficial to the nature, it is clear that these
conditions are to be numbered amongst externals, and are affections, rather than the
essence, of the nature; for the essence is that thing only which it is.

51 As for anger, most think it a fermenting of the blood round the heart; others an
eagerness to inflict pain in return for a previous pain; we would take it to be the
impulse to hurt one who has provoked us. But none of these accounts of it tally with the
definition of the soul. Again, if we were to define what desire is in itself, we should
call it a seeking for that which is wanting, or a longing for pleasurable enjoyment, or a
pain at not possessing that upon which the heart is set, or a state with regard to some
pleasure which there is no opportunity of enjoying. These and such-like descriptions all
indicate desire, but they have no connection with the definition of the soul. But it is so
with regard to all those other conditions also which we see to have some relation to the
soul, those, I mean, which are mutually opposed to each other, such as cowardice and
courage, pleasure and pain, fear and contempt, and so on; each of them seems akin to the
principle of desire or to that of anger, while they have a separate definition to mark
their own peculiar nature. Courage and contempt, for instance, exhibit a certain phase of
the irascible impulse; the dispositions arising from cowardice and fear exhibit on the
other hand a diminution and weakening of that same impulse. Pain, again, draws its
material both from anger and desire.

52 For the impotence of anger, which consists in not being able to punish one who has
first given pain, becomes itself pain; and the despair of getting objects of desire and
the absence of things upon which the heart is set create in the mind this same sullen
state. Moreover, the opposite to pain, I mean the sensation of pleasure , like pain,
divides itself between anger and desire; for pleasure is the leading motive of them both.
All these conditions, I say, have some relation to the soul, and yet they are not the soul
, but only like warts growing out of the soul's thinking part, which are reckoned as parts
of it because they adhere to it, and yet are not that actual thing which the soul is in
its essence. 53 And yet, I rejoined to the virgin, we see no slight help afforded for
improvement to the virtuous from all these conditions. Daniel's desire was his glory; and
Phineas' anger pleased the Deity. We have been told, too, that fear is the beginning of
wisdom, and learnt from Paul that salvation is the goal of the "sorrow after a godly
sort." The Gospel bids us have a contempt for danger; and the "not being afraid with any
amazement" is nothing else but a describing of courage, and this last is numbered by
Wisdom amongst the things that are good. In all this Scripture shows that such conditions
are not to be considered weaknesses; weaknesses would not have been so employed for
putting virtue into practice.

54 I think, replied the Teacher, that I am myself responsible for this confusion arising
from different accounts of the matter; for I did not state it as distinctly as I might
have, by introducing a certain order of consequences for our consideration. Now, however,
some such order shall, as far as it is possible, be devised, so that our essay may advance
in the way of logical sequence and so give no room for such contradictions. We declare,
then, that the speculative, critical, and world-surveying faculty of the soul is its
peculiar property by virtue of its very nature , and that thereby the soul preserves
within itself the image of the divine grace; since our reason surmises that divinity
itself, whatever it may be in its inmost nature, is manifested in these very
things,-universal supervision and the critical discernment between good and evil. But all
those elements of the soul which lie on the border-land and are capable from their
peculiar nature of inclining to either of two opposites (whose eventual determination to
the good or to the bad depends on the kind of use they are put to), anger, for instance,
and fear, and any other such-like emotion of the soul divested of which human nature
cannot be studied-all these we reckon as accretions from without, because in the Beauty
which is man's prototype no such characteristics are to be found. Now let the following
statement be offered as a mere exercise (in interpretation). I pray that it may escape the
sneers of cavilling hearers.

55 Scripture informs us that the Deity proceeded by a sort of graduated and ordered
advance to the creation of man. After the foundations of the universe were laid, as the
history records, man did not appear on the earth at once; but the creation of the brutes
preceded his, and the plants preceded them. Thereby Scripture shows that the vital forces
blended with the world of matter according to a gradation; first, it infused itself into
insensate nature; and in continuation of this advanced into the sentient world; and then
ascended to intelligent and rational beings. Accordingly, while all existing things must
be either corporeal or spiritual, the former are divided into the animate and inanimate.
By animate, I mean possessed of life: and of the things possessed of life, some have it
with sensation, the rest have no sensation. Again, of these sentient things, some have
reason, the rest have not. Seeing, then, that this life of sensation could not possibly
exist apart from the matter which is the subject of it, and the intellectual life could
not be embodied, either, without growing in the sentient, on this account the creation of
man is related as coming last, as of one who took up into himself every single form of
life, both that of plants and that which is seen in brutes. His nourishment and growth he
derives from vegetable life; for even in vegetables such processes are to be seen when
aliment is being drawn in by their roots and given off in fruit and leaves.

56 His sentient organization he derives from the brute creation. But his faculty of
thought and reason is incommunicable , and is a peculiar gift in our nature, to be
considered by itself. However, just as this nature has the instinct acquisitive of the
necessaries to material existence-an instinct which, when manifested in us men, we call
Appetite-and as we admit this appertains to the vegetable form of life, since we can
notice it there too like so many impulses working naturally to satisfy themselves with
their kindred aliment and to issue in germination, so all the peculiar conditions of the
brute creation are blended with the intellectual part of the soul. To them, she continued,
belongs anger; to them belongs fear; to them all those other opposing activities within
us; everything except the faculty of reason and thought. That alone, the choice product,
as has been said, of all our life, bears the stamp of the Divine character. But since,
according to the view which we have just enunciated, it is not possible for this reasoning
faculty to exist in the life of the body without existing by means of sensations, and
since sensation is already found subsisting in the brute creation, necessarily as it were,
by reason of this one condition, our soul has touch with the other things which are knit
up with it ; and these are all those phaenomena within us that we call "passions";

57 which have not been allotted to human nature for any bad purpose at all (for the
Creator would most certainly be the author of evil, if in them, so deeply rooted as they
are in our nature, any necessities of wrong-doing were found), but according to the use
which our free will puts them to, these emotions of the soul become the instruments of
virtue or of vice. They are like the iron which is being fashioned according to the
volition of the artificer, and receives whatever shape the idea which is in his mind
prescribes, and becomes a sword or some agricultural implement. Supposing, then, that our
reason, which is our nature's choicest part, holds the dominion over these imported
emotions (as Scripture allegorically declares in the command to men to rule over the
brutes), none of them will be active in the ministry of evil; fear will only generate
within us obedience , and anger fortitude, and cowardice caution; and the instinct of
desire will procure for us the delight that is Divine and perfect. But if reason drops the
reins and is dragged behind like a charioteer who has got entangled in his car, then these
instincts are changed into fierceness, just as we see happens amongst the brutes. For
since reason does not preside over the natural impulses that are implanted in them, the
more irascible animals, under the generalship of their anger, mutually destroy each other;

58 while the bulky and powerful animals get no good themselves from their strength, but
become by their want of reason slaves of that which has reason. Neither are the activities
of their desire for pleasure employed on any of the higher objects; nor does any other
instinct to be observed in them result in any profit to themselves. Thus too, with
ourselves, if these instincts are not turned by reasoning into the right direction, and if
our feelings get the mastery of our mind, the man is changed from a reasoning into an
unreasoning being, and from godlike intelligence sinks by the force of these passions to
the level of the brute. 59 Much moved by these words, I said: To any one who reflects
indeed, your exposition, advancing as it does in this consecutive manner, though plain and
unvarnished, bears sufficiently upon it the stamp of correctness and hits the truth. And
to those who are expert only in the technical methods of proof a mere demonstration
suffices to convince; but as for ourselves, we were agreed that there is something more
trustworthy than any of these artificial conclusions, namely, that which the teachings of
Holy Scripture point to: and so I deem that it is necessary to inquire, in addition to
what has been said, whether this inspired teaching harmonizes with it all.

60 And who, she replied, could deny that truth is to be found only in that upon which the
seal of Scriptural testimony is set? So, if it is necessary that something from the
Gospels should be adduced in support of our view, a study of the Parable of the Wheat and
Tares will not be here out of place. The Householder there sowed good seed; (and we are
plainly the "house"). But the "enemy," having watched for the time when men slept, sowed
that which was useless in that which was good for food, setting the tares in the very
middle of the wheat. The two kinds of seed grew up together; for it was not possible that
seed put into the very middle of the wheat should fail to grow up with it. But the
Superintendent of the field forbids the servants to gather up the useless crop, on account
of their growing at the very root of the contrary sort; so as not to root up the
nutritious along with that foreign growth. Now we think that Scripture means by the good
seed the corresponding impulses of the soul, each one of which, if only they are cultured
for good, necessarily puts forth the fruit of virtue within us.

61 But since there has been scattered amongst these the bad seed of the error of judgment
as to the true Beauty which is alone in its intrinsic nature such, and since this last has
been thrown into the shade by the growth of delusion which springs up along with it (for
the active principle of desire does not germinate and increase in the direction of that
natural Beauty which was the object of its being sown in us, but it has changed its growth
so as to move towards a bestial and unthinking states, this very error as to Beauty
carrying its impulse towards this result; and in the same way the seed of anger does not
steel us to be brave, but only arms us to fight with our own people; and the power of
loving deserts its intellectual objects and becomes completely mad for the immoderate
enjoyment of pleasures of sense; and so in like manner our other affections put forth the
worse instead of the better growths),-on account of this the wise Husbandman leaves this
growth that has been introduced amongst his seed to remain there, so as to secure our not
being altogether stripped of better hopes by desire having been rooted out along with that
good-for-nothing growth. If our nature suffered such a mutilation, what will there be to
lift us up to grasp the heavenly delights? If love is taken from us, how shall we be
united to God? If anger is to be extinguished, what arms shall we possess against the
adversary?

62 Therefore the Husbandman leaves those bastard seeds within us, not for them always to
overwhelm the more precious crop, but in order that the land itself (for so, in his
allegory, he calls the heart) by its native inherent power, which is that of reasoning,
may wither up the one growth and may render the other fruitful and abundant: but if that
is not done, then he commissions the fire to mark the distinction in the crops. If, then,
a man indulges these affections in a due proportion and holds them in his own power
instead of being held in theirs, employing them for an instrument as a king does his
subjects' many hands, then efforts towards excellence more easily succeed for him. But
should he become theirs, and, as when any slaves mutiny against their master, get enslaved
by those slavish thoughts and ignominiously bow before them; a prey to his natural
inferiors, he will be forced to turn to those employments which his imperious masters
command. This being so, we shall not pronounce these emotions of the soul, which lie in
the power of their possessors for good or ill, to be either virtue or vice. But, whenever
their impulse is towards what is noble, then they become matter for praise, as his desire
did to Daniel, and his anger to Phineas, and their grief to those who nobly mourn. But if
they incline to baseness, then these are, and they are called, bad passions.

63 She ceased after this statement and allowed the discussion a short interval, in which I
reviewed mentally all that had been said; and reverting to that former course of proof in
her discourse, that it was not impossible that the soul after the body's dissolution
should reside in its atoms, I again addressed her. Where is that much-talked-of and
renowned Hades , then? The word is in frequent circulation both in the intercourse of
daily life, and in the writings of the heathens and in our own; and all think that into
it, as into a place of safe-keeping, souls migrate from here. Surely you would not call
your atoms that Hades. Clearly, replied the Teacher, you have not quite attended to the
argument. In speaking of the soul's migration from the seen to the unseen, I thought I had
omitted nothing as regards the question about Hades. It seems to me that, whether in the
heathen or in the Divine writings, this word for a place in which souls are said to be
means nothing else but a transition to that Unseen world of which we have no glimpse.

64 And how, then, I asked, is it that some think that by the underworld is meant an actual
place, and that it harbours within itself the souls that have at last flitted away from
human life, drawing them towards itself as the right receptacle for such natures? 65 Well,
replied the Teacher, our doctrine will be in no ways injured by such a supposition. For if
it is true, what you say , and also that the vault of heaven prolongs itself so
uninterruptedly that it encircles all things with itself, and that the earth and its
surroundings are poised in the middle, and that the motion of all the revolving bodies is
round this fixed and solid centre, then, I say, there is an absolute necessity that,
whatever may happen to each one of the atoms on the upper side of the earth, the same will
happen on the opposite side, seeing that one single substance encompasses its entire bulk.
As, when the sun shines above the earth, the shadow is spread over its lower part, because
its spherical shape makes it impossible for it to be clasped all round at one and the same
time by the rays, and necessarily, on whatever side the sun's rays may fall on some
particular point of the globe, if we follow a straight diameter, we shall find shadow upon
the opposite point, and so, continuously, at the opposite end of the direct line of the
rays shadow moves round that globe, keeping pace with the sun, so that equally in their
turn both the upper half and the under half of the earth are in light and darkness; so, by
this analogy, we have reason to be certain that, whatever in our hemisphere is observed to
befall the atoms, the same will befall them in that other.

66 The environment of the atoms being one and the same on every side of the earth, I deem
it right neither to contradict nor yet to favour those who raise the objection that we
must regard either this or the lower region as assigned to the souls released. As long as
this objection does not shake our central doctrine of the existence of those souls after
the life in the flesh, there need be no controversy about the whereabouts to our mind,
holding as we do that place is a property of body only, and that soul, being immaterial,
is by no necessity of its nature detained in any place. 67 But what, I asked, if your
opponent should shield himself behind the Apostle, where he says that every reasoning
creature, in the restitution of all things, is to look towards Him Who presides over the
whole? In that passage in the Epistle to the Philippians he makes mention of certain
things that are "under the earth" "every knee shall bow" to Him "of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth." We shall stand by our doctrine, answered the
Teacher, even if we should hear them adducing these words. For the existence of the soul
(after death) we have the assent of our opponent, and so we do not make an objection as to
the place, as we have just said. But if some were to ask the meaning of the Apostle in
this utterance, what is one to say? Would you remove all signification of place from the
passage?

68 I do not think, she replied, that the divine Apostle divided the intellectual world
into localities, when he named part as in heaven, part as on earth, and part as under the
earth.There are three states in which reasoning creatures can be: one from the very first
received an immaterial life, and we call it the angelic: another is in union with the
flesh, and we call it the human: a third is released by death from fleshly entanglements,
and is to be found in souls pure and simple. Now I think that the divine Apostle in his
deep wisdom looked to this, when he revealed the future concord of all these reasoning
beings in the work of goodness; and that he puts the unembodied angel-world "in heaven,"
and that still involved with a body "on earth," and that released from a body "under the
earth"; or, indeed, if there is any other world to be classed under that which is
possessed of reason (it is not left out); and whether any one choose to call this last
"demons" or "spirits," or anything else of the kind, we shall not care.

69 We certainly believe, both because of the prevailing opinion, and still more of
Scripture teaching, that there exists another world of beings besides, divested of such
bodies as ours are, who are opposed to that which is good and are capable of hurting the
lives of men, having by an act of will lapsed from the nobler view , and by this revolt
from goodness personified in themselves the contrary principle; and this world is what,
some say, the Apostle adds to the number of the "things under the earth," signifying in
that passage that when evil shall have been some day annihilated in the long revolutions
of the ages, nothing shall be left outside the world of goodness, but that even from those
evil spirits shall rise in harmony the confession of Christ's Lordship. If this is so,
then no one can compel us to see any spot of the underworld in the expression, "things
under the earth"; the atmosphere spreads equally over every part of the earth, and there
is not a single corner of it left unrobed by this circumambient air.

70 When she had finished, I hesitated a moment, and then said: I am not yet satisfied
about the thing which we have been inquiring into; after all that has been said my mind is
still in doubt; and I beg that our discussion may be allowed to revert to the same line of
reasoning as before , omitting only that upon which we are thoroughly agreed. I say this,
for I think that all but the most stubborn controversialists will have been sufficiently
convinced by our debate not to consign the soul after the body's dissolution to
annihilation and nonentity, nor to argue that because it differs substantially from the
atoms it is impossible for it to exist anywhere in the universe; for, however much a being
that is intellectual and immaterial may fail to coincide with these atoms, it is in no
ways hindered (so far) from existing in them; and this belief of ours rests on two facts:
firstly, on the soul's existing in our bodies in this present life, though fundamentally
different from them: and secondly, on the fact that the Divine being, as our argument has
shown, though distinctly something other than visible and material substances,
nevertheless pervades each one amongst all existences, and by this penetration of the
whole keeps the world in a state of being; so that following these analogies we need not
think that the soul, either, is out of existence, when she passes from the world of forms
to the Unseen. But how, I insisted, after the united whole of the atoms has assumed ,
owing to their mixing together, a form quite different-the form in fact with which the
soul has been actually domesticated-by what mark, when this form, as we should have
expected, is effaced along with the resolution of the atoms, shall the soul follow along
(them), now that that familiar form ceases to persist?

71 She waited a moment and then said: Give me leave to invent a fanciful simile in order
to illustrate the matter before us: even though that which I suppose may be outside the
range of possibility. Grant it possible, then, in the art of painting not only to mix
opposite colours, as painters are always doing, to represent a particular tint , but also
to separate again this mixture and to restore to each of the colours its natural dye. If
then white, or black, or red, or golden colour, or any other colour that has been mixed to
form the given tint, were to be again separated from that union with another and remain by
itself, we suppose that our artist will none the less remember the actual nature of that
colour, and that in no case will he show forgetfulness, either of the red, for instance,
or the black, if after having become quite a different colour by composition with each
other they each return to their natural dye. We suppose, I say, that our artist remembers
the manner of the mutual blending of these colours, and so knows what sort of colour was
mixed with a given colour and what sort of colour was the result, and how, the other
colour being ejected from the composition, (the original colour) in consequence of such
release resumed its own peculiar hue;

72 and, supposing it were required to produce the same result again by composition, the
process will be all the easier from having been already practised in his previous work.
Now, if reason can see any analogy in this simile, we must search the matter in hand by
its light. Let the soul stand for this Art of the painter ; and let the natural atoms
stand for the colours of his art; and let the mixture of that tint compounded of the
various dyes, and the return of these to their native state (which we have been allowed to
assume), represent respectively the concourse, and the separation of the atoms. Then, as
we assume in the simile that the painter's Art tells him the actual dye of each colour,
when it has returned after mixing to its proper hue, so that he has an exact knowledge of
the red, and of the black, and of any other colour that went to form the required tint by
a specific way of uniting with another kind-a knowledge which includes its appearance both
in the mixture, and now when it is in its natural state, and in the future again,
supposing all the colours were mixed over again in like fashion-so, we assert, does the
soul know the natural peculiarities of those atoms whose concourse makes the frame of the
body in which it has itself grown, even after the scattering of those atoms.

73 However far from each other their natural propensity and their inherent forces of
repulsion urge them, and debar each from mingling with its opposite, none the less will
the soul be near each by its power of recognition, and will persistently cling to the
familiar atoms, until their concourse after this division again takes place in the same
way, for that fresh formation of the dissolved body which will properly be, and be called,
resurrection. 74 You seem, I interrupted, in this passing remark to have made an excellent
defence of the faith in the Resurrection. By it, I think, the opponents of this doctrine
might be gradually led to consider it not as a thing absolutely impossible that the atoms
should again coalesce and form the same man as before. That is very true, the Teacher
replied. For we may hear these opponents urging the following difficulty. "The atoms are
resolved, like to like, into the universe; by what device, then, does the warmth, for
instance, residing in such and such a man, after joining the universal warmth, again
dissociate itself from this connection with its kindred , so as to form this man who is
being `remoulded'? For if the identical individual particle does not return and only
something that is homogeneous but not identical is fetched, you will have something else
in the place of that first thing, and such a process will cease to be a resurrection and
will be merely the creation of a new man. But if the same man is to return into himself,
he must be the same entirely, and regain his original formation in every single atom of
his elements."

75 Then to meet such an objection, I rejoined, the above opinion about the soul will, as I
said, avail; namely, that she remains after dissolution in those very atoms in which she
first grew up, and, like a guardian placed over private property, does not abandon them
when they are mingled with their kindred atoms, and by the subtle ubiquity of her
intelligence makes no mistake about them, with all their subtle minuteness, but diffuses
herself along with those which belong to herself when they are being mingled with their
kindred dust, and suffers no exhaustion in keeping up with the whole number of them when
they stream back into the universe, but remains with them, no matter in what direction or
in what fashion Nature may arrange them. But should the signal be given by the All-
disposing Power for these scattered atoms to combine again, then, just as when every one
of the various ropes that hang from one block answer at one and the same moment to the
pull from that centre, so, following this force of the soul which acts upon the various
atoms, all these, once so familiar with each other, rush simultaneously together and form
the cable of the body by means of the soul, each single one of them being wedded to its
former neighbour and embracing an old acquaintance.

76 The following illustration also, the Teacher went on, might be very properly added to
those already brought forward, to show that the soul has not need of much teaching in
order to distinguish its own from the alien amongst the atoms. Imagine a potter with a
supply of clay;and let the supply be a large one; and let part of it have been already
moulded to form finished vessels, while the rest is still waiting to be moulded; and
suppose the vessels themselves not to be all of similar shape, but one to be a jug, for
instance, and another a wine-jar, another a plate, another a cup or any other useful
vessel; and further, let not one owner possess them all, but let us fancy for each a
special owner. Now as long as these vessels are unbroken they are of course recognizable
by their owners, and none the less so, even should they be broken in pieces; for from
those pieces each will know, for instance, that this belongs to a jar , and, again, what
sort of fragment belongs to a cup. And if they are plunged again into the unworked clay,
the discernment between what has been already worked and that clay will be a more unerring
one still. The individual man is as such a vessel; he has been moulded out of the
universal matter, owing to the concourse of his atoms; and he exhibits in a form
peculiarly his own a marked distinction from his kind;

77 and when that form has gone to pieces the soul that has been mistress of this
particular vessel will have an exact knowledge of it, derived even from its fragments; nor
will she leave this property, either, in the common blending with all the other fragments,
or if it be plunged into the still formless part of the matter from which the atoms have
come ; she always remembers her own as it was when compact in bodily form, and after
dissolution she never makes any mistake about it, led by marks still clinging to the
remains. 78 I applauded this as well devised to bring out the natural features of the case
before us; and I said: It is very well to speak like this and to believe that it is so;
but suppose some one were to quote against it our Lord's narrative about those who are in
hell, as not harmonizing with the results of our inquiry, how are we to be prepared with
an answer?

79 The Teacher answered: The expressions of that narrative of the Word are certainly
material; but still many hints are interspersed in it to rouse the skilled inquirer to a
more discriminating study of it. I mean that He Who parts the good from the bad by a great
gulf, and makes the man in torment crave for a drop to be conveyed by a finger, and the
man who has been ill-treated in this life rest on a patriarch's bosom, and Who relates
their previous death and consignment to the tomb, takes an intelligent searcher of His
meaning far beyond a superficial interpretation. For what sort of eyes has the447Rich Man
to lift up in hell, when he has left his bodily eyes in that tomb? And how can a
disembodied spirit feel any flame? And what sort of tongue can he crave to be cooled with
the drop of water, when he has lost his tongue of flesh? What is the finger that is to
convey to him this drop? What sort of place is the "bosom" of repose? The bodies of both
of them are in the tomb, and their souls are dis-embodied, and do not consist of parts
either; and so it is impossible to make the framework of the narrative correspond with the
truth, if we understand it literally; we can do that only by translating each detail into
an equivalent in the world of ideas. Thus we must think of the gulf as that which parts
ideas which may not be confounded from running together, not as a chasm of the earth. Such
a chasm, however vast it were, could be traversed with no difficulty by a disembodied
intelligence; since intelligence can in no time be wherever it will.

80 What then, I asked, are the fire and the gulf and the other features in the picture?
Are they not that which they are said to be? 81 I think, she replied, that the Gospel
signifies by means of each of them certain doctrines with regard to our question of the
soul. For when the patriarch first says to the Rich Man, "Thou in thy lifetime receivedst
thy good things," and in the same way speaks of the Poor Man, that he, namely, has done
his duty in bearing his share of life's evil things, and then, after that, adds with
regard to the gulf that it is a barrier between them, he evidently by such expressions
intimates a very important truth; and, to my thinking, it is as follows. Once man's life
had but one character; and by that I mean that it was to be found only in the category of
the good and had no contact with evil. The first of God's commandments attests the truth
of this; that, namely, which gave to man unstinted enjoyment of all the blessings of
Paradise, forbidding only that which was a mixture of good and evil and so composed of
contraries, but making death the penalty for transgressing in that particular. But man,
acting freely by a voluntary impulse, deserted the lot that was unmixed with evil, and
drew upon himself that which was a mixture of contraries. Yet Divine Providence did not
leave that recklessness of ours without a corrective. Death indeed, as the fixed penalty
for breaking the law, necessarily fell upon its transgressors; but God divided the life of
man into two parts, namely, this present life, and that "out of the body" hereafter;

82 and He placed on the first a limit of the briefest possible time, while He prolonged
the other into eternity; and in His love for man He gave him his choice, to have the one
or the other of those things, good or evil, I mean, in which of the two parts he liked:
either in this short and transitory life, or in those endless ages, whose limit is
infinity. Now these expressions "good" and "evil" are equivocal; they are used in two
senses, one relating to mind and the other to sense; some classify as good whatever is
pleasant to feeling: others are confident that only that which is perceptible by
intelligence is good and deserves that name. Those, then, whose reasoning powers have
never been exercised and who have never had a glimpse of the better way soon use up on
gluttony in this fleshly life the dividend of good which their constitution can claim, and
they reserve none of it for the after life; but those who by a discreet and sober-minded
calculation economize the powers of living are afflicted by things painful to sense here,
but they reserve their good for the succeeding life, and so their happier lot is
lengthened out to last as long as that eternal life. This, in my opinion, is the "gulf";
which is not made by the parting of the earth, but by those decisions in this life which
result in a separation into opposite characters.

83 The man who has once chosen pleasure in this life, and has not cured his
inconsiderateness by repentance, places the land of the good beyond his own reach; for he
has dug against himself the yawning impassable abyss of a necessity that nothing can break
through. This is the reason, I think, that the name of Abraham's bosom is given to that
good situation of the soul in which Scripture makes the athlete of endurance repose. For
it is related of this patriarch first, of all up to that time born, that he exchanged the
enjoyment of the present for the hope of the future; he was stripped of all the
surroundings in which his life at first was passed, and resided amongst foreigners, and
thus purchased by present annoyance future blessedness. As then figuratively we call a
particular circuit of the ocean a "bosom," so does Scripture seem to me to express the
idea of those measureless blessings above by the word "bosom," meaning a place into which
all virtuous voyagers of this life are, when they have put in from hence, brought to
anchor in the waveless harbour of that gulf of blessings . Meanwhile the denial of these
blessings which they witness becomes in the others a flame, which burns the soul and
causes the craving for the refreshment of one drop out of that ocean of blessings wherein
the saints are affluent; which nevertheless they do not get.

84 If, too, you consider the "tongue," and the "eye," and the "finger," and the other
names of bodily organs, which occur in the conversation between those disembodied souls,
you will be persuaded that this conjecture of ours about them chimes in with the opinion
we have already stated about the soul. Look closely into the meaning of those words. For
as the concourse of atoms forms the substance of the entire body, so it is reasonable to
think that the same cause operates to complete the substance of each member of the body.
If, then, the soul is present with the atoms of the body when they are again mingled with
the universe, it will not only be cognizant of the entire mass which once came together to
form the whole body, and will be present with it, but, besides that, will not fail to know
the particular materials of each one of the members, so as to remember by what divisions
amongst the atoms our limbs were completely formed. There is, then, nothing improbable in
supposing that what is present in the complete mass is present also in each division of
the mass. If one, then, thinks of those atoms in which each detail of the body potentially
inheres, and surmises that Scripture means a "finger" and a "tongue" and an "eye" and the
rest as existing, after dissolution, only in the sphere of the soul, one will not miss the
probable truth.

85 Moreover, if each detail carries the mind away from a material acceptation of the
story, surely the "hell" which we have just been speaking of cannot reasonably be thought
a place so named; rather we are there told by Scripture about a certain unseen and
immaterial situation in which the soul resides. In this story of the Rich and the Poor Man
we are taught another doctrine also, which is intimately connected with our former
discoveries. The story makes the sensual pleasure-loving man, when he sees that his own
case is one that admits of no escape, evince forethought for his relations on earth; and
when Abraham tells him that the life of those still in the flesh is not unprovided with a
guidance, for they may find it at hand, if they will, in the Law and the Prophets, he
still continues entreating that Just Patriarch, and asks that a sudden and convincing
message, brought by some one risen from the dead, may be sent to them.

86 What then, I asked, is the doctrine here? 87 Why, seeing that Lazarus' soul is occupied
with his present blessings and turns round to look at nothing that he has left, while the
rich man is still attached, with a cement as it were, even after death, to the life of
feeling, which he does not divest himself of even when he has ceased to live, still
keeping as he does flesh and blood in his thoughts (for in his entreaty that his kindred
may be exempted from his sufferings he plainly shows that he is not freed yet from fleshly
feeling),-in such details of the story (she continued) I think our Lord teaches us this;
that those still living in the flesh must as much as ever they can separate and free
themselves in a way from its attachments by virtuous conduct, in order that after death
they may not need a second death to cleanse them from the remnants that are owing to this
cement of the flesh, and, when once the bonds are loosed from around the soul, her soaring
up to the Good may be swift and unimpeded, with no anguish of the body to distract her.
For if any one becomes wholly and thoroughly carnal in thought, such an one, with every
motion and energy of the soul absorbed in fleshly desires, is not parted from such
attachments, even in the disembodied state; just as those who have lingered long in
noisome places do not part with the unpleasantness contracted by that lengthened stay,
even when they pass into a sweet atmosphere.

88 So it is that, when the change is made into the impalpable Unseen, not even then will
it be possible for the lovers of the flesh to avoid dragging away with them under any
circumstances some fleshly foulness; and thereby their torment will be intensified, their
soul having been materialized by such surroundings. I think too that this view of the
matter harmonizes to a certain extent with the assertion made by some persons that around
their graves shadowy phantoms of the departed are often seen . If this is really so, an
inordinate attachment of that particular soul to the life in the flesh is proved to have
existed, causing it to be unwilling, even when expelled from the flesh, to fly clean away
and to admit the complete change of its form into the impalpable; it remains near the
frame even after. the dissolution of the frame, and though now outside it, hovers
regretfully over the place where its material is and continues to haunt it.

89 Then, after a moment's reflection on the meaning of these latter words, I said: I think
that a contradiction now arises between what you have said and the result of our former
examination of the passions. For if, on the one hand, the activity of such movements
within us is to be held as arising from our kinship with the brutes, such movements I mean
as were enumerated in our previous discussion , anger, for instance, and fear, desire of
pleasure, and so on, and, on the other hand, it was affirmed that virtue consists in the
good employment of these movements, and vice in their bad employment, and in addition to
this we discussed the actual contribution of each of the other passions to a virtuous
life, and found that through desire above all we are brought nearer God, drawn up, by its
chain as it were, from earth towards Him,-I think (I said) that that part of the
discussion is in a way opposed to that which we are now aiming at.

90 How so? she asked. Why, when every unreasoning instinct is quenched within us after our
purgation, this principle of desire will not exist any more than the other principles; and
this being removed, it looks as if the striving after the better way would also cease, no
other emotion remaining in the soul that can stir us up to the appetence of Good. 91 To
that objection, she replied, we answer this. The speculative and critical faculty is the
property of the soul's godlike part; for it is by these that we grasp the Deity also. If,
then whether by forethought here, or by purgation hereafter, our soul becomes free from
any emotional connection with the brute creation, there will be nothing to impede its
contemplation of the Beautiful; for this last is essentially capable of attracting in a
certain way every being that looks towards it. If, then, the soul is purified of every
vice, it will most certainly be in the sphere of Beauty. The Deity is in very substance
Beautiful; and to the Deity the soul will in its state of purity have affinity, and will
embrace It as like itself. Whenever this happens, then, there will be no longer need of
the impulse of Desire to lead the way to the Beautiful. Whoever passes his time in
darkness, he it is who will be under the influence of a desire for the light; but whenever
he comes into the light, then enjoyment takes the place of desire, and the power to enjoy
renders desire useless and out of date. It will therefore be no detriment to our
participation in the Good, that the soul should be free from such emotions, and turning
back upon herself should know herself accurately what her actual nature is, and should
behold the Original Beauty reflected in the mirror and in the figure of her own beauty.

92 For truly herein consists the real assimilation to the Divine; viz. in making our own
life in some degree a copy of the Supreme Being. For a Nature like that, which transcends
all thought and is far removed from all that we observe within ourselves, proceeds in its
existence in a very different manner to what we do in this present life. Man, possessing a
constitution whose law it is to be moving, is carried in that particular direction whither
the impulse of his will directs: and so his soul is not affected in the same way towards
what lies before it , as one may say, as to what it has left behind; for hope leads the
forward movement, but it is memory that succeeds that movement when it has advanced to the
attainment of the hope; and if it is to something intrinsically good that hope thus leads
on the soul, the print that this exercise of the will leaves upon the memory is a bright
one; but if hope has seduced the soul with some phantom only of the Good, and the
excellent Way has been missed, then the memory that succeeds what has happened becomes
shame, and an intestine war is thus waged in the soul between memory and hope, because the
last has been such a bad leader of the will. Such in fact is the state of mind that shame
gives expression to; the soul is stung as it were at the result;

93 its remorse for its ill-considered attempt is a whip that makes it feel to the quick,
and it would bring in oblivion to its aid against its tormentor. Now in our case nature,
owing to its being indigent of the Good, is aiming always at this which is still wanting
to it, and this aiming at a still missing thing is this very habit of Desire, which our
constitution displays equally, whether it is baulked of the real Good, or wins that which
it is good to win. But a nature that surpasses every idea that we can form of the Good and
transcends all other power, being in no want of anything that can be regarded as good, is
itself the plenitude of every good; it does not move in the sphere of the good by way of
participation in it only, but if is itself the substance of the Good (whatever we imagine
the Good to be); it neither gives scope for any rising hope (for hope manifests activity
in the direction of something absent; but "what a man has, why doth he yet hope for? as
the Apostle asks), nor is it in want of the activity of the memory for the knowledge450of
things; that which is actually seen has no need of being remembered.

94 Since, then, this Divine nature is beyond any particular good , and to the good the
good is an object of love, it follows that when It looks within Itself , It wishes for
what It contains and contains that which It wishes, and admits nothing external. Indeed
there is nothing external to It, with the sole exception of evil, which, strange as it may
seem to say, possesses an existence in not existing at all. For there is no other origin
of evil except the negation of the existent, and the truly-existent forms the substance of
the Good. That therefore which is not to be found in the existent must be in the non-
existent. Whenever the soul, then, having divested itself of the multifarious emotions
incident to its nature, gets its Divine form and, mounting above Desire, enters within
that towards which it was once incited by that Desire, it offers no harbour within itself
either for hope or for memory. It holds the object of the one; the other is extruded from
the consciousness by the occupation in enjoying all that is good: and thus the soul copies
the life that is above, and is conformed to the peculiar features of the Divine nature;
none of its habits are left to it except that of love, which clings by natural affinity to
the Beautiful. For this is what love is; the inherent affection towards a chosen object.

95 When, then, the soul, having become simple and single in form and so perfectly godlike,
finds that perfectly simple and immaterial good which is really worth enthusiasm and love
, it attaches itself to it and blends with it by means of the movement and activity of
love, fashioning itself according to that which it is continually finding and grasping.
Becoming by this assimilation to the Good all that the nature of that which it
participates is, the soul will consequently, owing to there being no lack of any good in
that thing itself which it participates,be itself also in no lack of anything, and so will
expel from within the activity and the habit of Desire; for this arises only when the
thing missed is not found. For this teaching we have the authority of God's own Apostle,
who announces a subduing and a ceasing of all other activities, even for the good, which
are within us, and finds no limit for love alone. Prophecies, he says,shall fail; forms of
knowledge shall cease; but "charity never faileth; which is equivalent to its being always
as it is: and though he says that faith and hope have endured so far by the side of love,
yet again he prolongs its date beyond theirs, and with good reason too; for hope is in
operation only so long as the enjoyment of the things hoped for is not to be had; and
faith in the same way is a support in the uncertainty about the things hoped for;

96 for so he defines it-"the substance of things hoped for"; but when the thing hoped for
actually comes, then all other faculties are reduced to quiescence , and love alone
remains active, finding nothing to succeed itself. Love, therefore, is the foremost of all
excellent achievements and the first of the commandments of the law. If ever, then, the
soul reach this goal, it will be in no needof anything else; it will embrace that
plenitude of things which are, whereby alone it seems in any way to preserve within itself
the stamp of God's actual blessedness. For the life of the Supreme Being is love, seeing
that the Beautiful is necessarily lovable to those who recognize it, and the Deity does
recognize it, and so this recognition becomes love, that which He recognizes being
essentially beautiful. This True Beauty the insolence of satiety cannot touch ; and no
satiety interrupting this continuous capacity to love the Beautiful, God's life will have
its activity in love; which life is thus in itself beautiful, and is essentially of a
loving disposition towards the Beautiful, and receives no check to this activity of love.
In fact, in the Beautiful no limit is to be found so that love should have to cease with
any limit of the Beautiful. This last can be ended only by its opposite; but when you have
a good, as here, which is in its essence incapable of a change for the worse, then that
good will go on unchecked into infinity.

97 Moreover, as every being is capable of attracting its like, and humanity is, in a way,
like God, as bearing within itself some resemblances to its Prototype, the soul is by a
strict necessity attracted to the kindred Deity. In fact what belongs to God must by all
means and at any cost be preserved for Him. If, then, on the one hand, the soul is
unencumbered with superfluities and no trouble connected with the body presses it down,
its advance towards Him Who draws it to Himself is sweet and congenial. But suppose , on
the other hand, that it has been transfixed with the nails of propension so as to be held
down to a habit connected with material things,-a case like that of those in the ruins
caused by earthquakes, whose bodies are crushed by the mounds of rubbish; and let us
imagine by way of illustration that these are not only pressed down by the weight of the
ruins, but have been pierced as well with some spikes and splinters discovered with them
in the rubbish.

98 What then, would naturally be the plight of those bodies, when they were being dragged
by relatives from the ruins to receive the holy rites of burial, mangled and torn
entirely, disfigured in the most direful manner conceivable, with the nails beneath the
heap harrowing them by the very violence necessary to pull them out?-Such I think is the
plight of the soul as well when the Divine force, for God's very love of man, drags that
which belongs to Him from the ruins of the irrational and material. Not in hatred or
revenge for a wicked life, to my thinking, does God bring upon sinners those painful
dispensations; He is only claiming and drawing to Himself whatever, to please Him, came
into existence. But while He for a noble end is attracting the soul to Himself, the
Fountain of all Blessedness, it is the occasion necessarily to the being so attracted of a
state of torture. Just as those who refine gold from the dross which it contains not only
get this base alloy to melt in the fire, but are obliged to melt the pure gold along with
the alloy, and then while this last is being consumed the gold remains, so, while evil is
being consumed in the purgatorial fire, the soul that is welded to this evil must
inevitably be in the fire too, until the spurious material alloy is consumed and
annihilated by this fire.

99 If a clay of the more tenacious kind is deeply plastered round a rope, and then the end
of the rope is put through a narrow hole, and then some one on the further side violently
pulls it by that end, the result must be that, while the rope itself obeys the force
exerted, the clay that has been plastered upon it is scraped off it with this violent
pulling and is left outside the hole, and, moreover, is the cause why the rope does not
run easily through the passage, but has to undergo a violent tension at the hands of the
puller. In such a manner, I think, we may figure to ourselves the agonized struggle of
that soul which has wrapped itself up in earthy material passions, when God is drawing it,
His own one, to Himself, and the foreign matter, which has somehow grown into its
substance, has to be scraped from it by main force, and so occasions it that keen
intolerable anguish.

100 Then it seems, I said, that it is not punishment chiefly and principally that the
Deity, as Judge, afflicts sinners with; but He operates, as your argument has shown, only
to get the good separated from the evil and to attract it into the communion of
blessedness. That, said the Teacher, is my meaning; and also that the agony will be
measured by the amount of evil there is in each individual. For it would not be reasonable
to think that the man who has remained so long as we have supposed in evil known to be
forbidden, and the man who has fallen only into moderate sins, should be tortured to the
same amount in the judgment upon their vicious habit; but according to the quantity of
material will be the longer or shorter time that that agonizing flame will be burning;
that is, as long as there is fuel to feed it. In the case of the man who has acquired a
heavy weight of material, the consuming fire must necessarily be very searching; but where
that which the fire has to feed upon has spread less far, there the penetrating fierceness
of the punishment is mitigated, so far as the subject itself, in the amount of its evil,
is diminished. In any and every case evil must be removed out of existence, so that, as we
said above, the absolutely non-existent should cease to be at all. Since it is not in its
nature that evil should exist outside the will, does it not follow that when it shall be
that every will rests in God, evil will be reduced to complete annihilation, owing to no
receptacle being left for it?

101 But, said I, what help can one find in this devout hope, when one considers the
greatness of the evil in undergoing torture even for a single year; and if that
intolerable anguish be prolonged for the interval of an age, what grain of comfort is left
from any subsequent expectation to him whose purgation is thus commensurate with an entire
age? 102 Why , either we must plan to keep the soul absolutely untouched and free from any
stain of evil; or, if our passionate nature makes that quite impossible, then we must plan
that our failures in excellence consist only in mild and easily-curable derelictions. For
the Gospel in its teaching distinguishes between a debtor of ten thousand talents and a
debtor of five hundred pence, and of fifty pence and of a farthing , which is "the
uttermost" of coins; it proclaims that God's just judgment to all, and enhances the
payment necessary as the weight of the debt increases, and on the other hand does not
overlook the very smallest debts. But the Gospel tells us that this payment of debts was
not effected by the refunding of money, but that the indebted man was delivered to the
tormentors until he should pay the whole debt; and that means nothing else than paying in
the coin of torment the inevitable recompense, the recompense, I mean, that consists in
taking the share of pain incurred during his lifetime, when he inconsiderately chose mere
pleasure, undiluted with its opposite; so that having put off from him all that foreign
growth which sin is, and discarded the shame of any debts, he might stand in liberty and
fearlessness. Now liberty is the coming up to a state which owns no master and is self-
regulating ; it is that with which we were gifted by God at the beginning, but which has
been obscured by the feeling of shame arising from indebtedness.

103 Liberty too is in all cases one and the same essentially; it has a natural attraction
to itself. It follows, then, that as everything that is free will be united with its like,
and as virtue is a thing that has no master, that is, is free, everything that is free
will be united with virtue. But, further, the Divine Being is the fountain of all virtue.
Therefore, those who have parted with evil will be united with Him; and so, as the Apostle
says, God will be "all in all "; for this utterance seems to me plainly to confirm the
opinion we have already arrived at, for it means that God will be instead of all other
things, and in all. For while our present life is active amongst a variety of multiform
conditions, and the things we have relations with are numerous, for instance, time, air,
locality, food and drink, clothing, sunlight, lamplight, and other necessities of life,
none of which, many though they be, are God,-that blessed state which we hope for is in
need of none of these things, but the Divine Being will become all, and instead of all, to
us, distributing Himself proportionately to every need of that existence. It is plain,
too, from the Holy Scripture that God becomes, to those who deserve it, locality, and
home, and clothing, and food, and drink, and light, and riches, and dominion, and
everything thinkable and nameable that goes to make our life happy.

104 But He that becomes "all" things will be "in all" things too; and herein it appears to
me that Scripture teaches the complete annihilation of evil . If, that is, God will be "in
all" existing things, evil; plainly, will not then be amongst them; for if any one was to
assume that it did exist then, how will the belief that God will be "in all" be kept
intact? The excepting of that one thing, evil, mars the comprehensiveness of the term
"all. But He that will be "in all" will never be in that which does not exist. 105 What
then, I asked, are we to say to those whose hearts fail at these calamities ? 106 We will
say to them, replied the Teacher, this. "It is foolish, good people, for you to fret and
complain of the chain of this fixed sequence of life's realities; you do not know the goal
towards which each single dispensation of the universe is moving. You do not know that all
things have to be assimilated to the Divine Nature in accordance with the artistic plan of
their author, in a certain regularity and order. Indeed, it was for this that intelligent
beings came into existence; namely, that the riches of the Divine blessings should not lie
idle. The All-creating Wisdom fashioned these souls, these receptacles with free wills, as
vessels as it were, for this very purpose, that there should be some capacities able to
receive His blessings and become continually larger with the inpouring of the stream. Such
are the wonders that the participation in the Divine blessings works: it makes him into
whom they come larger and more capacious; from his capacity to receive it gets for the
receiver an actual increase in bulk as well, and he never stops enlarging. The fountain of
blessings wells up unceasingly, and the partaker's nature, finding nothing superfluous and
without a use in that which it receives, makes the whole influx an enlargement of its own
proportions, and becomes at once more wishful to imbibe the nobler nourishment and more
capable of containing it;

107 each grows along with each, both the capacity which is nursed in such abundance of
blessings and so grows greater, and the nurturing supply which comes on in a flood
answering to the growth of those increasing powers. It is likely, therefore, that this
bulk will mount to such a magnitude as there is no limit to check, so that we should not
grow into it. With such a prospect before us, are you angry that our nature is advancing
to its goal along the path appointed for us? Why, our career cannot be run thither-ward,
except that which weighs us down, I mean this encumbering load of earthiness, be shaken
off the soul; nor can we be domiciled in Purity with the corresponding part of our nature,
unless we have cleansed ourselves by a better training from the habit of affection which
we have contracted in life towards this earthiness. But if there be in you any clinging to
this body , and the being unlocked from this darling thing give you pain, let not this,
either, make you despair. You will behold this bodily envelopment, which is now dissolved
in death, woven again out of the same atoms, not indeed into this organization with its
gross and heavy texture, but with its threads worked up into something more subtle and
ethereal, so that you will not only h.ave near you that which you love, but it will be
restored to you with a brighter and more entrancing beauty ."

108 But it somehow seems to me now, I said, that the doctrine of the Resurrection
necessarily comes on for our discussion; a doctrine which I think is even at first sight
true as well as credible , as it is told us in Scripture; so that that will not come in
question between us: but since the weakness of the human understanding is strengthened
still farther by any arguments that are intelligible to us, it would be well not to leave
this part of the subject, either, without philosophical examination. Let us consider,
then, what ought to be said about it. 109 As for the thinkers, the Teacher went on,
outside our own system of thought, they have, with all their diverse ways of looking at
things, one in one point, another in another, approached and touched the doctrine of the
Resurrection: while they none of them exactly coincide with us, they have in no case
wholly abandoned such an expectation. Some indeed make human nature vile in their
comprehensiveness, maintaining that a soul becomes alternately that of a man and of
something irrational; that it trans-migrates into various bodies, changing at pleasure
from the man into fowl, fish, or beast, and then returning to human kind. While some
extend this absurdity even to trees and shrubs, so that they consider their wooden life as
corresponding and akin to humanity, others of them hold only thus much-that the soul
exchanges one man for another man, so that the life of humanity is continued always by
means of the same souls, which, being exactly the same in number, are being born
perpetually first in one generation, then in another. As for ourselves, we take our stand
upon the tenets of the Church, and assert that it will be well to accept only so much of
these speculations as is sufficient to show that those who indulge in them are to a
certain extent in accord with the doctrine of the Resurrection. Their statement, for
instance, that the soul after its release from this body insinuates itself into certain
other bodies is not absolutely out of harmony with the revival which we hope for.

110 For our view, which maintains that the body, both now, and again in the future, is
composed of the atoms of the universe, is held equally by these heathens. In fact, you
cannot imagine any constitution of the body independent of a concourse of these atoms. But
the divergence lies in this: we assert that the same body again as before, composed of the
same atoms, is compacted around the soul;. they suppose that the soul alights on other
bodies, not only rational, but irrational and even insensate; and while all are agreed
that these bodies which the soul resumes derive their substance from the atoms of the
universe, they part company from us in thinking that they are not made out of identically
the same atoms as those which in this mortal life grew around the soul. Let then, this
external testimony stand for the fact that it is not contrary to probability that the soul
should again inhabit a body; after that however, it is incumbent upon us to make a survey
of the inconsistencies of their position, and it will be easy thus, by means of the
consequences that arise as we follow out the consistent view, to bring the truth to light.
What, then, is to be said about these theories? This that those who would have it that the
soul migrates into natures divergent from each other seem to me to obliterate all natural
distinctions; to blend and confuse together, in every possible respect, the rational, the
irrational, the sentient, and the insensate;

111 if, that is, all these are to pass into each other, with no distinct natural order
secluding them from mutual transition. To say that one and the same soul, on account of a
particular environment of body, is at one time a rational and intellectual soul, and that
then it is caverned along with the reptiles, or herds with the birds, or is a beast of
burden, or a carnivorous one, or swims in the deep; or even drops down to an insensate
thing, so as to strike out roots or become a complete tree, producing buds on branches,
and from those buds a flower, or a thorn, or a fruit edible or noxious-to say this, is
nothing short of making all things the same and believing that one single nature runs
through all beings; that there is a connexion between them which blends and confuses
hopelessly all the marks by which one could be distinguished from another. The philosopher
who asserts that the same thing may be born in anything intends no less than that all
things are to be one; when the observed differences in things are for him no obstacle to
mixing together things which are utterly incongruous. He makes it necessary that, even
when one sees one of the creatures that are venom-darting or carnivorous, one should
regard it, in spite of appearances, as of the same tribe, nay even of the same family, as
oneself.

112 With such beliefs a man will look even upon hemlock as not alien to his own nature,
detecting, as he does, humanity in the plant. The grape-bunch itself , produced though it
be by cultivation for the purpose of sustaining life, he will not regard without
suspicion; for it too comes from a plant : and we find even the fruit of the ears of corn
upon which we live are plants; how, then, can one put in the sickle to cut them down; and
how can one squeeze the bunch, or pull up the thistle from the field, or gather flowers,
or hunt birds, or set fire to the logs of the funeral pyre: it being all the while
uncertain whether we are not laying violent hands on kinsmen, or ancestors, or fellow-
country-men, and whether it is not through the medium of some body of theirs that the fire
is being kindled, and the cup mixed, and the food prepared? To think that in the case of
any single one of these things a soul of a man has become a plant or animal , while no
marks are stamped upon them to indicate what sort of plant or animal it is that has been a
man, and what sort has sprung from other beginnings,-such a conception as this will
dispose him who has entertained it to feel an equal amount of interest in everything:

113 he must perforce either harden himself against actual human beings who are in the land
of the living, or, if his nature inclines him to love his kindred, he will feel alike
towards every kind of life, whether he meet it in reptiles or in wild beasts. Why, if the
holder of such an opinion go into a thicket of trees, even then he will regard the trees
as a crowd of men. What sort of life will his be, when he has to be tender towards
everything on the ground of kinship, or else hardened towards mankind on account of his
seeing no difference between them and the other creatures? From what has been already
said, then, we must reject this theory: and there are many other considerations as well
which on the grounds of mere consistency lead us away from it. For I have heard persons
who hold these opinions saying that whole nations of souls are hidden away somewhere in a
realm of their own, living a life analogous to that of the embodied soul; but such is the
fineness and buoyancy of their substance that they themselves' roll round along with the
revolution of the universe; and that these souls, having individually lost their wings
through some gravitation towards evil, become embodied; first this takes place in men; and
after that, passing from a human life, owing to brutish affinities of their passions, they
are reduced to the level of brutes;

114 and, leaving that, drop down to this insensate life of pure nature which you have been
hearing so much of; so that that inherently fine and buoyant thing that the soul is first
becomes weighted and downward tending in consequence of some vice, and so migrates to a
human body; then its reasoning powers are extinguished, and it goes on living in some
brute; and then even this gift of sensation is withdrawn, and it changes into the
insensate plant life; but after that mounts up again by the same gradations until it is
restored to its place in heaven. Now this doctrine will at once be found, even after a
very cursory survey, to have no coherency with itself. For, first, seeing that the soul is
to be dragged down from its life in heaven, on account of evil there, to the condition of
a tree, and is then from this point, on account of virtue exhibited there, to return to
heaven, their theory will be unable to decide which is to have the preference, the life in
heaven, or the life in the tree. A circle, in fact, of the same sequences will be
perpetually traversed, where the soul, at whatever point it may be, has no resting-place.
If it thus lapses from the disembodied state to the embodied, and thence to the insensate,
and then springs back to the disembodied, an inextricable confusion of good and evil must
result in the minds of those who thus teach.

115 For the life in heaven will no more preserve its blessedness (since evil can touch
heaven's denizens), than the life in trees will be devoid of virtue (since it is from
this, they say, that the rebound of the soul towards the good begins, while from there it
begins the evil life again). Secondly , seeing that the soul as it moves round in heaven
is there entangled with evil and is in consequence dragged down to live in mere matter,
from whence, however, it is lifted again into its residence on high, it follows that those
philosophers establish the very contrary of their own views; they establish, namely, that
the life in matter is the purgation of evil, while that undeviating revolution along with
the stars is the foundation and cause of evil in every soul: if it is here that the soul
by means of virtue grows its wing and then soars upwards, and there that those wings by
reason of evil fall off, so that it descends and clings to this lower world and is
commingled with the grossness of material nature. But the untenableness of this view does
not stop even in this, namely, that it contains assertions diametrically opposed to each
other. Beyond this, their fundamental conception itself cannot stand secure on every side.
They say, for instance, that a heavenly nature is unchangeable. How then, can there be
room for any weakness in the unchangeable?

116 If, again, a lower nature is subject to infirmity, how in the midst of this infirmity
can freedom from it be achieved? They attempt to amalgamate two things that can never be
joined together: they descry strength in weakness, passionlessness in passion. But even to
this last view they are not faithful throughout; for they bring home the soul from its
material life to that very place whence they had exiled it because of evil there, as
though the life in that place was quite safe and uncontaminated; apparently quite
forgetting the fact that the soul was weighted with evil there, before it plunged down
into this lower world. The blame thrown on the life here below, and the praise of the
things in heaven, are thus interchanged and reversed; for that which was once blamed
conducts in their opinion to the brighter life, while that which was taken for the better
state gives an impulse to the soul's propensity to evil. Expel, therefore, from amongst
the doctrines of the Faith all erroneous and shifting suppositions about such matters! We
must not follow, either, as though they had bit the truth those who suppose that souls
pass from women's bodies to live in men , or, reversely , that souls that have parted with
men's bodies exist in women: or even if they only say that they pass from men into men, or
from women into women.

117 As for the former theory , not only has it been rejected for being shifting and
illusory, and for landing us in opinions diametrically opposed to each other; but it must
be rejected also because it is a godless theory, maintaining as it does that nothing
amongst the things in nature is brought into existence without deriving its peculiar
constitution from evil as its source. If, that is, neither men nor plants nor cattle can
be born unless some soul from above has fallen into them, and if this fall is owing to
some tendency to evil, then they evidently think that evil controls the creation of all
beings. In some mysterious way, too, both events are to occur at once; the birth of the
man in consequence of a marriage, and the fall of the soul (synchronizing as it must with
the proceedings at that marriage). A greater absurdity even than this is involved: if, as
is the fact, the large majority of the brute creation copulate in the spring, are we,
then, to say that the spring brings it about that evil is engendered in the revolving
world above, so that, at one and the same moment, there certain souls are impregnated with
evil and so fall, and here certain brutes conceive? And what are we to say about the
husbandman who sets the vine-shoots in the soil? How does his hand manage to have covered
in a human soul along with the plant, and how does the moulting of wings last
simultaneously with his employment in planting?

118 The same absurdity, it is to be observed, exists in the other of the two theories as
well; in the direction, I mean, of thinking that the soul must be anxious about the
intercourses of those living in wedlock, and must be on the look-out for the times of
bringing forth, in order that it may insinuate itself into the bodies then produced.
Supposing the man refuses the union, or the woman keeps herself clear of the necessity of
becoming a mother, will evil then fail to weigh down that particular soul? Will it be
marriage, in consequence, that sounds up above the first note of evil in the soul, or will
this reversed state invade the soul quite independently of any marriage? But then, in this
last case, the soul will have to wander about in the interval like a houseless vagabond,
lapsed as it has from its heavenly surroundings, and yet, as it may happen in some cases,
still without a body to receive it. But how, after that, can they imagine that the Deity
exercises any superintendence over the world, referring as they do the beginnings of human
lives to this casual and meaningless descent of a soul. For all that follows must
necessarily accord with the beginning;

119 and so, if a life begins in consequence of a chance accident, the whole course of it
becomes at once a chapter of accidents, and the attempt to make the whole world depend on
a Divine power is absurd, when it is made by these men, who deny to the individualities in
it a birth from the fiat of the Divine Will and refer the several origins of beings to
encounters that come of evil, as though there could never have existed such a thing as a
human life, unless a vice had struck, as it were, its leading note. If the beginning is
like that, a sequel will most certainly be set in motion in accordance with that
beginning. None would dare to maintain that what is fair can come out of what is foul, any
more than from good can come its opposite. We expect fruit in accordance with the nature
of the seed. Therefore this blind movement of chance is to rule the whole of life, and no
Providence is any more to pervade the world.

120 Nay, even the forecasting by our calculations will be quite useless; virtue will lose
its value; and to turn from evil will not be worth the while. Everything will be entirely
under the control of the driver, Chance; and our lives will differ not at all from vessels
devoid of ballast, and will drift on waves of unaccountable circumstances, now to this,
now to that incident of good or of evil. The treasures of virtue will never be found in
those who owe their constitution to causes quite contrary to virtue. If God really
superintends our life, then, confessedly, evil cannot begin it. But if we do owe our birth
to evil, then we must go on living in complete uniformity with it. Thereby it will be
shown that it is folly to talk about the "houses of correction" which await us after this
life is ended, and the "just recompenses," and all the other things there asserted, and
believed in too, that tend to the suppression of vice: for how can a man, owing, as he
does, his birth to evil, be outside its pale? How can he, whose very nature has its rise
in a vice, as they assert, possess any deliberate impulse towards a life of virtue? Take
any single one of the brute creation; it does not attempt to speak like a human being, but
in using the natural kind of utterance sucked in, as it were, with its mother's milk , it
deems it no loss to be deprived of articulate speech.

121 Just in the same way those who believe that a vice was the origin and the cause of
their being alive will never bring themselves to have a longing after virtue, because it
will be a thing quite foreign to their nature. But, as a fact , they who by reflecting
have cleansed the vision of their soul do all of them desire and strive after a life of
virtue. Therefore it is by that fact clearly proved that vice is not prior in time to the
act of beginning to live, and that our nature did not thence derive its source, but that
the all-disposing wisdom of God was the Cause of it: in short, that the soul issues on the
stage of life in the manner which is pleasing to its Creator, and then (but not before),
by virtue of its power of willing, is free to choose that which is to its mind, and so,
whatever it may wish to be, becomes that very thing. We may understand this truth by the
example of the eyes. To see is their natural state; but to fail to see results to them
either from choice or from disease. This unnatural state may supervene instead of the
natural, either by wilful shutting of the eyes or by deprivation of their sight through
disease. With the like truth we may assert that the soul derives its constitution from
God, and that, as we cannot conceive of any vice in Him, it is removed from arty necessity
of being vicious;

122 that nevertheless, though this is the condition in which it came into being, it can be
attracted of its own free will in a chosen direction, either wilfully shutting its eyes to
the Good, or letting them he damaged by that insidious foe whom we have taken home to live
with us, and so passing through life in the darkness of error; or, reversely, preserving
un-dimmed its sight of the Truth and keeping far away from all weaknesses that could
darken it.-But then some one will ask, "When and how did it come into being? Now as for
the question, how any single thing came into existence, we must banish it altogether from
our discussion. Even in the case of things which are quite within the grasp of our
understanding and of which we have sensible perception, it would be impossible for the
speculative reason to grasp the "how" of the production of the phenomenon; so much so,
that even inspired and saintly men have deemed such questions insoluble. For instance, the
Apostle says, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,
so that things which are seen are not made of things which do appear . He would not, I
take it, have spoken like that, if he had thought that the question could be settled by
any efforts of the reasoning powers.

123 While the Apostle affirms that it is an object of his faith that it was by the will of
God that the world itself and all which is therein was framed (whatever this "world" be
that involves the idea of the whole visible and invisible creation), he has on the other
hand left out of the investigation the "how" of this framing. Nor do I think that this
point can ever be reached by any inquirers. The question presents, on the face of it, many
insuperable difficulties. How, for instance, can a world of movement come from one that is
at rest? how from the simple and undimensional that which shows dimension and
compositeness? Did it come actually out of the Supreme Being? But the fact that this world
presents a difference in kind to that Being militates against such a supposition. Did it
then come from some other quarter? Yet Faith can contemplate nothing as quite outside the
Divine Nature; for we should have to believe in two distinct and separate Principles, if
outside the Creative Cause we are to suppose something else, which the Artificer, with all
His skill, has to put under contribution for the formative processes of the Universe.
Since, then, the Cause of all things is one, and one only, and yet the existences produced
by that Cause are not of the same nature as its transcendent quality, an inconceivability
of equal magnitude arises in both our suppositions, i.e.

124 both that the creation comes straight out of the Divine Being, and that the universe
owes its existence to some cause other than Him; for if created things are to be of the
same nature as God, we must consider Him to be invested with the properties belonging to
His creation; or else a world of matter, outside the circle of God's substance, and equal,
on the score of the absence in it of all beginning, to the eternity of the Self-existent
One, will have to be ranged against Him: and this is in fact what the followers of Manes,
and some of the Greek philosophers who held opinions of equal boldness with his, did
imagine; and they raised this imagination into a system. In order, then, to avoid falling
into either of these absurdities, which the inquiry into the origin of things involves,
let us, following the example of the Apostle, leave the question of the "how" in each
created thing, without meddling with it at all, but merely observing incidentally that the
movement of God's Will becomes at any moment that He pleases a fact, and the intention
becomes at once realized in Nature ; for Omnipotence does not leave the plans of its far-
seeing skill in the state of unsubstantial wishes: and the actualizing of a wish is
Substance. In short, the whole world of existing things falls into two divisions: i.e.
that of the intelligible, and that of the corporeal:

125 and the intelligible creation does not, to begin with, seem to be in any way at
variance with a spiritual Being, but on the contrary to verge closely upon Him, exhibiting
as it does that absence of tangible form and of dimension which we rightly attribute to
His transcendent nature. The corporeal creation , on the other hand, must certainly be
classed amongst specialities that have nothing in common with the Deity; and it does offer
this supreme difficulty to the Reason; namely, that the Reason cannot see how the visible
comes out of the invisible, how the hard solid comes out of the intangible, how the finite
comes out of the infinite, how that which is circumscribed by certain proportions, where
the idea of quantity comes in, can come from that which has no size, no proportions, and
so on through each single circumstance of body. But even about this we can say so much:
i.e. that not one of those things which we attribute to body is itself body; neither
figure, nor colour, nor weight, nor extension, nor quantity, nor any other qualifying
notion whatever; but every one of them is a category; it is the combination of them all
into a single whole that constitutes body.

126 Seeing, then, that these several qualifications which complete the particular body are
grasped by thought alone, and not by sense, and that the Deity is a thinking being, what
trouble can it be to such a thinking agent to produce the thinkables whose mutual
combination generates for us the substance of that body? All this discussion, however,
lies outside our present business. The previous question was,-If some souls exist anterior
to their bodies, when and how do they come into existence? and of this question , again,
the part about the how, has been left out of our examination and has not been meddled
with, as presenting impenetrable difficulties. There remains the question of the when of
the soul's commencement of existence: it follows immediately on that which we have already
discussed. For if we were to grant that the soul has lived previous to its body in some
place of resort peculiar to itself, then we cannot avoid seeing some force in all that
fantastic teaching lately discussed,which would explain the soul's habitation of the body
as a consequence of some vice. Again, on the other hand, no one who can reflect will
imagine an after-birth of the soul, i.e. that it is younger than the moulding of the
body;for every one can see for himself that not one amongst all the things that are
inanimate or soulless possesses any power of motion or of growth; whereas there is no
question about that which is bred in the uterus both growing and moving from place to
place.

127 It remains therefore that we must think that the point of commencement of existence is
one and the same for body and soul. Also we affirm that, just as the earth receives the
sapling from the hands of the husbandman and makes a tree of it, without itself imparting
the power of growth to its nursling, but only lending it, when placed within itself, the
impulse to grow, in this very same way that which is secreted from a man for the planting
of a man is itself to a certain extent a living being as much gifted with a soul and as
capable of nourishing itself as that from which it comes . If this offshoot, in its
diminutiveness, cannot contain at first all the activities and the movements of the soul,
we need not be surprised; for neither in the seed of corn is there visible all at once the
ear. How indeed could anything so large be crowded into so small a space? But the earth
keeps on feeding it with its congenial aliment, and so the grain becomes the ear, without
changing its nature while in the clod, but only developing it and bringing it to
perfection under the stimulus of that nourishment. As, then, in the case of those growing
seeds the advance to perfection is a graduated one , so in man's formation the forces of
his soul show themselves in proportion to the size to which his body has attained.

128 They dawn first in the foetus, in the shape of the power of nutrition and of
development: after that, they introduce into the organism that has come into the light the
gift of perception: then, when this is reached, they manifest a certain measure of the
reasoning faculty, likethe fruit of some matured plant, not growing all of it at once, but
in a continuous progress along with the shooting up of that plant. Seeing, then, that that
which is secreted from one living being to lay the foundations of another living being
cannot itself be dead (for a state of deadness arises from the privation of life, and it
cannot be that privation should precede the having), we grasp from these considerations
the fact that in the compound which results from the joining of both (soul and body) there
is a simultaneous passage of both into existence; the one does not come first, any more
than the other comes after. But as to the number of souls, our reason must necessarily
contemplate a stopping some day of its increase; so that Nature's stream may not flow on
for ever, pouring forward in her successive births and never staying that onward movement.
The reason for our race having some day to come to a standstill is as follows, in our
opinion:

129 since every intellectual reality is fixed in a plenitude of its own, it is reasonable
to expect that humanity also will arrive at a goal (for in this respect also humanity is
not to be parted from the intellectual world ); so that we are to believe that it will not
be visible for ever only in defect, as it is now: for this continual addition of after
generations indicates that there is something deficient in our race. 130 Whenever, then,
humanity shall have reached the plenitude that belongs to it, this on-streaming movement
of production will altogether cease; it will have touched its destined bourn, and a new
order of things quite distinct from the present precession of births and deaths will carry
on the life of humanity. If there is no birth, it follows necessarily that there will be
nothing to die. Composition must precede dissolution (and by composition I mean the coming
into this world by being born); necessarily, therefore, if this synthesis does not
precede, no dissolution will follow. Therefore, if we are to go upon probabilities, the
life after this is shown to us beforehand as something that is fixed and imperishable,
with no birth and no decay to change it. The Teacher finished her exposition; and to the
many persons sitting by her bedside the whole discussion seemed now to have arrived at a
fitting conclusion. Nevertheless, fearing that if the Teacher's illness took a fatal turn
(such as did actually happen), we should have no one amongst us to answer the objections
of the unbelievers to the Resurrection , I still insisted.

131 The argument has not yet touched the most vital of all the questions relating to our
Faith. I mean, that the inspired Writings, both in the New and in the Old Testament,
declare most emphatically not only that, when our race has completed the ordered chain of
its existence as the ages lapse through their complete circle , this current streaming
onward as generation succeeds generation will cease altogether, but also that then, when
the completed Universe no longer admits of further increase, all the souls in their entire
number will come back out of their invisible and scattered condition into tangibility and
light, the identical atoms (belonging to each soul) reassembling together in the same
order as before; and this reconstitution of human life is called, in these Writings which
contain God's teaching, the Resurrection, the entire movement of the atoms receiving the
same term as the raising up of that which is actually prostrate on the ground .

132 But, said she, which of these points has been left unnoticed in what has been said?
Why, the actual doctrine of the Resurrection, I replied. And yet, she answered, much in
our long and detailed discussion pointed to that. Then are you not aware, I insisted, of
all the objections, a very swarm of them, which our antagonists bring against us in
connection with that hope of yours? And I at once tried to repeat all the devices hit upon
by their captious champions to upset the doctrine of the Resurrection. 133 She, however,
replied, First, I think, we must briefly run over the scattered proclamations of this
doctrine in Holy Scripture; they shall give the finishing touch to our discourse. Observe,
then, that I can hear David, in the midst of his praises in the Divine Songs, saying at
the end of the hymnody of the hundred and third (104th) Psalm, where he has taken for his
theme God's administration of the world, "Thou shalt take away their breath, and they
shall die, and return to their dust: Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be
created: and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. He says that a power of the Spirit
which works in all vivifies the beings into whom it enters, and deprives those whom He
abandons of their life. Seeing, then, that the dying is declared to occur at the Spirit's
departure, and the renewal of these dead ones at His appearance, and seeing moreover that
in the order of the statement the death of those who are to be thus renewed comes first,
we hold that in these words that mystery of the Resurrection is proclaimed to the Church,
and that David in the spirit of prophecy expressed this very gift which you are asking
about. You will find this same prophet in another place also saying that "the God of the
world, the Lord of everything that is, hath showed Himself to us, that we may keep the
Feast amongst the decorators;

134 by that mention of "decoration" with boughs, he means the Feast of Tabernacle-fixing,
which, in accordance with Moses' injunction, has been observed from of old. That lawgiver,
I take it, adopting a prophet's spirit, predicted therein things still to come; for though
the decoration was always going on it was never finished. The truth indeed was
foreshadowed under the type and riddle of those Feasts that were always occurring, but the
true Tabernacle-fixing was not yet come; and on this account "the God and Lord of the
whole world," according to the Prophet's declaration, "hath showed Himself to us, that the
Tabernacle-fixing of this our tenement that has been dissolved may be kept for human
kind"; a material decoration, that is, may be begun again by means of the concourse of our
scattered atoms. For that word pukasmoj in its peculiar meaning signifies the Temple-
circuit and the decoration which completes it. Now this passage from the Psalms runs as
follows: "God and Lord hath showed Himself to us; keep the Feast amongst the decorators
even unto the horns of the altar; and this seems to me to proclaim in metaphors the fact
that one single feast is to be kept by the whole rational creation, and that in that
assembly of the saints tire inferiors are to join the dance with their superiors.

135 For in the case of the fabric of that Temple which was the Type it was not allowed to
all who were on the outside of its circuit to come within, but everything that was Gentile
and alien was prohibited from entering; and of those, further, who had entered, all were
not equally privileged to advance towards the centre; but only those who had consecrated
themselves by a holier manner of life, and by certain sprinklings; and, again, not every
one amongst these last might set foot within the interior of the Temple; the priests alone
had the right of entering within the Curtain, and that only for the service of the
sanctuary; while even to the priests the darkened shrine of the Temple, where stood the
beautiful Altar with its jutting horns, was forbidden, except to one of them, who held the
highest office of the priesthood, and who once a year, on a stated day, and unattended,
passed within it, carrying an offering more than usually sacred and mystical. Such being
the differences in connection with this Temple which you know of, it was clearly a
representation and an imitation of the condition of the spirit-world, the lesson taught by
these material observances being this, that it is not the whole of the rational creation
that can approach the temple of God, or, in other words, the adoration of the Almighty;
but that those who are led astray by false persuasions are outside the precinct of the
Deity;

136 and that from the number of those who by virtue of this adoration have been preferred
to the rest and admitted within it, some by reason of sprinklings and purifications have
still further privileges; and again amongst these last those who have been consecrated
priests have privileges further still, even to being admitted to the mysteries of the
interior. And, that one may bring into still clearer light the meaning of the allegory, we
may understand the Word here as teaching this, that amongst all the Powers endued with
reason some have been fixed like a Holy Altar in the inmost shrine of the Deity; and that
again of these last some jut forward like horns, for their eminence, and that around them
others are arranged first or second, according to a prescribed sequence of rank; that the
race of man, on the contrary, on account of indwelling evil was excluded from the Divine
precinct, but that purified with lustral water it re-enters it; and, since all the further
barriers by which our sin has fenced us off from the things within the veil are in the end
to be taken down, whenever the time comes that the tabernacle of our nature is as it were
to be fixed up again in the Resurrection, and all the inveterate corruption of sin has
vanished from the world, then a universal feast will be kept around the Deity by those who
have decorated themselves in the Resurrection;

137 and one and the same banquet will be spread for all, with no differences cutting off
any rational creature from an equal participation in it; for those who are now excluded by
reason of their sin will at last be admitted within the Holiest places of God's
blessedness, and will bind themselves to the horns of the Altar there, that is, to the
most excellent of the transcendental Powers. The Apostle says the same thing more plainly
when he indicates the final accord of the whole Universe with the Good: "That" to Him
"every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth: And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father": instead of the "horns," speaking of that which is angelic and "in heaven,"
and by the other terms signifying ourselves, the creatures whom we think of next to that;
one festival of united voices shall occupy us all; that festival shall be the confession
and the recognition of the Being Who truly Is. One might (she proceeded) select many other
passages of Holy Scripture to establish the doctrine of the Resurrection. For instance,
Ezekiel leaps in the spirit of prophecy over all the intervening time, with its vast
duration; he stands, by his powers of foresight, in the actual moment of the Resurrection,
and, as if he had really gazed on what is still to come, brings it in his description
before our eyes.

138 He saw a mighty plain , unfolded to an endless distance before him, and vast heaps of
bones upon it flung at random, some this way, some that; and then under an impulse from
God these bones began to move and group themselves with their fellows that they once
owned, and adhere to the familiar sockets, and then clothe themselves with muscle, flesh,
and skin (which was the process called "decorating" in the poetry of the Psalms); a Spirit
in fact was giving life and movement to everything that lay there. But as regards our
Apostle's description of the wonders of the Resurrection, why should one repeat it, seeing
that it can easily be found and read? how, for instance, "with a shout" and the "sound of
trumpets" (in the language of the Word) all dead and prostrate things shall be "changed in
the twinkling of an eye" into immortal beings. The expressions in the Gospels also I will
pass over; for their meaning is quite clear to every one; and our Lord does not declare in
word alone that the bodies of the dead shall be raised up again; but He shows in action
the Resurrection itself, making a beginning of this work of wonder from things more within
our reach and less capable of being doubted. First, that is, He displays His life-giving
power in the case of the deadly forms of disease, and chases those maladies by one word of
command; then He raises a little girl just dead;

139 then He makes a young man, who is already being carried out, sit up on his bier, and
delivers him to his mother; after that He calls forth from his tomb the four-days-dead and
already decomposed Lazarus, vivifying the prostrate body with His commanding voice; then
after three days He raises from the dead His own human body, pierced though it was with
the nails and spear, and brings the print of those nails and the spear-wound to witness to
the Resurrection. But I think that a detailed mention of these things is not necessary;
for no doubt about them lingers in the minds of those who have accepted the written
accounts of them. 140 But that, said I, was not the point in question. Most of your
hearers will assent to the fact that there will some day be a Resurrection, and that man
will be brought before the incorruptible tribunal ; on account both of the Scripture
proofs, and also of our previous examination of the question. But still the question
remains : Is the state which we are to expect to be like the present state of the body?
Because if so, then, as I was saying , men had better avoid hoping for any Resurrection at
all. For if our bodies are to be restored to life again in the same sort of condition as
they are in when they cease to breathe, then all that man can look forward to in the
Resurrection is an unending calamity. For what spectacle is more piteous than when in
extreme old age our bodies shrivel up and change into something repulsive and hideous,
with the flesh all wasted in the length of years, the skin dried up about the bones till
it is all in wrinkles, the muscles in a spasmodic state from being no longer enriched with
their natural moisture, and the whole body consequently shrunk, the hands on either side
powerless to perform their natural work, shaken with an involuntary trembling? What a
sight again are the bodies of persons in a long consumption! They differ from bare bones
only in giving the appearance of being covered with a worn-out veil of skin.

141 What a sight too are those of persons swollen with the disease of dropsy! What words
could describe the unsightly disfigurement of sufferers from leprosy ? Gradually over all
their limbs and organs of sensation rottenness spreads and devours them. What words could
describe that of persons who have been mutilated in earthquake, battle, or by any other
visitation, and live on in such a plight for a long time before their natural deaths? Or
of those who from an injury have grown up from infancy with their limbs awry! What can one
say of them? What is one to think about the bodies of newborn infants who have been either
exposed, or strangled, or died a natural death, if they are to be brought to life again
just such as they were? Are they to continue in that infantine state? What condition could
be more miserable than that? Or are they to come to the flower of their age? Well, but
what sort of milk has Nature got to suckle them again with? It comes then to this: that,
if our bodies are to live again in every respect the same as before, this thing that we
are expecting is simply a calamity; whereas if they are not the same, the person raised up
will be another than he who died.

142 If, for instance, a little boy was buried, but a grown man rises again, or reversely,
how can we say that the dead in his very self is raised up, when he has had some one
substituted for him by virtue of this difference in age? Instead of the child, one sees a
grown-up man. Instead of the old man, one sees a person in his prime. In fact, instead of
the one person another entirely. The cripple is changed into the able-bodied man; the
consumptive sufferer into a man whose flesh is firm; and so on of all possible cases, not
to enumerate them for fear of being prolix. If, then, the body will not come to life again
just such in its attributes as it was when it mingled with the earth, that dead body will
not rise again; but on the contrary the earth will be formed into another man. How, then,
will the Resurrection affect myself, when instead of me some one else will come to life?
Some one else, I say; for how could I recognize myself when, instead of what was once
myself, I see some one not myself? It cannot really be I, unless it is in every respect
the same as myself. Suppose, for instance, in this life I had in my memory the traits of
some one; say he was bald, had prominent lips, a somewhat flat nose, a fair complexion,
grey eyes, white hair, wrinkled skin;

143 and then went to look for such an one, and met a young man with a fine head of hair,
an aquiline nose, a dark complexion, and in all other respects quite different in his type
of countenance; am I likely in seeing the latter to think of the former? But why dwell
longer on these the less forcible objections to the Resurrection, and neglect the
strongest one of all? For who has not heard that human life is like a stream, moving from
birth to death at a certain rate of progress, and then only ceasing from that progressive
movement when it ceases also to exist? This movement indeed is not one of spacial change;
our bulk never exceeds itself; but it makes this advance by means of internal alteration;
and as long as this alteration is that which its name implies, it never remains at the
same stage (from moment to moment); for how can that which is being altered be kept in any
sameness? The fire on the wick, as far as appearance goes, certainly seems always the
same, the continuity of its movement giving it the look of being an uninterrupted and
self-centred whole; but in reality it is always passing itself along and never remains the
same; the moisture which is extracted by the heat is burnt up and changed into smoke the
moment it has burst into flame and this alterative force effects the movement of the
flame, working by itself the change of the subject-matter into smoke;

144 just, then, as it is impossible for one who has touched that flame twice on the same
place, to touch twice the very same flame (for the speed of the alteration is too quick;
it does not wait for that second touch, however rapidly it may be effected; the flame is
always fresh and new; it is always being produced, always transmitting itself, never
remaining at one and the same place), a thing of the same kind is found to be the case
with the constitution of our body. There is influx and afflux going on in it in an
alterative progress until the moment that it ceases to live; as long as it is living it
has no stay; for it is either being replenished, or it is discharging in vapour, or it is
being kept inmotion by both of these processes combined. If, then, a particular man is not
the same even as he was yesterday , but is made different by this transmutation, when so
be that the Resurrection shall restore our body to life again, that single man will become
a crowd of human beings, so that with his rising again there will be found the babe, the
child, the boy, the youth, the man, the father, the old man, and all the intermediate
persons that he once was. But further ; chastity and profligacy are both carried on in the
flesh;

145 those also who endure the most painful tortures for their religion, and those on the
other hand who shrink from such, both one class and the other reveal their character in
relation to fleshly sensations; how, then, can justice be done at the Judgment ? 146 Or
take the case of one and the same man first sinning and then cleansing himself by
repentance, and then, it might so happen, relapsing into his sin; in such a case both the
defiled and the undefiled body alike undergoes a change, as his nature changes, and
neither of them continue to the end the same; which body, then, is the profligate to be
tortured in? In that which is stiffened with old age and is near to death? But this is not
the same as that which did the sin. In that, then, which defiled itself by giving way to
passion? But where is the old man, in that case? This last, in fact, will not rise again,
and the Resurrection will not do a complete work; orelse he will rise, while the criminal
will escape. Let me say something else also from amongst the objections made by
unbelievers to this doctrine. No part, they urge, of the body is made by nature without a
function. Some parts, for instance, are the efficient causes within us of our being alive;
without them our life in the flesh could not possibly be carried on; such are the heart,
liver, brain, lungs, stomach, and the other vitals; others are assigned to the activities
of sensation; others to those of handing and walking ; others are adapted for the
transmission of a posterity. Now if the life to come is to be in exactly the same
circumstances as this, the supposed change in us is reduced to nothing;

147 but if the report istrue, as indeed it is, which represents marriage as forming no
part of the economy of that after-life, and eating and drinking as not then preserving its
continuance, what use will there be for the members of our body, when we are no longer to
expect in that existence any of the activities for which our members now exist? If, for
the sake of marriage, there are now certain organs adapted for marriage, then, whenever
the latter ceases to be, we shall not need those organs: the same may be said of the hands
for working with, the feet for running with, the mouth for taking food with, the teeth for
grinding it with, the organs of the stomach for digesting, the evacuating ducts for
getting rid of that which has become superfluous. When therefore, all those operations
will be no more how or wherefore will their instruments exist? So that necessarily, if the
things that are not going to contribute in any way to that other life are not to surround
the body, none of the parts which at present constitute the body would exist either. That
life , then, will be carried on by other instruments; and no one could call such a state
of things a Resurrection, where the particular members are no longer present in the body,
owing to their being useless to that life. But if on the other hand our Resurrection will
be represented in every one of these;

148 then the Author of the Resurrection will fashion things in us of no use and advantage
to that life. And yet we must believe, not only thatthere is a Resurrection, but also that
it will not be an absurdity. We must, therefore, listen attentively to the explanation of
this, so that, for every part of this truth we may have its probability saved to the last
. 149 When I had finished, the Teacher thus replied, You have attacked the doctrines
connected with the Resurrection with some spirit, in the way of rhetoric as it is called;
you have coursed round and round the truth with plausibly subversive arguments; so much
so, that those who have not very carefully considered this mysterious truth might possibly
be affected in their view of it by the likelihood of those arguments, and might think that
the difficulty started against what has been advanced was not altogether beside the point.
But, she proceeded, the truth does not lie in these arguments, even though we may find it
impossible to give a rhetorical answer to them, couched in equally strong language. The
true explanation of all these questions is still stored up in the hidden treasure-rooms of
Wisdom, and will not come to the light until that moment when we shall be taught the
mystery of the Resurrection by the reality of it; and then there will be no more need of
phrases to explain the things which we now hope for. Just as many questions might be
started for debate amongst people sitting up at night as to the kind of thing that
sunshine is, and then the simple appearing of it in all its beauty would render any verbal
description superfluous, so every calculation that tries to arrive conjecturally at the
future state will be reduced to nothingness by the object of our hopes, when it comes upon
us.

150 But since it is our duty not toleave the arguments brought against us in any way
unexamined, we will expound the truth as to these points as follows. First let us get a
clear notion as to the scope of this doctrine; in other words, what is the end that Holy
Scripture has in view in promulgating it and creating the belief in it. Well, to sketch
the outline of so vast a truth and to embrace it in a definition, we will say that the
Resurrection is "the reconstitution of our nature in its original form . But in that form
of life, of which God Himself was the Creator, it is reasonable to believe that there was
neither age nor infancy nor any of the sufferings arising from our present various
infirmities, nor any kind of bodily affliction whatever. It is reasonable, I say, to
believe that God was the Creator of none of these things, but that man was a thing divine
before his humanity got within reach of the assault of evil; that then, however, with the
inroad of evil, all these afflictions also broke in upon him. Accordingly a life that is
free from evil is under no necessity whatever of being passed amidst the things that
result from evil. It follows that when a man travels through ice he must get his body
chilled; or when he walks in a very hot sun that he must get his skin darkened;

151 but if he has kept clear of the one or the other, he escapes these results entirely,
both the darkening and the chilling; no one, in fact, when a particular cause was removed,
would be justified in looking for the effect of that particular cause. Just so our nature,
becoming passional, had to encounter all the necessary results of a life of passion: but
when it shall have started back to that state of passionless blessedness, it will no
longer encounter the inevitable results of evil tendencies. Seeing, then, that all the
infusions of the life of the brute into our nature were not in us before our humanity
descended through the touch of evil into passions, most certainly, when we abandon those
passions, we shall abandon all their visible results. No one, therefore, will be justified
in seeking in that other life for the consequences in us of any passion. Just as if a man,
who, clad in a ragged tunic, has divested himself of the garb, feels no more its disgrace
upon him, so we too, when we have cast off that dead unsightly tunic made from the skins
of brutes and put upon us (for I take the "coats of skins" to mean that conformation
belonging to a brute nature with which we were clothed when we became familiar with
passionate indulgence), shall, along with the casting off of that tunic, fling from us all
the belongings that were round us of that skin of a brute;

152 and such accretions are sexual intercourse, conception, parturition, impurities,
suckling, feeding, evacuation, gradual growth to full size, prime of life, old age,
disease, and death. If that skin is no longer round us, how can its resulting consequences
be left behind within us? It is folly, then, when we are to expect a different state of
things in the life to come, to object to the doctrine of the Resurrection on the ground of
something that has nothing to do with it. I mean, what has thinness or corpulence, a state
of consumption or of plethora, or any other condition supervening in a nature that is ever
in a flux, to do with the other life, stranger as it is to any fleeting and transitory
passing such as that? One thing, and one thing only, is required for the operation of the
Resurrection; viz. that a man should have lived, by being born; or, to use rather the
Gospel words, that "a man should be born into the world"; the length or briefness of the
life, the manner, this or that, of the death, is an irrelevant subject of inquiry in
connection with that operation. Whatever instance we take, howsoever we suppose this to
have been, it is all the same; from these differences in life there arises no difficulty,
any more than any facility, with regard to the Resurrection. He who has once begun to live
must necessarily go on having once lived , after his intervening dissolution in death has
been repaired in the Resurrection.

153 As to the how and the when of his dissolution, what do they matter to the
Resurrection? Consideration of such points belongs to another line of inquiry altogether.
For instance, a man may have lived in bodily comfort, or in affliction, virtuously or
viciously, renowned or disgraced; he may have passed his days miserably, or happily. These
and such-like results must be obtained from the length of his life and the manner of his
living; and to be able to pass a judgment on the things done in his life, it will be
necessary for the judge to scrutinize his indulgences, as the case may be, or his losses,
or his disease, or his old age, or his prime, or his youth, or his wealth, or his poverty:
how well or ill a man, placed in either of these, concluded his destined career; whether
he was the recipient of many blessings, or of many ills in a length of life; or tasted
neither of them at all, but ceased to live before his mental powers were formed. But
whenever the time come that God shall have brought our nature back to the primal state of
man, it will be useless to talk of such things then, and to imagine that objections based
upon such things can prove God's power to be impeded in arriving at His end. His end is
one, and one only; it is this:

154 when the complete whole of our race shall have been perfected from the first man to
the last,-some having at once in this life been cleansed from evil, others having
afterwards in the necessary periods been healed by the Fire, others having in their life
here been unconscious equally of good and of evil,-to offer to every one of us
participation in the blessings which are in Him, which, the Scripture tells us, "eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard," nor thought ever reached. But this is nothing else, as I at
least understand it, but to be in God Himself; for the Good which is above hearing and eye
and heart must be that Good which transcends the universe. But the difference between the
virtuous and the vicious life led at the present time will be illustrated in this way;
viz. in the quicker or more tardy participation of each in that promised blessedness.
According to the amount of the ingrained wickedness of each will be computed the duration
of his cure. This cure consists in the cleansing of his soul, and that cannot be achieved
without an excruciating condition, as has been expounded in our previous discussion. But
any one would more fully comprehend the futility and irrelevancy of all these objections
by trying to fathom the depths of our Apostle's wisdom.

155 When explaining this mystery to the Corinthians, who, perhaps, themselves were
bringing forward the same objections to it as its impugners to-day bring forward to
overthrow our faith, he proceeds on his own authority to chide the audacity of their
ignorance, and speaks thus: "Thou wilt say, then, to me, How are the dead raised up, and
with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it
die; And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain,
it may chance of wheat or of some other grain; But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased
Him. In that passage, as it seems to me, he gags the mouths of men who display their
ignorance of the fitting proportions in Nature, and who measure the Divine power by their
own strength, and think that only so much is possible to God as the human understanding
can take in, but that what is beyond it surpasses also the Divine ability. For the man who
had asked the Apostle, "how are the dead raised up? evidently implies that it is
impossible when once the body's atoms have been scattered that they should again come in
concourse together; and this being impossible, and no other possible form of body, besides
that arising from such a concourse, being left, he, after the fashion of clever
controversialists, concludes the truth of what he wants to prove, by a species of
syllogism, thus:

156 If a body is a concourse of atoms, and a second assemblage of these is impossible,
what sort of body will those get who rise again? This conclusion, involved seemingly in
this artful contrivance of premisses, the Apostle calls "folly," as coming from men who
riled to perceive in other parts of the creation the masterliness of the Divine power.
For, omitting the sublimer miracles of God's hand, by which it would have been easy to
place his hearer in a dilemma (for instance he might have asked "how or whence comes a
heavenly body, that of the sun for example, or that of the moon, or that which is seen in
the constellations; whence the firmament, the air, water, the earth?"), he, on the
contrary, convicts the objectors of inconsiderateness by means of objects which grow
alongside of us and are very familiar to all. "Does not even husbandry teach thee," he
asks, "that the man who in calculating the transcendent powers of the Deity limits them by
his own is a fool? Whence do seeds get the bodies that spring up from them? What precedes
this springing up? Is it not a death that precedes ? At least, if the dissolution of a
compacted whole is a death;

157 for indeed it cannot be supposed that the seed would spring up into a shoot unless it
had been dissolved in the soil, and so become spongy and porous to such an extent as to
mingle its own qualities with the adjacent moisture of the soil, and thus become
transformed into a root and shoot; not stopping even there, but changing again into the
stalk with its intervening knee-joints that gird it up like so many clasps, to enable it
to carry with figure erect the ear with its load of corn. Where, then, were all these
things belonging to the grain before its dissolution in the soil? And yet this result
sprang from that grain; if that grain had not existed first, the ear would not have
arisen. Just, then, as the "body" of the ear comes to light out of the seed, God's
artistic touch of power producing it all out of that single thing, and just as it is
neither entirely the same thing as that seed nor something altogether different, so (she
insisted) by these miracles performed on seeds you may now interpret the mystery of the
Resurrection. The Divine power, in the superabundance of Omnipotence, does not only
restore you that body once dissolved, but makes great and splendid additions to it,
whereby the human being is furnished in a manner still more magnificent.

158 "It is sown," he says, "in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in
weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is
sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. The grain of wheat, after its
dissolution in the soil, leaves behind the slightness of its bulk and the peculiar quality
of its shape, and yet it has not left and lost itself, but, still self-centred, grows into
the ear, though in many points it has made an advance upon itself, viz. in size, in
splendour, in complexity, in form. In the same fashion the human being deposits in death
all those peculiar surroundings which it has acquired from passionate propensities;
dishonour, I mean, and corruption and weakness and characteristics of age; and yet the
human being does not lose itself. It changes into an ear of corn as it were; into
incorruption, that is, and glory and honour and power and absolute perfection; into a
condition in which its life is no longer carried on in the ways peculiar to mere nature,
but has passed into a spiritual and passionless existence. For it is the peculiarity of
the natural body to be always moving on a stream, to be always altering from its state for
the moment and changing into something else; but none of these processes, which we observe
not in man only but also in plants and brutes will be found remaining in the life that
shall be then.

159 Further, it seems to me that the words of the Apostle in every respect harmonize with
our own conception of what the Resurrection is. They indicate the very same thing that we
have embodied in our own definition of it, wherein we said that the Resurrection is no
other thing than "the re-constitution of our nature in its original form. For, whereas we
learn from Scripture in the account of the first Creation , that first the earth brought
forth "the green herb" (as the narrative says), and that then from this plant seed was
yielded, from which, when it was shed on the ground, the same form of the original plant
again sprang up, the Apostle, it is to be observed, declares that this very same thing
happens in the Resurrection also; and so we learn from him the fact, not only that our
humanity will be then changed into something nobler, but also that what we have therein to
expect is nothing else than that which was at the beginning. In the beginning, we see, it
was not an ear rising from a grain, but a grain coming from an ear, and, after that, the
ear grows round the grain: and so the order indicated in this similitude clearly shows
that all that blessed state, which arises for us by means of the Resurrection is only a
return to our pristine state of grace. We too, in fact, were once in a fashion a full ear
;

160 but the burning heat of sin withered us up, and then on our dissolution by death the
earth received us: but in the spring of the Resurrection she will reproduce this naked
grain of our body in the form of an ear, tall, well-proportioned, and erect, reaching to
the heights of heaven, and, for blade and beard, resplendent in incorruption, and with all
the other godlike marks. For "this corruptible must put on incorruption"; and this
incorruption and glory and honour and power are those distinct and acknowledged marks of
Deity which once belonged to him who was created in God's image, and which we hope for
hereafter. The first man Adam, that is, was the first ear; but with the arrival of evil
human nature was diminished into a mere multitude ; and, as happens to the grain on the
ear, each individual man was denuded of the beauty of that primal ear, and mouldered in
the soil: but in the Resurrection we are born again in our original splendour; only
instead of that single primitive ear we become the countless myriads of ears in the
cornfields. The virtuous life as contrasted with that of vice is distinguished thus:

161 those who while living have by virtuous conduct exercised husbandry on themselves are
at once revealed in all the qualities of a perfect ear, while those whose bare grain (that
is the forces of their natural soul) has become through evil habits degenerate, as it
were, and hardened by the weather (as the so-called "hornstruck" seeds , according to the
experts in such things, grow up), will, though they live again in the Resurrection,
experience very great severity from their Judge, because they do not possess the strength
to shoot up into the full proportions of an ear, and thereby become that which we were
before our earthly fall . The remedy offered by the Overseer of the produce is to collect
together the tares and the thorns, which have grown up with the good seed, and into whose
bastard life all the secret forces that once nourished its root have passed, so that it
not only has had to remain without its nutriment, but has been choked and so rendered
unproductive by this unnatural growth. When from the nutritive part within them everything
that is the reverse or the counterfeit of it has been picked out, and has been committed
to the fire that consumes everything unnatural, and so has disappeared, then in this class
also their humanity will thrive and will ripen into fruit-bearing, owing to such
husbandry, and some day after long courses of ages will get back again that universal form
which God stamped upon us at the beginning.

162 Blessed are they, indeed, in whom the full beauty of those ears shall be developed
directly they are born in the Resurrection. Yet we say this without implying that any
merely bodily distinctions will be manifest between those who have lived virtuously and
those who have lived viciously in this life, as if we ought to think that one will be
imperfect as regards his material frame, while another will win perfection as regards it.
The prisoner and the free, here in this present world, are just alike as regards the
constitutions of their two bodies; though as regards enjoyment and suffering the gulf is
wide between them. In this way, I take it, should we reckon the difference between the
good and the bad in that intervening time . For the perfection of bodies that rise from
that sowing of death is, as the Apostle tells us, to consist in incorruption and glory and
honour and power; but any diminution in such excellences does not denote a corresponding
bodily mutilation of him who has risen again, but a withdrawal and estrangement from each
one of those things which are conceived of as belonging to the good. Seeing, then, that
one or the other of these two diametrically opposed ideas, I mean good and evil, must any
way attach to us, it is clear that to say a man is not included in the good is a necessary
demonstration that he is included in the evil.

163 But then, in connection with evil, we find no honour, no glory, no incorruption, no
power; and so we are forced to dismiss all doubt that a man who has nothing to do with
these last-mentioned things must be connected with their opposites, viz. with weakness,
with dishonour, with corruption, with everything of that nature, such as we spoke of in
the previous parts of the discussion, when we said how many were the passions, sprung from
evil, which are so hard for the soul to get rid of, when they have infused themselves into
the very substance of its entire nature and become one with it. When such, then, have been
purged from it and utterly removed by the healing processes worked out by the Fire, then
every one of the things which make up our conception of the good will come to take their
place; incorruption, that is, and life, and honour, and grace, and glory, and everything
else that we conjecture is to be seen in God, and in His Image, man as he was made.


ON VIRGINITY
============

ON VIRGINITY Gregory of Nyssa

c. AD 335–395

Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil; theologian and mystic.

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

1 The object of this treatise is to create in its readers a passion for the life according
to excellence. There are many distractions , to use the word of the Divine Apostle,
incident to the secular life; and so this treatise would suggest, as a necessary door of
entrance to the holier life, the calling of Virginity; seeing that, while it is not easy
in the entanglements of this secular life to find quiet for that of Divine contemplation,
those on the other hand who have bid farewell to its troubles can with promptitude, and
without distraction, pursue assiduously their higher studies. Now, whereas all advice is
in itself weak, and mere words of exhortation will not make the task of recommending what
is beneficial easier to any one, unless he has first given a noble aspect to that which he
urges on his hearer, this discourse will accordingly begin with the praises of Virginity;
the exhortation will come at the end; moreover, as the beauty in anything gains lustre by
the contrast with its opposite, it is requisite that some mention should be made of the
vexations of everyday life. Then it will be quite in the plan of this work to introduce a
sketch of the contemplative life, and to prove the impossibility of any one attaining it
who feel's the world's anxieties. In the devotee bodily desire has become weak;

2 and so there will follow an inquiry as to the true object of desire, for which (and
which only) we have received from our Maker our power of desiring. When this has received
all possible illustration, it will seem to follow naturally that we should consider some
method to attain it; and the true virginity, which is free from any stain of sin, will be
found to fit such a purpose. So all the intermediate part of the discourse, while it seems
to look elsewhere, will be really tending to the praises of this virginity. All the
particular rules obeyed by the followers of this high calling will, to avoid prolixity, be
omitted here; the exhortation in the discourse will be introduced only in general terms,
and for cases of wide application; but, in a way, particulars will be here included, and
so nothing important will be overlooked, while prolixity is avoided. Each of us, too, is
inclined to embrace some course of life with the greater enthusiasm, when he sees
personalities who have already gained distinction in it; we have therefore made the
requisite mention of saints who have gained their glory in celibacy. But further than
this; the examples we have in biographies cannot stimulate to the attainment of
excellence, so much as a living voice and an example which is still working for good; and
so we have alluded to that most godly bishop , our father in God, who himself alone could
be the master in such instructions.

3 He will not indeed be mentioned by name, but by certain indications we shall say in
cipher that he is meant. Thus, too, future readers will not think our advice unmeaning,
when the candidate for this life is told to school himself by recent masters. But let them
first fix their attention only on this: what such a master ought to be; then let them
choose for their guidance those who have at any time by God's grace been raised up to be
champions of this system of excellence; for either they will find what they seek, or at
all events will be no longer ignorant what it ought to be.

CHAPTER I.

1 The holy look of virginity is precious indeed in the judgment of all who make purity the
test of beauty; but it belongs to those alone whose struggles to gain this object of a
noble love are favoured and helped by the grace of God. Its praise is heard at once in the
very name which goes with it; "Uncorrupted " is the word commonly said of it, and this
shows the kind of purity that is in it; thus we can measure by its equivalent term the
height of this gift, seeing that amongst the many results of virtuous endeavour this alone
has been honoured with the title of the thing that is uncorrupted. And if we must extol
with laudations this gift from the great God, the words of His Apostle are sufficient in
its praise; they are few, but they throw into the background all extravagant laudations;
he only styles as "holy and without blemish " her who has this grace for her ornament. Now
if the achievement of this saintly virtue consists in making one "without blemish and
holy," and these epithets are adopted in their first and fullest force to glorify the
incorruptible Deity, what greater praise of virginity can there be than thus to be shown
in a manner deifying those who share in her pure mysteries, so that they become partakers
of His glory Who is in actual truth the only Holy and Blameless One; their purity and
their incorruptibility being the means of bringing them into relationship with Him?

2 Many who write lengthy laudations in detailed treatises, with the view of adding
something to the wonder of this grace, unconsciously defeat, in my opinion, their own end;
the fulsome manner in which they amplify their subject brings its credit into suspicion.
Nature's greatnesses have their own way of striking with admiration; they do not need the
pleading of words: the sky, for instance, or the sun, or any other wonder of the universe.
In the business of this lower world words certainly act as a basement, and the skill of
praise does impart a look of magnificence; so much so, that mankind are apt to suspect as
the result of mere art the wonder produced by panegyric. So the one sufficient way of
praising virginity will be to show that that virtue is above praise, and to evince our
admiration of it by our lives rather than by our words. A man who takes this theme for
ambitious praise has the appearance of supposing that one drop of his own perspiration
will make an appreciable increase of the boundless ocean, if indeed he believes, as he
does, that any human words can give more dignity to so rare a grace; he must be ignorant
either of his own powers or of that which he attempts to praise.

CHAPTER II.

1 Deep indeed will be the thought necessary to understand the surpassing excellence of
this grace. It is comprehended in the idea of the Father incorrupt; and here at the outset
is a paradox, viz. that virginity is found in Him, Who has a Son and yet without passion
has begotten Him. It is included too in the nature of this Only-begotten God, Who struck
the first note of all this moral innocence; it shines forth equally in His pure and
passionless generation. Again a paradox; that the Son should be known to us by virginity.
It is seen, too, in the inherent and incorruptible purity of the Holy Spirit; for when you
have named the pure and incorruptible you have named virginity. It accompanies the whole
supramundane existence; because of its passionlessness it is always present with the
powers above; never separated from aught that is Divine, it never touches the opposite of
this. All whose instinct and will have found their level in virtue are beautified with
this perfect purity of the uncorrupted state; all who are ranked in the opposite class of
character are what they are, and are called so, by reason of their fall from purity. What
force of expression, then, will be adequate to such a grace? How can there be no cause to
fear lest the greatness of its intrinsic value should be impaired by the efforts of any
one's eloquence? The estimate of it which he will create will be less than that which his
hearers had before.

2 It will be well, then, to omit all laudation in this case; we cannot lift words to the
height of our theme. On the contrary, it is possible to be ever mindful of this gift of
God; and our lips may always speak of this blessing; that, though it is the property of
spiritual existence and of such singular excellence, yet by the love of God it has been
bestowed on those who have received their life from the will of the flesh and from blood;
that, when human nature has been based by passionate inclinations, it stretches out its
offer of purity like a hand to raise it up again and make it look above. This, I think,
was the reason why our Master, Jesus Christ Himself, the Fountain of all innocence, did
not come into the world by wedlock. It was, to divulge by the manner of His Incarnation
this great secret; that purity is the only complete indication of the presence of God and
of His coming, and that no one can in reality secure this for himself, unless he has
altogether estranged himself from the passions of the flesh. What happened in the
stainless Mary when the fulness of the Godhead which was in Christ shone out through her,
that happens in every soul that leads by rule the virgin life. No longer indeed does the
Master come with bodily presence; "we know Christ no longer according to the flesh ";

3 but, spiritually, He dwells in us and brings His Father with Him, as the Gospel
somewhere tells. Seeing, then, that virginity means so much as this, that while it remains
in Heaven with the Father of spirits, and moves in the dance of the celestial powers, it
nevertheless stretches out hands for man's salvation; that while it is the channel which
draws down the Deity to share man's estate, it keeps wings for man's desires to rise to
heavenly things, and is a bond of union between the Divine and human, by its mediation
bringing into harmony these existences so widely divided-what words could be discovered
powerful enough to reach this wondrous height? But still, it is monstrous to seem like
creatures without expression and without feeling; and we must choose (if we are silent)
one of two things; either to appear never to have felt the special beauty of virginity, or
to exhibit ourselves as obstinately blind to all beauty: we have consented therefore to
speak briefly about this virtue, according to the wish of him who has assigned us this
task, and whom in all things we must obey. But let no one expect from us any display of
style; even if we wished it, perhaps we could not produce it, for we are quite unversed in
that kind of writing. Even if we possessed such power, we would not prefer the favour of
the few to the edification of the many.

4 A writer of sense should have, I take it, for his chiefest object not to be admired
above all other writers, but to profit both himself and them, the many.

CHAPTER III.

1 Would indeed that some profit might come to myself from this effort! I should have
undertaken this labour with the greater readiness, if I could have hope of sharing,
according to the Scripture, in the fruits of the plough and the threshing-floor; the toil
would then have been a pleasure. As it is, this my knowledge of the beauty of virginity is
in some sort vain and useless to me, just as the corn is to the muzzled ox that treads the
floor, or the water that streams from the precipice to a thirsty man when he cannot reach
it. Happy they who have still the power of choosing the better way, and have not debarred
themselves from it by engagements of the secular life, as we have, whom a gulf now divides
from glorious virginity: no one can climb up to that who has once planted his foot upon
the secular life. We are but spectators of others' blessings and witnesses to the
happiness of another class. Even if we strike out some fitting thoughts about virginity,
we shall not be better than the cooks and scullions who provide sweet luxuries for the
tables of the rich, without having any portion themselves in What they prepare. What a
blessing if it had been otherwise, if we had not to learn the good by after-regrets! Now
they are the enviable ones, they succeed even beyond their prayers and their desires, who
have not put out of their power the enjoyment of these delights.

2 We are like those who have a wealthy society with which to compare their own poverty,
and so are all the more vexed and discontented with their present lot. The more exactly we
understand the riches of virginity, the more we must bewail the other life; for we realize
by this contrast with better things, how poor it is. I do not speak only of the future
rewards in store for those who have lived thus excellently, but those rewards also which
they have while alive here; for if any one would make up his mind to measure exactly the
difference between the two courses, he would find it well-nigh as great as that between
heaven and earth. The truth of this statement may be known by looking at actual facts. 3
But in writing this sad tragedy what will be a fit beginning? How shall we really bring to
view the evils common to life? All men know them by experience, but somehow nature has
contrived to blind the actual sufferers so that they willingly ignore their condition.
Shall we begin with its choicest sweets? Well then, is not the sum total of all that is
hoped for in marriage to get delightful companionship? Grant this obtained; let us sketch
a marriage in every way most happy; illustrious birth, competent means, suitable ages, the
very flower of the prime of life, deep affection, the very best that each can think of the
other , that sweet rivalry of each wishing to surpass the other in loving; in addition,
popularity, power, wide reputation, and everything else. But observe that even beneath
this array of blessings the fire of an inevitable pain is smouldering. I do not speak of
the envy that is always springing up against those of distinguished rank, and the
liability to attack which hangs over those who seem prosperous, and that natural hatred of
superiors shown by those who do not share equally in the good fortune, which make these
seemingly favoured ones pass an anxious time more full of pain than pleasure. I omit that
from the picture, and will suppose that envy against them is asleep; although it would not
be easy to find a single life in which both these blessings were joined, i.e. happiness
above the common, and escape from envy.

4 However, let us, if so it is to be, suppose a married life free from all such trials;
and let us see if it is possible for those who live with such an amount of good fortune to
enjoy it. Why, what kind of vexation is left, you will ask, when even envy of their
happiness does not reach them? I affirm that this very, thing, this sweetness that
surrounds their lives, is the spark which kindles pain. They are human all the time,
things weak and perishing; they have to look upon the tombs of their progenitors; and so
pain is inseparably bound up with their existence, if they have the least power of
reflection. This continued expectancy of death, realized by no sure tokens, but hanging
over them the terrible uncertainty of the future, disturbs their present joy, clouding it
over with the fear of what is coming. If only, before experience comes, the results of
experience could be learnt, or if, when one has entered on this course, it were possible
by some other means of conjecture to survey the reality, then what a crowd of deserters
would run from marriage into the virgin life; what care and eagerness never to be
entangled in that retentive snare, where no one knows for certain how the net galls till
they have actually entered it! You would see there, if only you could do it without
danger, many contraries uniting;

5 smiles melting into tears, pain mingled with pleasure, death always hanging by
expectation over the children that are born, and putting a finger upon each of the
sweetest joys. Whenever the husband looks at the beloved face, that moment the fear of
separation accompanies the look. If he listens to the sweet voice, the thought comes into
his mind that some day he will not hear it. Whenever he is glad with gazing on her beauty,
then he shudders most with the presentiment of mourning her loss. When he marks all those
charms which to youth are so precious and which the thoughtless seek for, the bright eyes
beneath the lids, the arching eyebrows, the cheek with its sweet and dimpling smile, the
natural red that blooms upon the lips, the gold-bound hair shining in many-twisted masses
on the head, and all that transient grace, then, though he may be little given to
reflection, he must have this thought also in his inmost soul that some day all this
beauty will melt away and become as nothing, turned after all this show into noisome and
unsightly bones, which wear no trace, no memorial, no remnant of that living bloom. Can he
live delighted when he thinks of that? Can he trust in these treasures which he holds as
if they would be always his? Nay, it is plain that he will stagger as if he were mocked by
a dream, and will have his faith in life shaken, and will look upon what he sees as no
longer his.

6 You will understand, if you have a comprehensive view of things as they are, that
nothing in this life looks that which it is. It shows to us by the illusions of our
imagination one thing, instead of something else. Men gaze open-mouthed at it, and it
mocks them with hopes; for a while it hides itself beneath this deceitful show; then all
of a sudden in the reverses of life it is revealed as something different from that which
men's hopes, conceived by its fraud in foolish hearts, had pictured. Will life's sweetness
seem worth taking delight in to him who reflects on this? Will he ever be able really to
feel it, so as to have joy in the goods he holds? Will he not, disturbed by the constant
fear of some reverse, have the use without the enjoyment? I will but mention the portents,
dreams, omens, and such-like things which by a foolish habit of thought are taken notice
of, and always make men fear the worst. But her time of labour comes upon the young wife;
and the occasion is regarded not as the bringing of a child into the world, but as the
approach of death; in bearing it is expected that she will die; and, indeed, often this
sad presentiment is true, and before they spread the birthday feast, before they taste any
of their expected joys, they have to change their rejoicing into lamentation.

7 Still in love's fever, still at the height of their passionate affection, not yet having
grasped life's sweetest gifts, as in the vision of a dream, they are suddenly torn away
from all they possessed. But what comes next? Domestics, like conquering foes, dismantle
the bridal chamber; they deck it for the funeral, but it is death's room now; they make
the useless wailings and beatings of the hands. Then there is the memory of former days,
curses on those who advised the marriage, recriminations against friends who did not stop
it; blame thrown on parents whether they be alive or dead, bitter outbursts against human
destiny, arraigning of the whole course of nature, complaints and accusations even against
the Divine government; war within the man himself, and fighting with those who would
admonish; no repugnance to the most shocking words and acts. In some this state of mind
continues, and their reason is more completely swallowed up by grief; and their tragedy
has a sadder ending, the victim not enduring to survive the calamity.

8 But rather than this let us suppose a happier case. The danger of childbirth is past; a
child is born to them, the very image of its parents' beauty. Are the occasions for grief
at all lessened thereby? Rather they are increased; for the parents retain all their
former fears, and feel in addition those on behalf of the child, lest anything should
happen to it in its bringing up; for instance a bad accident, or by some turn of
misfortunes a sickness, a fever , any dangerous disease. Both parents share alike in
these; but who could recount the special anxieties of the wife? We omit the most obvious,
which all can understand, the weariness of pregnancy, the danger in childbirth, the cares
of nursing, the tearing of her heart in two for her offspring, and, if she is the mother
of many, the dividing of her soul into as many parts as she has children; the tenderness
with which she herself feels all that is happening to them. That is well understood by
every one. But the oracle of God tells us that she is not her own mistress, but finds her
resources only in him whom wedlock has made her lord; and so, if she be for ever so short
a time left alone, she feels as if she were separated from her head, and can ill bear it;
she even takes this short absence of her husband to be the prelude to her widowhood; her
fear makes her at once give up all hope;

9 accordingly her eyes, filled with terrified suspense, are always fixed upon the door;
her ears are always busied with what others are whispering; her heart, stung with her
fears, is well-nigh bursting even before any bad news has arrived; a noise in the doorway,
whether fancied or real, acts as a messenger of ill, and on a sudden shakes her very soul;
most likely all outside is well, and there is no cause to fear at all; but her fainting
spirit is quicker than any message, and turns her fancy from good tidings to despair. Thus
even the most favoured live, and they are not altogether to be envied; their life is not
to be compared to the freedom of virginity. Yet this hasty sketch has omitted many of the
more distressing details. Often this young wife too, just wedded, still brilliant in
bridal grace, still perhaps blushing when her bridegroom enters, and shyly stealing
furtive glances at him, when passion is all the more intense because modesty prevents it
being shown, suddenly has to take the name of a poor lonely widow and be called all that
is pitiable. Death comes in an instant and changes that bright creature in her white and
rich attire into a black-robed mourner. He takes off the bridal ornaments and clothes her
with the colours of bereavement. There is darkness in the once cheerful room, and the
waiting-women sing their long dirges. She hates her friends when they try to soften her
grief;

10 she will not take food, she wastes away, and in her soul's deep dejection has a strong
longing only for her death, a longing which often lasts till it comes. Even supposing that
time puts an end to this sorrow, still another comes, whether she has children or not. If
she has, they are fatherless, and, as objects of pity themselves, renew the memory of her
loss. If she is childless, then the name of her lost husband is rooted up, and this grief
is greater than the seeming consolation. I will say little of the other special sorrows of
widowhood; for who could enumerate them all exactly? She finds her enemies in her
relatives. Some actually take advantage of her affliction. Others exult over her loss, and
see with malignant joy the home failing to pieces, the insolence of the servants, and the
other distresses visible in such a case, of which there are plenty. In consequence of
these, many women are compelled to risk once more the trial of the same things, not being
able to endure this bitter derision. As if they could revenge insults by increasing their
own sufferings! Others, remembering the past, will put up with anything rather than plunge
a second time into the like troubles. If you wish to learn all the trials of this married
life, listen to those women who actually know it.

11 How they congratulate those who have chosen from the first the virgin life, and have
not had to learn by experience about the better way, that virginity is fortified against
all these ills, that it has no orphan state, no widowhood to mourn; it is always in the
presence of the undying Bridegroom; it has the offspring of devotion always to rejoice in;
it sees continually a home that is truly its own, furnished with every treasure because
the Master always dwells there; in this case death does not bring separation, but union
with Him Who is longed for; for when (a soul) departs , then it is with Christ, as the
Apostle says. But it is time, now that we have examined on the one side the feelings of
those whose lot is happy, to make a revelation of other lives, where poverty and adversity
and all the other evils which men have to suffer are a fixed condition; deformities, I
mean, and diseases, and all other lifelong afflictions. He whose life is contained in
himself either escapes them altogether or can bear them easily, possessing a collected
mind which is not distracted from itself; while he who shares himself with wife and child
often has not a moment to bestow even upon regrets for his own condition, because anxiety
for his dear ones fills his heart. But it is superfluous to dwell upon that which every
one knows. If to what seems prosperity such pain and weariness is bound, what may we not
expect of the opposite condition?

12 Every description which attempts to represent it to our view will fall short of the
reality. Yet perhaps we may in a very few words declare the depths of its misery. Those
whose lot is contrary to that which passes as prosperous receive their sorrows as well
from causes contrary to that. Prosperous lives are marred by the expectancy, or the
presence, of death; but the misery of these is that death delays his coming. These lives
then are widely divided by opposite feelings; although equally without hope, they converge
to the same end. So many-sided, then, so strangely different are the ills with which
marriage supplies the world. There is pain always, whether children are born, or can never
be expected, whether they live, or die. One abounds in them but has not enough means for
their support; another feels the want of an heir to the great fortune he has toiled for,
and regards as a blessing the other's misfortune; each of them, in fact, wishes for that
very thing which he sees the other regretting. Again, one man loses by death a much-loved
son; another has a reprobate son alive; both equally to be pitied, though the one mourns
over the death, the other over the life, of his boy. Neither will I do more than mention
how sadly and disastrously family jealousies and quarrels, arising from real or fancied
causes, end. Who could go completely into all those details?

13 If you would know what a network of these evils human life is, you need not go back
again to those old stories which have furnished subjects to dramatic poets. They are
regarded as myths on account of their shocking extravagance; there are in them murders and
eating of children, husband-murders, murders of mothers and brothers, incestuous unions,
and every sort of disturbance of nature; and yet the old chronicler begins the story which
ends in such horrors with marriage. But turning from all that, gaze only upon the
tragedies that are being enacted on this life's stage; it is marriage that supplies
mankind with actors there. Go to the law-courts and read through the laws there; then you
will know the shameful secrets of marriage. Just as when you hear a physician explaining
various diseases, you understand the misery of the human frame by learning the number and
the kind of sufferings it is liable to, so when you peruse the laws and read there the
strange variety of crimes in marriage to which their penalties are attached, you will have
a pretty accurate idea of its properties; for the law does not provide remedies for evils
which do not exist, any more than a physician has a treatment for diseases which are never
known.

CHAPTER IV.

1 But we need no lodger show in this narrow way the drawback of this life, as if the
number of its ills was limited to adulteries, dissensions, and plots. I think we should
take the higher and truer view, and say at once that none of that evil in life, which is
visible in all its business and in all its pursuits, can have any hold over a man, if he
will not put himself in the fetters of this course. The truth of what we say will be clear
thus. A man who, seeing through the illusion with the eye of his spirit purged, lifts
himself above the struggling world, and, to use the words of the Apostle, slights it all
as but dung, in a way exiling himself altogether from human life by his abstinence from
marriage,-that man has no fellowship whatever with the sins of mankind, such as avarice,
envy, anger, hatred, and everything of the kind. He has an exemption from all this, and is
in every way free and at peace; there is nothing in him to provoke his neighbours' envy,
because he clutches none of those objects round which envy in this life gathers. He has
raised his own life above the world, and prizing virtue as his only precious possession he
will pass his days in painless peace and quiet. For virtue is a possession which, though
all according to their capacity should share it, yet will be always in abundance for those
who thirst after it;

2 unlike the occupation of the lands on this earth, which men divide into sections, and
the more they add to the one the more they take from the other, so that the one person's
gain is his fellow's loss; whence arise the fights for the lion's share, from men's hatred
of being cheated. But the larger owner of this possession is never envied; he who snatches
the lion's share does no damage to him who claims equal participation; as each is capable
each has this noble longing satisfied, while the wealth of virtues in those who are
already occupiers is not exhausted. The man, then, who, with his eyes only on such a life,
makes virtue, which has no limit that man can devise, his only treasure, will surely never
brook to bend his soul to any of those low courses which multitudes tread. He will not
admire earthly riches, or human power, or any of those things which folly seeks. If,
indeed, his mind is still pitched so low, he is outside our band of novices, and our words
do not apply to him. But if his thoughts are above, walking as it were with God, he will
be lifted out of the maze of all these errors; for the predisposing cause of them all,
marriage, has not touched him. Now the wish to be before others is the deadly sin of
pride, and one would not be far wrong in saying that this is the seed-root of all the
thorns of sin;

3 but it is from reasons connected with marriage that this pride mostly begins. To show
what I mean, we generally find the grasping man throwing the blame on his nearest kin; the
man mad after notoriety and ambition generally makes his family responsible for this sin:
"he must not be thought inferior to his forefathers; he must be deemed a great man by the
generation to come by leaving his children historic records of himself": so also the other
maladies of the soul, envy, spite, hatred and such-like, are connected with this cause;
they are to be found amongst those who are eager about the things of this life. He who has
fled from it gazes as from some high watch-tower on the prospect of humanity, and pities
these slaves of vanity for their blindness in setting such a value on bodily well-being.
He sees some distinguished person giving himself airs because of his public honours, and
wealth, and power, and only laughs at the folly of being so puffed up. He gives to the
years of human life the longest number, according to the Psalmist's computation, and then
compares this atom-interval with the endless ages, and pities the vain glory of those who
excite themselves for such low and petty and perishable things. What, indeed, amongst the
things here is there enviable in that which so many strive for,-honour? What is gained by
those who win it? The mortal remains mortal whether he is honoured or not. What good does
the possessor of many acres gain in the end?

4 Except that the foolish man thinks his own that which never belongs to him, ignorant
seemingly in his greed that "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof ," for "God
is king of all the earth . It is the passion of having which gives men a false title of
lordship over that which can never belong to them. "The earth," says the wise Preacher,
"abideth for ever ," ministering to every generation, first one, then another, that is
born upon it; but men, though they are so little even their own masters, that they are
brought into life without knowing it by their Maker's will, and before they wish are
withdrawn from it, nevertheless in their excessive vanity think that they are her lords;
that they, now born, now dying, rule that which remains continually. One who reflecting on
this holds cheaply all that mankind prizes, whose only love is the divine life, because
"all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass ," can never care for
this grass which "to-day is and to-morrow is not"; studying the divine ways, he knows not
only that human life has no fixity, but that the entire universe will not keep on its
quiet course for ever; he neglects his existence here as an alien and a passing thing; for
the Saviour said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away ," the whole of necessity awaits its
refashioning. As long as he is "in this tabernacle .

5 exhibiting mortality, weighed down with this existence, he laments the lengthening of
his sojourn in it; as the Psalmist-poet says in his heavenly songs. Truly, they live in
darkness who sojourn in these living tabernacles; wherefore that preacher, groaning at the
continuance of this sojourn, says, "Woe is me that my sojourn is prolonged ," and he
attributes the cause of his dejection to "darkness"; for we know that darkness is called
in the Hebrew language "kedar. It is indeed a darkness as of the night which envelops
mankind, and prevents them seeing this deceit and knowing that all which is most prized by
the living, and moreover all which is the reverse, exists only in the conception of the
unreflecting, and is in itself nothing; there is no such reality anywhere as obscurity of
birth, or illustrious birth, or glory, or splendour, or ancient renown, or present
elevation, or power over others, or subjection. Wealth and comfort, poverty and distress,
and all the other inequalities of life, seem to the ignorant, applying the test of
pleasure, vastly different from each other. But to the higher understanding they are all
alike; one is not of greater value than the other; because life runs on to the finish with
the same speed through all these opposites, and in the lots of either class there remains
the same power of choice to live well or ill, "through armour on the right hand and on the
left, through evil report and good report .

6 Therefore the clearseeing mind which measures reality will journey on its path without
turning, accomplishing its appointed time from its birth to its exit; it is neither
softened by the pleasures nor beaten down by the hardships; but, as is the way with
travellers, it keeps advancing always, and takes but little notice of the views presented.
It is the travellers way to press on to their journey's end, no matter whether they are
passing through meadows and cultivated farms, or through wilder and more rugged spots; a
smiling landscape does not detain them; nor a gloomy one check their speed. So, too, that
lofty mind will press straight on to its self-imposed end, not turning aside to see
anything on the way. It passes through life, but its gaze is fixed on heaven; it is the
good steersman directing the bark to some landmark there. But the grosser mind looks down;
it bends its energies to bodily pleasures as surely as the sheep stoop to their pasture;
it lives for gorging and still lower pleasures ; it is alienated from the life of God ,
and a stranger to the promise of the Covenants; it recognizes no good but the
gratification of the body. It is a mind such as this that "walks in darkness ," and
invents all the evil in this life of ours; avarice, passions unchecked, unbounded luxury,
lust of power, vain-glory, the whole mob of moral diseases that invade men's homes. In
these vices, one somehow holds closely to another;

7 where one has entered all the rest seem to follow, dragging each other in a natural
order, just as in a chain, when you have jerked the first link, the others cannot rest,
and even the link at the other end feels the motion of the first, which passes thence by
virtue of their contiguity through the intervening links; so firmly are men's vices linked
together by their very nature; when one of them has gained the mastery of a soul, the rest
of the train follow. If you want a graphic picture of this accursed chain, suppose a man
who because of some special pleasure it gives him is a victim to his thirst for fame; then
a desire to increase his fortune follows close upon this thirst for fame; he becomes
grasping; but only because the first vice leads him on to this. Then this grasping after
money and superiority engenders either anger with his kith and kin, or pride towards his
inferiors, or envy of those above him; then hypocrisy comes in after this envy; a soured
temper after that; a misanthropical spirit after that; and behind them all a state of
condemnation which ends in the dark fires of hell. You see the chain; how all follows from
one cherished passion. Seeing, then, that this inseparable train of moral diseases has
entered once for all into the world, one single way of escape is pointed out to us in the
exhortations of the inspired writings;

8 and that is to separate ourselves from the life which involves this sequence of
sufferings. If we haunt Sodom, we cannot escape the rain of fire; nor if one who has fled
out of her looks back upon her desolation, can he fail to become a pillar of salt rooted
to the spot. We cannot be rid of the Egyptian bondage, unless we leave Egypt, that is,
this life that lies under water , and pass, not that Red Sea, but this black and gloomy
Sea of life. But suppose we remain in this evil bondage, and, to use the Master's words,
"the truth shall not have made us free," how can one who seeks a lie and wanders in the
maze of this world ever come to the truth? How can one who has surrendered his existence
to be chained by nature run away from this captivity? An illustration will make our
meaning clearer. A winter torrent , which, impetuous in itself, becomes swollen and
carries down beneath its stream trees and boulders and anything that comes in its way, is
death and danger to those alone who live along its course; for those who have got well out
of its way it rages in vain. Just so, only the man who lives in the turmoil of life has to
feel its force; only he has to receive those sufferings which nature's stream, descending
in a flood of troubles, must, to be true to its kind, bring to those who journey on its
banks.

9 But if a man leaves this torrent, and these "proud waters ," he will escape from being
"a prey to the teeth" of this life, as the Psalm goes on to say, and, as "a bird from the
snare," on virtue's wings. This simile, then, of the torrent holds; human life is a
tossing and tumultuous stream sweeping down to find its natural level; none of the objects
sought for in it last till the seekers are satisfied; all that is carried to them by this
stream comes near, just touches them, and passes on; so that the present moment in this
impetuous flow eludes enjoyment, for the after-current snatches it from their view. It
would be our interest therefore to keep far away from such a stream, lest, engaged on
temporal things, we should neglect eternity. How can a man keep for ever anything here, be
his love for it never so passionate? Which of life's most cherished objects endures
always? What flower of prime? What gift of strength and beauty? What wealth, or fame, or
power? They all have their transient bloom, and then melt away into their opposites. Who
can continue in life's prime? Whose strength lasts for ever? Has not Nature made the bloom
of beauty even more shortlived than the shows of spring? For they blossom in their season,
and after withering for a while again revive; after another shedding they are again in
leaf, and retain their beauty of to-day to a late prime.

10 But Nature exhibits the human bloom only in the spring of early life; then she kills
it; it is vanished in the frosts of age. All other delights also deceive the bodily eye
for a time, and then pass behind the veil of oblivion. Nature's inevitable changes are
many; they agonize him whose love is passionate. One way of escape is open: it is, to be
attached to none of these things, and to get as far away as possible from the society of
this emotional and sensual world; or rather, for a man to go outside the feelings which
his own body gives rise to. Then, as he does not live for the flesh, he will not be
subject to the troubles of the flesh. But this amounts to living for the spirit only, and
imitating all we can the employment of the world of spirits. There they neither marry, nor
are given in marriage. Their work and their excellence is to contemplate the Father of all
purity, and to beautify the lines of their own character from the Source of all beauty, so
far as imitation of It is possible.

CHAPTER V.

1 Now we declare that Virginity is man's "fellow-worker" and helper in achieving the aim
of this lofty passion. In other sciences men have devised certain practical methods for
cultivating the particular subject; and so, I take it, virginity is the practical method
in the science of the Divine life, furnishing men with the power of assimilating
themselves with spiritual natures. The constant endeavour in such a course is to prevent
the nobility of the soul from being lowered by those sensual outbreaks, in which the mind
no longer maintains its heavenly thoughts and upward gaze, but sinks down to the emotions
belonging to the flesh and blood. How can the soul which is riveted to the pleasures of
the flesh and busied with merely human longings turn a disengaged eye upon its kindred
intellectual light? This evil, ignorant, and prejudiced bias towards material things will
prevent it. The eyes of swine, turning naturally downward, have no glimpse of the wonders
of the sky; no more can the soul whose body drags it down look any longer upon the beauty
above; it must pore perforce upon things which though natural are low and animal. To look
with a free devoted gaze upon heavenly delights, the soul will turn itself from earth; it
will not even partake of the recognized indulgences of the secular life; it will transfer
all its powers of affection from material objects to the intellectual contemplation of
immaterial beauty. Virginity of the body is devised to further such a disposition of the
soul;

2 it aims at creating in it a complete forgetfulness of natural emotions; it would prevent
the necessity of ever descending to the call of fleshly needs. Once freed from such, the
soul runs no risk of becoming, through a growing habit of indulging in that which seems to
a certain extent conceded by nature's law, inattentive and ignorant of Divine and
undefiled delights. Purity of the heart, that master of our lives, alone can capture them.

CHAPTER VI.

1 This, I believe, makes the greatness of the prophet Elias, and of him who afterwards
appeared in the spirit and power of Elias, than whom "of those that are born of women
there was none greater . If their history conveys any other mystic lesson, surely this
above all is taught by their special mode of life, that the man whose thoughts are fixed
upon the invisible is necessarily separated from all the ordinary events of life; his
judgments as to the True Good cannot be confused and led astray by the deceits arising
from the senses. Both, from their youth upwards, exiled themselves from human society, and
in a way from human nature, in their neglect of the usual kinds of meat and drink, and
their sojourn in the desert. The wants of each were satisfied by the nourishment that came
in their way, so that their taste might remain simple and unspoilt, as their ears were
free from any distracting noise, and their eyes from any wandering look. Thus they
attained a cloudless calm of soul, and were raised to that height of Divine favour which
Scripture records of each. Elias, for instance, became the dispenser of God's earthly
gifts; he had authority to close at will the uses of the sky against the sinners and to
open them to the penitent. John is not said indeed to have done any miracle; but the gift
in him was pronounced by Him Who sees the secrets of a man greater than any prophet's.

2 This was so, we may presume, because both, from beginning to end, so dedicated their
hearts to the Lord that they were unsullied by any earthly passion; because the love of
wife or child, or any other human call, did not intrude upon them, and they did not even
think their daily sustenance worthy of anxious thought; because they showed themselves to
be above any magnificence of dress, and made shift with that which chance offered them,
one clothing himself in goat-skins, the other with camel's hair. It is my belief that they
would not have reached to this loftiness of spirit, if marriage had softened them. This is
not simple history only; it is "written for our admonition ," that we might direct our
lives by theirs. What, then, do we learn thereby? This: that the man who longs for union
with God must, like those saints, detach his mind from all worldly business. It is
impossible for the mind which is poured into many channels to win its way to the knowledge
and the love of God.

CHAPTER VII.

1 An illustration will make our teaching on this subject clearer. Imagine a stream flowing
from a spring and dividing itself off into a number of accidental channels. As long as it
proceeds so, it will be useless for any purpose of agriculture, the dissipation of its
waters making each particular current small and feeble, and therefore slow. But if one
were to mass these wandering and widely dispersed rivulets again into one single channel,
he would have a full and collected stream for the supplies which life demands. Just so the
human mind (so it seems to me), as long as its current spreads itself in all directions
over the pleasures of the sense, has no power that is worth the naming of making its way
towards the Real Good; but once call it back and collect it upon itself, so that it may
begin to move without scattering and wandering towards the activity which is congenital
and natural to it, it will find no obstacle in mounting to higher things, and in grasping
realities. We often see water contained in a pipe bursting upwards through this
constraining force, which will not let it leak; and this, in spite of its natural
gravitation: in the same way, the mind of man, enclosed in the compact channel of an
habitual continence, and not having any side issues, will be raised by virtue of its
natural powers of motion to an exalted love. In fact, its Maker ordained that it should
always move, and to stop is impossible to it;

2 when therefore it is prevented employing this power upon trifles, it cannot be but that
it will speed toward the truth, all improper exits being closed. In the case of many
turnings we see travellers can keep to the direct route, when they have learnt that the
other roads are wrong, and so avoid them; the more they keep out of these wrong
directions, the more they will preserve the straight course; in like manner the mind in
turning from vanities will recognize the truth. The great prophets, then, whom we have
mentioned seem to teach this lesson, viz. to entangle ourselves with none of the objects
of this world's effort; marriage is one of these, or rather it is the primal root of all
striving after vanities.

CHAPTER VIII.

1 Let no one think however that herein we depreciate marriage as an institution. We are
well aware that it is not a stranger to God's blessing. But since the common instincts of
mankind can plead sufficiently on its behalf, instincts which prompt by a spontaneous bias
to take the high road of marriage for the procreation of children, whereas Virginity in a
way thwarts this natural impulse, it is a superfluous task to compose formally an
Exhortation to marriage. We put forward the pleasure of it instead, as a most doughty
champion on its behalf. It may be however, notwithstanding this, that there is some need
of such a treatise, occasioned by those who travesty the teaching of the Church. Such
persons "have their conscience seared with a hot iron," as the Apostle expresses it; and
very truly too, considering that, deserting the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the
"doctrines of devils," they have some ulcers and blisters stamped upon their hearts,
abominating God's creatures, and calling them "foul," "seducing," "mischievous," and so
on. "But what have I to do to judge them that are without ? asks the Apostle. Truly those
persons are outside the Court in which the words of our mysteries are spoken; they are not
installed under God's roof, but in the monastery of the Evil One. They "are taken captive
by him at his will . They therefore do not understand that all virtue is found in
moderation, and that any declension to either side of it becomes a vice.

2 He, in fact, who grasps the middle point between doing too little and doing too much has
hit the distinction between vice and virtue. Instances will make this clearer. Cowardice
and audacity are two recognized vices opposed to each other; the one the defect, the other
the excess of confidence; between them lies courage. Again, piety is neither atheism nor
superstition; it is equally impious to deny a God and to believe in many gods. Is there
need of more examples to bring this principle home? The man who avoids both meanness and
prodigality will by this shunning of extremes form the moral habit of liberality; for
liberality is the thing which is neither inclined to spend at random vast and useless
sums, nor yet to be closely calculating in necessary expenses. We need not go into details
in the case of all good qualities. Reason, in all of them, has established virtue to be a
middle state between two extremes. Sobriety itself therefore is a middle state, and
manifestly involves the two declensions on either side towards vice; he, that is, who is
wanting in firmness of soul, and is so easily worsted in the combat with pleasure as never
even to have approached the path of a virtuous and sober life, slides into shameful
indulgence; while he who goes beyond the safe ground of sobriety and overshoots the
moderation of this virtue, falls as it were from a precipice into the "doctrines of
devils," "having his conscience seared with a hot iron.

3 In declaring marriage abominable he brands himself with such reproaches; for "if the
tree is corrupt" (as the Gospel says), "the fruit also of the tree will be like it "; if a
man is the shoot and fruitage of the tree of marriage, reproaches cast on that turn upon
him who casts them . These persons, then, are like branded criminals already; their
conscience is covered with the stripes of this unnatural teaching. But our view of
marriage is this; that, while the pursuit of heavenly things should be a man's first care,
yet if he can use the advantages of marriage with sobriety and moderation, he need not
despise this way of serving the state. An example might be found in the patriarch Isaac.
He married Rebecca when he was past the flower of his age and his prime was well-nigh
spent, so that his marriage was not the deed of passion, but because of God's blessing
that should be upon his seed. He cohabited with her till the birth of her only children ,
and then, closing the channels of the senses, lived wholly for the Unseen; for this is
what seems to be meant by the mention in his history of the dimness of the Patriarch's
eyes. But let that be as those think who are skilled in reading these meanings, and let us
proceed with the continuity of our discourse. What then, were we saying?

4 That in the cases where it is possible at once to be true to the diviner love, and to
embrace wedlock, there is no reason for setting aside this dispensation of nature and
misrepresenting as abominable that which is honourable. Let us take again our illustration
of the water and the spring. Whenever the husbandman, in order to irrigate a particular
spot, is bringing the stream thither, but there is need before it gets there of a small
outlet, he will allow only so much to escape into that outlet as is adequate to supply the
demand, and can then easily be blended again with the main stream. If, as an inexperienced
and easy-going steward, he opens too wide a channel, there will be danger of the whole
stream quitting its direct bed and pouring itself sideways. In the same way, if (as life
does need a mutual succession) a man so treats this need as to give spiritual things the
first thought, and because of the shortness of the time indulges but sparingly the sexual
passion and keeps it under restraint, that man would realize the character of the prudent
husband man to which the Apostle exhorts us. About the details of paying these trifling
debts of nature he will not be over-calculating, but the long hours of his prayers will
secure the purity which is the key-note of his life. He will always fear lest by this kind
of indulgence he may become nothing but flesh and blood; for in them God's Spirit does not
dwell.

5 He who is of so weak a character that he cannot make a manful stand against nature's
impulse had better keep himself very far away from such temptations, rather than descend
into a combat which is above his strength. There is no small danger for him lest, cajoled
in the valuation of pleasure, he should think that there exists no other good but that
which is enjoyed along with some sensual emotion, and, turning altogether from the love of
immaterial delights, should become entirely of the flesh, seeking always his pleasure only
there, so that his character will be a Pleasure-lover, not a God-lover. It is not every
man's gift, owing to weakness of nature, to hit the due proportion in these matters; there
is a danger of being carried far beyond it, and "sticking fast in the deep mire ," to use
the Psalmist's words. It would therefore be for our interest, as our discourse has been
suggesting, to pass through life without a trial of these temptations, lest under cover of
the excuse of lawful indulgence passion should gain an entrance into the citadel of the
soul.

CHAPTER IX.

1 Custom is indeed in everything hard to resist. It possesses an enormous power of
attracting and seducing the soul. In the cases where a man has got into a fixed state of
sentiment, a certain imagination of the good is created in him by this habit; and nothing
is so naturally vile but it may come to be thought both desirable and laudable, once it
has got into the fashion . Take mankind now living on the earth. There are many nations,
and their ambitions are not all the same. The standard of beauty and of honour is
different in each, the custom of each regulating their enthusiasm and their aims. This
unlikeness is seen not only amongst nations where the pursuits of the one are in no repute
with the other, but even in the same nation, and the same city, and the same family; we
may see in those aggregates also much difference existing owing to customary feeling. Thus
brothers born from the same throe are separated widely from each other in the aims of
life. Nor is this to be wondered at, considering that each single man does not generally
keep to the same opinion about the same thing, but alters it as fashion influences him.
Not to go far from our present subject, we have known those who have shown themselves to
be in love with chastity all through the early years of puberty;

2 but in taking the pleasures which men think legitimate and allowable they make them the
starting-point of an impure life, and when once they have admitted these temptations, all
the forces of their feeling are turned in that direction, and, to take again our
illustration of the stream, they let it rush from the diviner channel into low material
channels, and make within themselves a broad path for passion; so that the stream of their
love leaves dry the abandoned channel of the higher way and flows abroad in indulgence. It
would be well then, we take it, for the weaker brethren to fly to virginity as into an
impregnable fortress, rather than to descend into the career of life's consequences and
invite temptations to do their worst upon them, entangling themselves in those things
which through the lusts of the flesh war against the law of our mind; it would be well for
them to consider that herein they risk not broad acres, or wealth, or any other of this
life's prizes, but the hope which has been their guide. It is impossible that one who has
turned to the world and feels its anxieties, and engages his heart in the wish to please
men, can fulfil that first and great commandment of the Master, "Thou shall love God with
all thy heart and with all thy strength . How can he fulfil that, when he divides his
heart between God and the world, and exhausts the love which he owes to Him alone in human
affections?

3 "He that is unmarried careth for the things of the Lord; but he that is married careth
for the things that are of the world . If the combat with pleasure seems wearisome,
nevertheless let all take heart. Habit will not fail to produce, even in the seemingly
most fretful , a feeling of pleasure through the very effort of their perseverance; and
that pleasure will be of the noblest and purest kind; which the intelligent may well be
enamoured of, rather than allow themselves, with aims narrowed by the lowness of their
objects, to be estranged from the true greatness which goes beyond all thought.

CHAPTER X.

1 What words indeed could possibly express the greatness of that loss in falling away from
the possession of real goodness? What consummate power of thought would have to be
employed! Who could produce even in outline that which speech cannot tell, nor the mind
grasp? On the one hand, if a man has kept the eye of his heart so clear that he can in a
way behold the promise of our Lord's Beatitudes realized, he will condemn all human
utterance as powerless to represent that which he has apprehended. On the other hand, if a
man from the atmosphere of material indulgences has the weakness of passion spreading like
a film over the keen vision of his soul, all force of expression will be wasted upon him;
for it is all one whether you understate or whether you magnify a miracle to those who
have no power whatever of perceiving it . Just as, in the case of the sunlight, on one who
has never from the day of his birth seen it, all efforts at translating it into words are
quite thrown away; you cannot make the splendour of the ray shine through his ears; in
like manner, to see the beauty of the true and intellectual light, each man has need of
eyes of his own; and he who by a gift of Divine inspiration can see it retains his ecstasy
unexpressed in the depths of his consciousness; while he who sees it not cannot be made to
know even the greatness of his loss.

2 How should he? This good escapes his perception, and it cannot be represented to him; it
is unspeakable, and cannot be delineated. We have not learnt the peculiar language
expressive of this beauty. An example of what we want to say does not exist in the world;
a comparison for it would at least be very difficult to find. Who compares the Sun to a
little spark? or the vast Deep to a drop? And that tiny drop and that diminutive spark
bear the same relation to the Deep and to the Sun, as any beautiful object of man's
admiration does to that real beauty on the features of the First Good, of which we catch
the glimpse beyond any other good. What words could be invented to show the greatness of
this loss to him who suffers it? Well does the great David seem to me to express the
impossibility of doing this. He has been lifted by the power of the Spirit out of himself,
and sees in a blessed state of ecstacy the boundless and incomprehensible Beauty; he sees
it as fully as a mortal can see who has quitted his fleshly envelopments and entered, by
the mere power of thought, upon the contemplation of the spiritual and intellectual world,
and in his longing to speak a word worthy of the spectacle he bursts forth with that cry,
which all re-echo, "Every man a liar !

3 I take that to mean that any man who entrusts to language the task of presenting the
ineffable Light is really and truly a liar; not because of any hatred on his part of the
truth, but because of the feebleness of his instrument for expressing the thing thought of
. The visible beauty to be met with in this life of ours, showing glimpses of itself,
whether in inanimate objects or in animate organisms in a certain choiceness of colour,
can be adequately admired by our power of aesthetic feeling. It can be illustrated and
made known to others by description; it can be seen drawn in the language as in a picture.
Even a perfect type of such beauty does not baffle our conception. But how can language
illustrate when it finds no media for its sketch, no colour, no contour , no majestic
size, no faultlessness of feature; nor any other commonplace of art? The Beauty which is
invisible and formless, which is destitute of qualities and far removed from everything
which we recognize in bodies by the eye, can never be made known by the traits which
require nothing but the perceptions of our senses in order to be grasped. Not that we are
to despair of winning this object of our love, though it does seem too high for our
comprehension. The more reason shows the greatness of this thing which we are seeking, the
higher we must lift our thoughts and excite them with the greatness of that object;

4 and we must fear to lose our share in that transcendent Good. There is indeed no small
amount of danger lest, as we can base the apprehension of it on no knowable qualities, we
should slip away from it altogether because of its very height and mystery. We deem it
necessary therefore, owing to this weakness of the thinking faculty, to lead it towards
the Unseen by stages through the cognizances of the senses. Our conception of the case is
as follows.

CHAPTER XI.

1 Now those who take a superficial and unreflecting view of things observe the outward
appearance of anything they meet, e.g. of a man, and then trouble themselves no more about
him. The view they have taken of the bulk of his body is enough to make them think that
they know all about him. But the penetrating and scientific mind will not trust to the
eyes alone the task of taking the measure of reality; it will not stop at appearances, nor
count that which is not seen amongst unrealities. It inquires into the qualities of the
man's soul. It takes those of its characteristics which have been developed by his bodily
constitution, both in combination and singly; first singly, by analysis, and then in that
living combination which makes the personality of the subject. As regards the inquiry into
the nature of beauty, we see, again, that the man of half-grown intelligence, when he
observes an object which is bathed in the glow of a seeming beauty, thinks that that
object is in its essence beautiful, no matter what it is that so prepossesses him with the
pleasure of the eye. He will not go deeper into the subject. But the other, whose mind's
eye is clear, and who can inspect such appearances, will neglect those elements which are
the material only upon which the Form of Beauty works;

2 to him they will be but the ladder by which he climbs to the prospect of that
Intellectual Beauty, in accordance with their share in which all other beauties get their
existence and their name. But for the majority, I take it, who live all their lives with
such obtuse faculties of thinking, it is a difficult thing to perform this feat of mental
analysis and of discriminating the material vehicle from the immanent beauty, and thereby
of grasping the actual nature of the Beautiful; and if any one wants to know the exact
source of all the false and pernicious conceptions of it, he would find it in nothing else
but this, viz. the absence, in the soul's faculties of feeling, of that exact training
which would enable them to distinguish between true Beauty and the reverse. Owing to this
men give up all search after the true Beauty. Some slide into mere sensuality. Others
incline in their desires to dead metallic coin. Others limit their imagination of the
beautiful to worldly honours, fame, and power. There is another class which is
enthusiastic about art and science. The most debased make their gluttony the test of what
is good. But he who turns from all grosser thoughts and all passionate longings after what
is seeming, and explores the nature of the beauty which is simple, immaterial, formless,
would never make a mistake like that when he has to choose between all the objects of
desire;

3 he would never be so misled by these attractions as not to see the transient character
of their pleasures and not to win his way to an utter contempt for every one of them.
This, then, is the path to lead us to the discovery of the Beautiful. All other objects
that attract men's love, be they never so fashionable, be they prized never so much and
embraced never so eagerly, must be left below us, as too low, too fleeting, to employ the
powers of loving which we possess; not indeed that those powers are to be locked up within
us unused and motionless; but only that they must first be cleansed from all lower
longings; then we must lift them to that height to which sense can never reach. Admiration
even of the beauty of the heavens, and of the dazzling sunbeams, and, indeed, of any fair
phenomenon, will then cease. The beauty noticed there will be but as the hand to lead us
to the love of the supernal Beauty whose glory the heavens and the firmament declare, and
whose secret the whole creation sings. The climbing soul, leaving all that she has grasped
already as too narrow for her needs, will thus grasp the idea of that magnificence which
is exalted far above the heavens. But how can any one reach to this, whose ambitions creep
below? How can any one fly up into the heavens, who has not the wings of heaven and is not
already buoyant and lofty-minded by reason of a heavenly calling?

4 Few can be such strangers to evangelic mysteries as not to know that there is but one
vehicle on which man's soul can mount into the heavens, viz. the self-made likeness in
himself to the descending Dove, whose wings David the Prophet also longed for. This is the
allegorical name used in Scripture for the power of the Holy Spirit; whether it be because
not a drop of gall is found in that bird, or because it cannot bear any noisome smell, as
close observers tell us. He therefore who keeps away from all bitterness and all the
noisome effluvia of the flesh, and raises himself on the aforesaid wings above all low
earthly ambitions, or, more than that, above the whole universe itself, will be the man to
find that which is alone worth loving, and to become himself as beautiful as the Beauty
which he has touched and entered, and to be made bright and luminous himself in the
communion of the real Light. We are told by those who have studied the subject, that those
gleams which follow each other so fast through the air at night and which some call
shooting stars , are nothing but the air itself streaming into the upper regions of the
sky under stress of some particular blasts. They say that the fiery track is traced along
the sky when those blasts ignite in the ether.

5 In like manner, then, as this air round the earth is forced upwards by some blast and
changes into the pure splendour of the ether, so the mind of man leaves this murky miry
world, and under the stress of the spirit becomes pure and luminous in contact with the
true and supernal Purity; in such an atmosphere it even itself emits light, and is so
filled with radiance, that it becomes itself a Light, according to the promise of our Lord
that "the righteous should shine forth as the sun . We see this even here, in the case of
a mirror, or a sheet of water, or any smooth surface that can reflect the light; when they
receive the sunbeam they beam themselves; but they would not do this if any stain marred
their pure and shining surface. We shall become then as the light, in our nearness to
Christ's true light, if we leave this dark atmosphere of the earth and dwell above; and we
shall be light, as our Lord says somewhere to His disciples , if the true Light that
shineth in the dark comes down even to us; unless, that is, any foulness of sin spreading
over our hearts should dim the brightness of our light. Perhaps these examples have led us
gradually on to the discovery that we can be changed into something better than ourselves;

6 and it has been proved as well that this union of the soul with the incorruptible Deity
can be accomplished in no other way but by herself attaining by her virgin state to the
utmost purity possible,-a state which, being like God, will enable her to grasp that to
which it is like, while she places herself like a mirror beneath the purity of God, and
moulds her own beauty at the touch and the sight of the Archetype of all beauty. Take a
character strong enough to turn from all that is human, from persons, from wealth, from
the pursuits of Art and Science, even from whatever in moral practice and in legislation
is viewed as right (for still in all of them error in the apprehension of the Beautiful
comes in, sense being the criterion); such a character will feel as a passionate lover
only towards that Beauty which has no source but Itself, which is not such at one
particular time or relatively only, which is Beautiful from, and through, and in itself,
not such at one moment and in the next ceasing to be such, above all increase and
addition, incapable of change and alteration. I venture to affirm that, to one who has
cleansed all the powers of his being from every form of vice, the Beauty which is
essential, the source of every beauty and every good, will become visible. The visual eye,
purged from its blinding humour, can clearly discern objects even on the distant sky ;

7 so to the soul by virtue of her innocence there comes the power of taking in that Light;
and the real Virginity, the real zeal for chastity, ends in no other goal than this, viz.
the power thereby of seeing God. No one in fact is so mentally blind as not to understand
that without telling; viz. that the God of the Universe is the only absolute, and primal,
and unrivalled Beauty and Goodness. All, maybe, know that; but there are those who, as
might have been expected, wish besides this to discover, if possible, a process by which
we may be actually guided to it. Well, the Divine books are full of such instruction for
our guidance; and besides that many of the Saints cast the refulgence of their own lives,
like lamps, upon the path for those who are "walking with God . But each may gather in
abundance for himself suggestions towards this end out of either Covenant in the inspired
writings; the Prophets and the Law are full of them; and also the Gospel and the
Traditions of the Apostles. What we ourselves have conjectured in following out the
thoughts of those inspired utterances is this.

CHAPTER XII.

1 This reasoning and intelligent creature, man, at once the work and the likeness of the
Divine and Imperishable Mind (for so in the Creation it is written of him that "God made
man in His image "), this creature, I say, did not in the course of his first production
have united to the very essence of his nature the liability to passion and to death.
Indeed, the truth about the image could never have been maintained if the beauty reflected
in that image had been in the slightest degree opposed to the Archetypal Beauty. Passion
was introduced afterwards, subsequent to man's first organization; and it was in this way.
Being the image and the likeness, as has been said, of the Power which rules all things,
man kept also in the matter of a Free-Will this likeness to Him whose Will is over all. He
was enslaved to no outward necessity whatever; his feeling towards that which pleased him
depended only on his own private judgment; he was free to choose whatever he liked; and so
he was a free agent, though circumvented with cunning, when he drew upon himself that
disaster which now overwhelms humanity. He became himself the discoverer of evil, but he
did not therein discover what God had made; for God did not make death. Man became, in
fact, himself the fabricator, to a certain extent, and the craftsman of evil. All who have
the faculty of sight may enjoy equally the sunlight;

2 and any one can if he likes put this enjoyment from him by shutting his eyes: in that
case it is not that the sun retires and produces that darkness, but the man himself puts a
barrier between his eye and the sunshine; the faculty of vision cannot indeed, even in the
closing of the eyes, remain inactive , and so this operative sight necessarily becomes an
operative darkness rising up in the man from his own free act in ceasing to see. Again, a
man in building a house for himself may omit to make in it any way of entrance for the
light; he will necessarily be in darkness, though he cuts himself off from the light
voluntarily. So the first man on the earth, or rather he who generated evil in man, had
for choice the Good and the Beautiful lying all around him in the very nature of things;
yet he wilfully cut out a new way for himself against this nature, and in the act of
turning away from virtue, which was his own free act, he created the usage of evil. For,
be it observed, there is no such thing in the world as evil irrespective of a will, and
discoverable in a substance apart from that. Every creature of God is good, and nothing of
His "to be rejected"; all that God made was "very good . But the habit of sinning entered
as we have described, and with fatal quickness, into the life of man;

3 and from that small beginning spread into this infinitude of evil. Then that godly
beauty of the soul which was an imitation of the Archetypal Beauty, like fine steel
blackened with the vicious rust, preserved no longer the glory of its familiar essence,
but was disfigured with the ugliness of sin. This thing so great and precious , as the
Scripture calls him, this being man, has fallen from his proud birthright. As those who
have slipped and fallen heavily into mud, and have all their features so besmeared with
it, that their nearest friends do not recognize them, so this creature has fallen into the
mire of sin and lost the blessing of being an image of the imperishable Deity; he has
clothed himself instead with a perishable and foul resemblance to something else; and this
Reason counsels him to put away again by washing it off in the cleansing water of this
calling . The earthly envelopment once removed, the soul's beauty will again appear. Now
the putting off of a strange accretion is equivalent to the return to that which is
familiar and natural; yet such a return cannot be but by again becoming that which in the
beginning we were created. In fact this likeness to the divine is not our work at all; it
is not the achievement of any faculty of man; it is the great gift of God bestowed upon
our nature at the very moment of our birth;

4 human efforts can only go so far as to clear away the filth of sin, and so cause the
buried beauty of the soul to shine forth again. This truth is, I think, taught in the
Gospel, when our Lord says, to those who can hear what Wisdom speaks beneath a mystery,
that "the Kingdom of God is within you . That word points out the fact that the Divine
good is not something apart from our nature, and is not removed far away from those who
have the will to seek it; it is in fact within each of us, ignored indeed, and unnoticed
while it is stifled beneath the cares and pleasures of life, but found again whenever we
can turn our power of conscious thinking towards it. If further confirmation of what we
say is required, I think it will be found in what is suggested by our Lord in the
searching for the Lost Drachma . The thought, there, is that the widowed soul reaps no
benefit from the other virtues (called drachmas in the Parable) being all of them found
safe, if that one other is not amongst them. The Parable therefore suggests that a candle
should first be lit, signifying doubtless our reason which throws light on hidden
principles; then that in one's own house, that is, within oneself, we should search for
that lost coin; and by that coin the Parable doubtless hints at the image of our King, not
yet hopelessly lost, but hidden beneath the dirt;

5 and by this last we must understand the impurities of the flesh, which, being swept and
purged away by carefulness of life, leave clear to the view the object of our search. Then
it is meant that the soul herself who finds this rejoices over it, and with her the
neighbours, whom she calls in to share with her in this delight. Verily, all those powers
which are the housemates of the soul, and which the Parable names her neighbours for this
occasion , when so be that the image of the mighty King is revealed in all its brightness
at last (that image which the Fashioner of each individual heart of us has stamped upon
this our Drachma ), will then be converted to that divine delight and festivity, and will
gaze upon the ineffable beauty of the recovered one. "Rejoice with me," she says, "because
I have found the Drachma which I had lost. The neighbours, that is, the soul's familiar
powers, both the reasoning and the appetitive, the affections of grief and of anger, and
all the rest that are discerned in her, at that joyful feast which celebrates the finding
of the heavenly Drachma are well called her friends also; and it is meet that they should
all rejoice in the Lord when they all look towards the Beautiful and the Good, and do
everything for the glory of God, no longer instruments of sin . If, then, such is the
lesson of this Finding of the lost, viz.

6 that we should restore the divine image from the foulness which the flesh wraps round it
to its primitive state, let us become that which the First Man was at the moment when he
first breathed. And what was that? Destitute he was then of his covering of dead skins,
but he could gaze without shrinking upon God's countenance. He did not yet judge of what
was lovely by taste or sight; he found in the Lord alone all that was sweet; and he used
the helpmeet given him only for this delight, as Scripture signifies when it said that "he
knew her not " till he was driven forth from the garden, and till she, for the sin which
she was decoyed into committing, was sentenced to the pangs of childbirth. We, then, who
in our first ancestor were thus ejected, are allowed to return to our earliest state of
blessedness by the very same stages by which we lost Paradise. What are they? Pleasure,
craftily offered, began the Fall, and there followed after pleasure shame, and fear, even
to remain longer in the sight of their Creator, so that they hid themselves in leaves and
shade; and after that they covered themselves with the skins of dead animals; and then
were sent forth into this pestilential and exacting land where, as the compensation for
having to die, marriage was instituted .

7 Now if we are destined "to depart hence, and be with Christ ," we must begin at the end
of the route of departure (which ties nearest to ourselves); just as those who have
travelled far from their friends at home, when they turn to reach again the place from
which they started, first leave that district which they reached at the end of their
outward journey. Marriage, then, is the last stage of our separation from the life that
was led in Paradise; marriage therefore, as our discourse has been suggesting, is the
first thing to be left; it is the first station as it were for our departure to Christ.
Next, we must retire from all anxious toil upon the land, such as man was bound to after
his sin. Next we must divest ourselves of those coverings of our nakedness, the coats of
skins, namely the wisdom of the flesh; we must renounce all shameful things done in secret
, and be covered no longer with the fig-leaves of this bitter world; then, when we have
torn off the coatings of this life's perishable leaves, we must stand again in the sight
of our Creator; and repelling all the illusion of taste and sight, take for our guide
God's commandment only, instead of the venom-spitting serpent. That commandment was, to
touch nothing but what was Good, and to leave what was evil untasted; because impatience
to remain any longer in ignorance of evil would be but the beginning of the long train of
actual evil.

8 For this reason it was forbidden to our first parents to grasp the knowledge of the
opposite to the good, as well as that of the good itself; they were to keep themselves
from "the knowledge of good and evil ," and to enjoy the Good in its purity, unmixed with
one particle of evil: and to enjoy that, is in my judgment nothing else than to be ever
with God, and to feel ceaselessly and continually this delight, unalloyed by aught that
could tear us away from it. One might even be bold to say that this might be found the way
by which a man could be again caught up into Paradise out of this world which lieth in the
Evil, into that Paradise where Paul was when he saw the unspeakable sights which it is not
lawful for a man to talk of .


ON VIRGINITY
============

ON VIRGINITY continued

CHAPTER XIII.

1 But seeing that Paradise is the home of living spirits, and will not admit those who are
dead in sin, and that we on the other hand are fleshly, subject to death, and sold under
sin , how is it possible that one who is a subject of death's empire should ever dwell in
this land where all is life? What method of release from this jurisdiction can be devised?
Here too the Gospel teaching is abundantly sufficient. We hear our Lord saying to
Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit . We know too that the flesh is subject to death because of sin, but the Spirit
of God is both incorruptible, and life-giving, and deathless. As at our physical birth
there comes into the world with us a potentiality of being again turned to dust, plainly
the Spirit also imparts a life-giving potentiality to the children begotten by Himself.
What lesson, then, results from these remarks? This: that we should wean ourselves from
this life in the flesh, which has an inevitable follower, death; and that we should search
for a manner of life which does not bring death in its train. Now the life of Virginity is
such a life. We will add a few other things to show how true this is. Every one knows that
the propagation of mortal frames is the work which the intercourse of the sexes has to do;

2 whereas for those who are joined to the Spirit, life and immortality instead of children
are produced by this latter intercourse; and the words of the Apostle beautifully suit
their case, for the joyful mother of such children as these "shall be saved in child-
bearing ; as the Psalmist in his divine songs thankfully cries, "He maketh the barren
woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children . Truly a joyful mother is the
virgin mother who by the operation of the Spirit conceives the deathless children, and who
is called by the Prophet barren because of her modesty only. This life, then, which is
stronger than the power of death, is, to those who think, the preferable one. The physical
bringing of children into the world-I speak without wishing to offend-is as much a
starting-point of death as of life; because from the moment of birth the process of dying
commences. But those who by virginity have desisted from this process have drawn within
themselves the boundary line of death, and by their own deed have checked his advance;
they have made themselves, in fact, a frontier between life and death, and a barrier too,
which thwarts him. If, then, death cannot pass beyond virginity, but finds his power
checked and shattered there, it is demonstrated that virginity is a stronger thing than
death; and that body is rightly named undying which does not lend its service to a dying
world, nor brook to become the instrument of a succession of dying creatures.

3 In such a body the long unbroken career of decay and death, which has intervened between
the first man and the lives of virginity which have been led, is interrupted. It could not
be indeed that death should cease working as long as the human race by marriage was
working too; he walked the path of life with all preceding generations; he started with
every new-born child and accompanied it to the end: but he found in virginity a barrier,
to pass which was an impossible feat. Just as, in the age of Mary the mother of God, he
who had reigned from Adam to her time found, when he came to her and dashed his forces
against the fruit of her virginity as against a rock, that he was shattered to pieces upon
her, so in every soul which passes through this life in the flesh under the protection of
virginity, the strength of death is in a manner broken and annulled, for he does not find
the places upon which he may fix his sting. If you do not throw into the fire wood, or
straw, or grass, or something that it can consume, it has not the force to last by itself;
so the power of death cannot go on working, if marriage does not supply it with material
and prepare victims for this executioner. If you have any doubts left, consider the actual
names of those afflictions which death brings upon mankind, and which were detailed in the
first part of this discourse.

4 Whence do they get their meaning? "Widowhood," "orphanhood," "loss of children," could
they be a subject for grief, if marriage did not precede? Nay, all the dearly-prized
blisses, and transports, and comforts of marriage end in these agonies of grief, The hilt
of a sword is smooth and handy, and polished and glittering outside; it seems to grow to
the outline of the hand ; but the other part is steel and the instrument of death,
formidable to look at, more formidable still to come across. Such a thing is marriage. It
offers for the grasp of the senses a smooth surface of delights, like a hilt of rare
polish and beautiful workmanship; but when a man has taken it up and has got it into his
hands, he finds the pain that has been wedded to it is in his hands as well; and it
becomes to him the worker of mourning and of loss. It is marriage that has the
heartrending spectacles to show of children left desolate in the tenderness of their
years, a mere prey to the powerful, yet smiling often at their misfortune from ignorance
of coming woes. What is the cause of widowhood but marriage? And retirement from this
would bring with it an immunity from the whole burden of these sad taxes on our hearts.
Can we expect it otherwise? When the verdict that was pronounced on the delinquents in the
beginning is annulled, then too the mothers' "sorrows " are no longer "multiplied," nor
does "sorrow" herald the births of men;

5 then all calamity has been removed from life and "tears wiped from off all faces ;
conception is no more an iniquity, nor child-bearing a sin; and births shall be no more
"of bloods," or "of the will of man," or "of the will of the flesh ", but of God alone.
This is always happening whenever any one in a lively heart conceives all the integrity of
the Spirit, and brings forth wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption
too. It is possible for any one to be the mother of such a son; as our Lord says, "He that
doeth my will is my brother, my sister, and my mother . What room is there for death in
such parturitions? Indeed in them death is swallowed up by life. In fact, the Life of
Virginity seems to be an actual representation of the blessedness in the world to come,
showing as it does in itself so many signs of the presence of those expected blessings
which are reserved for us there. That the truth of this statement may be perceived, we
will verify it thus. It is so, first, because a man who has thus died once for all to sin
lives for the future to God; he brings forth no more fruit unto death;

6 and having so far as in him lies made an end of this life within him according to the
flesh, he awaits thenceforth the expected blessing of the manifestation of the great God,
refraining from putting any distance between himself and this coming of God by an
intervening posterity: secondly, because he enjoys even in this present life a certain
exquisite glory of all the blessed results of our resurrection. For our Lord has announced
that the life after our resurrection shall be as that of the angels. Now the peculiarity
of the angelic nature is that they are strangers to marriage; therefore the blessing of
this promise has been already received by him who has not only mingled his own glory with
the halo of the Saints, but also by the stainlessness of his life has so imitated the
purity of these incorporeal beings. If virginity then can win us favours such as these,
what words are fit to express the admiration of so great a grace? What other gift of the
soul can be found so great and precious as not to suffer by comparison with this
perfection?

CHAPTER XIV.

1 But if we apprehend at last the perfection of this grace, we must understand as well
what necessarily follows from it; namely that it is not a single achievement, ending in
the subjugation of the body, but that in intention it reaches to and pervades everything
that is, or is considered, a right condition of the soul. That soul indeed which in
virginity cleaves to the true Bridegroom will not remove herself merely from all bodily
defilement; she will make that abstension only the beginning of her purity, and will carry
this security from failure equally into everything else upon her path. Fearing lest, from
a too partial heart, she should by contact with evil in any one direction give occasion
for the least weakness of unfaithfulness (to suppose such a case: but I will begin again
what I was going to say), that soul which cleaves to her Master so as to become with Him
one spirit, and by the compact of a wedded life has staked the love of all her heart and
all her strength on Him alone-that soul will no more commit any other of the offences
contrary to salvation, than imperil her union with Him by cleaving to fornication; she
knows that between all sins there is a single kinship of impurity, and that if she were to
defile herself with but one , she could no longer retain her spotlessness. An illustration
will show what we mean.

2 Suppose all the water in a pool remaining smooth and motionless, while no disturbance of
any kind comes to mar the peacefulness of the spot; and then a stone thrown into the pool;
the movement in that one part will extend to the whole, and while the stone's weight is
carrying it to the bottom, the waves that are set in motion round it pass in circles into
others, and so through all the intervening commotion are pushed on to the very edge of the
water, and the whole surface is ruffled with these circles, feeling the movement of the
depths. So is the broad serenity and calm of the soul troubled by one invading passion,
and affected by the injury of a single part. They tell us too, those who have investigated
the subject, that the virtues are not disunited from each other, and that to grasp the
principle of any one virtue will be impossible to one who has not seized that which
underlies the rest, and that the man who shows one virtue in his character will
necessarily show them all. Therefore, by contraries, the depravation of anything in our
moral nature will extend to the whole virtuous life; and in very truth, as the Apostle
tells us, the whole is affected by the parts, and "if one member suffer, all the members
suffer with it," "if one be honoured, all rejoice."

CHAPTER XV.

1 But the ways in our life which turn aside towards sin are innumerable; and their number
is told by Scripture in divers manners. "Many are they that trouble me and persecute," and
"Many are they that fight against me from on high "; and many other texts like that. We
may affirm, indeed, absolutely, that many are they who plot in the adulterer's fashion to
destroy this truly honourable marriage, and to defile this inviolate bed; and if we must
name them one by one, we charge with this adulterous spirit anger, avarice, envy, revenge,
enmity, malice, hatred, and whatever the Apostle puts in the class of those things which
are contrary to sound doctrine. Now let us suppose a lady, prepossessing and lovely above
her peers, and on that account wedded to a king, but besieged because of her beauty by
profligate lovers. As long as she remains indignant at these would-be seducers and
complains of them to her lawful husband, she keeps her chastity and has no one before her
eyes but her bridegroom; the profligates find no vantage ground for their attack upon her.
But if she were to listen to a single one of them, her chastity with regard to the rest
would not exempt her from the retribution; it would he sufficient to condemn her, that she
had allowed that one to defile the marriage bed. So the soul whose life is in God will
find her pleasure in no single one of those things which make a beauteous show to deceive
her.

2 If she were, in some fit of weakness, to admit the defilement to her heart, she would
herself have broken the covenant of her spiritual marriage; and, as the Scripture tells
us, "into the malicious soul Wisdom cannot come . It may, in a word, be truly said that
the Good Husband cannot come to dwell with the soul that is irascible, or malice-bearing,
or harbours any other disposition which jars with that concord. No way has been discovered
of harmonizing things whose nature is antagonistic and which have nothing in common. The
Apostle tells us there is "no communion of light with darkness ," or of righteousness with
iniquity, or, in a word, of all the qualities which we perceive and name as the essence of
God's nature, with all the opposite which are perceived in evil. Seeing, then, the
impossibility of any union between mutual repellents, we understand that the vicious soul
is estranged from entertaining the company of the Good. What then is the practical lesson
from this? The chaste and thoughtful virgin must sever herself from any affection which
can in any way impart contagion to her soul; she must keep herself pure for the Husband
who has married her, "not having spot or blemish or any such thing ."

CHAPTER XVI.

1 There is only one right path. It is narrow and contracted. It has no turnings either on
the one side or the other. No matter how we leave it, there is the same danger of straying
hopelessly away. This being so, the habit which many have got into must be as far as
possible corrected; those, I mean, who while they fight strenuously against the baser
pleasures, yet still go on hunting for pleasure? the shape of worldly honour and positions
which will gratify their love of power. They act like some domestic who longed for
liberty, but instead of exerting himself to get away from slavery proceeded only to change
his masters, and thought liberty consisted in that change. But all alike are slaves, even
though they should not all go on being ruled by the same masters, as long as a dominion of
any sort, with power to enforce it, is set over them. There are others again who after a
long battle against all the pleasures , yield themselves easily on another field, where
feelings of an opposite kind come in; and in the intense exactitude of their lives fall a
ready prey to melancholy and irritation, and to brooding over injuries, and to everything
that is the direct opposite of pleasurable feelings; from which they are very reluctant to
extricate themselves. This is always happening, whenever any emotion, instead of virtuous
reason, controls the course of a life.

2 For the commandment of the Lord is exceedingly far-shining, so as to "enlighten the
eyes" even of "the simple ," declaring that good cleaveth only unto God. But God is not
pain any more than He is pleasure; He is not cowardice any more than boldness; He is not
fear, nor anger, nor any other emotion which sways the untutored soul, but, as the Apostle
says, He is Very Wisdom and Sanctification, Truth and Joy and Peace, and everything like
that. If He is such, how can any one be said to cleave to Him, who is mastered by the very
opposite? Is it not want of reason in any one to suppose that when he has striven
successfully to escape the dominion of one particular passion, he will find virtue in its
opposite? For instance, to suppose that when he has escaped pleasure, he will find virtue
in letting pain have possession of him; or when he has by an effort remained proof against
anger, in crouching with fear. It matters not whether we miss virtue, or rather God
Himself Who is the Sum of virtue, in this way, or in that. Take the case of great bodily
prostration; one would say that the sadness of this failure was just the same, whether the
cause has been excessive under-feeding, or immoderate eating; both failures to stop in
time end in the same result. He therefore who watches over the life and the sanity of the
soul will confine himself to the moderation of the truth;

3 he will continue without touching either of those opposite states which run along-side
virtue. This teaching is not mine; it comes from the Divine lips. It is clearly contained
in that passage where our Lord says to His disciples, that they are as sheep wandering
amongst wolves , yet are not to be as doves only, but are to have something of the serpent
too in their disposition; and that means that they should neither carry to excess the
practice of that which seems praiseworthy in simplicity , as such a habit would come very
near to downright madness, nor on the other hand should deem the cleverness which most
admire to be a virtue, while unsoftened by any mixture with its opposite; they were in
fact to form another disposition, by a compound of these two seeming opposites, cutting
off its silliness from the one, its evil cunning from the other; so that one single
beautiful character should be created from the two, a union of simplicity of purpose with
shrewdness. "Be ye," He says, "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."

CHAPTER XVII.

1 Let that which was then said by our Lord be the general maxim for every life; especially
let it be the maxim for those who are coming nearer God through the gateway of virginity,
that they should never in watching for a perfection in one direction present an unguarded
side in another and contrary one; but should in all directions realize the good, so that
they may guarantee in all things their holy life against failure. A soldier does not arm
himself only on some points, leaving the rest of his body to take its chance unprotected.
If he were to receive his death-wound upon that, what would have been the advantage of
this partial armour? Again, who would call that feature faultless, which from some
accident had lost one of those requisites which go to make up the sum of beauty? The
disfigurement of the mutilated part mars the grace of the part untouched. The Gospel
implies that he who undertakes the building of a tower, but spends all his labour upon the
foundations without ever reaching the completion, is worthy of ridicule; and what else do
we learn from the Parable of the Tower, but to strive to come to the finish of every lofty
purpose, accomplishing the work of God in all the multiform structures of His
commandments? One stone, indeed, is no more the whole edifice of the Tower, than one
commandment kept will raise the soul's perfection to the required height.

2 The foundation must by all means first be laid but over it, as the Apostle says , the
edifice of gold and precious gems must be built; for so is the doing of the commandment
put by the Prophet who cries, "I have loved Thy commandment above gold and many a precious
stone . Let the virtuous life have for its substructure the love of virginity; but upon
this let every result of virtue be reared. If virginity is believed to be a vastly
precious thing and to have a divine look (as indeed is the case, as well as men believe of
it), yet, if the whole life does not harmonize with this perfect note, and it be marred by
the succeeding discord of the soul, this thing becomes but "the jewel of gold in the
swine's snout " or "the pearl that is trodden under the swine's feet. But we have said
enough upon this.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1 If any one supposes that this want of mutual harmony between his life and a single one
of its circumstances is quite unimportant, let him be taught the meaning of our maxim by
looking at the management of a house. The master of a private dwelling will not allow any
untidiness or unseemliness to be seen in the house, such as a couch upset, or the table
littered with rubbish, or vessels of price thrown away into dirty corners, while those
which serve ignobler uses are thrust forward for entering guests to see. He has everything
arranged neatly and in the proper place, where it stands to most advantage; and then he
can welcome his guests, without any misgivings that he need be ashamed of opening the
interior of his house to receive them. The same duty, I take it, is incumbent on that
master of our "tabernacle," the mind; it has to arrange everything within us, and to put
each particular faculty of the soul, which the Creator has fashioned to be our implement
or our vessel, to fitting and noble uses. We will now mention in detail the way in which
any one might manage his life, with its present advantages, to his improvement, hoping
that no one will accuse us of trifling , or over-minuteness. We advise, then, that love's
passion be placed in the soul's purest shrine, as a thing chosen to be the first fruits of
all our gifts, and devoted entirely to God;

2 and when once this has been done, to keep it untouched and unsullied by any secular
defilement. Then indignation, and anger, and hatred must be as watch-dogs to be roused
only against attacking sins; they must follow their natural impulse only against the thief
and the enemy who is creeping in to plunder the divine treasure-chamber, and who comes
only for that, that he may steal, and mangle, and destroy. Courage and confidence are to
be weapons in our hands to baffle any sudden surprise and attack of the wicked who
advance. Hope and patience are to be the staffs to lean upon, whenever we are weary with
the trials of the world. As for sorrow, we must have a stock of it ready to apply, if need
should happen to arise for it, in the hour of repentance for our sins; believing at the
same time that it is never useful, except to minister to that. Righteousness will be our
rule of straightforwardness, guarding us from stumbling either in word or deed, and
guiding us in the disposal of the faculties of our soul, as well as in the due
consideration for every one we meet. The love of gain, which is a large, incalculably
large, element in every soul, when once applied to the desire for God, will bless the man
who has it; for he will be violent where it is right to be violent. Wisdom and prudence
will be our advisers as to our best interests;

3 they will order our lives so as never to suffer from any thoughtless folly. But suppose
a man does not apply the aforesaid faculties of the soul to their proper use, but reverses
their intended purpose; suppose he wastes his love upon the basest objects, and stores up
his hatred only for his own kinsmen; suppose he welcomes iniquity, plays the man only
against his parents, is bold only in absurdities, fixes his hopes on emptiness, chases
prudence and wisdom from his company, takes gluttony and folly for his mistresses, and
uses all his other opportunities in the same fashion, he would indeed be a strange and
unnatural character to a degree beyond any one's power to express. If we could imagine any
one putting his armour on all the wrong way, reversing the helmet so as to cover his face
while the plume nodded backward, putting his feet into the cuirass, and fitting the
greaves on to his breast, changing to the right side all that ought to go on the left and
vice versa, and how such a hoplite would be likely to fare in battle, then we should have
an idea of the fate in life which is sure to await him whose confused judgment makes him
reverse the proper uses of his soul's faculties. We must therefore provide this balance in
all feeling; the true sobriety of mind is naturally able to supply it;

4 and if one had to find an exact definition of this sobriety, one might declare
absolutely, that it amounts to our ordered control, by dint of wisdom and prudence, over
every emotion of the soul. Moreover, such a condition in the soul will be no longer in
need of any laborious method to attain to the high and heavenly realities; it will
accomplish with the greatest ease that which erewhile seemed so unattainable; it will
grasp the object of its search as a natural consequence of rejecting the opposite
attractions. A man who comes out of darkness is necessarily in the light; a man who is not
dead is necessarily alive. Indeed, if a man is not to have received his soul to no purpose
, he will certainly be upon the path of truth; the prudence and the science employed to
guard against error will be itself a sure guidance along the right road. Slaves who have
been freed and cease to serve their former masters, the very moment they become their own
masters, direct all their thoughts towards themselves so, I take it, the soul which has
been freed from ministering to the body becomes at once cognizant of its own inherent
energy. But this liberty consists, as we learn from the Apostle , in not again being held
in the yoke of slavery, and in not being bound again, like a runaway or a criminal, with
the fetters of marriage. But I must return here to what I said at first;

5 that the perfection of this liberty does not consist only in that one point of
abstaining from marriage. Let no one suppose that the prize of virginity is so
insignificant and so easily won as that; as if one little observance of the flesh could
settle so vital a matter. But we have seen that every man who doeth a sin is the servant
of sin ; so that a declension towards vice in any act, or in any practice whatever, makes
a slave, and still more, a branded slave, of the man, covering him through sin's lashes
with bruises and seared spots. Therefore it behoves the man who grasps at the transcendent
aim of all virginity to be true to himself in h every respect, and to manifest his purity
equally in every relation of his life. If any of the inspired words are required to aid
our pleading, the Truth Itself will be sufficient to corroborate the truth when It
inculcates this very kind of teaching in the veiled meaning of a Gospel Parable: the good
and eatable fish are separated by the fishers' skill from the bad and poisonous fish, so
that the enjoyment of the good should not be spoilt by any of the bad getting into the
"vessels" with them. The work of true sobriety is the same;

6 from all pursuits and habits to choose that which is pure and improving, rejecting in
every case that which does not seem likely to be useful, and letting it go back into the
universal and secular life, called "the sea ," in the imagery of the Parable. The Psalmist
also, when expounding the doctrine of a full confession , calls this restless suffering
tumultuous life, "waters coming in even unto the soul," "depths of waters," and a
"hurricane"; in which sea indeed every rebellious thought sinks, as the Egyptian did, with
a stone's weight into the deeps . But all in us that is dear to God, and has a piercing
insight into the truth (called "Israel" in the narrative), passes, but that alone, over
that sea as if it were dry land, and is never reached by the bitterness and the brine of
life's billows. Thus, typically, under the leadership of the Law (for Moses was a type of
the Law that was coming) Israel passes unwetted over that sea, while the Egyptian who
crosses in her track is overwhelmed. Each fares according to the disposition which he
carries with him; one walks lightly enough, the other is dragged into the deep water. For
virtue is a light and buoyant thing, and all who live in her way "fly like clouds ," as
Isaiah says, "and as doves with their young ones"; but sin is a heavy affair, "sitting,"
as another of the prophets says, "upon a talent of lead .

7 If, however, this reading of the history appears to any forced and inapplicable, and the
miracle at the Red Sea does not present itself to him as written for our profit, let him
listen to the Apostle: "Now all these things happened unto them for types, and they are
written for our admonition ."

CHAPTER XIX.

1 But besides other things the action of Miriam the prophetess also gives rise to these
surmisings of ours. Directly the sea was crossed she took in her hand a dry and sounding
timbrel and conducted the women's dance . By this timbrel the story may mean to imply
virginity, as first perfected by Miriam; whom indeed I would believe to be a type of Mary
the mother of God . Just as the timbrel emits a loud sound because it is devoid of all
moisture and reduced to the highest degree of dryness, so has virginity a clear and
ringing report amongst men because it repels from itself the vital sap of merely physical
life. Thus, Miriam's timbrel being a dead thing, and virginity being a deadening of the
bodily passions, it is perhaps not very far removed from the bounds of probability that
Miriam was a virgin. However, we can but guess and surmise, we cannot clearly prove, that
this was so, and that Miriam the prophetess led a dance of virgins, even though many of
the learned have affirmed distinctly that she was unmarried, from the fact that the
history makes no mention either of her marriage or of her being a mother; and surely she
would have been named and known, not as "the sister of Aaron ," but from her husband, if
she had had one; since the head of the woman is not the brother but the husband.

2 But if, amongst a people with whom motherhood was sought after and classed as a blessing
and, regarded as a public duty, the grace of virginity, nevertheless came to be regarded
as a precious thing, how does it behove us to feel towards it, who do not "judge" of the
Divine blessings "according to the flesh"? Indeed it has been revealed in the oracles of
God, on what occasion to conceive and to bring forth is a good thing, and what species of
fecundity was desired by God's saints; for both the Prophet Isaiah and the divine Apostle
have made this clear and certain. The one cries, "From fear of Thee, O Lord, have I
conceived ; the other boasts that he is the parent of the largest family of any, bringing
to the birth whole cities and nations; not the Corinthians and Galatians only whom by his
travailings he moulded for the Lord, but all in the wide circuit from Jerusalem to
Illyricum; his children filled the world, "begotten" by him in Christ through the Gospel .
In the same strain the womb of the Holy Virgin, which ministered to an Immaculate Birth,
is pronounced blessed in the Gospel ; for that birth did not annul the Virginity, nor did
the Virginity impede so great a birth. When the "spirit of salvation ," as Isaiah names
it, is being born, the willings of the flesh are useless. There is also a particular
teaching of the Apostle, which harmonizes with this; viz.

3 each man of us is a double man ; one the outwardly visible, whose natural fate it is to
decay; the other perceptible only in the secret of the heart, yet capable of renovation.
If this teaching is true,-and it must be true because Wisdom is speaking there,-then there
is no absurdity in supposing a double marriage also which answers in every detail to
either man; and, maybe, if one was to assert boldly that the body's virginity was the co-
operator and the agent of the inward marriage, this assertion would not be much beside the
probable fact.

CHAPTER XX.

1 Now it is impossible, as far as manual exercise goes, to ply two arts at once; for
instance, husbandry and sailing, or tinkering and carpentering. If one is to be honestly
taken in hand, the other must be left alone. Just so, there are these two marriages for
our choice, the one effected in the flesh, the other in the spirit; and preoccupation? the
one must cause of necessity alienation from the other. No more is the eye able to look at
two objects at once; but it must concentrate its special attention on one at a time; no
more can the tongue effect utterances in two different languages, so as to pronounce, for
instance, a Hebrew word and a Greek word in the same moment: no more can the ear take in
at one and the same time a narrative of facts, and a hortatory discourse; if each special
tone is heard separately, it will impress its ideas upon the hearers' minds; but if they
are combined and so poured into the ear, an inextricable confusion of ideas will be the
result, one meaning being mutually lost in the other: and no more, by analogy, do our
emotional powers possess a nature which can at once pursue the pleasures of sense and
court the spiritual union; nor, besides, can both those ends be gained by the same courses
of life; continence, mortification of the passions, scorn of fleshly needs, are the agents
of the oneunion; but all that are the reverse of these are the agents of bodily
habitation.

2 As, when two masters are before us to choose between, and we cannot be subject to both,
for "no man can serve two masters ," he who is wise will choose the one most useful to
himself, so, when two marriages are before us to choose between, and we cannot contract
both, for "he that is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, but he that is married
careth for the things of the world ," I repeat that it would be the aim of a sound mind
not to miss choosing the more profitable one; and not to be ignorant either of the way
which will lead it to this, a way which cannot be learnt but by some such comparison as
the following. In the case of a marriage of this world a man who is anxious to avoid
appearing altogether insignificant pays the greatest attention both to physical health,
and becoming adornment, and amplitude of means and the security from any disgraceful
revelations as to his antecedents or his parentage; for so he thinks things will be most
likely to turn out as he wishes. Now just in the same way the man who is courting the
spiritual alliance will first of all display himself, by the renewal of his mind , a young
man, without a single touch of age upon him; next he will reveal a lineage rich in that in
which it is a noble ambition to be rich, not priding himself on worldly wealth, but
luxuriating only in the heavenly treasures.

3 As for family distinction, he will not vaunt that which comes by the mere routine of
devolution even to numbers of the worthless, but that which is gained by the successful
efforts of his own zeal and labours; a distinction which only those can boast of who are
"sons of the light" and children of God, and are styled "nobles from the sunrise " because
of their splendid deeds. Strength and health he will not try to gain by bodily training
and feeding, but by all that is the contrary of this, perfecting the spirit's strength in
the body's weakness. I could tell also of the suitor's gifts to the bride in such a
wedding ; they are not procured by the money that perishes, but are contributed out of the
wealth peculiar to the soul. Would you know their names? You must hear from Paul, that
excellent adorner of the Bride , in what the wealth of those consists who in everything
commend themselves. He mentions much else that is priceless in it, and adds, "in chastity
"; and besides this all the recognized fruits of the spirit from any quarter whatever are
gifts of this marriage.

4 If a man is going to carry out the advice of Solomon and take for helpmate and life-
companion that true Wisdom of which he says, "Love her, and she shall keep thee," "honour
her, that she may embrace thee ," then he will prepare himself in a manner worthy of such
a love, so as to feast with all the joyous wedding guests in spotless raiment, and not be
cast forth, while claiming to sit at that feast, for not having put on the wedding
garment. It is plain moreover that the argument applies equally to men and women, to move
them towards such a marriage. "There is neither male nor female ," the Apostle says;
"Christ is all, and in all "; and so it is equally reasonable that he who is enamoured of
wisdom should hold the Object of his passionate desire, Who is the True Wisdom; and that
the soul which cleaves to the undying Bridegroom should have the fruition of her love for
the true Wisdom, which is God. We have now sufficiently revealed the nature of the
spiritual union, and the Object of the pure and heavenly Love.

CHAPTER XXI.

1 It is perfectly clear that no one can come near the purity of the Divine Being who has
not first himself become such; he must therefore place between himself and the pleasures
of the senses a high strong wall of separation, so that in this his approach to the Deity
the purity of his own heart may not become soiled again. Such an impregnable wall will be
found in a complete estrangement from everything wherein passion operates. Now pleasure is
one in kind, as we learn from the experts; as water parted into various channels from one
single fountain, it spreads itself over the pleasure-lover through the various avenues of
the senses; so that it has been on his heart that the man, who through any one particular
sensation succumbs to the resulting pleasure, has received a wound from that sensation.
This accords with the teaching given from the Divine lips, that "he who has satisfied the
lust of the eyes has received the mischief already in his heart "; for I take it that our
Lord was speaking in that particular example of any of the senses; so that we might well
carry on His saying, and add, "He who hath heard, to lust after," and what follows, "He
who hath touched to lust after," "He who hath lowered any faculty within us to the service
of pleasure, hath sinned in his heart."

2 To prevent this, then, we want to apply to our own lives that rule of all temperance,
never to let the mind dwell on anything whereinpleasure's bait is hid; but above all to be
specially watchful against the pleasure of taste. For that seems in a way the most deeply
rooted, and to be the mother as it were of all forbidden enjoyment. The pleasures of
eating and drinking, leading to boundless excess, inflict upon the body the doom of the
most dreadful sufferings ; for over-indulgence is the parent of most of the painful
diseases. To secure for the body a continuous tranquillity, unstirred by the pains of
surfeit, we must make up our minds to a more sparing regimen, and constitute the need of
it on each occasion not the pleasure of it, as the measure and limit of our indulgence. If
the sweetness will nevertheless mingle itself with the satisfaction of the need (for
hunger knows how to sweeten everything , and by the vehemence of appetite she gives the
zest of pleasure to every discoverable supply of the need), we must not because of the
resulting enjoyment reject the satisfaction, nor yet make this latter our leading aim. In
everything we must select the expedient quantity, and leave untouched what merely feasts
the senses .

CHAPTER XXII.

1 WE see how the husbandmen have a method for separating the chaff, which is united with
the wheat, with a view to employ each for its proper purpose, the one for the sustenance
of man, the other for burning and the feeding of animals. The labourer in the field of
temperance will in like manner distinguish the satisfaction from the mere delight, and
will fling this latter nature to savages "whose end is to be burned ," as the Apostle
says, but will take the other, in proportion to the actual need, with thankfulness, Many,
however, slide into the very opposite kind of excess, and unconsciously to themselves, in
their over-preciseness, laboriously thwart their own design; they let their soul fall down
the other side from the heights of Divine elevation to the level of dull thoughts and
occupations, where their minds are so bent upon regulations which merely affect the body,
that they can no longer walk in their heavenly freedom and gaze above; their only
inclination is to this tormenting and afflicting of the flesh. It would be well, then, to
give this also careful thought, so as to be equally on our guard against either over-
amount , neither stifling the mind beneath the wound of the flesh, nor, on theother hand,
by gratuitously inflicted weakenings sapping and lowering the powers, so that it can have
no thought but of the body's pain ; and let every one remember that wise precept, which
warns us from turning to the right hand or to the left.

2 I have heard a certain physician of my acquaintance, in the course of explaining the
secrets of his art, say that our body consists of four elements, not of the same species,
but disposed to be conflicting: yet the hot penetrated the cold, and an equally unexpected
union of the wet and the dry took place, the contradictories of each pair being brought
into contact by their relationship to the intervening pair. He added an extremely subtle
explanation of this account of his studies in nature. Each of these elements was in its
essence diametrically opposed to its contradictory; but then it had two other qualities
lying on each side of it, and by virtue of its kinship with them it came into contact with
its contradictory; for example, the cold and the hot each unite with the wet, or the dry;
and again, the wet and the dry each unite with the hot, or the cold: and so this sameness
of quality, when it manifests itself in contradictories, is itself the agent which affects
the union of those contradictories. What business of mine, however, is it to explain
exactly the details of this change from this mutual separation and repugnance of nature,
to this mutual union through the medium of kindred qualities, except for the purpose for
which we mentioned it?

3 And that purpose was to add that the author of this analysis of the body's constitution
advised that all possible care be taken to preserve a balance between these properties,
for that in fact health consisted in not letting any one of them gain the mastery within
us. If his doctrine has truth in it, then, for our health's continuance, we must secure
such a habit, and by no irregularity of diet produce either an excess or a defect in any
member of these our constituent elements. The chariot-master, if the young horses which he
has to drive will not work well together, does not urge a fast one with the whip, and rein
in a slow one; nor, again, does he let a horse that shies in the traces or is hard-mouthed
gallop his own way to the confusion of orderly driving; but he quickens the pace of the
first, checks the second, reaches the third with cuts of his whip, till he has made them
all breathe evenly together in a straight career. Now our mind in like manner holds in its
grasp the reins of this chariot of the body; and in that capacity it will not devise, in
the time of youth, when heat of temperament is abundant, ways of heightening that fever;
nor will it multiply the cooling and the thinning things when the body is already chilled
by illness or by time; and in the case of all these physical qualities it will be guided
by the Scripture, so as actually to realize it:

4 "He that gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack .
It will curtail immoderate lengths in either direction, and so will be careful to
replenish where there is much lack. The inefficiency of the body from either cause will be
that which it guards against; it will train the flesh, neither making it wild and
ungovernable by excessive pampering, nor sickly and unstrung and nerveless for the
required work by immoderate mortification. That is temperance's highest aim; it looks not
to the afflicting of the body, but to the peaceful action of the soul's functions.

CHAPTER XXIII.

1 Now the details of the life of him who has chosen to live in such a philosophy as this,
the things to be avoided, the exercises to be engaged in, the rules of temperance, the
whole method of the training, and all the daily regimen which contributes towards this
great end, has been dealt with in certain written manuals of instruction for the benefit
of those who love details. Yet there is a plainer guide to be found than verbal
instruction; and that is practice: and there is nothing vexatious in the maxim that when
we are undertaking a long journey or voyage we should get an instructor. "But," says the
Apostle , "the word is nigh thee;"the grace begins at home; there is the manufactory of
all the virtues; there this life has become exquisitely refined by a continual progress
towards consummate perfection; there, whether men are silent or whether they speak, there
is large opportunity for being instructed in this heavenly citizenship through the actual
practice of it. Any theory divorced from living examples, however admirably it may be
dressed out, is like the unbreathing statue, with its show of a blooming complexion
impressed in tints and colours; but the man who acts as well as teaches, as the Gospel
tells us, he is the man who is truly living, and has the bloom of beauty, and is efficient
and stirring. It is to him that we must go, if we mean, according to the saying of
Scripture, to "retain" virginity.

2 One who wants to learn a foreign language is not a competent instructor of himself; he
gets himself taught by experts, and can then talk with foreigners. So, for this high life,
which does not advance in nature's groove, but is estranged from her by the novelty of its
course, a man cannot be instructed thoroughly unless he puts himself into the hands of one
who has himself led it in perfection; and indeed in all the other professions of life the
candidate is more likely to achieve success if he gets from tutors a scientific knowledge
of each part of the subject of his choice, than if he undertook to study it by himself;
and this particular profession is not one where everything is so clear that judgment as to
our best course in it is necessarily left to ourselves; it is one where to hazard a step
into the unknown at once brings us into danger. The science of medicine once did not
exist; it has come into being by the experiments which men have made, and has gradually
been revealed through their various observations; the healing and the harmful drug became
known from the attestation of those who had tried them, and this distinction was adopted
into the theory of the art, so that the close observation of former practitioners became a
precept for those who succeeded;

3 and now any one who studies to attain this art is under no necessity to ascertain at his
own peril the power of any drug, whether it be a poison or a medicine; he has only to
learn from others the known facts, and may than practise with success. It is so also with
that medicine of the soul, philosophy, from which we learn the remedy for every weakness
that can touch the soul. We need not hunt after a knowledge of these remedies by dint of
guess-work and surmisings; we have abundant means of learning them from him who by a long
and rich experience has gained the possession which we seek. In any matter youth is
generally a giddy guide; and it would not be easy to find anything of importance
succeeding, in which gray hairs have not been called in to share in the deliberations.
Even in all other undertakings we must, in proportion to their greater importance, take
the more precaution against failure; for in them too the thoughtless designs of youth have
brought loss; on property, for instance; or have compelled the surrender of a position in
the world, and even of renown. But in this mighty and sublime ambition it is not property,
or secular glory lasting for its hour, or any external fortune, that is at stake;-of such
things , whether they settle themselves well or the reverse, the wise take small
account;-here rashness can affect the soul itself;

4 and we run the awful hazard, not of losing any of those other things whose recovery even
may perhaps be possible, but of ruining our very selves and making the soul a bankrupt. A
man who has spent or lost his patrimony does not despair, as long as he is in the land of
the living, of perchance coming again through contrivances into his former competence; but
the man who has ejected himself from this calling, deprives himself as well of all hope of
a return to better things. Therefore, since most embrace virginity while still young and
unformed in understanding, this before anything else should be their employment, to search
out a fitting guide and master of this way, lest, in their present ignorance, they should
wander from the direct route, and strike out new paths of their own in trackless wilds .
"Two are better than one," saysthe Preacher ; but a single one is easily vanquished by the
foe who infests the path which leads to God; and verily "woe to him that is alone when he
falleth, for he hath not another to help him up . Some ere now in their enthusiasm for the
stricter life have shown a dexterous alacrity; but, as if in the very moment of their
choice they had already touched perfection, their pride has had a shocking fall , and they
have been tripped up from madly deluding themselves into thinking that that to which their
own mind inclined them was the true beauty.

5 In this number are those whom Wisdom calls the "slothful ones ," who bestrew their "way"
with "thorns"; who think it a moral loss to be anxious about keeping the commandments; who
erase from their own minds the Apostolic teaching, and instead of eating the bread of
their own honest earning fix on that of others, and make their idleness itself into an art
of living. From this number, too, come the Dreamers, who put more faith in the illusions
of their dreams than in the Gospel teaching, and style their own phantasies "revelations.
Hence, too, those who "creep into the houses"; and again others who suppose virtue to
consist in savage bearishness, and have never known the fruits of long-suffering and
humility of spirit. Who could enumerate all the pitfalls into which any one might slip,
from refusing to have recourse to men of godly celebrity? Why, we have known ascetics of
this class who have persisted in their fasting even unto death, as if "with such
sacrifices God were well pleased ; and, again, others who rush off into the extreme
diametrically opposite, practising celibacy in name only and leading a life in no way
different from the secular; for they not only indulge in the pleasures of the table, but
are openly known to have a woman in their houses ; and they call such a friendship a
brotherly affection, as if, forsooth, they could veil their own thought, which is inclined
to evil, under a sacred term.

6 It is owing to them that this pure and holy profession of virginity is "blasphemed
amongst the Gentiles ."

CHAPTER XXIV.

1 It would therefore be to their profit, for the young to refrain from laying down for
themselves their future course in this profession; and indeed, examples of holy lives for
them to follow are not wanting in the living generation . Now, if ever before, saintliness
abounds and penetrates our world; by gradual advances it has reached the highest mark of
perfectness; and one who follows such footsteps in his daily rounds may catch this halo;
one who tracks the scent of this preceding perfume may be drenched in the sweet odours of
Christ Himself. As, when one torch has been fired, flame is transmitted to all the
neighbouring candlesticks, without either the first light being lessened or blazing with
unequal brilliance on the other points where it has been caught; so the saintliness of a
life is transmitted from him who has achieved it, to those who come within his circle; for
there is truth in the Prophet's saying , that one who lives with a man who is "holy" and
"clean" and "elect," will become such himself. If you would wish to know the sure signs,
which will secure you the real model, it is not hard to take a sketch from life.

2 If you see a man so standing between death and life, as to select from each helps for
the contemplative course, never letting death's stupor paralyze his zeal to keep all the
commandments, nor yet placing both feet in the world of the living, since he has weaned
himself from secular ambitions;-a man who remains more insensate than the dead themselves
to everything that is found on examination to be living for the flesh, but instinct with
life and energy and strength in the achievements of virtue, which are the sure marks of
the spiritual life;-then look to that man for the rule of your life; let him be the
leading light of your course of devotion, as the constellations that never set are to the
pilot; imitate his youth and his gray hairs: or, rather, imitate the old man and the
stripling who are joined in him; for even now in his declining years time has not blunted
the keen activity of his soul, nor was his youth active in the sphere of youth's well-
known employments; in both seasons of life he has shown a wonderful combination of
opposites, or rather an exchange of the peculiar qualities of each; for in age he shows,
in the direction of the good, a young man's energy, while, in the hours of youth, in the
direction of evil, his passions were powerless.

3 If you wish to know what were the passions of that glorious youth of his, you will have
for your imitation the intensity and glow of his godlike love of wisdom, which grew with
him from his childhood, and has continued with him into his old age. But if you cannot
gaze upon him, as the weak-sighted cannot gaze upon the sun, at all events watch that band
of holy men who are ranged beneath him, and who by the illumination of their lives are a
model for this age. God has placed them as a beacon for us who live around; many among
them have been young men there in their prime, and have grown gray in the unbroken
practice of continence and temperance; they were old in reasonableness before their time,
and in character outstripped their years. The only love they tasted was that of wisdom;
not that their natural instincts were different from the rest; for in all alike "the flesh
lusteth against the spirit ; but they listened to some purpose to him who said that
Temperance "is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her ; and they sailed across the
swelling billows of existence upon this tree of life, as upon a skiff; and anchored in the
haven of the will of God; enviable now after so fair a voyage, they rest their souls in
that sunny cloudless calm. They now ride safe themselves at the anchor of a good hope, far
out of reach of the tumult of the billows;

4 and for others who will follow they radiate the splendour of their lives as beacon-fires
on some high watch-tower. We have indeed a mark to guide us safely over the ocean of
temptations; and why make the too curious inquiry, whether some with such thoughts as
these have not fallen nevertheless, and why therefore despair, as if the achievement was
beyond your reach? Look on him who has succeeded, and boldly launch upon the voyage with
confidence that it will be prosperous, and sail on under the breeze of the Holy Spirit
with Christ your pilot and with the oarage of good cheer . For those who "go down to the
sea in ships and occupy their business in great waters" do not let the shipwreck that has
befallen some one else prevent their being of good cheer; they rather shield their hearts
in this very, confidence, and so sweep on to accomplish their successful feat. Surely it
is the most absurd thing in the world to reprobate him who has slipped in a course which
requires the greatest nicety, while one considers those who all their lives have been
growing old in failures and in errors, to have chosen the better part. If one single
approach to sin is such an awful thing that you deem it safer not to take in hand at all
this loftier aim, how much more awful a thing it is to make sin the practice of a whole
life, and to remain thereby absolutely ignorant of the purer course!

5 How can you in your full life obey the Crucified? How can you, hale in sin, obey Him Who
died to sin? How can you, who are not crucified to the world, and will not accept the
mortification of the flesh, obey Him Who bids you follow after Him, and Who bore the Cross
in His own body, as a trophy from the foe? How can you obey Paul when he exhorts you "to
present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God ," when you are "conformed
to this world," and not transformed by the renewing of your mind, when you are not
"walking" in this "newness of life," but still pursuing the routine of "the old man"? How
can you be a priest unto God , anointed though you are for this very office, to offer a
gift to God; a gift in no way another's, no counterfeited gift from sources outside
yourself, but a gift that is really your own, namely, "the inner man ," who must be
perfect and blameless, as it is required of a lamb to be without spot or blemish? How can
you offer this to God, when you do not listen to the law forbidding the unclean to offer
sacrifices?

6 If you long for God to manifest Himself to you, why do you not hear Moses, when he
commands the people to be pure from the stains of marriage, that they may take in the
vision of God If this all seems little in your eyes, to be crucified with Christ, to
present yourself a sacrifice to God, to become a priest unto the most high God, to make
yourself worthy of the vision of the Almighty, what higher blessings than these can we
imagine for you, if indeed you make light of the consequences of these as well? And the
consequence of being crucified with Christ is that we shall live with Him, and be
glorified with Him, and reign with Him; and the consequence of presenting ourselves to God
is that we shall be changed from the rank of human nature and human dignity to that of
Angels; for so speaks Daniel, that "thousand thousands stood before him . He too who has
taken his share in the true priesthood and placed himself beside the Great High Priest
remains altogether himself a priest for ever, prevented for eternity from remaining any
more in death. To say, again, that one makes oneself worthy to see God, produces no less a
result than this; that one is made worthy to see God.

7 Indeed, the crown of every hope, and of every desire, of every blessing, and of every
promise of God, and of all those unspeakable delights which we believe to exist beyond our
perception and our knowledge,-the crowning result of them all, I say, is this. Moses
longed earnestly to see it, and many prophets and kings have desired to see the same: but
the only class deemed worthy of it are the pure in heart, those who are, and are named
"blessed," for this very reason, that "they shall see God . Wherefore we would that you
too should become crucified with Christ, a holy priest standing before God, a pure
offering in all chastity, preparing yourself by your own holiness for God's coming; that
you also may have a pure heart in which to see God, according to the promise of God, and
of our Saviour Jesus Christ, to Whom be gloryfor ever and ever. Amen.


ON INFANTS' EARLY DEATHS
========================

ON INFANTS' EARLY DEATHS Gregory of Nyssa

c. AD 335–395

Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil; theologian and mystic.

ON INFANTS' EARLY DEATHS

1 Every essayist and every pamphleteer will have you, most Excellent, to display his
eloquence upon; your wondrous qualities will be a broad race-course wherein he may
expatiate. A noble and suggestive subject in able hands has indeed a way of making a
grander style, lifting it to the height of the great reality. We, however, like an aged
horse, will remain outside this proposed race-course, only turning the ear to listen for
the contest waged in celebrating your praises, if the sound of any literary car careering
in full swing through such wonders may reach us. But though old age may compel a horse to
remain away from the race, it may often happen that the din of the trampling racers rouses
him into excitement, that he lifts his head with eager looks, that he shows his spirit in
his breathings, and prances and paws the ground frequently, though this eagerness is all
that is left to him, and time has sapped his powers of going. In the same way our pen
remains outside the combat, and age compels it to yield the course to the professors who
flourish now; nevertheless its eagerness to join the contest about you survives, and that
it can still evince, even though these stylists who flourish now are at the height of
their powers . But none of this display of my enthusiasm for you has anything to do with
sounding your own praises: no style, however nervous and well-balanced, would easily
succeed there;

2 so that any one, who attempted to describe that embarrassing yet harmonious mixture of
opposites in your character, would inevitably be left far behind your real worth. Nature,
indeed, by throwing out the shade of the eyelashes before the glaring rays, brings to the
eyes themselves a weaker light, and so the sunlight becomes tolerable to us, mingling as
it does, in quantities proportionate to our need, with the shadows which the lashes cast.
Just so the grandeur and the greatness of your character, tempered by your modesty and
humbleness of mind, instead of blinding the beholder's eye, makes the sight on the
contrary a pleasurable one; wherein this humbleness of mind does not occasion the
splendour of the greatness to be dimmed, and its latent force to be overlooked; but the
one is to be noticed in the other, the humility of your character in its elevation, and
the grandeur reversely in the lowliness. Others must describe all this; and extol,
besides, the many-sightedness of your mind. Your intellectual eyes are indeed as numerous,
it may perhaps be said, as the hairs of the head; their keen unerring gaze is on
everything alike; the distant is foreseen; the near is not unnoticed; they do not wait for
experience to teach expedience; they see with Hope's insight, or else with that of Memory;
they scan the present all over; first on one thing, then on another, but without confusing
them, your mind works with the same energy and with the amount of attention that is
required.

3 Another, too, must record his admiration of the way in which poverty is made rich by
you; if indeed any one is to be found in this age of ours who will make that a subject of
praise and wonder. Yet surely now, if never before, the love of poverty will through you
abound, and your ingotten wealth will be envied above the ingots of Croesus. For whom has
sea and land, with all the dower of their natural produce, enriched, as thy rejection of
worldly abundance has enriched thee? They wipe the stain from steel and so make it shine
like silver: so has the gleam of thy life grown brighter, ever carefully cleansed from the
rust of wealth. We leave that to those who can enlarge upon it, and also upon your
excellent knowledge of the things in which it is more glorious to gain than to abstain
from gain. Grant me, however, leave to say, that you do not despise all acquisitions; that
there are some which, though none of your predecessors has been able to clutch, yet you
and you alone have seized with both your hands; for, instead of dresses and slaves and
money, you have and hold the very souls of men, and store them in the treasure-house of
your love. The essayists and pamphleteers, whose glory comes from such laudations, will go
into these matters.

4 But our pen, veteran as it now is, is to rouse itself only so far as to go at a foot's
pace through the problem which your wisdom has proposed; namely, this-what we are to think
of those who are taken prematurely, the moment of whose birth almost coincides with that
of their death. The cultured heathen Plato spoke, in the person of one who had come to
life again , much philosophy about the judgment courts in that other world; but he has
left this other question a mystery, as ostensibly too great for human conjecture to be
employed upon. If, then, there is anything in these lucubrations of ours that is of a
nature to clear up the obscurities of this question, you will doubtless welcome the new
account of it if otherwise, you will at all events excuse this in old age, and accept, if
nothing else, our wish to afford you some degree of pleasure. History says that Xerxes,
that great prince who had made almost every land under the sun into one vast camp, and
roused with his own designs the whole world, when he was marching against the Greeks
received with delight a poor man's gift; and that gift was water, and that not in a jar,
but carried in the hollow of the palm of his hand. So do you, of your innate generosity,
follow his example; to him the will made the gift, and our gift may be found in itself but
a poor watery thing.

5 In the case of the wonders in the heavens, a man sees their beauty equally, whether he
is trained to watch them, or whether he gazes upwards with an unscientific eye; but the
feeling towards them is not the same in the man who comes from philosophy to their
contemplation, and in him who has only his senses of perception to commit them to; the
latter may be pleased with the sunlight, or deem the beauty of stars worthy of his wonder,
or have watched the stages of the moon's course throughout the month; but the former, who
has the soul-insight, and whose training has enlightened him so as to comprehend the
phenomena of the heavens, leaves unnoticed all these things which delight the senses of
the more unthinking, and looks at the harmony of the whole, inspecting the concert which
results even from opposite movements in the circular revolutions; how the inner circles of
these turn the contrary way to that in which the fixed stars are carried round ; how those
of the heavenly bodies to be observed in these inner circles are variously grouped in
their approachments and divergements, their disappearances behind each other and their
flank movements, and yet effect always precisely in the same way that notable and never-
ending harmony; of which those are conscious who do not overlook the position of the
tiniest star, and whose minds, by training domiciled above, pay equal attention to them
all. In the same way do you, a precious life to me, watch the Divine economy;

6 leaving those objects which unceasingly occupy the minds of the crowd, wealth, I mean,
and luxury and vainglory-things which like sunbeams flashing in their faces dazzle the
unthinking-you will not pass without inquiry the seemingly most trivial questions in the
world; for you do most carefully scrutinize the inequalities in human lives; not only with
regard to wealth and penury, and the differences of position and descent (for you know
that they are as nothing, and that they owe their existence not to any intrinsic reality,
but to the foolish estimate of those who are struck with nonentities, as if they were
actual things; and that if one were only to abstract from somebody who glitters with glory
the blind adoration of those who gaze at him, nothing would be left him after all the
inflated pride which elates him, even though the whole mass of the world's riches were
buried in his cellars), but it is one of your anxieties to know, amongst the other
intentions of each detail of the Divine government, wherefore it is that, while the life
of one is lengthened into old age, another has only so far a portion of it as to breathe
the air with one gasp, and die. If nothing in this world happens without God, but all is
linked tO the Divine will, and if the Deity is skilful and prudential, then it follows
necessarily that there is some plan in these things bearing the mark of His wisdom, and at
the same time of His providential care.

7 A blind unmeaning occurrence can never be the work of God; for it is the property of
God, as the Scripture says , to "make all things in wisdom. What wisdom, then, can we
trace in the following? A human being enters on the scene of life, draws in the air,
beginning the process of living with a cry of pain, pays the tribute of a tear to Nature ,
just tastes life's sorrows, before any of its sweets have been his, before his feelings
have gained any strength; still loose in all his joints, tender, pulpy, unset; in a word,
before he is even human (if the gift of reason is man's peculiarity, and he has never had
it in him), such an one, with no advantage over the embryo in the womb except that he has
seen the air, so short-lived, dies and goes to pieces again; being either exposed or
suffocated, or else of his own accord ceasing to live from weakness. What are we to think
about him? How are we to feel about such deaths? Will a soul such as that behold its
Judge? Will it stand with the rest before the tribunal? Will it undergo its trial for
deeds done in life? Will it receive the just recompense by being purged, according to the
Gospel utterances, in fire, or refreshed with the dew of blessing ? But I do not see how
we can imagine that, in the case of such a soul. The word "retribution" implies that
something must have been previously given;

8 but he who has not lived at all has been deprived of the material from which to give
anything. There being, then, no retribution, there is neither good nor evil left to
expect. "Retribution" purports to be the paying back of one of these two qualities; but
that which is to be found neither in the category of good nor that of bad is in no
category at all; for this antithesis between good and bad is an opposition that admits no
middle; and neither will come to him who has not made a beginning with either of them.
What therefore falls under neither of these heads may be said not even to have existed.
But if some one says that such a life does not only exist, but exists as one of the good
ones, and that God gives, though He does not repay, what is good to such, we may ask what
sort of reason he advances for this partiality; how is justice apparent in such a view;
how will he prove his idea in concordance with the utterances in the Gospels? There (the
Master) says, the acquisition of the Kingdom comes to those who are deemed worthy of it,
as a matter of exchange. "When ye have done such and such things, then it is fight that ye
get the Kingdom as a reward. But in this case there is no act of doing or of willing
beforehand, and so what occasion is there for saying that these will receive from God any
expected recompense?

9 If one unreservedly accepts a statement such as that, to the effect that any so passing
into life will necessarily be classed amongst the good, it will dawn upon him then that
not partaking in life at all will be a happier state than living, seeing that in the one
case the enjoyment of good is placed beyond a doubt even with barbarian parentage, or a
conception from a union not legitimate; but he who has lived the span ordinarily possible
to Nature gets the pollution of evil necessarily mingled more or less with his life, or,
if he is to be quite outside this contagion, it will be at the price of much painful
effort. For virtue is achieved by its seekers not without a struggle; nor is abstinence
from the paths of pleasure a painless process to human nature. So that one of two
probations must be the inevitable fate of him who has had the longer lease of life; either
to combat here on Virtue's toilsome field, or to suffer there the painful recompense of a
life of evil. But in the case of infants prematurely dying there is nothing of that sort;
but they pass to the blessed lot at once, if those who take this view of the matter speak
true. It follows also necessarily from this that a state of unreason is preferable to
having reason, and virtue will thereby be revealed as of no value:

10 if he who has never possessed it suffers no loss, so, as regards the enjoyment of
blessedness, the labour to acquire it will be useless folly; the unthinking condition will
be the one that comes out best from God's judgment. For these and such-like reasons you
bid me sift the matter, with a view to our getting, by dint of a closely-reasoned inquiry,
some firm ground on which to rest our thoughts about it. 11 For my part, in view of the
difficulties of the subject proposed, I think the exclamation of the Apostle very suitable
to the present case, just as he uttered it over unfathomable questions: "O the depth of
the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments,
and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord ? But seeing on the
other hand that that Apostle declares it to be a peculiarity of him that is spiritual to
"judge all things ," and commends those who have been "enriched " by the Divine grace "in
all utterance and in all knowledge," I venture to assert that it is not right to omit the
examination which is within the range of our ability, nor to leave the question here
raised without making any inquiries, or having any ideas about it; lest, like the actual
subject of our proposed discussion, this essay should have an ineffectual ending, spoilt
before its maturity by the fatal indolence of those who will not nerve themselves to
search out the truth, like a new-born infant ere it sees the light and acquires any
strength. I assert, too, that it is not well at once to confront and meet objections, as
if we were pleading in court, but to introduce a certain order into the discussion and to
lead the view on from one point to another. What, then, should this order be?

12 First, we want to know the whence of human nature, and the wherefore of its ever having
come into existence. If we hit the answer to these questions, we shall not fail in getting
the required explanation. Now, that everything that exists, after God, in the intellectual
or sensible world of beings owes that existence to Him, is a proposition which it is
superfluous to prove; no one, with however little insight into the truth of things, would
gainsay it. For every one agrees that the Universe is linked to one First Cause; that
nothing in it owes its existence to itself, so as to be its own origin and cause; but that
there is on the other hand a single uncreate eternal Essence, the same for ever, which
transcends all our ideas of distance, conceived of as without increase or decrease, and
beyond the scope of any definition; and that time and space with all their consequences,
and anything previous to these that thought can grasp in the intelligible supramundane
world, are all the productions of this Essence. Well, then, we affirm that human nature is
one of these productions;

13 and a word of the inspired Teaching helps us in this, which declares that when God had
brought all things else upon the scene of life, man was exhibited upon the earth, a
mixture from Divine sources, the godlike intellectual essence being in him united with the
several portions of earthly elements contributed towards his formation, and that he was
fashioned by his Maker to be the incarnate likeness of Divine transcendent Power. It would
be better however to quote the very words: "And God created man, in the image of God
created He him . Now the reason of the making of this animate being has been given by
certain writers previous to us as follows. The whole creation is divided into two parts;
that "which is seen," and that "which is not seen," to use the Apostle's words (the second
meaning the intelligible and immaterial, the first, the sensible and material); and being
thus divided, the angelic and spiritual natures, which are among "the things not seen,"
reside in places above the world, and above the heavens, because such a residence is in
correspondence with their constitution; for an intellectual nature is a fine, clear,
unencumbered, agile kind of thing, and a heavenly body is fine and light, and perpetually
moving, and the earth on the contrary, which stands last in the list of things sensible,
can never be an adequate and congenial spot for creatures intellectual to sojourn in.

14 For what correspondence can there possibly be between that which is light and buoyant,
on the one hand, and that which is heavy and gravitating on the other? Well, in order that
the earth may not be completely devoid of the local indwelling of the intellectual and the
immaterial, man (these writers tell us) was fashioned by the Supreme forethought, and his
earthy parts moulded over the intellectual and godlike essence of his soul; and so this
amalgamation with that which has material weight enables the soul to live on this element
of earth, which possesses a certain bond of kindred with the substance of the flesh. The
design of all that is being born , then, is that the Power which is above both the
heavenly and the earthly universe may in all parts of the creation be glorified by means
of intellectual natures, conspiring to the same end by virtue of the same faculty in
operation in all, I mean that of looking upon God. But this operation of looking upon God
is nothing less than the life-nourishment appropriate, as like to like, to an intellectual
nature. For just as these bodies, earthy as they are, are preserved by nourishment that is
earthy, and we detect in them all alike, whether brute or reasoning, the operations of a
material kind of vitality, so it is right to assume that there is an intellectual life-
nourishment as well, by which such natures are maintained in existence.

15 But if bodily food, coming and going as it does in circulation, nevertheless imparts a
certain amount of vital energy to those who get it, how much more does the partaking of
the real thing, always remaining and always the same, preserve the eater in existence? If,
then, this is the life-nourishment of an intellectual nature, namely, to have a part in
God, this part will not be gained by that which is of an opposite quality; the would-be
partaker must? some degree be akin to that which is to be partaken of. The eye enjoys the
light by virtue of having light within itself to seize its kindred light, and the finger
or any other limb cannot effect the act of vision because none of this natural light is
organized in any of them. The same necessity requires that in our partaking of God there
should be some kinship in the constitution of the partaker with that which is partaken of.
Therefore, as the Scripture says, man was made in the image of God; that like, I take it,
might be able to see like; and to see God is, as was said above, the life of the soul. But
seeing that ignorance of the true good is like a mist that obscures the visual keenness of
the soul, and that when that mist grows denser a cloud is formed so thick that Truth's ray
cannot pierce through these depths of ignorance, it follows further that with the total
deprivation of the light the soul's life ceases altogether;

16 for we have said that the real life of the soul is acted out in partaking of the Good;
but when ignorance hinders this apprehension of God, the soul which thus ceases to partake
of God, ceases also to live. But no one can force us to give the family history of this
ignorance, asking whence and from what father it is; let him be given to understand from
the word itself that "ignorance" and "knowledge" indicate one of the relations of the
soul; but no relation, whether expressed or not, conveys the idea of substance; a relation
and a substance are quite of different descriptions. If, then, knowledge is not a
substance, but a perfected operation of the soul, it must be conceded that ignorance must
be much farther removed still from anything in the way of substance; but that which is not
in that way does not exist at all; and so it would be useless to trouble ourselves about
where it comes from.

17 Now seeing that the Word declares that the living in God is the life of the soul, and
seeing that this living is knowledge according to each man's ability, and that ignorance
does not imply the reality of anything, but is only the negation of the operation of
knowing, and seeing that upon this partaking in God being no longer effected there follows
at once the cancelling of the soul's life, which is the worst of evils,-because of all
this the Producer of all Good would work in us the cure of such an evil. A cure is a good
thing, but one who does not look to the evangelic mystery would still be ignorant of the
manner of the cure. We have shown that alienation from God, Who is the Life, is an evil;
the cure, then, of this infirmity is, again to be made friends with God, and so to be in
life once more. When such a life, then, is always held up in hope before humanity, it
cannot be said that the winning of this life is absolutely a reward of a good life, and
that the contrary is a punishment (of a bad one); but what we insist on resembles the case
of the eyes. We do not say that one who has clear eyesight is rewarded as with a prize by
being able to perceive the objects of sight; nor on the other hand that he who has
diseased eyes experiences a failure of optic activity as the result of some penal
sentence.

18 With the eye in a natural state sight follows necessarily; with it vitiated by disease
failure of sight as necessarily follows. In the same way the life of blessedness is as a
familiar second nature to those who have kept clear the senses of the soul; but when the
blinding stream of ignorance prevents our partaking in the real light, then it necessarily
follows that we miss that, the enjoyment of which we declare to be the life of the
partaker. 19 Now that we have laid down these premisses, it is time to examine in the
light of them the question proposed to us. It was somewhat of this kind. "If the
recompense of blessedness is assigned according to the principles of justice, in what
class shall he be placed who has died in infancy without having laid in this life any
foundation, good or bad, whereby any return according to his deserts may be given him? To
this we shall make answer, with our eye fixed upon the consequences of that which we have
already laid down, that this happiness in the future, while it is in its essence a
heritage of humanity, may at the same time be called in one sense a recompense; and we
will make clear our meaning by the same instance as before. Let us suppose two persons
sufferingfrom an affection of the eyes; and that the one surrenders himself most
diligently to the process of being cured, and undergoes all that Medicine can apply to
him, however painful it may be; and that the other indulges without restraint in baths and
wine-drinking, and listens to no advice whatever of his doctor as to the healing of his
eyes. Well, when we look to the end of each of these we say that each duly receives in
requital the fruits Of his choice, the one in deprivation of the light, the other in its
enjoyment; by a misuse of the word we do actually call trial which necessarily follows, a
recompense.

20 We may speak, then, in this way also as regards this question of the infants: we may
say that the enjoyment of that future life does indeed belong of right to the human being,
but that, seeing the plague of ignorance has seized almost all now living in the flesh, he
who has purged himself of it by means of the necessary courses of treatment receives the
due reward of his diligence, when he enters on the life that is truly natural; while he
who refuses Virtue's purgatives and renders that plague of ignorance, through the
pleasures he has been entrapped by, difficult in his case to cure, gets himself into an
unnatural state, and so is estranged from the truly natural life, and has no share in the
existence which of right belongs to us and is congenial to us. Whereas the innocent babe
has no such plague before its soul's eyes obscuring its measure of light, and so it
continues to exist in that natural life; it does not need the soundness which comes from
purgation, because it never admitted the plague into its soul at all. Further, the present
life appears to me to offer a sort of analogy to the future life we hope for, and to be
intimately connected with it, thus; the tenderest infancy is suckled and reared with milk
from the breast; then another sort of food appropriate to the subject of this fostering,
and intimately adapted to his needs, succeeds, until at last he arrives at full growth.

21 And so I think, in quantities continually adapted to it, in a sort of regular progress,
the soul partakes of that truly natural life; according to its capacity and its power it
receives a measure of the delights of the Blessed state; indeed we learn as much from
Paul, who had a different sort of food for him who was already grown in virtue and for the
imperfect "babe. For to the last he says, "I have fed you with milk, and not with meat:
for hitherto ye were not able to bear it . But to those who have grown to the full measure
of intellectual maturity he says, "But strong meat belongeth to those that are of full
age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised... " Now it is not right
to say that the man and the infant are in a similar state however free both may be from
any contact of disease (for how can those who do not partake of exactly the same things be
in an equal state of enjoyment?); on the contrary, though the absence of any affliction
from disease may be predicated of both alike as long as both are out of the reach of its
influence, yet, when we come to the matter of delights, there is no likeness in the
enjoyment, though the percipients are in the same condition.

22 For the man there is a natural delight in discussions, and in the management of
affairs, and in the honourable discharge of the duties of an office, and in being
distinguished for acts of help to the needy; in living, it may be, with a wife whom
heloves, and ruling his household; and in all those amusements to be found in this life in
the way of pastime, in musical pieces and theatrical spectacles, in the chase, in bathing,
in gymnastics, in the mirth of banquets, and anything else of that sort. For the infant,
on the contrary, there is a natural delight in its milk, and in its nurse's arms, and in
gentle rocking that induces and then sweetens its slumber. Any happiness beyond this the
tenderness of its years naturally prevents it from feeling. In the same manner those who
in their life here have nourished the forces of their souls by a course of virtue, and
have, to use the Apostle's words, had the "senses" of their minds "exercised," will, if
they are translated to that life beyond, which is out of the body, proportionately to the
condition and the powers they have attained participate in that divine delight; they will
have more or they will have less of its riches according to the capacity acquired.

23 But the soul that has never felt the taste of virtue, while it may indeed remain
perfectly free from the sufferings which flow from wickedness having never caught the
disease of evil at all, does nevertheless in the first instance partake only so far in
that life beyond (which consists, according to our previous definition, in the knowing and
being in God) as this nursling can receive; until the time comes that it has thriven on
the contemplation of the truly Existent as on a congenial diet, and, becoming capable of
receiving more, takes at will more from that abundant supply of the truly Existent which
is offered. 24 Having, then, all these considerations in our view, we hold that the soul
of him who has reached every virtue in his course, and the soul of him whose portion of
life has been simply nothing, are equally out of the reach of those sufferings which flow
from wickedness. Nevertheless we do not conceive of the employment of their lives as on
the same level at all. The one has heard those heavenly announcements, by which, in the
words of the Prophet, "the glory of God is declared ," and, travelling through creation,
has been led to the apprehension of a Master of the creation; he has taken the true Wisdom
for his teacher, that Wisdom which the spectacle of the Universe suggests; and when he
observed the beauty of this material sunlight he had grasped by analogy the beauty of the
real sunlight ; he saw in the solid firm- ness of this earth the unchangeableness of its
Creator; when he perceived the immensity of the heavens he was led on the road towards the
vast Infinity of that Power which encompasses the Universe; when he saw the rays of the
sun reaching from such sublimities even to ourselves he began to believe, by the means of
such phenomena, that the activities of the Divine Intelligence did not fail to descend
from the heights of Deity even to each one of us;

25 for if a single luminary can occupy everything alike that lies beneath it with the
force of light, and, more than that, can, while lending itself to all who can use it,
still remain self-centred and undissipated, how much more shall the Creator of that
luminary become "all in all," as the Apostle speaks, and come into each with such a
measure of Himself as each subject of His influence can receive! Nay, look only at an ear
of corn, at the germinating of some plant, at a ripe bunch of grapes, at the beauty of
early autumn, whether in fruit or flower, at the grass springing unbidden, at the mountain
reaching up with its summit to the height of the ether, at the springs on its slopes
bursting from those swelling breasts, and running in rivers through the glens, at the sea
receiving those streams from every direction and yet remaining within its limits, with
waves edged by the stretches of beach and never stepping beyond those fixed boundaries of
continent: look at these and such-like sights, and how can the eye of reason fail to find
in them all that our education for Realities requires? Has a man who looks at such
spectacles procured for himself only a slight power for the enjoyment of those delights
beyond?

26 Not to speak of the studies which sharpen the mind towards moral excellence geometry, I
mean, and astronomy, and the knowledge of the truth that the science of numbers gives, and
every method that furnishes a proof of the unknown and a conviction of the known, and,
before all these, the philosophy contained in the inspired Writings, which affords a
complete purification to those who educate themselves thereby in the mysteries of God. But
the man who has acquired the knowledge of none of these things and has not even been
conducted by the material cosmos to the perception of the beauties above it, and passes
through life with his mind in a kind of tender, unformed, and untrained state, he is not
the man that is likely to be placed amongst the same surroundings as our argument has
indicated that other man, before spoken of, to be placed; so that, in this view, it can no
longer be maintained that, in the two supposed and completely opposite cases, the one who
has taken no part in life is more blessed than the one who has taken a noble part in it.
Certainly, in comparison with one who has lived all his life in sin, not only the innocent
babe but even one who has never come into the world at all will be blessed. We learn as
much too in the case of Judas, from the sentence pronounced upon him in the Gospels ;

27 namely, that when we think of such men, that which never existed is to be preferred to
that which has existed in such sin. For, as to the latter, on account of the depth of the
ingrained evil, the chastisement in the way of purgation will be extended into infinity ;
but as for what has never existed, how can any torment touch it?-However, notwithstanding
that, the man who institutes a comparison between the infantine immature life and that of
perfect virtue, must himself be pronounced immature for so judging of realities. Do you,
then, in consequence of this, ask the reason why so and so, quite tender in age, is
quietly taken away from amongst the living? Do you ask what the Divine wisdom contemplates
in this? Well, if you are thinking of all those infants who are proofs of illicit
connections, and so are made away with by their parents, you are not justified in calling
to account, for such wickedness, that God Who will surely bring to judgment the unholy
deeds done in this way. In the case, on the other hand, of any infant who, though his
parents have nurtured him, and have with nursing and supplication spent earnest care upon
him, nevertheless does not continue in this world, but succumbs to a sickness even unto
death, which is unmistakably the sole cause of it, we venture upon the following
considerations.

28 It is a sign of the perfection of God's providence, that He not only heals maladies
that have come into existence, but also provides that some should be never mixed up at all
in the things which He has forbidden; it is reasonable, that is, to expect that He Who
knows the future equally with the past should check the advance of an infant to complete
maturity, in order that the evil may not be developed which His foreknowledge has detected
in his future life, and in order that a lifetime granted to one whose evil dispositions
will be lifelong may not become the actual material for his vice. We shall better explain
what we are thinking of by an illustration. 29 Suppose a banquet of very varied abundance,
prepared for a certain number of guests, and let the chair be taken by one of their number
who is gifted to know accurately the peculiarities of constitution in each of them, and
what food is best adapted to each temperament, what is harmful and unsuitable; in addition
to this let him be entrusted with a sort of absolute authority over them, whether to allow
as he pleases so and so to remain at the board or to expel so and so, and to take every
precaution that each should address himself to the viands most suited to his constitution,
so that the invalid should not kill himself by adding the fuel of what he was eating to
his ailment, while the guest in robuster health should not make himself ill with things
not good for him and fall into discomfort from over-feeding . Suppose, amongst these, one
of those inclined to drink is conducted out in the middle of the banquet or even at the
very beginning of it; or let him remain to the very end, it all depending on the way that
the president can secure that perfect order shall prevail, if possible, at the board
throughout, and that the evil sights of surfeiting, tippling, and tipsiness shall be
absent.

30 It is just so, then, as when that individual is not very pleased at being torn away
from all the savoury dainties and deprived of his favourite liquors, but is inclined to
charge the president with want of justice and judgment, as having turned him away from the
feast for envy, and not for any forethought for him; but if he were to catch a sight of
those who were already beginning to misbehave themselves, from the long continuance of
their drinking, in the way of vomitings and putting their heads on the table and unseemly
talk, he would perhaps feel grateful to him for having removed him, before he got into
such a condition, from a deep debauch. If our illustration is understood, we can easily
apply the rule which it contains to the question before us. What, then, was that question?
Why does God, when fathers endeavour their utmost to preserve a successor to their line,
often let the son and heir be snatched away in earliest infancy ? To those who ask this,
we shall reply with the illustration of the banquet; namely, that Life's board is as it
were crowded with a vast abundance and variety of dainties; and it must, please, be
noticed that, true to the practice of gastronomy, all its dishes are not sweetened with
the honey of enjoyment, but in some cases an existence has a taste of some especially
harsh mischances given to it:

31 just as experts in the arts of catering desire how they may excite the appetites of the
guests with sharp, or briny, or astringent dishes. Life, I say, is not in all its
circumstances as sweet as honey; there are circumstances in it in which mere brine is the
only relish, or into which an astringent, or vinegary, or sharp pungent flavour has so
insinuated itself, that the rich sauce becomes very difficult to taste: the cups of
Temptation, too, are filled with all sorts of beverages; some by the error of pride
produce the vice of inflated vanity; others lure on those who drain them to some deed of
rashness; whilst in other cases they excite a vomiting in which all the ill-gotten
acquisitions of years are with shame surrendered . Therefore, to prevent one who has
indulged in the carousals to an improper extent from lingering over so profusely furnished
a table, he is early taken from the number of the banqueters, and thereby secures an
escape out of those evils which unmeasured indulgence procures for gluttons. This is that
achievement of a perfect Providence which I spoke of; namely, not only to heal evils that
have been committed, but also to forestall them before they have been committed; and this,
we suspect, is the cause of the deaths of new-born infants.

32 He Who does all things upon a Plan withdraws the materials for evil in His love to the
individual, and, to a character whose marks His Foreknowledge has read, grants no time to
display by a pre-eminence in actual vice what it is when its propensity to evil gets free
play. Often, too, the Arranger of this Feast of Life exposes by such-like dispensations
the cunning device of the "constraining cause" of money-loving , so that this vice comes
to the light bared of all specious pretexts, and no longer obscured by any misleading
screen . For most declare that they give play to their cravings for more, in order that
they may make their offspring all the richer; but that their vice belongs to their nature,
and is not caused by any external necessity, is proved by that inexcusable avarice which
is observed in childless persons. Many who have no heir, nor any hope of one, for the
great wealth which they have laboriously gained, rear a countless brood within themselves
of wants instead of children, and they are left without a channel into which to convey
this incurable disease, though they cannot find an excuse in any necessity for this
failing . But take the case of some who, during their sojourn in life, have been fierce
and domineering in disposition, slaves to every kind of lust, passionate to madness,
refraining from no act even of the most desperate wickedness, robbers and murderers,
traitors to their country, and, more execrable still, patricides, mother-killers, child-
murderers, mad after unnatural intercourse;

33 suppose such characters grow old in this wickedness; how, some one may ask, does this
harmonize with the result of our previous investigations? If that which is taken away
before its time in order that it may not continuously glut itself, according to our
illustration of the banquet, with Life's indulgences, is providentially removed from that
carouse, what is the special design in so and so, who is of that disposition, being
allowed to continue his revels to old age, steeping both himself and his boon companions
in the noxious fumes of his debauchery? In fine, you will ask, wherefore does God in His
Providence withdraw one from life before his character can be perfected in evil, and leave
another to grow to be such a monster that it had been better for him if he had never been
born? In answer to this we will give, to those who are inclined to receive it favourably,
a reason such as follows: viz. that oftentimes the existence of those whose life has been
a good one operates to the advantage of their offspring; and there are hundreds of
passages testifying to this in the inspired Writings, which clearly teach us that the
tender care shown by God to those who have deserved it is shared in by their successors,
and that even to have been an obstruction, in the path to wickedness, to any one who is
sure to live wickedly, is a good result .

34 But seeing that our Reason in this matter has to grope in the dark, clearly no one can
complain if its conjecturing leads our mind to a variety of conclusions. Well, then, not
only one might pronounce that God, in kindness to the Founders of some Family, withdraws a
member of it who is going to live a bad life from that bad life, but, even if there is no
antecedent such as this in the case of some early deaths, it is not unreasonable to
conjecture that they would have plunged into a vicious life with a more desperate
vehemence than any of those who have actually become notorious for their wickedness. 35
That nothing happens without God we know from many sources; and, reversely, that God's
dispensations have no element of chance and confusion in them every one will allow, who
realizes that God is Reason, and Wisdom, and Perfect Goodness, and Truth, and could not
admit of that which is not good and not consistent with His Truth . Whether, then, the
early deaths of infants are to be attributed to the aforesaid causes, or whether there is
some further cause of them beyond these, it befits us to acknowledge that these things
happen for the best. I have another reason also to give which I have learnt from the
wisdom of an Apostle; a reason, that is, why some of those who have been distinguished for
their wickedness have been suffered to live on in their self-chosen course. Having
expanded a thought of this kind at some length in his argument to the Romans , and having
retorted upon himself with the counter-conclusion, which thence necessarily follows, that
the sinner could no longer be justly blamed, if his sinning is a dispensation of God, and
that he would not have existed at all, if it had been contrary to the wishes of Him Who
has the world in His power, the Apostle meets this conclusion and solves this counter-plea
by means of a still deeper view of things. He tells us that God, in rendering to every one
his due, sometimes even grants a scope to wickedness for good in the end.

36 Therefore He allowed the King of Egypt, for example, to be born and to grow up such as
he was; the intention was that Israel, that great nation exceeding all calculation by
numbers, might be instructed by his disaster. God's omnipotence is to be recognized in
every direction; it has strength to bless the deserving; it is not inadequate to the
punishment of wickedness ; and so, as the complete removal of that peculiar people out of
Egypt was necessary in order to prevent their receiving any infection from the sins of
Egypt in a misguided way of living, therefore that God-defying and infamous Pharaoh rose
and reached his maturity in the lifetime of the very people who were to be benefited, so
that Israel might acquire a just knowledge of the two-fold energy of God, working as it
did in either direction; the more beneficent they learnt in their own persons, the sterner
by seeing it exercised upon those who were being scourged for their wickedness; for in His
consummate wisdom God can mould even evil into co-operation with good.

37 The artisan (if the Apostle's argument may be confirmed by any words of ours)-the
artisan who by his skill has to fashion iron to some instrument for daily use, has need
not only of that which owing to its natural ductility lends itself to his art, but, be the
iron never so hard, be it never so difficult to soften it in the fire, be it even
impossible owing to its adamantine resistance to mould it into any useful implement, his
art requires the co-operation even of this; he will use it for an anvil, upon which the
soft workable iron may be beaten and formed into something useful. But some one will say,
"It is not all who thus reap in this life the fruits of their wickedness, any more than
all those whose lives have been virtuous profit while living by their virtuous endeavours;
what then, I ask, is the advantage of their existence in the case of these who live to the
end unpunished? I will bring forward to meet this question of yours a reason which
transcends all human arguments. Somewhere in his utterances the great David declares that
some portion of the blessedness of the virtuous will consist in this; in contemplating
side by side with their own felicity the perdition of the reprobate. He says, "The
righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his hands in the blood
of the ungodly ";

38 not indeed as rejoicing over the torments of those sufferers, but as then most
completely realizing the extent of the well-earned rewards of virtue. He signifies by
those words that it will be an addition to the felicity of the virtuous and an
intensification of it, to have its contrary set against it. In saying that "he washes his
hands in the blood of the ungodly" he would convey the thought that "the cleanness of his
own acting in life is plainly declared in the perdition of the ungodly. For the expression
"wash" represents the idea of cleanness; but no one is washed, but is rather defiled, in
blood; whereby it is clear that it is a comparison with the harsher forms of punishment
that puts in a clearer light the blessedness of virtue. We must now summarize our
argument, in order that the thoughts which we have expanded may be more easily retained in
the memory. The premature deaths of infants have nothing in them to suggest the thought
that one who so terminates his life is subject to some grievous misfortune, any more than
they are to be put on a level with the deaths of those who have purified themselves in
this life by every kind of virtue; the more far-seeing Providence of God curtails the
immensity of sins in the case of those whose lives are going to be so evil. That some of
the wicked have lived on does not upset this reason which we have rendered;

39 for the evil was in their case hindered in kindness to their parents; whereas, in the
case of those whose parents have never imparted to them any power of calling upon God,
such a form of the Divine kindness , which accompanies such a power, is not transmitted to
their own children; otherwise the infant now prevented by death from growing up wicked
would have exhibited a far more desperate wickedness than the most notorious sinners,
seeing that it would have been unhindered. Even granting that some have climbed to the
topmost pinnacle of crime, the Apostolic view supplies a comforting answer to the
question; for He Who does everything with Wisdom knows how to effect by means of evil some
good. Still further, if some occupy a pre-eminence in crime, and yet for all that have
never been a metal, to use our former illustration, that God's skill has used for any
good, this is a case which constitutes an addition to the happiness of the good, as the
Prophet's words suggest; it may be reckoned as not a slight element in that happiness,
nor, on the other hand, as one unworthy of God's providing.


ON PILGRIMAGES
==============

ON PILGRIMAGES Gregory of Nyssa

c. AD 335–395

Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil; theologian and mystic.

ON PILGRIMAGES

1 Since, my friend, you ask me a question in your letter, I think that it is incumbent
upon me to answer you in their proper order upon all the points connected with it. It is,
then, my opinion that it is a good thing for those who have dedicated themselves once for
all to the higher life to fix their attention continually upon the utterances in the
Gospel, and, just as those who correct their work in any given material by a rule, and by
means of the straightness of that rule bring the crookedness which their hands detect to
straightness, so it is right that we should apply to these questions a strict and flawless
measure as it were,-I mean, of course, the Gospel rule of life ,-and in accordance with
that, direct ourselves in the sight of God. Now there are some amongst those who have
entered upon the monastic and hermit life, who have made it a part of their devotion to
behold those spots at Jerusalem where the memorials of our Lord's life in the flesh are on
view; it would be well, then, to look to this Rule, and if the finger of its precepts
points to the observance of such things, to perform the work, as the actual injunction of
our Lord; but if they lie quite outside the commandment of the Master, I do not see what
there is to command any one who has become a law of duty to himself to be zealous in
performing any of them.

2 When the Lord invites the blest to their inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, He does
not include a pilgrimage to Jerusalem amongst their good deeds; when He announces the
Beatitudes, He does not name amongst them that sort of devotion. But as to that which
neither makes us blessed nor sets us in the path to the kingdom, for what reason it should
be run after, let him that is wise consider. Even if there were some profit in what they
do, yet even so, those who are perfect would do best not to be eager in practising it; but
since this matter, when closely looked into, is found to inflict upon those who have begun
to lead the stricter life a moral mischief, it is so far from being worth an earnest
pursuit, that it actually requires the greatest caution to prevent him who has devoted
himself to God from being penetrated by any of its hurtful influences. What is it, then,
that is hurtful in it? The Holy Life is open to all, men and women alike. Of that
contemplative Life the peculiar mark is Modesty . But Modesty is preserved in societies
that live distinct and separate, so that there should be no meeting and mixing up of
persons of opposite sex; men are not to rush to keep the rules of Modesty in the company
of women, nor women to do so in the company of men.

3 But the necessities of a journey are continually apt to reduce this scrupulousness to a
very indifferent observance of such rules. For instance, it is impossible for a woman to
accomplish so long a journey without a conductor; on account of her natural weakness she
has to be put upon her horse and to be lifted down again; she has to be supported in
difficult situations. Whichever we suppose, that she has an acquaintance to do this
yeoman's service, or a hired attendant to perform it, either way the proceeding cannot
escape being reprehensible; whether she leans on the help of a stranger, or on that of her
own servant, she fails to keep the law of correct conduct; and as the inns and hostelries
and cities of the East present many examples of licence and of indifference to vice, how
will it be possible for one passing through such smoke to escape without smarting eyes?
Where the ear and the eye is defiled, and the heart too, by receiving all those foulnesses
through eye and ear, how will it be possible to thread without infection such seats of
contagion? What advantage, moreover, is reaped by him who reaches those celebrated spots
themselves? He cannot imagine that our Lord is living, in the body, there at the present
day, but has gone away from us foreigners; or that the Holy Spirit is in abundance at
Jerusalem, but unable to travel as far as us.

4 Whereas, if it is really possible to infer God's presence from visible symbols, one
might more justly consider that He dwelt in the Cappadocian nation than in any of the
spots outside it. For how many Altars there are there, on which the name of our Lord is
glorified! One could hardly count so many in all the rest of the world. Again, if the
Divine grace was more abundant about Jerusalem than elsewhere, sin would not be so much
the fashion amongst those that live there; but as it is, there is no form of uncleanness
that is not perpetrated amongst them; rascality, adultery, theft, idolatry, poisoning,
quarrelling, murder, are rife; and the last kind of evil is so excessively prevalent, that
nowhere in the world are people so ready to kill each other as there; where kinsmen attack
each other like wild beasts, and spill each other's blood, merely for the sake of lifeless
plunder. Well, in a place where such things go on, what proof, I ask, have you of the
abundance of Divine grace? But I know what many will retort to all that I have said; they
will say, "Why did you not lay down this rule for yourself as well? If there is no gain
for the godly pilgrim in return for having been there, for what reason did you undergo the
toil of so long a journey? Let them hear from me my plea for this.

5 By the necessities of that office in which I have been placed by the Dispenser of my
life to live, it was my duty, for the purpose of the correction which the Holy Council had
resolved upon, to visit the places where the Church in Arabia is; secondly, as Arabia is
on the confines of the Jerusalem district, I had promised that I would confer also with
the Heads of the Holy Jerusalem Churches, because matters with them were in confusion, and
needed an arbiter; thirdly, our most religious Emperor had granted us facilities for the
journey, by postal conveyance, so that we had to endure none of those inconveniences which
in the case of others we have noticed; our waggon was, in fact, as good as a church or
monastery to us, for all of us were singing psalms and fasting in the Lord during the
whole journey. Let our own case therefore cause difficulty to none; rather let our advice
be all the more listened to, because we are giving it upon matters which came actually
before our eyes. We confessed that the Christ Who was manifested is very God, as much
before as after our sojourn at Jerusalem; our faith in Him was not increased afterwards
any more than it was diminished. Before we saw Bethlehem we knew His being made man by
means of the Virgin; before we saw His Grave we believed in His Resurrection from the
dead; apart from seeing the Mount of Olives, we confessed that His Ascension into heaven
was real.

6 We derived only thus much of profit from our travelling thither, namely that we came to
know by being able to compare them, that our own places are far holier than those abroad.
Wherefore, O ye who fear the Lord, praise Him in the places where ye now are. Change of
place does not effect any drawing nearer unto God, but wherever thou mayest be, God will
come to thee, if the chambers of thy soul be found of such a sort that He can dwell in
thee and walk in thee. But if thou keepest thine inner man full of wicked thoughts, even
if thou wast on Golgotha, even if thou wast on the Mount of Olives, even if thou stoodest
on the memorial-rock of the Resurrection, thou wilt be as far away from receiving Christ
into thyself, as one who has not even begun to confess Him. Therefore, my beloved friend,
counsel the brethren to be absent from the body to go to our Lord, rather than to be
absent from Cappadocia to go to Palestine; and if any one should adduce the command spoken
by our Lord to His disciples that they should not quit Jerusalem, let him be made to
understand its true meaning. Inasmuch as the gift and the distribution of the Holy Spirit
had not yet passed upon the Apostles, our Lord commanded them to remain in the same place,
until they should have been endued with power from on high.

7 Now, if that which happened at the beginning, when the Holy Spirit was dispensing each
of His gifts under the appearance of a flame, continued until now, it would be right for
all to remain in that place where that dispensing took place; but if the Spirit "bloweth"
where He "listeth," those, too, who have become believers here are made partakers of that
gift; and that according to the proportion of their faith, not in consequence of their
pilgrimage to Jerusalem.


FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
========================

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES Macarius of Egypt

c. AD 300–391

Desert father; the Spiritual Homilies are attributed to him.

INTRODUCTION

1 Traditionally attributed to St. Macarius the Egyptian; conventionally cataloged by
modern scholars under Pseudo-Macarius. Translated by A. J. Mason, D.D. London: Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1921. Public-domain in the
United States. HTML transcription derived from Wikisource.

INTRODUCTION — 1. THE AUTHOR

2 THE name of Macarius (= “Blessed”) was a common one among the Christians of the fourth
and following centuries, especially in Egypt. Two men of the name stand out as twin giants
of the ascetic life of that age and country. They are distinguished from each other as
Macarius the Egyptian and Macarius the Alexandrian. An “Egyptian” means one who belonged
to the ancient race of Egypt—a “Copt”; an Alexandrian means one who belonged to the Greek
colony planted in that city. The two were friends and nearly contemporaries, though the
Alexandrian was somewhat the younger. The Egyptian Macarius was born about the year 300.
Palladius, Bishop of Helenopolis, friend of St. Chrysostom, and historian of the religious
life of the wilderness, begins his account of the two by saying that he hesitates to
relate what he has to say of them, lest he should be thought a liar, so great and
wonderful was their history. Palladius was not personally acquainted with the Egyptian. He
says that he knew the Alexandrian, but that the other died a year before his own entrance
into the Nitrian desert, which was about the year 390. But he was familiar with the
locality, and with the people who knew the great ascetic.

3 “First,” he says, “I will speak of the Egyptian, who lived to the age of ninety years.
Sixty of these he spent in the desert, having retired to it as a young man of thirty. He
was gifted with such discernment as to be called ‘Age-in-Youth,’ because he made such
swift progress. At the age of forty he received the grace of conquering evil spirits, and
of healings and predictions. He was also admitted to the priesthood.” Palladius proceeds
to relate instances of the exercise of these gifts. “Two disciples accompanied him into
the inner desert, called Scetis. One of them served him close at hand, because of those
who came to be cured; the other studied in an adjoining cell. In process of time Macarius
had a prophetic vision, and said to the man who served him, whose name was John, ‘Hearken
to me, brother John, and bear with my admonition. Thou art in temptation; and the spirit
of covetousness tempts thee. I have seen it; and I know that if thou bearest with me, thou
wilt be perfected in this place, and wilt be glorified, neither shall any plague come nigh
thy dwelling. But if thou shalt neglect to hear me, upon thee shall come the end of
Gehazi, with whose disease thou art afflicted.’ It came to pass after the death of
Macarius, indeed fifteen or twenty years after, that he neglected the warning. He used for
himself what belonged to the poor, and was so covered with elephantiasis that no whole
spot could be found on his body on which a finger could be put. This was the prophecy of
Macarius … [Macarius] was said to be continually in trance, and to spend far more time
with God than in things below.”

4 Palladius then tells a curious story of a man whose wife had been bewitched and turned
to all appearance into a mare. The man bridled her and took her to Macarius. The brethren
standing near the cell rebuked him for bringing the animal; but Macarius said to them,
“Horses you are, and have horses’ eyes. It is a woman, and only transformed to the eyes of
those who are deceived.” “And he blessed water,” the narrative continues, “and poured it
over the naked woman’s head, and prayed over her, and immediately made her appear a woman
to everybody. Then he gave her some food, and made her eat it, and sent her away, thanking
the Lord, in her own husband’s company. And he gave her this advice: ‘Never miss going to
church. Never be away from communion. This happened to you because for five weeks you had
not gone to the mysteries.’

5 “Another feature of his asceticism. He made an underground passage from his cell, half a
furlong in length, and constructed a cave at the end of it. This took him a long time. If
too many people troubled him, he would slip secretly out of the cell, and go into the
cave, where nobody could find him. One of his devoted disciples told me the story, and
said that on the way to the cave he would say four-and-twenty prayers, and four-and-twenty
on the way back.” Palladius adds that he was said to have brought a dead man back to life,
in order to convince some one who would not believe in the resurrection; and that on one
occasion he healed a boy of strangely disordered appetite, which was attributed to a
particular species of devil. When the affliction stopped, Macarius asked the mother how
much she wished the boy to eat. She answered, “Ten pounds of bread.” Macarius told her it
was too much; and, fasting and praying over him for a week, he allowed him to eat three
pounds, and sent him back to work.

6 Palladius had been the disciple of Evagrius Ponticus, who had in turn been a disciple to
the two Macarii. The account of these two masters given by Evagrius himself has been in
part incorporated by Socrates in the fourth book of his Ecclesiastical History. Socrates
adds to what we have learned from Palladius that Macarius the Egyptian was a native of
“Upper” Egypt, and that with all his piety he was somewhat austere in his dealings with
those who resorted to him. This is doubtless recorded on the authority of Evagrius.
Evagrius, in a fragment preserved by Socrates, relates one or two incidents in his
intercourse with the master. He says:— “That chosen vessel, the aged Macarius of Egypt,
once asked me how it is that in remembering the wrongs done to us by men we ruin our
powers of memory, but take no harm by remembering the wrongs done by devils. I was at a
loss for an answer, and begged him to tell me the reason. He answered, ‘It is because the
former is contrary to nature; the latter is in accordance with our mental constitution.’
When I first met with this holy father, Macarius, it was the very height of noon, and I
was burning with excessive heat, and I asked for some water to drink. He answered, ‘Be
content with the shade. There are many people travelling now, by land or by sea, who have
not even that.’ Then, when I was discussing self-discipline with him, he said, ‘Be of good
courage, my child. For twenty years without a break I have never had as much food, or
drink, or sleep, as I liked. My bread I have eaten by weight, and my water by measure; and
I have snatched a little sleep, leaning against the wall.’ ”

7 In the year 373—the year in which the great Athanasius died—this peaceful life of the
wilderness was rudely invaded. The Emperor Valens knew that the ascetics of the Nitrian
desert formed a great stronghold of the Athanasian belief, and determined to break it up.
Orders were given for the expulsion of Macarius the Egyptian and Macarius the Alexandrian,
“the fathers of the monks.” “These two were banished to an island which had no Christian
inhabitant. In the island there happened to be a temple, and a priest in it whom all the
people revered as a god. When the two men of God came to the island, all the demons there
were in confusion and terror. The following incident occurred at that very time. The
priest’s daughter was suddenly possessed by a devil and went mad. She overthrew
everything. She was uncontrollable, and could not by any means be kept quiet, but shouted
at the top of her voice, and said to those men of God, ‘Why have you come to drive us
hence also?’ The men showed once more in that place the special work which they had
received of the grace of God. They expelled the devil from the maiden, and gave her over
to her father in good health, and brought both the priest and all those who lived there in
the island to the faith of Christianity. They immediately cast out the images, transformed
the appearance of the sanctuary into the character of a church, and were baptized and
instructed in everything belonging to Christianity with rejoicing. Thus those wonderful
men, when banished for the faith of the One Substance, were themselves the more approved,
and saved others also, and made the faith yet more sure.”

8 A few more particulars about Macarius may be gathered from the ancient collections of
Apophthegms of the Fathers, printed by Migne in the same volume with the works of
Macarius, but it is not always possible to be sure that the Macarius referred to is the
great Egyptian, nor whether the anecdotes have any historical foundation. 9 One of them
gives, as from Macarius himself, the account of his withdrawal into the desert of Scetis.
When he was a young man, he had settled himself in a cell in some part of Egypt, and the
people of the place seized him and made him their clericus. Not wishing to undertake the
duty, he removed to another spot, where a pious man, who had not renounced the world,
attached himself to him and helped him in the basket-making by which he earned his
livelihood. It happened that a girl in the village had fallen into sin, and alleged that
she had been seduced by “the anchorite. “Then they came out and took me into the village,
and hung sooty kitchen pots round my neck, and handles of broken wine-jars, and paraded me
round every quarter of the village, beating me and saying, ‘This monk has seduced our
girl. Have him, have him. They beat me nearly to death. One of the old men came and said,
‘How long will you go on beating the strange monk? The man who served me was following
behind me with shame, for they were insulting him much and saying, ‘Look at this anchorite
whose part you took; what has he done? The girl’s parents said, ‘We shall not let him off
till he gives us a surety for her maintenance’; and I told my helper, and he became surety
for me.

10 When I got to my cell, I gave him all the baskets I had, saying, ‘Sell them, and give
my wife to eat. And I said to my mind, ‘Macarius, see, thou hast found thyself a wife;
thou must work a bit harder to support her’; and I worked night and day, and gave it her.
When the time came for the birth of the child, the girl confessed that she had been lying,
and wanted all the village to go to him to make amends. “And when I heard that, not to be
troubled with the men, I arose and fled into the Scetis here. That was the original cause
of my coming hither.” 11 Another anecdote relates that Macarius one day came from Scetis
to the Nitrian hills, to attend the celebration of the eucharist by the abbot Pambo. “And
the old man said, ‘Speak a word to the brethren, father. He answered, ‘I have not yet
become a monk, though I have seen monks. Once as I was sitting in my cell at Scetis, my
thoughts troubled me, saying, Go into the desert, and see what you shall see there. I
stayed fighting with the thought five years, saying, Perhaps it comes from demons. But
when the thought persisted, I went into the desert, and found there a lake of water, and
an island in the middle of it; and the beasts of the desert came to drink of it; and among
them I saw two naked men; and my body was afraid, for I thought they were spirits. But
when they saw me afraid, they spoke to me: Fear not; we too are men. And I said to them,
Whence are ye, and how came ye into this desert? And they said, We belong to a convent,
and we made an agreement and came out hither, now forty years ago. One of us is an
Egyptian, the other a Libyan. And they asked me, saying, How is the world? and does the
water [of the Nile] come in its season, and has the world its plenty? I said, Yes; and I
asked them, How can I become a monk? and I said to them, I am weak, and cannot do like
you.

12 And they said to me, And if you cannot do like us, sit in your cell and weep for your
sins. And I asked them, When winter comes, are ye not cold? and when the hot weather
comes, are not your bodies burned? But they said, It was God who made this ordinance for
us, and we are neither cold in winter, nor does the heat in summer hurt us. So, as I said,
I have not yet become a monk, but I have seen monks. Forgive me, brethren.’ ” 13 “Some of
the fathers once asked the abbot Macarius the Egyptian, ‘How is it that whether you eat or
whether you fast, your body is dry?’ The aged man answered, ‘The stick which pokes the
faggots in the fire gets eaten throughout with the fire; so, if a man cleanses his mind
with the fear of God, the fear of God itself eats up his body.’ ” “They said that the
abbot Macarius the Egyptian, going up from Scetis with a load of baskets, was so tired
that he sat down and prayed, saying, ‘O God, Thou knowest that I cannot’; and immediately
he was found at the river.” “It is said that two brethren at Scetis went wrong, and the
abbot Macarius the City Man [i. e. the Alexandrian] expelled them. Certain men came and
told the great abbot, Macarius the Egyptian. He said, ‘They are not expelled; it is
Macarius that is expelled.’ For he loved him. The abbot Macarius heard that he had been
expelled by the old man, and fled to the marsh. So the great abbot Macarius went out, and
found him bitten by the mosquitoes, and said to him, ‘Thou didst expel the brethren, and
they had to retire to the village. I expelled thee, and thou fleddest hither like a pretty
maiden to her chamber. I called the brethren, and enquired of them, and they assured me
that they had not done the thing. Take heed, brother, that thou be not mocked of devils;
for thou sawest nothing. Do penance for thy fault.’ He answered, ‘If thou wilt, give me a
penance.’ The old man, seeing his humility, said, ‘Go, and fast for three weeks, eating
once a week,’ knowing that this was his constant practice, to fast all the week days.”

14 “A brother once met abbot Macarius the Egyptian, and said to him, ‘Abba, say something
to me that I may be saved.’ The old man said, ‘Go to the burying-ground and revile the
dead.’ The brother went, and reviled them, and threw stones at them, and came and reported
to the old man. He said to him, ‘Did they not answer thee?’ He said, ‘No.’ The old man
said, ‘Go again to-morrow and praise them.’ So the brother went, and praised them, calling
them apostles, and saints, and righteous men, and came to the old man, and said, ‘I
praised them.’ And he said to him, ‘Did they make no answer?’ The brother said, ‘No.’ The
old man said, ‘Thou knowest how much thou didst insult them, and they answered nothing,
and how much thou didst praise them, and they spake nothing to thee. If thou wouldest be
saved, become thou dead like them. Reck nothing of the wrongs done by men, nor of their
praise, any more than the dead do; and thou mayest be saved.’ ”

15 “Once as the abbot Macarius was passing through Egypt with some brethren, he heard a
child say to his mother, ‘Amma, a rich man loves me, and I hate him; and a poor man hates
me, and I love him.’ The abbot Macarius wondered when he heard it. The brethren said to
him, ‘What was there to wonder at in the saying, father?’ The old man said to them,
‘Truly, our Lord is rich and loves us, and we will not listen to Him; but our enemy the
devil is poor and hates us, and we love his uncleanness.’ ” “Once upon a time, the abbot
Macarius visited the abbot Antony, and after conversing with him returned to Scetis. The
fathers came out to meet him, and as they talked, the old man said to them, ‘I told the
abbot Antony that we have no offering [of the eucharist] in our place.’ And the fathers
began to talk of other things, and did not enquire of the old man what he had answered;
and the old man did not tell them. One of the fathers has said that when fathers see that
the brethren do not ask them questions about a thing that would do them good, they
constrain themselves to begin the subject, but if the brethren then do not constrain them
[to continue], they say no more, that they may not be found like those who speak when no
one asks them, and the conversation is only froth.”

16 “The abbot Vitimius related that the abbot said: Once, as I sat at Scetis, two young
strangers came down there. One had a beard, the other the beginnings of a beard. They came
to me, saying, ‘Where is the cell of abbot Macarius? And I said, ‘What do you want with
him? They said, ‘We have heard of him and of Scetis, and we came to see him. I said, ‘I am
he. And they begged pardon, saying, ‘We wish to stay here. Seeing that they looked
delicately nurtured, and as if they came from a home of wealth, I said to them, ‘You
cannot settle here. The elder of them said, ‘If we cannot settle here, we must go
elsewhere. I said to my own thoughts, ‘Why should I persecute them and be a cause of
offence to them? The difficulties will soon make them run away of themselves. And I said
to them, ‘Come, make yourselves a cell, if you can. They said, ‘Show us a place, and we
will make one. The old man gave them a hatchet, and a wrap full of bread, and some salt,
and showed them a hard piece of rock, saying, ‘Quarry here, and fetch yourselves wood from
the marsh, and make a thatch, and settle. I thought to myself, he said, that they would
take themselves off because of the labour. But they asked me, what they should work at
here.

17 I said, ‘Plaiting,’ and I took palm leaves from the marsh, and showed them how to start
a plait, and how to sew them up, and said, ‘Make your baskets, and give them to the
guards, and they will bring you bread. Then I went away. But they patiently did all that I
had told them, and they never came to me for three years. And I remained wrestling with my
thoughts, saying, How then are they getting on with their business, that they have not
come to ask advice? Those from afar come to me, but these who are near have never come.
Nor did they go to others. They only went to church, in silence, to receive the offering.
And I prayed to God, with a week of fasting, to show me their business; and after the week
I arose and went to them, to see how they were situated. When I knocked, they opened, and
greeted me in silence, and I said a prayer and sat down. And the elder beckoned to the
younger to go out, and sat down to weave his plait without saying a word. And at the hour
of none he knocked, and the younger came, and made a little gruel, and at a sign from the
elder he set a table, and put on it three biscuits, and stood in silence. Then I said,
‘Rise, let us eat’; and we stood and ate; and he brought the water-bowl, and we drank.
When evening came, they said to me, ‘Art thou going?

18 I said, ‘No, I will sleep here. And they laid me a mat by myself apart, and another for
themselves in a corner, and they took off their girdles, and their wrappers, and laid
themselves down together on their mat before me. When they were laid down, I prayed to God
to show me their business; and the roof was opened, and it became as light as day, but
they did not see the light. And when they thought that I was asleep, the elder touched the
younger one on the side, and they got up, and girded themselves, and stretched their hands
towards heaven. And I saw them, without their seeing me. And I beheld the devils coming at
the younger one like flies: some attempted to settle on his mouth, and some on his eyes;
and I beheld an angel of the Lord holding a sword of fire, and making a rampart round him,
and driving off the devils. They could not get near the elder. About daybreak they lay
down, and I made as though I awoke, and they likewise. The elder said to me this and no
more, ‘Wouldest thou that we should say the twelve psalms? I said, ‘Yes. And the younger
sang five psalms of six verses and an Alleluia, and at each verse a torch of fire came out
of his mouth and went up to heaven. Likewise when the elder opened his mouth to sing,
there came out like a cable of fire and reached to heaven.

19 I also repeated a little by heart; and as I went out I said, ‘Pray for me. They bowed
to me in silence. So I knew that the elder one was perfect, but that the enemy was still
warring with the younger. A few days later, the elder brother fell asleep; and on the
third day after, the younger; and when some of the fathers visited the abbot Macarius, he
took them to their cell, saying, ‘Come, see the martyrdom of the little strangers.’ ” 20
“The abbot Paphnutius, the disciple of the abbot Macarius, related that the old man said,
‘When I was a boy, I was tending calves with the other boys, and they went to steal figs;
and as they ran, one of the figs dropped, and I picked it up and ate it; and when I
remember it, I sit and weep.’ ” 21 “They related of abbot Macarius the Egyptian, that one
day he was going up from Scetis to the Nitrian hills, and when he drew near the place, he
said to his disciple, ‘Go a little in front.’ And as he walked in front, he met a certain
heathen priest, and the brother called out to him, crying, ‘Aha, devil, where art thou
running?’ The man turned, and beat him well, and left him half killed, and took up his
stick and ran. When he got a little further, the abbot Macarius met him, and said to him,
‘Salvation to thee, weary one.’ Surprised at this, the man came to him and said, ‘What
good sawest thou in me, that thou didst accost me?’ The old man said to him, ‘Because I
saw thee tired, and thou knowest not that thy labour is in vain.’ The other said to him,
‘And I was touched by thy salutation, and saw that thou art on God’s side; but another bad
monk met me and insulted me, and I beat him to death.’ And the old man knew that it was
his disciple. Then the priest seized him by the feet and said, ‘I will not leave thee till
thou makest a monk of me.’ Then they went up to where the monk was, and they carried him,
and brought him into the church of the hill. And when they saw the priest with him, they
were astonished; and they made him a monk, and many of the heathens became Christians
because of him. Therefore the abbot Macarius said that a bad word makes even good people
bad, but a good word turns bad people into good.”

2. HIS WRITINGS

22 Such was the man. It was hardly to be expected that he would prove to be a great
writer. Neither Evagrius nor Palladius makes mention of any literary work of his.
Gennadius, who about a hundred years later composed a little book of biographical notices
of Christian authors, knew of “only one epistle” of Macarius, addressed “to younger men of
his profession,” in which he taught that by continual striving against everything that is
agreeable in this life, together with prayer to God, it is possible to gain a kind of
natural purity, to which self-restraint becomes easy. This epistle cannot now with
certainty be identified. As a matter of fact, a considerable number of epistles and other
short writings exist, either in Greek or in Syriac and other translations, which are
ascribed to Macarius. Of their genuineness it is not necessary here to dispute. It is
quite possible that at least one prayer contained in Migne’s edition of his works is
really his.

23 The ascription of our Homilies to Macarius the Egyptian rests upon no external
evidence. It rests only upon the manuscripts containing them and the internal evidence
which they present. That internal evidence has been well drawn out by Bishop Gore in the
Journal of Theological Studies, vol. viii. p. 85 ff., and is shown to accord with the date
and circumstances of Macarius. The author is one who has known men who suffered in the
great persecution, the persecution of Diocletian, which began in 303 (Hom. XXVII. 15). The
wars from which he draws his illustrations are those between the Roman and the Persian
empires, still equal rivals for dominion (Hom. XV. 46, XXVII. 22). There are no signs of
the Nestorian controversy having come into Egypt. The scenery is exactly that of the Egypt
of the fourth century, with its educational system (Hom. XV. 42), its nomenclature for the
months (Hom. V. 9, cp. XLVII. 7), its collectors of customs-duties, worse there than
anywhere, lying in wait to pounce upon wayfarers like devils on bad men when they die
(Hom. XLIII. 9), particularly of the Egypt of the desert and its special temptations, its
belief in angels and devils, its sometimes quaint, sometimes (we may hope) misleading
reminiscences or imaginations of the secular life which had been left behind, its
spiritual ambitions.

24 It is, however, difficult to make sure whether Macarius himself wrote the Homilies down
in their present form. That they represent addresses actually delivered appears clearly.
Passages from the Apophthegmata above quoted show that Macarius was often invited to
“speak a word,” to “say something,” to monks whom he visited. These Homilies are for the
most part such as might well have been delivered on occasions of the kind. The fervour and
directness of the appeal in most of them does not suggest composition in the cell, with no
concrete hearers in view. And many of them consist largely in questions and answers. The
questions are often only remotely connected with the subject with which the Homily begins.
It appears as if the enquirer had long been bursting with his question, and seized the
opportunity of the great teacher’s visit, irrespective of the matter in hand. Some
disciple skilled in shorthand has taken notes of what passed, and thrown them into the
form of a “Homily,” which means, strictly, a conversation. Yet, on the other hand, the
last of the fifty Homilies concludes by describing either that Homily itself or the whole
collection as being of the nature of an “epistle,” addressed to a body of well-disposed
readers. In the Bodleian MS., as a kind of title to the collection, occur the words “First
Epistle of our holy father Macarius the Egyptian to the Abbot Symeon of Mesopotamia of
Syria,” and the seven additional Homilies, first printed by Mr. Marriott in 1918, are
prefaced in that MS.

25 and in its daughter at Holkham by the words, “A Second Epistle of the same divine monk
our father Macarius to the Abbot Symeon, the ascetic of Mesopotamia of Syria, and to the
rest of the brethren that are with him. It has even been contended that the fifty Homilies
are the “one epistle” of which Gennadius knew. As the “second epistle” undoubtedly
contains matter belonging to a date later than the death of Macarius, it might have been
conjectured that both collections were put together in the fifth century by a disciple of
the great abbot, and sent, with an interval of time between them, to the Syrian ascetic.
But the first Homily of the second collection begins in proper letter form, “Macarius to
the beloved and like-minded brethren in the Lord. Peace be multiplied unto you exceeding
abundantly from the Lord,” etc. Macarius must therefore himself have sent the collections
in some form or other to his correspondents. How the later matter got into the second
collection need not concern us at present. The fifty Homilies contain no such perplexing
element. They are homogeneous in form, thought, and style, and there appears to be nothing
in them inconsistent with their attribution to the great Egyptian. At the same time, it is
possible that some of the prolixities and unnecessary repetitions which occasionally mar
the artistic effect of the Homilies may be due to the hand of Symeon Metaphrastes, or
whoever it was that inserted into his collection the fourth of the seven new Homilies.

26 Perhaps it was the same hand which threw the material which he found into the form of
the present fifty. Some of the fifty are so long that they could hardly have been
delivered as they stand, while others are so short as to appear to be fragments. Some have
so little internal cohesion that they might well have been made up of disjointed pieces,
or be the result of a succession of “questions” which are not recorded in the MSS. as we
now have them. The headings of the Homilies may be the work of the same editor. But in
spite of these defects of form the Homilies as a whole bear the stamp of individuality,
and proceed from a master mind.

3. HIS TEACHING

27 The Homilies are well described as “spiritual” Homilies. That is their purpose and
their character. They are not dogmatic; they are not controversial; they are not
expository; they are not concerned with the politics or the expansion of the church; they
have little to say about the Christian’s duty to his fellow-men. There is a strange
aloofness about them. The struggles of the Nicene faith against Arianism, the last
struggle of Paganism against Christianity under Julian, the Meletian schism which rent the
church of Egypt in twain, wake no echo in them. They have but one object, to help to bring
individual souls to God in perfect self-subdual and absolute devotion. The persons to whom
they are addressed are all monks Macarius can, indeed, contemplate the possibility of
people in the world being saved. Saints of God, he says, may be found sitting in the
theatres, apparently looking on at the performance, while their hearts are holding
intercourse with God (XV. 8, cp. XXIX. 1). It is part of Christian perfection to pass no
judgment upon those who remain in the world, not even upon those whose lives are
notoriously bad (XVIII. 8, cp. XLII. 2). But to Macarius and those to whom he speaks it is
the obvious and only natural thing, that when a man hears the word of God, he should
forsake the world as they themselves had done, and withdraw to the wilderness. The call of
the Gospel can scarcely take any other form (XI. 6 ff.). Christian and monk are almost
convertible terms (XXXVIII. 1). For a system of social ethics a man must go to some other
teacher than Macarius. God and the soul, the soul and God—this is his topic.

28 Even about God Macarius does not give much direct teaching. He rather assumes that his
hearers know the truth, and only need to apply it. “God is infinite and incomprehensible”
(XVI. 5), and is therefore even “in” hell, “in” Satan: to exclude Him would be to limit
Him. Macarius labours to explain, when questioned, how this can be. His doctrine of the
relation between the Divine Persons is wholly that of Athanasius, though it is implied
rather than taught. Once the great key-word is used, in passing, in an ascription: “Glory
to the consubstantial Trinity for ever” (XVII. 15). That the Son is all that this word
implies is seen from the way in which Macarius passes from the one Person to the other, so
that sometimes it is not easy to say at once which he is speaking of. He dwells with
delight upon the Incarnation, which brought God within man’s reach. “The infinite,
inaccessible, uncreated God, through His infinite and inconceivable kindness, embodied
Himself, and, if I may say so, diminished Himself from His inaccessible glory, to make it
possible for Him to be united with His visible creatures” (IV. 9 ff.). It was the outcome
of a charity and a compassion which extends to all mankind. The Lord wills to beget all
men anew of the seed of His Godhead, and is grieved if they will not come to the new
birth, after all that He suffered for them (XXX. 2 ff.). “God and the holy angels are in
tears” over such souls (I. 11).

29 The mode of the Incarnation was full of significance: “instead of bringing with Him a
body from heaven, the Lord made a new thing from the Ever-Virgin Mary, and put this on”
(XI. 9). In it He endured unlimited humiliation: “the Lord Himself, who is the Way, and is
God, when He came for thy sake, not for His own … see to what humiliation He came.… When
they spat in His face, and put on Him the crown of thorns … God for thy sake humbled
Himself” (XXVI. 25 ff.). His manhood was no fiction. If at one time Macarius seems to
attribute Christ’s overthrow of Satan to His divine immunity to evil (XXVI. 15), at
another he takes a deeper view: as the serpent overcame Adam by pride and self-esteem, so
“Christ took upon Him the form of a servant and conquered the devil by humility” (XXVII.
5). Macarius makes no attempt to formulate a doctrine of the Atonement. It is enough for
him that Christ’s death is a conquest of death, because death had no claim upon Him, as it
has upon us (XI. 10); that we are saved by it like the bird in the Law which was dipped in
the blood of its fellow (XLVII. 2), or the Israelites whose houses were sealed by the
blood of the Passover (XLVII. 8). There is no salvation except in Christ. This is
everywhere the doctrine of Macarius:

30 with true evangelical fervour he returns again and again to the cry, “Behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (e.g. XXVIII. 6). Yet it is not to what
Christ once did for us that Macarius most characteristically turns, but to what He is, to
what He is now. He exhausts the power of language to set this forth: “Himself in thee made
all things—Paradise, Tree of Life, pearl, crown, builder, husbandman, sufferer, incapable
of suffering, man, God, wine and living water, lamb, bridegroom, warrior, armour, Christ
all in all” (XXXI. 4). His teaching of the person and work of the Spirit is rich and
abundant, but presents no novelty. Once there appears a trace of the primitive (but not
scriptural) identification of the Holy Spirit with the as yet not incarnate Word (XII. 6.
ff). Frequently, like the New Testament itself, Macarius passes from the action of the
Spirit to that of Christ, or from the action of Christ to that of the Spirit, without
noting the transition. It is not that he is unaware of the difference; but for the moment
the mode of the divine operation does not concern him. What the Spirit does, God does.

31 The aloofness of these Homilies extends even to the church and its ordinances. Not that
Macarius despises them. In one place he speaks of Peter as having succeeded Moses and
Aaron—and Caiaphas—as trustee of “Christ’s new church and the true priesthood”; but it is
in order to show that even such an one, so long as he is in the flesh, has reason to fear
lest he should fail (XXVI. 23). Once he refers to resorting “to the place of prayer”; but
it is to insist that the Christian ought to “have the remembrance of God” quite as much
with him when walking, or eating, or talking (XLIII. 3). That he valued the reception of
the holy eucharist is certain from the story told by Palladius of the woman who had laid
herself open to bewitchment by going for five weeks without it (p. vii). When asked to
explain what it was that eye had not seen, nor ear heard, till Christianity came, he
answers among other things that the Old Testament saints never knew “that in the church
bread and wine should be offered, the symbol of [the Redeemer’s] flesh and blood, and that
those who partake of the visible bread eat spiritually the flesh of the Lord” (XXVII. 17).
But there is nothing in these Homilies like the wonderful Fourth Book of the Imitatio
Christi. In general, when Macarius speaks of Christ as the bread of life, the reference is
mystical, not sacramental. “The Lord,” he says, “embodies Himself even in meat and drink”;

32 but He makes Himself “meat” for the refreshment of the faithful in the same sense as He
becomes a well of water springing up within them (IV. 12). Baptism, like the eucharist, is
one of the peculiar glories of Christianity; but it is the “baptism of fire and of the
Holy Ghost” (XXVII. 17), of which the sacrament of baptism—no doubt through the fault of
the recipients—often falls deplorably short. Here is the appeal to facts. “If you say …
that after baptism evil is no more at liberty to argue in the heart, do you not know that
from the advent of the Lord to this day all that have been baptized have had bad thoughts
at times?… All the worldly people dwelling within the pale of the church, are their hearts
spotless and pure? (XV. 14). The seal, the unction, which form a part of the initiatory
sacrament of the church, are represented in these Homilies only by their spiritual
counterparts. We must seek “to have the brand and seal of the Lord upon us” (XII. 13). If
the anointing oil under the Old Testament made men kings, how much more profit is there in
the only unction for which Macarius seems to care, the unction of the inner man with the
Holy Ghost the Comforter (XVII. 1, cp. XV. 35). It has been well pointed out by a modern
teacher of the religion of experience that St. Paul nowhere appeals “to the man already in
Christ to seek the baptism of the Spirit.

33 But this is what Macarius does again and again. To find the new birth, to become a
Christian, to be made a child of God, to receive the gift of the Spirit, this is the
object of every effort. It is not the equipment with which a man under the gospel starts
on his career towards perfection; it is the crowning grace which perfects him after he has
passed faithfully through a thousand temptations and years of self-mastery (e.g. IX. 10,
13; XI. 6), to be sought by incessant prayer. 34 In a life such as Macarius contemplates,
Holy Scripture naturally occupies an important place. He is not himself one of the great
interpreters of Scripture, but he has a wide range of acquaintance with it. “Reading” is
one of the normal occupations of those whom he addresses; it is of course the reading of
the Bible (III. 1, 2; cp. XXIX. 6). The Bible is given us by God, as a king may send a
letter to inform his subjects of privileges to be had on application. It is ill for those
who know the offer and will not avail themselves of it (XXXIX. 1). Macarius uses the
promises with all the literal earnestness of a Bunyan or a John Newton. When Satan seeks
to depress us by reminding us of our sins, we are to answer, “I have the testimonies of
the Lord in writing, that say, I desire not the death of the sinner” (XI. 15). But the
true Christian will not rest his assurance only upon the written word, but will seek the
impression of the Spirit upon his inner consciousness (XV. 20). It is a natural and holy
impulse which makes a believer wish to impart to others the word which has proved helpful
to himself; and Macarius draws an unfavourable picture of the man who is so intoxicated
with the revelations made to him that he is unable to think of the needs of others or to
minister the word to them (VIII. 4). But he has heart-searching things to say about those
who attempt to edify others by “words borrowed from various parts of the Bible” without
having themselves the experience of their spiritual force (XVIII. 5). When all is said and
done, Macarius teaches that even the most inspired words, full of divine efficacy, are
inadequate to convey all that they suggest. “The word is like a shadow of the truth of
Christ” (XXX. 1).

35 It is in dealing with human nature and its strivings after perfection that Macarius is
seen at his greatest, though even here we are not to look for a logical system, or an
exact science. A few broad principles are postulated; and the rest is the result of
experience. The nomenclature is not, as a rule, the nomenclature of the schools of
philosophy. It is tentative, a little wavering, the outcome of the noble experiment, still
new, of the solitudes of the desert. 36 And first, Macarius insists upon the greatness of
the human soul. It is no part of Christian humility to think meanly of what we are by
nature. Quite the contrary. “The soul in itself is neither of the nature of the Godhead,
nor of the nature of the darkness of wickedness, but is a creature intellectual,
beauteous, great, and wonderful, a fair likeness and image of God” (I. 7). However
wonderful God’s other creations are, God does not find in them satisfaction and “rest,” as
He does in the soul of man—no, not even in Michael and Gabriel (XV. 22). This is a point
to which Macarius returns so frequently that it seems to be taken from an authority like
that of Scripture (see e.g. XVI. 7, XXVI. 1, XLV. 5). The worth of the soul can only be
measured by the price which God was prepared to pay for it (XV. 43 ff.). It is akin to
God, though with a folly which the animals do not share it does not recognise its kindred
(XLV. 5, 6). Its “subtilty” is so great that earthly wisdom fails to comprehend it (XLIX.
4). It is capable of infinite distention under the power of the Spirit (XLVI. 5). Even
without the help of grace, it moves at large throughout all creation, annihilating space
in its fleetness and nimbleness (XLVI. 4; cp. XII. 12). This belief must be borne in mind
when we find Macarius elsewhere asserting that souls, like the angels, or the devils, have
a “body” of their own. (IV. 9; cp. VII. 7). It is his way of asserting that each has its
special characteristics, limitations, and idiosyncrasies, which give it a kind of outline,
and, in the case of man, prescribe also the bodily configuration.

37 “For soul is form, and doth the body make.” From the current psychology of the schools
Macarius borrows the word which describes the intelligence as the guiding or ruling
principle of the soul (ἡγεμονικόν XXV. 3; cp. XL. 5). But he has hardly made the
definition his own. He loves rather to dwell upon the complexity of man’s inner
constitution. “The soul has many members, intelligence, conscience, will, thoughts
accusing and excusing; but all these are dependent upon one factor (εἰς ἔνα λογισμόν).”
This “factor” is what we should call the personality, or ego. Macarius calls it the soul.
“They are members of the soul, and the soul is one, the inward man” (VII. 8): the mind is
“the eye of the soul” (ibid.). Elsewhere Macarius gives a different enumeration. The soul
s ruling, or “more kingly,” factors “are the will, the conscience, the intelligence, and
the faculty of love” (I. 3). Elsewhere again he speaks of “the five rational (or
spiritual) senses of the soul,” corresponding to the physical senses of the body (IV. 7),
but without specifying them. In one place he seems to make conscience the supreme
governing power of the soul; or perhaps he identifies it with the intelligence when the
intelligence is brought to bear upon the moral aspects of conduct. “The heart has a
captain in the intelligence, the conscience which is ever judging us.… It is the
intelligence and conscience that chides and guides the heart, and calls from sleep the
natural faculties.… For the soul has many members, though it is but one” (XV. 33, 34).
Macarius never tires of impressing this unity of the soul in its multiplicity of “members”
(e.g. XV. 7, XLI. 1, L. 4).

38 Such is the constitution of the soul; but as things are, it is all plunged into
disorder. No one has ever taken more seriously the doctrine of the Fall than Macarius
does. It would be scarcely an exaggeration to say that there is some reference to it on
every page. To “the transgression of the commandment” all our disasters and our
difficulties are traced. It has vitiated our moral nature. “One thing foreign to our
nature, the disaster of the passions, we have received into ourselves through the first
man’s disobedience, and it has taken its place as almost a part of our nature by long
custom and propensity” (IV. 8). “From the time that Adam transgressed the commandment the
serpent entered in and made himself master of the house, and became like a second soul
beside the soul” (XV. 35). Through man, the mischief penetrated to all creation. “When the
evil word came to Adam … he first received it by the outward hearing, then it penetrated
through his heart, and took possession of all his being. When he was thus seized,
creation, which served him and ministered to him, was seized with him. Through him, death
reigned over every soul, and defaced every image of Adam” (XI. 5). The taint has become
hereditary. Macarius knows of some “who say that evil is not born and bred in man” (XV.
21), but they are mistaken.

39 “We all are his sons of that dark race; … the malady from which he suffered, we all who
are of Adam’s seed suffer from the same” (XXX. 8, cp. XXIV. 2). It rendered man liable to
bodily disease, (XLVIII. 5). Its primary effect upon the soul, from which all flows, is to
“darken” it. By this Macarius means that the Fall has dulled all man’s perceptions,
especially with regard to moral truth. Man has so lost this perception as to be
unconscious of the loss. “The world that you see round you, from the king to the beggar,
are all in confusion and disorder and battle, and none of them knows the reason, or that
it is the manifestation of the evil which crept in through Adam’s disobedience, the sting
of death.… The sin that crept in works upon the inner man without being detected.… Men are
not aware that they are doing these things at the instigation of a foreign force. They
think it all to be natural, and that they do these things of their own determination,
while [Christians] know very well the source of these movements. The world is subject to
the lust of evil, and knows it not” (XV. 48 ff.). Macarius does not admit that the evil
which has invaded us is actually a substantive thing (ἐνυπόστατον): those who so affirm
know nothing. “To God there is no substantive evil … but in us it works with full force
and makes itself felt, suggesting all foul concupiscence” (XVI. 1).

40 It is “a kind of invisible power of Satan, and a reality (οὐσία)” (XV. 49). “To us evil
is a real thing, because it dwells and works in the heart, suggesting wicked and defiling
thoughts, and not allowing us to pray purely, but bringing our mind into captivity to this
world. It has clothed itself with our souls, and touched even our bones and members” (XVI.
6), It is like a kind of evil leaven which has grown and increased with the increase of
the race “to such an extent that they have come to think that there is no God, and to
worship inanimate stones, and to be unable so much as to take in the notion of a God”
(XXIV. 2). 41 The case was desperate; but Macarius says that not all was lost. That could
not be, so long as man “lives, and discerns, and has the power of will” (XXVI. 1). The
contest which gathers round the names of Augustine and Pelagius had not begun; but
Macarius had already heard of some who went too far in their depreciation of fallen
nature. “It is not as some say, who are led astray by wrong teachings, that man is dead
once for all, and cannot accomplish anything good whatever” (XLVI. 3). What Macarius
thought that man could still do we shall see presently; but meanwhile the utmost that he
could do could not avail to restore or save him. No evangelical Christian of modern times
can be more emphatic on the point than he. “Only the appearing of Christ is able to
cleanse soul and body” (XLV. 3). “If thou hadst been able to do it, what need was there of
the coming of the Lord? As the eye cannot see without light, as a man cannot speak without
a tongue, or hear without ears … so he cannot be saved without Jesus, nor enter into the
kingdom of heaven” (III. 4). “If any one takes his stand upon his own righteousness and
redemption, not looking for the righteousness of God, which is the Lord (as the apostle
says, ‘Who is made to us righteousness and redemption’) he labours in vain and to no
purpose. All the dream of a righteousness of his own is at the last day manifested as
nothing but filthy rags” (XX. 3). Man “was so sore wounded that none could cure him, but
the Lord only” (ibid. 5), “Moses came, but he could not bestow a complete cure.… Every
righteousness of the soul [under the law] was unavailing to heal man, until the Saviour
came, the true Physician, who cures without cost, who gave Himself a ransom for mankind”
(ibid. 6; cp. XXX. 8).

42 What, then, is man’s part in the work, and what, besides the cost of the Incarnation
and the Sacrifice, is God’s? Where does grace come in, and where the will of man? 43 It
must be remembered that the aim of Macarius is strictly practical, that he is not setting
forth a scheme of Christian doctrine, but appealing to companies of men whose temptation
is to think that they have done all that is required of them in renouncing the world, and
to become indolent and secure. This may be a reason why he does not make much of the ideas
of predestination and election and vocation, and of the initial grace which starts the
Christian on his distinguishing career. Such thoughts lead naturally to complacency. His
view is that all men would like to be good (XVII. 15), though they will not take the
trouble to become so. Mere wishing will not do it. A man may wish to fly, but he cannot.
“So the will is present with a man to be pure and blameless and without spot; but he has
not the power” (II. 3). Some men, indeed, are bad because they choose to be bad; but
others are bad in spite of themselves. They fight against it and resent it, but do not
succeed in overcoming it. “These are far nobler and more honourable in God’s eyes than the
other” (XXVII. 2), and no doubt receive a better lot hereafter from a righteous Judge,
whose awards in heaven and hell admit of infinite gradations (XL. 3 ff.). Even among those
who hear the call of the gospel, not all respond to it. “If merely hearing made a man to
belong without more ado to the good, then all the theatre-people and the whoremongers will
go into the kingdom and the life” (XXVII. 20). The call, then, goes out universally, but
only particular souls benefit by it, namely those who choose to accept it.

44 The freedom of the will is a main article in the creed of Macarius. Nothing takes it
away. God Himself respects it. He will do nothing to force it. The apostles would have
been glad to heal all the sick in the places that they came to; but they were not allowed,
for if they had done so, faith would have been extorted from everybody. “Men and their
free will would have been planted in God’s service by compulsory force” (XXVI. 6). If
Christians did not die, like others, “the whole world would come over by a kind of
compulsion, not by a voluntary decision.” Providence orders things thus, “that the freedom
of will which God gave man at the beginning might abide” (XV. 39 ff.). “If it were
possible to succeed without effort, Christianity would no longer be a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offence. There would be no faith and unbelief. You would make man a creature
of necessity,” like the sun and the earth, for which there can be no praise or blame,
reward or punishment (XXVII. 21, cp. XV. 22). From the outset to the finish, all depends
upon man’s free will.

45 Macarius accordingly represents God as waiting upon the movement of man’s will. God and
the devil both desire to gain him. “The soul is in the middle between the two
subsistences, and to whichever side the will of the soul inclines, of that side it becomes
a possession and a son” (XXVI. 24). It is like a babe on the floor, which cannot get up
and go to its mother, but has just the power to roll towards her and cry to her, and when
God sees that movement of the soul, He comes to it and takes it up (XLVI. 3). Man cannot
do a great deal, but what he can do, he must. “It is not possible or within a man’s
competence to root out sin by his own power, [but] to wrestle against it, to fight against
it, to give and receive blows, is thine; to uproot is God’s” (III. 4, cp. XXVII. 22).
“That the war comes upon you is not your doing; but to hate it is; and then the Lord,
seeing your mind, that you are striving … parts death from your soul” (XXVI. 18). “What is
man’s working? To renounce, to go out of the world, to pray when it is hard, to be on the
watch, to love God and the brethren—this is his own doing,” though he needs much in
addition (ibid., 19, cp. XLVI. 2). God therefore meets man’s natural efforts with a
corresponding grace.

46 “The things which you do yourself are all very well, and acceptable to God, but they
are not quite pure. For instance, you love God, but not perfectly. The Lord comes and
gives a love which is unchangeable, the heavenly love. You pray in the natural manner,
with wandering and doubt. God gives you the pure prayer, in spirit and in truth” (XXVI.
21). “The man to whom He gives help is the one who turns away from material pleasures and
from his former habits, who drags his mind at all times to the Lord, whether it will or
no, who denies himself, and seeks the Lord only. This is the man whom He keeps under His
care” (IV. 5). Again and again Macarius speaks of help coming “when the Lord sees” that
the soul is in earnest, but He holds His hand till then. 47 If it should seem that too
much is thus left for man to do, Macarius answers that nothing is required of him but what
lies within his power. He often uses the expression that man is a “match” for the power
opposed to him. “The mind, as I have said many times, is an even match for it, and
possesses a power that is well balanced against sin, to withstand and repel its
suggestions. If you say that the opposing power is too strong, and that evil has complete
sovereignty over man, you make God unrighteous, when He condemns man for submitting to
Satan.… ‘It is as though a young man should wrestle with a little child, and the child,
when he is worsted, is condemned for getting worsted. This is a great injustice.’ I tell
you that the human mind is a good match for the enemy, and evenly balanced against him;
and a soul of that kind, when it seeks, finds help and succour, and redemption is
vouchsafed to it. The contest and struggle is not an unequal one” (III. 5). The
description takes almost an epic form. The Persians and the Romans are in opposing camps,
and “two winged youths of equal powers “come out and engage in a struggle between the
lines: “so the opposing force and the mind are in equipoise” (XXVII. 22). Macarius repeats
a former simile. “Those who say that sin is like a mighty giant, and the soul like a
little child, are wrong. If things were so ill-matched … the Lawgiver would be unjust, in
having given man a law to struggle against Satan” (ibid., cp. XV. 23). The tempter is,
after all, in God’s hands, and God only “lets him loose upon men by a kind of measure,” as
a man suits the burden to his beast (XXVI. 3).

48 Macarius holds out no great hope of the struggle being ended before death. On the one
hand, Satan is remorseless and relentless in his siege; and, on the other, man always
remains free to change. “You see how alterable this nature is. You find it inclining to
evil, you find it again inclining to good. In both cases it is in a position to assent to
such action as it likes. Nature is susceptible both of good and of evil, either of Divine
grace or of the contrary power, but is under no compulsion” (XV. 25). “In the depth of
wickedness and the bondage of sin a man is at liberty to turn to what is good. A man bound
over to the Holy Spirit, and inebriated with heavenly things, has power to turn to evil”
(ibid., 36, cp. 40). “I assure you that freedom of choice remains even in perfect
Christians, who are subjugated to what is good and intoxicated with it.… You may believe
me that even the apostles, perfected as they were in grace, were not hindered by that
grace from doing as they desired.” Macarius gives instances of the apostles’ wrongdoing.
When questioned upon the point, he answers that the apostles “could not sin”—no doubt in
the sense of giving themselves up to it—“because they could not choose to sin, being in
light and in such grace. I do not say that grace in them was weak. What I say is that
grace permits even perfect spiritual persons to have the use of their will, and power to
do what they choose, and to turn in which direction they like. And human nature, which is
weak, has power to turn, even when good is present with it” (XXVII. 9 ff.). He tells many
warning tales of men who had received high measures of grace, and fallen away.

49 The purpose of this continual warfare is, of course, to test the sincerity and
steadfastness of man’s will. This thought recurs continually, and hardly needs
illustration. “Man’s resolution in combat and strife, and his genuine worth, and his
goodwill towards God, are then shown when grace withdraws and he will still be brave and
cry to God” (XVI. 13). So Macarius interprets the story of Job. “So it is still with those
who endure afflictions and temptations; Satan is ashamed and sorry, because he has got
nothing by it. The Lord begins to reason with him: ‘Behold I suffered thee to tempt him.
Wast thou able to do anything?’ ” (XXVI. 8). It seems to be God’s way to give the minimum
of grace that will be effective. This is partly to check spiritual pride. “The Lord knows
the man’s weakness, that he is easily lifted up. Therefore He withdraws, and permits the
man to be exercised and put to trouble” (XXVII. 8). But it has a more general purpose. “In
order that your free will and your liberty may be tested, which way it inclines, grace
makes way for sin” (ibid., 9). “Grace purposely withdraws, for the man’s good, and he
enters into training, and [eventually] becomes a Christian” (XXVII. 20). To some, “even
when they have withdrawn from the world,—and pass their time in much perseverance in
prayer and fasting … God does not immediately grant the grace and the refreshment and
rejoicing of the Spirit, being patient with them,” in the sense of Luke 18:7, i. e., being
willing to spend time over the business, instead of hurrying it on, “and reserving the
gift. This He does not idly, nor unseasonably, nor at random, but with unspeakable wisdom,
for the testing of their free will, to see whether they have counted God faithful and true
who promised” (XXIX. 2, cp. XLVII. 13).

50 All this reserve on God’s part, and laying so much upon the will of man, might seem to
lead up to something like a doctrine of human merit. Nothing could be further from the
teaching of Macarius. All is of God’s doing. “Never think that you have been beforehand
with the Lord in your virtue; it is He that worketh in you both to will and to do”
(XXXVII. 9). Is that not prevenient grace? In a noble passage Macarius speaks of the
inconceivable “minuteness “of God, which goes into every particular to effect the
salvation of man. He arranges for the afflictions which make a man think of giving up the
world. Then He teaches him that there is an inward renuntiation to be made, as well as the
outward. “And when thou deemest thyself to have done all by renouncing, the Lord taketh
account with thee. ‘Why dost thou boast? Did not I create thy body and thy soul? Did not I
make the gold and silver? What hast thou done? The soul begins to make confession, and to
beseech the Lord and say, ‘All things are Thine. The house I am in is Thine. My clothes
are Thine. From Thee is my food, and of Thee am I supplied for every need. Then the Lord
begins to reply, ‘I thank thee. The goods are thine own. The goodwill is thine own;

51 and because of thy love towards Me, since thou hast made Me thy refuge, come, I will
now give thee what hitherto neither thou hast gained, nor do men have it upon earth. Take
Me, thy Lord, with thine own soul, that thou mayest ever be with Me in joy and gladness’ ”
(XXXII. 8). Again, “This is the part of man, that whether he fasts, or keeps watch, or
prays, or does some fine thing, he should ascribe all to the Lord and say, ‘If God had not
enabled me, I could not have fasted, or prayed, or gone out of the world. In this way,
God, seeing your intention, that you ascribe to God the things that are yours, which you
do of your own nature, bestows upon you in return the things that are His, the spiritual
things, the divine and heavenly things” (XXVI. 20). Although the language may not be quite
that of St. Augustine or of the Council of Orange, Macarius does not differ from them in
meaning. The Lord, he says, “secretly helps” the man in his striving (XXI. 5). “Whatever
the soul may think fit to do of itself, whatever care and pains it may take … without the
cooperation of the Spirit … it is of no use for the heavenly places” (XXIV. 5). Indeed St.

52 Augustine’s famous saying, Fac quod iubes, is almost verbally anticipated by Macarius
when he speaks of the man who comes at last to doing all the commandments with ease, and
then corrects himself, “or rather, the Lord in him does His own commandments” (XIX. 2). 53
The result of this conception is a profound humility. The nearer a man approaches to
perfection, the more he is conscious how ill he has corresponded to the divine influence,
and that whatever success may have been gained is due to that influence, and not to
himself. And the humility thus formed combines with an ardent longing for better and
better things. “The soul that really loves God and Christ … esteems itself as having
wrought nothing, by reason of its insatiable aspiration after God. Though it should
exhaust the body with fastings, with watchings, its attitude towards the virtues is as if
it had not yet even begun to labour for them” (X. 4). “Until a man … makes progress, he is
not poor in spirit, but has some opinion of himself; but … grace itself teaches him to be
poor in spirit, which means that a man, being righteous and chosen of God, does not esteem
himself to be anything, but holds his soul in abasement and disregard, as if he knew
nothing and had nothing, though he knows and has” (XII. 3). “The sign of Christianity is
this … to say continually, ‘It is not mine; another has put this treasure in my charge. I
am a poor man, and when He pleases, He takes it from me … I am not fit for this sun to
shine upon me. This is the sign of Christianity, this humility” (XV. 37; cp. XXVI. 11,
XLI. 2).

54 “Such an one despises himself beyond all sinners, and holds this notion implanted in
him as if by nature, and the further he advances in the knowledge of God, the more he
considers himself an ignoramus. It is grace which ministers this effect, and makes it like
a part of nature in the soul” (XVII. 12; cp. XXVII. 5). This was Christ’s way of
conquering the devil, “and howsoever thou mayest be humbled, thou wilt never do anything
like thy Master” (XXVI. 26). The author of the Pilgrim’s Progress was not the first to
teach that “he that is down need fear no fall. Macarius had taught the safety of humility
before him. “The humble never falls. Whence indeed could he fall, being lower than all? A
proud mind is a great humiliation; a humble mind is a great exaltation and honour and
dignity” (XIX. 8). 55 The Homilies contain some wonderful passages about “the measures of
perfection,” which Macarius and his hearers were endeavouring to reach. The Eighth Homily
is given up to the subject. Macarius appears to be about to describe the various stages in
the spiritual progress. But if that was his intention he does not carry it into effect. He
leaves the “measures” undefined, but gives glimpses of spiritual experience which surpass
“measurement. Yet he avows that he has never seen “a perfect Christian, one completely
free” (VIII. 5). A daring disciple ventures to ask Macarius in what “measures” he is
himself. The reply can only be read with awe. There are other places, however, where
Macarius defines the highest point as the attainment of “charity” or “love. By it he means
an absolute and entire love of God for God’s own sake. It is characteristic of him to
regard it as a thing not of degrees or of progressive attainment, but marking a positive
and well-ascertained position. Other gifts “serve only as inducements” to attain it.
“Those who are contented with them are but children, though in the light. Many of the
brethren have come to such measures, and had gifts of healing and revelation and prophecy,
and because they did not reach the perfect charity, wherein lies the bond of perfectness,
war came upon them … and they fell. But if any one reaches the perfect love, that man is
from thenceforth fast bound, and is the captive of grace” (XXVI. 16; cp. XXVII. 14).

56 As a bride is not satisfied with her bridegroom’s gifts, but craves for the bridegroom
himself, “so the soul … receives as an earnest from the Spirit gifts of healings, it may
be, or of knowledge, or of revelation, but it is not satisfied with these, until it
attains the complete union, namely charity, which can never change nor fail, and which
sets those who have longed for it free from passion and from agitation” (XLV. 7). 57 Hard
though it is to attain these “perfect measures,” Macarius will not let us be daunted by
the difficulties. A more encouraging teacher it would not be easy to find. “Every day a
man should have the hope and the joy and the expectation of the coming kingdom and
deliverance, and to say, ‘If to-day I have not been delivered, I shall to-morrow.’ … If a
man does not keep before his eyes the joy and the hope … he cannot endure” (XXVI. 11). One
great element of evangelical comfort is, indeed, scarcely mentioned by name in the
Homilies—the forgiveness of sins. But the substance of it is always there, implied in the
patient kindness and helpfulness of God towards the striving soul. The striving is
everything. We must “not disbelieve that the grace of God has pleasure even in sinners
when they repent; for that which is bestowed according to grace is not measured by
comparison with previous infirmity; otherwise grace is no more grace” (XXXVII. 7). By an
anticipation of some of the most encouraging passages of Robert Browning, Macarius bids us
think that the virtuous soul is accepted “not because of what it has done, but because of
what it has desired” (ibid., 9).

58 It has been said above that Macarius in these Homilies is not much concerned with what
man owes to man. His main preoccupation is with the struggle of the solitary soul to find
God and to love Him aright. But Macarius discloses, if but incidentally, the Christian’s
concern for other men. His hearers, cut off from parents and kinsfolk, whom the Homilies
treat unsympathetically, as only so many encumbrances to be shaken off, live in some kind
of community, sometimes thirty together under a governor (III. 1). He encourages them to
seek the judgment of a spiritual man upon their state (XLVIII. 2). It is their duty to be
considerate for each other—for instance, not to pray in such a manner as to disturb the
brethren around them (VI. 3). To have an eye to the spiritual advantage of the brethren is
better than to be wholly wrapped up in the pursuit of one’s own (ibid., 4; cp. VIII. 4).
Instead of judging or envying others, we ought to feel that all are contributing to the
welfare of all, whatever the work assigned to us and to them may be (III.). “Though grace
works after a different manner in each individual Christian … yet all are of one city, of
the same mind, of the same tongue, recognising one another” (XII. 4). This fellowship
extends beyond the visible world.

59 As a merchant abroad sends word home to prepare for his return, so “if any are making
the heavenly wealth their merchandise, their fellow citizens, the spirits of saints and
angels, are aware of it, and say with admiration, ‘Our brethren on the earth have come
into great wealth. So they … come with mighty rejoicing to those above, and those who
belong to the Lord receive them, having prepared for them there houses, and gardens, and
clothes, all bright and costly” (XVI. 8). But it cannot be said that the relation of the
Christian to his fellow creatures occupies a prominent part in the teaching of these
Homilies. Macarius is even jealous that it should not become too prominent. “Even the
much-loved brethren, whom such a soul has under its eye, if they hinder it from that love
[of God], it turns from them, in a sense. Here speaks that aloofness of spirit which
allowed two “little strangers” to live for three years within a bowshot without once
interfering in their inward concerns.

60 Enough has been said about the nature of the teaching of these Homilies. They leave
upon the reader an impression of the tremendous reality of the contest in which the
Christian is engaged. Macarius insists frequently that these things are not to be regarded
as matters of words, or doctrines, or systems, but as practical truths of which the force
ought to be felt in experience (I. 10, 11). It is of comparatively little account to have
right theories on religious subjects. “It is one thing to give descriptive accounts with a
certain head-knowledge and correct notions, and another, in substance and reality, in full
experience, and in the inward man, and in the mind, to possess the treasure and the grace
and the taste and the effectual working of the Holy Ghost” (XXVII. 12). As Bishop Gore has
said, these Homilies “constitute one of the best guides to the spiritual life that the
church possesses.”

4. THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION

61 The fifty Homilies were first printed at Paris in 1559, by Morel, from a MS. in the
French King’s library. In 1562 a Latin translation by Picus was added; and in 1699 J. G.
Pritius published at Leipzig an edition of the works of Macarius then known, or attributed
to him, containing, amongst other pieces, the fifty Homilies. This was the standard
edition, till 1850, when H. J. Floss published at Köln a new and improved edition,
reprinted with further improvements and enrichments in Migne’s Patrologia Græca, vol.
xxxiv. The text as given in Migne has been taken as the basis of the present translation.
But the translator has employed in addition the two MSS. now to be found in English
libraries. The first of these is in the Bodleian Library (Cod. Baroccianus, 213). The
second is at Holkham, and belongs to the Earl of Leicester, who kindly allowed the
translator to collate it. The Holkham MS. is a direct transcript of the Bodleian, and only
varies from it in a few places. Where these MSS. differ from Floss’s text, their reading
has generally been found superior, and has been followed accordingly. As the translator
has wished the book to be rather a book of spiritual edification for the general reader
than an aid to the critical student, he has usually refrained from calling attention to
textual points. Those who have Migne’s text before them will kindly remember this when the
translation silently parts company with that text.

62 The work of Macarius has received but scanty attention from English scholars and
divines. The article upon him and his Alexandrian namesake in the Dictionary of Christian
Biography is little short of a scandal. Even so admirable and judicious a book as Dr.
Swete’s Patristic Study makes no reference to him. No edition of any text of his had
appeared by an English hand till Mr. G. L. Marriott in 1918 published from the Harvard
University Press the seven additional Homilies contained in the Bodleian and Holkham MSS.
The one happy exception to this conspiracy of neglect is the translation of the fifty
Homilies “by a Presbyter of the Church of England,” published in 1721. The “Presbyter” was
Thomas Haywood, and he used the Bodleian MS. as the basis of his translation. His book,
entitled Primitive Morality, or, The Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian, is
now not often found. The copy which the present translator is fortunate enough to possess
was given to him by the late Bishop of Gibraltar, William Edward Collins, who picked it up
on a bookstall. As long ago as 1893 the translator had remarked, in his book on The
Relation of Confirmation to Baptism, that “it seems strange that his Homilies have never
been brought to the knowledge of the modern church as a companion volume to the Imitation
of Christ.” He did not then know the work of Haywood. When he began the present
translation he was in hopes that he would not find it necessary to do more than modernise,
with some corrections, the translation of his predecessor. The hope proved illusory; and
though he has often borrowed a racy word or phrase from the “Presbyter,” he has been
compelled to work independently.

63 Perhaps some apology is needed for a certain freedom in the translation. No attempt has
been made to represent the same Greek word by the same English one throughout. Certain
words recur again and again, such as ἀναπαύεσθαι or ἐπαναπαύεσθαι, εὐδοκία, πληροφορία,
νοῦς, πάθη, λογισμός. They bear various shades of meaning, according to the context, and
it has been felt useless, to aim at a rigid uniformity of rendering. The translator has
wished to make the meaning and spirit of the saint felt through the English sentences,
rather than to secure a pedantic and tiresome literalness. God grant that those who read
may be moved to that “insatiable” desire after Him which breathes in all the Homilies. “If
you believe that these things are true, as indeed they are, take heed to yourself, whether
your soul has found the light to guide it, and the true meat and drink, which is the Lord.
If you have not, seek night and day, that you may receive” (XXXIII. 4).

ADDITIONAL NOTE

64 Since this book was set in type, two French scholars, Dom Villecourt and Dom Wilmart,
have endeavoured to prove that these Homilies are in fact a manual of the sect of the
Massalians or Euchites, who were condemned by various councils of the fourth and fifth
centuries. Their history may be seen in the Dictionary of Christian Biography, under the
name Euchites. The work of these two scholars is noticed, and accepted as convincing, by
the Rev. G. L. Marriott in the Journal of Theological Studies for April, 1921. That
certain propositions taken from these Homilies, and from the seven others referred to on
p. xviii, were used by the Euchites, and (as used by them) condemned, is certain. St. John
Damascene, in his de Haeresibus (vol. I, p. 95 in Le Quien’s edition of his works), gives
eighteen propositions of the Massalians “collected from a book of theirs.” He does not
name the author of the book. It would seem likely that it was the book called Asceticus,
from which extracts were read at the Council of Ephesus in 431. If so, the Asceticus must
have been largely based on these Homilies.

65 The second of the propositions, for instance, is “that Satan and the devils have hold
of the mind of men, and the nature of men is capable of communion with the spirits of
wickedness.” The first half of this sentence, severed from its context, is taken from Hom.
XXVII, 19; the second half occurs a few lines lower down in the same section. The
eighteenth proposition is based upon Hom. VIII, 3: it runs, “That the Saviour may be
manifested to those at prayer in light, and that a man was found at a certain time
standing by the altar and that three loaves were offered to him, kneaded with oil.”
Parallels to most of the other propositions could be found in the Homilies. Not all of
them, however, are taken from the Homilies, so that the Homilies cannot themselves be the
Euchite book from which St. John’s propositions are extracted. The origin of the Euchites,
as known to history, was in Mesopotamia. Our Homilies were not composed in that country.
The words of the title quoted on p. xviii, “Epistle … to the Abbot Symeon of Mesopotamia
in Syria,” are sufficient proof that they came from elsewhere. A certain Symeon, according
to Theodoret, was among the founders of the sect. It was a common name in the East, but
the Symeon to whom the Homilies were sent may well have made a harmful use of them, in a
heretical direction. Because they lent themselves to such treatment is not a sufficient
reason for doubting the authorship of Macarius, nor for ceasing, as Dom Wilmart
regretfully does, to regard the author as a doctor of the Catholic Church.

66 June 11, 1921.


FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
========================

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES continued

HOMILY I

An allegorical interpretation of the vision described in the prophet Ezekiel 1. THE
blessed prophet Ezekiel relates a glorious and inspired vision or apparition which he saw,
and his description is that of a vision full of mysteries unspeakable. He saw in the plain
a chariot of Cherubim, four spiritual living creatures. Each living creature had four
faces, one the face of a lion, another the face of an eagle, another the face of a calf,
and the fourth the face of a human being. To every face there were wings, so that there
were no hinder parts to any of them. Their backs were full of eyes; their bellies likewise
were thick set with eyes; there was no part about them that was not full of eyes. There
were also wheels to every face, wheel within wheel. In the wheels there was a Spirit. And
Ezekiel saw as it were the likeness of a man, and under his feet as it were a work of
sapphire. The Cherubim-chariot and the living creatures bore the Master who rode upon
them. Wheresoever He chose to go, it was with face forward. Beneath the Cherubim he saw as
it were a man’s hand supporting and carrying.

2. And this that the prophet saw was in substance true and certain, but it signified and
foreshadowed something else, mysterious and divine—a mystery hidden verily from ages and
from generations, but in the last times made manifest at the appearing of Christ. The
mystery which he beheld was that of the soul, that was to receive her Lord, and to become
a throne of glory for Him. For the soul that is privileged to be in communion with the
Spirit of His light, and is irradiated by the beauty of the unspeakable glory of Him who
has prepared her to be a seat and a dwelling for Himself, becomes all light, all face, all
eye; and there is no part of her that is not full of the spiritual eyes of light. That is
to say, there is no part of her darkened, but she is all throughout wrought into light and
spirit, and is full of eyes all over, and has no such thing as a back part, but in every
direction is face forward, with the unspeakable beauty of the glory of the light of Christ
mounted and riding upon her.

As the sun is of one likeness all over, without any part behind or inferior, but is all
glorified with light throughout, and is, indeed, all light, with no difference between the
parts,—or as fire, the very light of the fire, is alike all over, having in it no first or
last, or greater or less,—so also the soul that is perfectly irradiated by the unspeakable
beauty of the glory of the light of the face of Christ, and is perfectly in communion with
the Holy Ghost, and is privileged to be the dwelling-place and throne of God, becomes all
eye, all light, all face, all glory, all spirit, being made so by Christ, who drives, and
guides, and carries, and bears her about, and graces and adorns her thus with spiritual
beauty; for it says, the hand of a man was under the Cherubim, because He it is that is
carried upon her and directs her.

3. The four living creatures which bore the chariot were a symbol of the ruling factors of
the soul. As the eagle is the king of birds, and the lion of wild beasts, and the bull of
tame ones, and man of creatures in general, so the soul also has its ruling factors. They
are the will, the conscience, the intelligence, and the faculty of love. By these the
chariot of the soul is controlled, and upon these God rests. According to another
interpretation the symbolism is applied to the church of the saints in heaven. As it is
here said that the living creatures were exceeding high, and full of eyes, and it was not
possible for any one to apprehend the number of the eyes, or the height, because the
knowledge of these was not given; and as it is with the stars in the sky, to see and
wonder at them was given to all men, but to know and apprehend the number was not given;
and with the plants of the earth, to enjoy them was given to all, but it is impossible for
any one to know the number of them; so with regard to the church of the saints in heaven,
to enter into it and enjoy it was given to all who will but strive, but how to see and
apprehend the number is reserved for God alone to know.

The Rider, then, is conveyed and carried by the chariot or throne of the living creatures
which are all eye, or, in other words, by every soul that has become His throne and seat,
and is now eye and light. He is mounted thereon, and governs her with the reins of the
Spirit, and guides her according to His understanding. For as the spiritual living
creatures went not whither they were minded to go, but whither He that sat upon them and
directed them knew and willed, so here it is He that holds the reins and drives by His
Spirit, and they go accordingly, not by their own will when they are minded to go through
heaven. Sometimes, discarding the body, He drives and takes the soul in thought through
heaven; sometimes, when so it pleases Him, He comes into the body and its affairs;
sometimes, when so minded, to the ends of the earth, and discovers to the soul mysteries
revealed. Oh, the noble and good and only true Charioteer! In like manner shall our bodies
also be privileged at the resurrection, the soul being thus pre-glorified even now, and
mingled with the Spirit.

4. That the souls of the righteous become heavenly light, the Lord Himself told the
apostles, when He said, Ye are the light of the world. He first wrought them into light,
and ordained that through them the world should be enlightened. Neither do men light a
lamp, He says, and put it under the bushel, but on the lampstand, and it giveth light to
all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men. In other words, Hide not
the gift which ye have received from Me, but give to all that are minded to receive it.
Again, The light of the body is the eye; if thine eye be full of light, thy whole body is
enlightened, but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body is dark. If therefore the light that
is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. As the eyes are the light of the body,
and, so long as the eyes are well, the whole body is enlightened, but, if any accident
befalls them and they are darkened, the whole body is in darkness, so the apostles were
set to be the eyes and light of the whole world. The Lord therefore charged them by this
saying, If ye who are the light of the body, stand fast and turn not aside, behold, the
whole body of the world is enlightened; but if ye who are the light are darkened, how
great is that darkness, which is nothing less than the world. So the apostles, being
themselves light, administered light to those who believed, enlightening their hearts with
that heavenly light of the Spirit by which they were themselves enlightened.

5. And being themselves salt they seasoned and salted every believing soul with the salt
of the Holy Ghost; for the Lord said to them, Ye are the salt of the earth, meaning by
earth the hearts of men. They administered in the souls of men the heavenly salt of the
Spirit, seasoning them and rendering them free from corruption and from going bad, instead
of that unsavoury condition they were in. Flesh, if it be not salted, corrupts and is
filled with ill savour, so that every one turns from the evil odour, and worms creep into
the corrupted flesh, and there dwell, and feed, and burrow; but when the salt comes, the
worms that dwell there are destroyed, and the offensive smell is at an end; for it is the
property of salt to kill worms and to banish an ill smell. In the same manner, every soul
that is not salted with the Holy Ghost, and does not partake of the heavenly salt, which
is the power of God, corrupts, and is filled with the ill odour of bad thoughts, so that
the countenance of God turns from the dreadful odour of the vain thoughts of darkness, and
from the passions that dwell in such a soul. The evil and dreadful worms, which are the
spirits of wickedness, and the powers of darkness, walk up and down in it, and dwell
there, and burrow, and creep, and devour it, and bring it to decay. My wounds stink and
are corrupt, says the Psalm.

But when the soul flies to God for succour, and believes, and asks for the salt of life,
which is the good Spirit that loves mankind, then the heavenly salt comes, and kills those
dreadful worms, and banishes the ill savour, and cleanses the soul by the effectual
working of its power, and thus the soul is made sound and free from deterioration by that
true salt, and is restored to being useful and serviceable to the heavenly Lord. That is
why in the Law God, using a figure, commanded that every sacrifice should be salted with
salt. 6. First the sacrifice must be slain by the priest, and die, then cut in pieces and
salted, and then laid upon the fire. Unless the priest first slays the lamb, so that it
dies, it is neither salted nor brought to the Lord for a burnt offering. Thus our soul
also must come to Christ, the true High-priest, and be slain by Him, and die to its own
mode of thought, and to the evil life of sin which it lived before. The life must go out
of it—that life of bad passions. As the body, when the soul goes out of it, is dead, and
lives no longer with the life which it lived before, and neither hears nor walks, so when
Christ, our heavenly Highpriest, by the grace of His power, slays our life to the world
and puts it to death, it dies to the life of evil which it lived, and no longer hears, nor
speaks, nor maintains any citizenship in the darkness of sin, because the evil passions
which were its soul have by grace gone out of it. The apostle cries, The world is
crucified to me, and I unto the world. The soul which yet lives in the world, and in the
darkness of sin, and has not been done to death by Him, but still has the soul of
wickedness in it, that is, the activity of the darkness of the passions of evil, and is
governed by it, does not belong to the body of Christ, does not belong to the body of
light, but is indeed the body of darkness, and is still part and parcel of the darkness;
while they who have the soul of light, that is, the power of the Holy Ghost, form part and
parcel of the light.

7. But some one may say, How is it that you call the soul the body of darkness, when it is
no creation of the darkness? Attend, and understand me aright. As the coat or garment that
you have on was made by another, and you wear it, and your house was created or built by
another, and you live in it, so when Adam transgressed the commandment of God, and
hearkened to the wicked serpent, he was sold, or sold himself, to the devil, and the evil
one put on his soul like a garment—his soul, that fair creation, which God had fashioned
after His own image. Thus the apostle says, Having stripped the principalities and powers,
He triumphed over them in the cross. This was the purpose of the Lord’s coming, that He
might cast them out, and recover His own house and temple, man. For this reason, the soul
is called the body of the darkness of wickedness, as long as the darkness of sin is in it,
because there it lives to the evil world of darkness, and is there held fast. So Paul
calls it the body of sin, the body of death, saying, that the body of sin might be
destroyed, and, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

On the other hand, the soul which has believed God, and has been rescued from sin, and
done to death out of the life of darkness, and has received the light of the Holy Ghost as
its life, and by that means has come to life indeed, spends its existence in the same for
ever after, because it is there held fast by the light of the Godhead. For the soul in
itself is neither of the nature of the Godhead, nor of the nature of the darkness of
wickedness, but is a creature intellectual, beauteous, great, and wonderful, a fair
likeness and image of God. It was through the transgression that the wickedness of the
passions of darkness entered into it. 8. Whichever the soul, then, is mixed with, it is
thenceforward united with the same in the motions of the will. Either it has the light of
God within it, and lives in the same, in all virtues, and belongs to the light of rest, or
it has the darkness of sin, and meets with condemnation. The soul that desires to live
with God in rest and eternal light must come, as was said before, to Christ the true High-
priest, and be slain, and die to the world, and to the former life of the darkness of
wickedness, and be translated into another life and to a conversation that is divine. As
when a man dies in some city, he neither hears the voice of the people there, nor their
talking, nor the noise that they make, but is once for all dead, and is translated to
another region, where there are no voices and none of the cries of that city, even so the
soul, when it is once slain and dead to that city of the evil passions in which it dwells
and lives, hears no longer within itself the voice of the communings of darkness; no
longer is heard the talking and crying of vain disputation, or of the hubbub of the
spirits of darkness; but it is translated into a city all full of goodness and peace, into
the city of the light of the Godhead, and there it lives, and hears, and there it has its
citizenship, and talks, and communes, and there it works spiritual works, that are worthy
of God.

9. Let us therefore pray that we ourselves may be slain through His power, and die to the
world of the wickedness of darkness, and that the spirit of sin may be destroyed in us,
and that we may put on and receive the soul of the heavenly Spirit, and be translated from
the wickedness of darkness into the light of Christ, and may rest in life through world
after world. For as on the race-course the chariots run, and the one that gets the start
of the other is a clog, and check, and hindrance to the other, so that it cannot make
progress and get to victory first, so do the thoughts of the soul and of sin run in man.
If the thought of sin happens to get the start, it clogs and checks and hampers and
hinders the soul, so that it cannot get near to God and carry off the victory from it. But
where the Lord mounts and takes the reins of the soul into His own hands, He always wins,
skilfully managing and guiding the chariot of the soul into a heavenly and inspired mind
for ever. He does not war against wickedness; having always supreme power and authority in
Himself, He works Himself the victory. So the Cherubim are driven, not where they are
inclined of themselves to go, but where the Rider or Charioteer directs. Where He wills,
they go; and He supports them. The hand of a man, it says, was under them. These holy
souls are driven and guided by the Spirit of Christ, who holds the reins, whithersoever He
pleases—when He pleases, in heavenly communings; when He pleases, that it should be in the
body; where He pleases, there they minister. As the wings are the feet of the bird, so the
heavenly light of the Spirit takes up the wings of the thoughts of worthy souls, guiding
and managing as He knows best.

10. When thou hearest these things, therefore, look to thyself, whether thou art in deed
and in truth possessed of them in thine own soul. They are not mere words spoken; it is a
work of truth going on in thy soul. If thou hast it not, but art destitute of such
spiritual good things, thou oughtest to have continual grief and sorrow and trouble, as
one still dead to the kingdom. Like one that is wounded, be always crying to the Lord, and
ask in faith, that this true life may be vouchsafed even to thee. When God made this body
of ours, He did not grant to it that it should have life either from His own nature or
from the body itself, nor meat and drink, raiment and shoes; He appointed that it should
have all the supplies of life from without, making the body in itself quite naked, and it
is impossible for the body to live at all apart from things outside itself, without food
and drink and clothing. If it attempts to subsist upon its own nature alone, taking
nothing from without, it wastes and perishes. In the same manner is it with the soul also.
It has not the divine light, though it is created after the image of God. So has He
ordered its conditions, and has been pleased that it should not have eternal life of its
own nature; but of His Godhead, of His Spirit, of His light, it has spiritual meat and
drink, and heavenly clothing, which are the soul’s life, the life indeed.

11. As, then, we have seen that the body’s life is not from itself, but from without, from
the earth, and apart from the things without it is impossible for it to live, so also,
unless the soul be born now into that land of the living and spiritually draw nourishment
from it and make increase, growing up unto the Lord, and be arrayed from the Godhead with
the ineffable raiment of heavenly beauty, without that sustenance it is impossible for it
to live, of itself, in enjoyment and rest. The divine nature contains the bread of life,
which said, I am the bread of life and living water, and wine that maketh glad the heart
of man, and the oil of gladness, and the whole variety of the food of the heavenly Spirit,
and the heavenly raiment of light which comes from God. In these things the eternal life
of the soul consists. Woe to the body when it stands upon its own nature, because then it
wastes and dies; and woe to the soul if it takes its stand upon nothing but its own
nature, and puts its trust in nothing but its own works, not having the fellowship of the
Spirit of God, because it dies, not having the eternal life of the Godhead vouchsafed to
it. When men are sick, as soon as the body is no longer able to receive nourishment, all
hopes of them are given over, and all true friends and kinsfolk and lovers are in tears.
In the same way, God and the holy angels are in tears over souls that are not nourished
with the heavenly nourishment of the Spirit, and have not come to life in incorruption.
These things, I say again, are not merely words that are spoken, but the work of spiritual
life, the work of truth accomplished upon the soul that is worthy and faithful.

12. If then thou art become a throne of God, and the heavenly Charioteer has mounted thee,
and thy whole soul has become a spiritual eye, and thy whole soul light; and if thou hast
been nourished with that nourishment of the Spirit, and if thou hast been made to drink of
the Living Water, and if thou hast put on the garments of the ineffable light; if thine
inward man is established in the experience and full assurance of all these things,
behold, thou livest, thou livest the eternal life indeed, and thy soul from henceforth is
at rest with the Lord. Behold, thou hast received these things from the Lord and
possessest them in truth, that thou mayest live the true life. But if thou art conscious
that thou hast none of these things, then weep, and mourn, and lament, because even yet
thou hast not found the eternal heavenly riches. Be in trouble therefore for thy penury,
beseeching the Lord night and day, because thou hast stopped short in the dreadful poverty
of sin. Would to God that a man had even gained as much as this trouble because of his
poverty—that we did not go on without a care, as though we were full! because one that is
seriously troubled, and seeks and asks of the Lord continually, will soon find redemption
and the heavenly riches, as the Lord said at the conclusion of His discourse of the Unjust
Judge and the Widow, How much more shall God avenge them that cry to Him night and day?
Yea, I say unto you, He shall avenge them speedily. To whom be glory and power for ever.
Amen.

HOMILY II

Concerning the kingdom of darkness, that is, of sin, and that God alone is able to take
away sin from us, and to deliver us out of the bondage of the evil prince. 1. THE kingdom
of darkness, the evil prince, having taken man captive at the beginning, enveloped and
clothed the soul in the power of darkness, as a man might clothe another. “And that they
may make him king, and clothe him with royal garments, so that from head to foot he may
wear royal apparel.” In this manner the evil prince clothed the soul and all its substance
with sin. He defiled it all, and brought it all into captivity to his kingdom, leaving not
one member of it free from him—not the thoughts, not the understanding, not the body; he
clothed it all with the purple of darkness. For as it is the body that suffers, not one
part or member of it, but the whole is liable to suffer together, so the whole soul
suffered the passions of unhappiness and sin. The evil one clothed the whole soul, which
is the indispensable part or member of man, with his own unhappiness, which is sin, and
thus the body became liable to suffering and decay.

2. For when the apostle says, Put off the old man, he means a complete man, with eyes for
eyes, ears for ears, hands for hands, and feet for feet. For the evil one has defiled the
entire man, soul and body, and dragged him down, and has clothed the man with an “old
man,” polluted man, unclean, at enmity with God, not subject to the law of God, and all
identified with sin, that he may no longer see as the man himself wishes, but may see
wrongly, and hear wrongly, and have feet that are swift to do evil, and hands that work
iniquity, and a heart that devises evil things. Let us therefore beseech God that He would
put off the old man from us; because He alone is able to take away sin from us, for those
that have taken us captive, and that detain us in their kingdom, are too mighty for us.
But He has promised to deliver us from this sore bondage. When there is a hot sun and a
wind blowing, the sun and the wind each have a body and nature of their own, but no one
can separate between sun and wind, unless God, who alone can, should make the wind to
cease from blowing. In like manner sin is mingled with the soul, though each has its own
nature. 3. It is impossible to separate between the soul and sin, unless God should stop
and repress this evil wind, which dwells in the soul and in the body.

A man watches a bird flying, and wishes to fly himself, but he cannot, because he has no
wings. Even so the will is present with a man to be pure, and blameless, and without spot,
and to have no wickedness in him, but to be always with God; but he has not the power. To
fly into the air of God and the liberty of the Holy Ghost may be his wish, but unless
wings are given him, he cannot. Let us then beseech God to bestow upon us the wings of a
dove, even of the Holy Ghost, that we may fly to Him and be at rest, and that He would
separate and make to cease from our souls and bodies, that evil wind, which is the sin
that dwelleth in the members of our souls and bodies. None but He can do it. Behold, it
says, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. He alone has shewn this
mercy to those men who believe Him, redeeming them from sin; and for those who are always
waiting for Him, and hope, and seek without ceasing, He achieves this unutterable
salvation.

4. As in a gloomy black night a fierce wind blows, and stirs and searches and shakes all
the plants and seeds, so when man falls under the power of the darkness of the devil’s
night, and is in night and darkness, he is agitated by that dreadful wind of sin that
blows, and is shaken and stirred, and searched through all his nature, his soul, his
thoughts, his understanding; and all the limbs of his body are shaken, and no member of
either soul or body escapes free and immune from the sin that dwelleth in us. In like
manner there is a day of light and a divine wind of the Holy Ghost, which blows and
refreshes the souls that are in the day of the light of God. It penetrates all the
substance of the soul and its thoughts, and all the being and all the members of the body,
refreshing and resting them with a divine, unspeakable rest. This is what the apostle
declared when he said, We are not children of the night or of darkness, for ye are all the
sons of light and the sons of day. And as yonder, in the state of error, the old man put
on man as a complete whole, and wears the garment of the kingdom of darkness, the garment
of blasphemy, unbelief, unconcern, vainglory, pride, avarice, lust, and all the other
trappings of the kingdom of darkness, ragged, unclean, and abominable; so here, all who
have put off the old man, which is from beneath the earth—all whom Jesus has stripped of
the clothing of the kingdom of darkness—have put on the new and heavenly man, Jesus
Christ, once more corresponding, eyes to eyes, ears to ears, head to head, to be all pure,
and wearing the heavenly image.

5. The Lord has clothed them with the clothing of the kingdom of ineffable light, the
clothing of faith, hope, charity, of joy, peace, goodness, kindness, and all the other
divine and living clothing of the light of life, of inexpressible rest, that, as God
Himself is love, and joy, and peace, and kindness, and goodness, so the new man may be
through grace. And as the kingdom of darkness, and sin, are hidden in the soul until the
day of resurrection, when the bodies also of sinners shall be covered with the darkness
that is now hidden in the soul, so the kingdom of light, and the heavenly Image, Jesus
Christ, now mystically enlightens the soul, and reigns in the soul of the saints, but is
hidden from the eyes of men, and only with the eyes of the soul is Christ truly seen,
until the day of resurrection; but then the body also shall be covered and glorified with
the light of the Lord, which is now in the man’s soul, that the body also may reign with
the soul which now receives the kingdom of Christ and rests and is enlightened with
eternal light. Glory to His mercies and His tender compassion, for that He has such pity
on His servants, and enlightens them, and delivers them from the kingdom of darkness, and
bestows upon them His own light and His own kingdom. To Him be glory and might for ever.
Amen.

HOMILY III

That the brethren ought to live in sincerity, simplicity, love, and peace with each other,
and to carry on contest and war in their inward thoughts. 1. THE brethren ought to dwell
together in much charity, whether they are praying, or reading the scriptures, or doing
some kind of work, that they may have the foundation of mutual charity. In this way, those
various inclinations may find favour, and those who pray, and those who read, and those
who work, can all live in sincerity and simplicity with each other to their profit. What
is written? Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth, in order that as the angels in
heaven dwell together in great concord, peace, and charity, and there is no such thing
there as pride, or as envy, but they live together in charity and sincerity, so should the
brethren dwell together. Some thirty, perhaps, are under one government; they cannot
continue all day and night at one thing. Some give themselves up to prayer for six hours,
and then would like to read; others are very ready to serve, while others work at some
form of labour.

2. Whatsoever they are about, the brethren ought to be in charity and cheerfulness with
each other. Let him who is at work say of him who is at prayer, “The treasure that my
brother gets is common, and therefore mine.” Let him who prays say of the reader, “The
profit which he gets by reading is to my advantage.” Let him who is at work say, “The
service which I am doing is for the benefit of all.” As the members of the body, being
many, are one body, and help each other, and each performs its own function, but the eye
sees on behalf of the whole body, and the hand labours for all the members, and the foot,
as it walks, carries them all, and another member suffers with all alike, so let the
brethren be with one another. Let not him who prays judge the labouring brother because he
is not at prayer. Let not him that is at work judge the one who is praying, or say, “He
lies by, while I am working.” Let not him who serves judge some one else, but let each one
do whatever he is doing to the glory of God. Let him who reads hold him who prays in
charity and cheerfulness, with the thought, “It is for me that he prays”; and let him who
prays think of him who is at work, “What he is doing is done for the benefit of us all.”

3. Thus much concord and peace and unity in the bond of peace holds them all fast, and
they are enabled to live together in sincerity and simplicity and the favour of God. No
doubt the principal thing among these is continuance in prayer; but one thing is required,
that a man should have treasure in his soul, and the life which is the Lord in his
mind—that whether he is working, or praying, or reading, he should have that possession
which passes not away, which is the Holy Ghost. There are some who say thus—that the Lord
requires of men only the fruits that are visible, and that it is for God to rectify the
things that are hidden. That is not the case. As a man secures himself with regard to the
outer man, so ought he to carry on strife and war in his thoughts. The Lord requires of
thee to be angry with thyself, and to do battle with thy mind, and neither to consent nor
to take pleasure in the thoughts of wickedness.

4. Nevertheless, to root out sin and the evil that is ever with us, this can only be
accomplished by the divine power. It is not possible or within a man’s competence to root
out sin by his own power. To wrestle against it, to fight against it, to give and receive
blows, is thine; to uproot is God’s. If thou hadst been able to do it, what need was there
of the coming of the Lord? As the eye cannot see without light, as a man cannot speak
without a tongue, or hear without ears, or walk without feet, or work without hands, so he
cannot be saved without Jesus, nor enter into the kingdom of heaven. If thou sayest, “In
outward conduct, I do not commit fornication or adultery, I am not covetous; therefore I
am righteous,” thou art wrong in this, thinking that thou hast fulfilled all. Sin has not
only three departments against which a man ought to ensure himself, but ten thousand.
Arrogance, presumption, unbelief, hatred, envy, deceit, hypocrisy, whence are they?
Oughtest thou not to wrestle and strive against these in the hidden places in thy
thoughts? If there is a robber in the house, at once thou art distressed; he does not
allow thee to be at ease; thou beginnest to strike back; blows are exchanged. So ought the
soul to strike back, to resist, to repel force by force.

5. What follows? By resisting and taking trouble and pains, the will begins to get the
upper hand. It falls; it recovers itself. Sin throws it again in ten, in twenty conflicts.
It conquers the soul and throws it; then the soul after a time in one engagement conquers
the sin. If the soul perseveres and in no direction flags, it begins to have the best of
it, to see through the enemy, and to carry off the trophies of victory from sin. But if
the man is strictly examined even at this point, sin still is too hard for him, until he
comes to a perfect man, to the measure of his stature, and perfectly conquers death; for
it is written The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Thus will they get the
upper hand, and be the conquerors of the devil. But if, as we observed before, a man
should say, “I do not commit fornication or adultery; I am no money-lover; and that is
enough,” in this reckoning he has contended against three forces, but against twenty
others that sin can employ upon the soul he has not contended, and is therefore beaten. He
ought to contend against them all, and to strive; for the mind, as I have said many times,
is an even match for it, and possesses a power that is well balanced against sin, to
withstand and repel its suggestions. 6. If you say that the opposing power is too strong,
and that evil has complete sovereignty over man, you make God unrighteous when He condemns
mankind for submitting to Satan, because Satan is so strong, and wields a power which
compels submission. “Thou makest Satan greater and stronger than the soul, and then
commandest me, ‘Do not submit.’ It is as though a young man should wrestle with a little
child, and the child, when he is worsted, is condemned for getting worsted. This is a
great injustice.” I tell you then that the human mind is a good match for the enemy and
evenly balanced against him; and a soul of that kind, when it seeks, finds help and
succour, and redemption is vouchsafed to it. The contest and struggle is not an unequal
one. Let us glorify the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.

HOMILY IV

Christians ought to accomplish their race in this world with heed and care, that they may
gain heavenly praises from God and angels. 1. WE who wish to achieve the life of
Christianity with any great thoroughness must before anything else cultivate with all our
might that faculty of the soul which discerns and discriminates, in order that, having
acquired a delicate sense of the difference between good and evil, and always
distinguishing the things with which pure nature has been unnaturally adulterated, we may
behave ourselves in a straightforward manner, without offence. By using this power of
discernment as a kind of eye, we may keep free from any union or connexion with the
suggestions of sin, and thus the heavenly gift may be vouchsafed to us by which we become
worthy of the Lord. Let us take an illustration from the visible world; for there is a
likeness between the body and the soul, between the things of the body and the things of
the soul, and between the objects of sense and those which are hidden. 2. The body has the
eye for its guide. The eye, by seeing, guides the whole body straight. Imagine a man going
through woody regions, full of thorns and miry places, where fire also breaks out, and
there are swords stuck in the ground, and precipices and frequent waters are found there.
The active, heedful, nimble traveller, using the guidance of his eye, passes those
difficult places with great attention, gathering up his garment on every side with hands
and feet, for fear it should be torn off him in the thickets and thorns, or spoiled by the
mire, or cut by a sword. His eye guides the whole body. It is his light, to save him from
tumbling down the precipices, or getting drowned in the waters, or injured by some other
danger. The man who is thus active and wary, and goes along with all vigilance, wrapping
his gown close, under the guidance of his eye, keeps himself from injury, and preserves
the gown that clothes him from burning and tearing.

But if a man is idle, and slothful, and careless, and clumsy, and slack, as he passes
through places like those, his garment floating about him this way and that is torn off
upon the thickets and thorns, or burnt by the fire, because he does not resolutely keep it
tight round him; or else it is reduced to tatters by the swords that are stuck by the
wayside, or smirched by the mire—in one way or another he quickly ruins his fine new
garment, by his heedlessness, and slackness, and sloth; and if he does not attend properly
and well to what his eye tells him, he will himself fall into some ravine, or be drowned
in the waters. 3. In the same way the soul, which is clothed with the fair garment of the
body for its vesture, possesses the faculty of discernment to direct the whole soul,
together with the body, as it passes amidst the thickets and thorns of life, and the mud,
and the fire, and the precipices, which are the lusts and pleasures and other wrong things
of this world; and it ought to wrap itself, and the body its garment, closely in on every
side with vigilance, and resolution, and earnestness, and heed, and keep itself from
getting at all rent in the thickets and thorns of the world—cares, and businesses, and
earthly distractions; and from being burned by the fire of lust. Thus clothed, it turns
away the eye from seeing evil sights, turns away the ear from listening to slander, the
tongue from speaking vanities, the hands and feet from bad pursuits. The soul has a will,
by which to turn away and hinder the members of the body from base spectacles, and evil
and shameful sounds, and indecent words, and worldly and evil pursuits. 4. It turns itself
also from evil rovings, keeping the heart from letting the members of its thought rove in
the world.

Thus striving, and earnestly endeavouring, and with great heed restraining the members of
the body on every side from what is bad, it preserves that fair garment of the body
unrent, unburned, and unstained, and it will itself be preserved by means of a knowing,
discerning, discriminating will, and all by the power of the Lord, while with all its
might it gathers itself in and turns away from all worldly lusts, and thus is helped by
the Lord to be truly preserved from the disasters that have been spoken of. For when the
Lord sees any one bravely turning his back on the pleasures and distractions of life, and
material cares, and earthly ties, and the rovings of vain thoughts, He gives the help of
His own grace, and maintains that soul unfallen, as it passes nobly through the present
evil world; and so the soul wins heavenly praises from God and angels because it has
preserved well the garment of its body and itself also, turning away, as far as lay in its
power, from all the lusts of the world, and with His help has run nobly the race of this
world’s course.

5. But if a man goes his way in this life with slackness and carelessness, taking no heed,
and, to please himself, will not turn away from all the lust of the world, and will not
seek the Lord, and Him only, with all desire, he is pierced on the thorns and thickets of
this world, and the garment of the body is burned here and there by the fire of lust, and
soiled by the mire of pleasures; and thus the soul is found without boldness in the day of
judgment, not having succeeded in keeping its raiment unspotted, but having corrupted it
with the deceits of this world; and for this reason it is rejected from the kingdom. What
can God do with one who wilfully gives himself over to the world, and is deceived by its
pleasures, or led astray by material wanderings? The man to whom He gives help is the one
who turns away from material pleasures and from his former habits, who drags his mind at
all times to the Lord, whether it will or no, who denies himself and seeks the Lord only.
This is the man whom He keeps under His care, who guards himself on every side from the
snares and entanglements of the material world, who works out his own salvation with fear
and trembling, who passes with all heed amidst the snares and entanglements and lusts of
this world, and seeks the help of the Lord, and hopes by His mercy to be saved through
grace.

6. Think; the five wise virgins, who had been watchful and alert, and had taken in the
vessels of their heart—that which was no part of their own nature—the oil, which means the
grace of the Spirit from above, were enabled to enter with the Bridegroom into the
heavenly bridechamber; but the other, foolish five, who were content with their own
nature, would not watch nor busy themselves to receive the oil of gladness in their
vessels while they were still in the flesh, but sank as it were to sleep through
carelessness, and slackness, and idleness, and ignorance, or fancied righteousness; so
they were shut out of the bridechamber of the kingdom, being unable to give satisfaction
to the heavenly Bridegroom. Held fast by the tie of the world, and by some earthly
affection, they did not give their whole love or passionate devotion to the heavenly
Bridegroom, and were not provided with the oil. Souls who seek the sanctification of the
Spirit, which is outside of nature, fasten all their affection upon the Lord, and there
they walk, and there they pray, and there they employ their thoughts, turning away from
all else; for which cause they are privileged to receive the oil of heavenly grace, and
succeed in coming through unfallen, giving perfect satisfaction to the spiritual
Bridegroom; while souls that are content with what belongs to their own nature creep in
thought upon earth; they employ their thoughts upon earth; their mind has its whole
existence upon earth. In their own estimation they appear to belong to the Bridegroom, and
to be adorned with the ordinances of the flesh; but they have not been born of the Spirit
from above, and have not received the oil of gladness.

7. The five rational senses of the soul, if they receive grace from above and the
sanctification of the Spirit, are really wise virgins, receiving the wisdom of the grace
from above. But if they rest content with what is natural to them, they are found foolish,
and shown to be children of the world. They have not put off the spirit of the world,
although in their own estimation, because of some specious appearances and outward form,
they take themselves for brides of the Bridegroom. As the souls which wholly and entirely
cleave to the Lord are there in thought, and there pray, and there walk, and there long
after the love of the Lord, so, on the other hand, those souls which are tied and bound in
the love of the world, and are willing to spend their existence on the earth, walk there,
think there, their mind passes its existence there. For this reason they are incapable of
being converted to the good wisdom of the Spirit, being a thing foreign to our own
nature—the heavenly grace—which requires to be combined and compounded with our nature, if
we are to enter with the Lord into the heavenly bridechamber of the kingdom, and to find
eternal salvation.

8. One thing foreign to our nature, the disaster of the passions, we have received into
ourselves through the first man’s disobedience, and it has taken its place as almost a
part of our nature by long custom and propensity; and this must be expelled again by that
other thing foreign to our nature, the heavenly gift of the Spirit, that the original
purity may be restored; and unless we receive now that love of the Spirit from heaven by
much entreaty, and supplication, and faith, and prayer, and turning from the world, and
unless our nature, which has been polluted by wickedness, cleaves to the love which is the
Lord, and is sanctified by that love of the Spirit, and unless we persevere to the end
unfallen, walking strictly in all His commandments, we cannot attain the heavenly kingdom.
9. I desire to say a word that is deep and subtile, to the best of my ability; listen to
me, therefore, with intelligence. The infinite, inaccessible, uncreated God, through His
infinite and inconceivable kindness, embodied Himself, and, if I may say so, diminished
Himself from His inaccessible glory, to make it possible for Him to be united with His
visible creatures, such as the souls of saints and angels, that they might be enabled to
partake of the life of Godhead. For each of these, after its kind, is a body, be it angel,
or soul, or devil. Subtile though they are, still in substance, character, and image
according to the subtilty of their respective natures they are subtile bodies, even as
this body of ours is in substance a gross body. The soul, moreover, which is so subtile,
has gathered to itself the eye to see with, the ear to hear with; likewise the tongue to
speak with, the hand, in fact the whole body and its members the soul has gathered to it
and is blended with the same, and accomplishes by means of it all the offices of life.

10. In the same way, the infinite and inconceivable God in His kindness diminished
Himself, and put on the members of this body, and gathered Himself in from the
inaccessible glory; and through His clemency and love of man transforms and embodies
Himself, and mixes with and assumes holy, well-pleasing, faithful souls, and becomes one
Spirit with them, according to the saying of Paul, soul in soul, if I may put it so,
substance in substance, that the soul may be enabled to live in newness, and to feel
immortal life, and may become partaker of glory incorruptible—that is, if it be worthy and
well-pleasing. If out of things that were not He hath made the visible creature to be,
with such abundant diversity and variety, and before it came into existence it was not—if
He willed, and easily made, of things that were not, substances solid and hard, like
earth, mountains, trees—you see what hardness of nature is—and again waters intermediate,
and commanded that birds should be produced from them—and again more subtle objects, fire,
and winds, and things too subtle to be seen by the bodily eye; 11. how could the infinite
and inexpressible skill of the manifold wisdom of God create, out of things that were not,
grosser, subtler, and still finer bodies, each in its own substance, by His will;

and how much more cannot He, who is as He will and what He will, through His unspeakable
kindness and inconceivable goodness change and diminish and assimilate Himself, embodying
Himself according to their capacity in holy and worthy faithful souls, that He, the
invisible, might be seen by them, He, the impalpable, be felt, after the subtilty of the
soul’s nature—and that they might feel His sweetness, and enjoy in real experience the
goodness of the light of that ineffable enjoyment? When He pleases, he becomes fire, which
burns up every base passion that has been introduced into the soul; for our God is a
consuming fire. When He pleases, He is rest unspeakable, unutterable, that the soul may
rest in the Godhead’s own rest; when He pleases, He is joy and peace, cherishing it and
making much of it. 12. Indeed, if He should please to make Himself like to one of the
creatures for the delectation and rejoicing of the intelligences among them, as for
instance Jerusalem the city of light, or the heavenly mountain of Sion, He can do all at
will, according as it is written, Ye are come to the Mount Sion, and to the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. All things are facile and easy to Him, and He
transforms Himself into any shape He chooses for the benefit of faithful souls that are
worthy of Him. Only let a man strive to be a friend of His and well pleasing to Him, and
in real experience and feeling he shall truly see the good things of heaven, and the
inexpressible delights and infinite riches of Godhead, which eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, even the Spirit of the Lord, making
Himself for worthy souls their rest, their rejoicing, their delight, and their eternal
life. For the Lord embodies Himself even in meat and drink, as it is written in the
gospel, He that eateth this bread shall live for ever, to give the soul rest unutterable,
and fill it with spiritual cheer; for He says, I am the bread of life, He embodies Himself
in the drink of a spring of heaven, as He says, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him, it shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life, and We
have all, it says, been made to drink the same drink.

13. To each of the holy fathers He appeared in the manner that pleased Him and was best
for them—in one way to Abraham, in another to Isaac, another to Jacob, another to Noe, to
Daniel, to David, to Solomon, to Esaias, and each of the holy prophets—in one way to
Elias, in another to Moses. My belief is that Moses, every hour in the mountain, during
the fast of forty days, was admitted to that spiritual table, and feasted at it and
received enjoyment. To each of the saints He appeared as He pleased, to give them rest and
salvation and lead them to the knowledge of God. Everything is easy to Him that He
chooses. As He pleases, He diminishes Himself by some embodiment, and transforms Himself
to come under the eyes of those who love Him, manifesting Himself to those who are worthy
in an inaccessible glory of light, according to His great and unspeakable love, and by His
own power. The soul that has been privileged to receive with great desire, and waiting
upon God, and faith, and love, that power from on high, the heavenly love of the Spirit,
and has gained the heavenly fire of the life immortal, is verily disengaged from every
worldly affection, and set at liberty from every bond of wickedness.

14. As iron, lead, gold, or silver, when cast into the fire, melts, and changes from its
natural hardness to a soft consistency, and so long as it is in the fire continues to be
molten and altered from that hard nature by the hot force of the fire, so the soul which
has denied the world, and fixed its longing upon the Lord alone, in much searching, and
pains, and conflict of soul, and maintains an uninterrupted waiting upon Him in hope and
faith, and which has received that heavenly fire of the Godhead and of the love of the
Spirit, this soul is then verily disengaged from all affection of the world, and set at
liberty from all mischief of the passions, and casts everything out of itself, and is
changed from the natural habit and hardness of sin, and considers all things indifferent
in comparison with the heavenly Bridegroom whom it has received, at rest in His fervent
and ineffable love.

15. I tell you, indeed, that even the much-loved brethren, whom such a soul has under its
eye, if they hinder it from that love, it turns from them, in a sense. For that is its
life and rest, the mystical, ineffable fellowship of the heavenly King. If the fellowship
of an earthly affection severs from father, mother, brethren, and all things come to be
outside in the estimation of such a pair, and though they still love them, they love them
with a more outside love, while the man’s whole attitude is determined by the relation to
his spouse—For this cause, it says, shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall
cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh—if, I say, the fleshly love thus
disengages from all other love, how much more shall those who have been allowed to enter
in truth into the fellowship of that Holy Spirit, that heavenly and beloved Spirit, be
disengaged from all worldly love, and everything else appear a matter of indifference,
because they have been overcome by a heavenly longing, and are altogether in unison with
the mood of it.

16. Well, my beloved brethren, when such good things are set before us, and such great
promises have been made to us by the Lord, let us cast away from us all hindrances,
renounce all love of the world, and give ourselves over to that one good thing with
seeking and longing, that we may attain that unspeakable love of the Spirit concerning
which St. Paul urged us to endeavour after it, saying, Follow after charity, that we may
be changed from our hardness by the right hand of the Most High, and may come to spiritual
tenderness and rest, wounded with the passionate affection of the Divine Spirit. The Lord
is very kind to man, waiting in pity for our complete conversion to Himself and
emancipation from all things contrary. Although we in our great ignorance and childishness
and propensity to evil turn away from life, and set many a hindrance in our own way, not
liking really to repent, yet He is full of pity for us, and suffers long till we shall
repent and come to Him, and be enlightened in our inward man, that our faces may not be
ashamed in the day of judgment.

17. If it seems to us difficult, because the practice of virtue is hard, and still more
because of the insidious counsel of the adversary, behold, He is pitiful and
longsuffering, waiting for our conversion; and when we sin, He holds His hand, in
expectation of our repentance; and when we fall, He is not ashamed to take us back, as the
prophet says, Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return? Only let
us be on the watch, making sure of a good intention, and let us be converted straight and
fair, seeking help from Him, and He is ready to save us. He is looking for our will to
turn to Him with a fervent impulse, to the best of our power, and for faith and zeal that
springs from a good purpose; the whole success of the endeavour is His own work in us. Let
us then endeavour, beloved, like children of God, putting away all preoccupation, and
carelessness, and sloth, to be courageous and ready to follow after Him. Let us not put
off from day to day, without observing how sin is injuring us. We do not know when we are
to depart out of the flesh. The promises made to Christians are great and unspeakable, so
great, that all the glory and beauty of sky and earth, and all the other adornment and
variety, the wealth and comeliness and delight, of things visible, bear no proportion to
the faith and wealth of a single soul.

18. How can we then refuse to accept heartily such persuasions and promises of the Lord,
and to yield ourselves over to Him, denying, as the Gospel says, all other things and our
own souls also, and to love Him only and nothing else besides Him? But behold, in spite of
all these things, and of the great glory that has been given, and of all the dispensations
of the Lord from the times of patriarchs and prophets—what great promises have been made,
what persuasions offered, what compassion of the Master shown to us from the beginning!
and lastly, in His own sojourn here He displayed His inexpressible kindness towards us by
His crucifixion, to convert us and bring us round to life—and we, we will not part with
our own wills, and with the love of the world, and with our bad inclinations and customs.
Thus we prove ourselves men of little faith, or of none; and yet for all this, He
continues to be kind, invisibly protecting and cherishing, not giving us over, according
to our iniquities, to the power of sin for ever, nor letting us perish by the
deceitfulness of the world, but in His great kindness and longsuffering watching fixedly
for the moment when we shall be converted to Him.

19. I dread lest some day the words of the apostle should be fulfilled in us, while we
cling to our contemptuous ideas and follow out our inclinations, Or despisest thou the
riches of His kindness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the kindness of
God leadeth thee to repentance? But if to this longsuffering and kindness and forbearance
we make no return but to add further sins, and through our carelessness and contempt
purchase to ourselves yet greater judgments, the saying will be fulfilled, But after thy
hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath
and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. God has used great and indescribable
goodness in relation to mankind, and longsuffering beyond expression, if only we are
willing to recover ourselves, and endeavour to be wholly converted to Him, that we may
find salvation. 20. If you wish to know the longsuffering of God and His great kindness,
let us learn it from the inspired scriptures. Look at Israel, of whom are the fathers, to
whom the promises were directed, of whom is Christ according to the flesh, to whom
pertained the services and the covenant; how greatly they sinned, how often they turned
out of the way, yet He did not altogether let them go, but from time to time He gave them
over to chastisements for a season for their profit, desiring to soften the hardness of
their heart through affliction; He converted them, encouraged them, sent prophets to them.
How often they sinned and offended Him, and He was longsuffering with them, and when they
converted, He received them back with joy, and when again they turned out of the way, He
did not abandon them, but through the prophets recalled them to conversion; and when many
times over they turned away and came back, He bore with them gently, and received them
kindly back, until at last they were found in the great transgression of all, when they
laid hands upon their own Master, whom the traditions of the holy fathers and prophets
taught them to expect as their deliverer and saviour, king and prophet. When He came, they
did not welcome Him, but on the contrary, after offering Him indignity after indignity,
they at last punished Him with the cross of death; and in this great offence, this
surpassing transgression, their sins abounded beyond measure and were filled up;

and so they were left for good and all, the Holy Spirit departing from thence when the
veil of the temple was rent. And so their temple was given over to the heathen and
destroyed and made desolate, according to that denuntiation of the Lord, There shall not
be left one stone upon another here, that shall not be thrown down. Thus were they finally
given over to the heathen, and were scattered over all the earth by the kings who then
took them captive, and were forbidden ever to return to their own places. 21. In this
manner, even now, with each one of us, like a kind, good God, He is longsuffering, seeing
how often each one offends, and holds His peace, waiting till the man shall recover
himself and turn from offending further, and welcoming the converted sinner with much love
and joy. That is what He says, There is joy over one sinner that repenteth; and again, It
is not the will of My Father that one of the least of these little ones should perish. But
if a man, under this great kindness and longsuffering of God, who will not proceed to
requital for every offence, secret or open, as it is committed, but sees and holds His
peace, as waiting for the sinner’s repentance—if, I say, the man so far despises that he
adds sin to sin, and joins sloth to sloth, and piles offence upon offence, he fills the
limits of his sins, and comes in the end to an offence of such a character that he can
never get up from it again, but is crushed to pieces, and delivered over to the evil one
to perish utterly.

22. Thus it was with Sodom. Many times sinning, without conversion, at length they
offended by their wicked design upon the angels, desiring to commit a criminal outrage
upon them, so that they could no longer repent, but were finally rejected. They filled up
the limit of their sins, and exceeded it; and therefore they were consumed with fire by
the divine vengeance. So it was in the days of Noah. Offending often without repenting,
they reached sins of such enormity, that the whole earth was utterly corrupted. So with
the Egyptians; they offended often, and sinned against God’s people, and God was kind and
would not inflict upon them such plagues as to destroy them utterly; but for their
chastisement and conversion and repentance He brought upon them the stripes of those
smaller plagues, bearing long with them, and waiting for them to repent. But they, sinning
against God’s people, and thinking better of it, and then changing their minds again and
fixing themselves in the original unbelief of their evi purpose, and oppressing the people
of God, at last, when God with many wonders brought the people out of Egypt by Moses, they
committed the great offence of pursuing after God’s people; for which the divine vengeance
utterly destroyed and consumed them; and overwhelmed them in the waters, judging them
unworthy even of this visible existence.

23. In like manner, as was said before, Israel, often sinning and offending, killing God’s
prophets and doing many other wicked things, while God held His peace and was patiently
waiting for them to repent, ended by committing an offence for which they were crushed so
that they could never rise again. They laid their own hands on the dignity of the Lord
Himself. For this they were utterly abandoned and rejected. Prophecy, priesthood, the
service, were taken from them and given to the believing Gentiles, as the Lord says, The
kingdom shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Till then, God forbore and was patient with them, and forsook them not, in compassion for
them; but when they filled up the limit of their sins, and overflowed it, laying hands
upon the dignity of their Lord, they were entirely deserted by God.

24. We have treated of these things at some length, beloved, proving from the ideas of
scripture that we ought to make a quick conversion, and hasten to the Lord, who in His
kindness waits for us to break off entirely from all wickedness and evil propensity, and
who welcomes us on our conversion with much joy, and not to let our contempt increase from
day to day, and our offences be added and multiplied upon us, and thus we bring the wrath
of God upon ourselves. Let us earnestly endeavour to come to Him with a truly converted
heart, not despairing of salvation; for that of itself is a wrong thing and an iniquity,
when the remembrance of sins takes such possession that it leads a man to despair, and to
slackness and recklessness and sloth, that he may not be converted and come to the Lord
and find salvation, when the great kindness of the Lord is over all the race of men.

25. If it seems to us hard and impossible to be converted from such a multitude of sins,
because we are in their possession—a thought which, as I said, is a device of wickedness
and a hindrance to our salvation—let us remember and consider how our Lord, when in His
goodness He sojourned here, made the blind to recover their sight, healed the palsied,
cured all manner of disease, raised the dead when they were already in decay and
disintegration, gave back hearing to the deaf, cast out a legion of devils from a single
man, and restored him to his senses, though he was so far gone in madness. How much rather
will He not convert a soul which returns to Him, seeking mercy from Him, and in need of
His succour, and bring it into a happy release from passions, and the settled state of all
virtue, and renewal of the mind, and change it to health and mental sight and thoughts of
peace from the blindness and deafness and deadness of unbelief and ignorance and
unconcern, bringing it to the sobriety of virtue and to purity of heart? He who created
the body, made the soul also; and as in His sojourn on earth, when men came to Him seeking
help and healing from Him, He granted ungrudgingly in His kindness according as their
needs were, like a good physician, the only true physician, so is it with spiritual
things.

26. If He was moved to such compassion over bodies that were to be dissolved and die
again, and did with eager kindness for each applicant the thing that he sought, how much
more when an immortal, imperishable, incorruptible soul, labouring under the disease of
ignorance, wickedness, unbelief, unconcern, and all the other maladies of sin, comes
nevertheless to the Lord, and seeks His help, and fixes its eyes upon His mercy, and
desires to receive of Him the grace of the Spirit for its deliverance and salvation and
riddance of all wickedness, and all passion, will He not grant more speedily and more
readily His healing deliverance, according to His own word, How much more shall your
heavenly Father avenge those that cry unto Him day and night? And He adds, Yea, I say unto
you, He will avenge them speedily; and in another place He exhorts, Ask, and it shall be
given unto you, for every one that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh, findeth, and to
him that knocketh it shall be opened; and at the close He adds, How much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Verily I say unto you, though
he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he
will rise and give him as much as he needeth.

27. With importunity then, without ceasing, without fainting, He has admonished us in all
these passages to ask for the succour of His grace. It was for the sake of sinners that He
came, that He might convert them to Himself, and heal those that believe Him. Only let us
to the best of our power withdraw ourselves from evil preoccupations, and hate bad
pursuits and the deceits of the world, and turn our backs upon wicked and vain thoughts,
and ever cleave to Him with all our might, and He readily gives us His help. To this
purpose He is merciful, and quickening, curing the maladies that were incurable, working
deliverance for those who call upon Him and turn to Him, departing to the best of their
ability in will and intention from all worldly affection, and forcing their mind away from
the earth, and fastening it upon Him with seeking and longing. To such a soul His help is
vouchsafed, the soul that counts all things else unnecessary, and rests upon nothing in
the world, but looks to find rest and rejoicing in the repose of His loving kindness, and
thus through such a faith attaining the heavenly gift, gaining satisfaction for its desire
in full assurance through grace, thenceforward serving the Holy Ghost agreeably and
consistently, and daily advancing in that which is good, and abiding in the way of
righteousness; and having persevered to the end inflexible and uncomplying towards the
side of evil, without grieving grace in anything, it is granted eternal salvation with all
the saints, as having lived in the world like a partner and a comrade of theirs, in
imitation of them. Amen.


FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
========================

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES continued

HOMILY V

A great difference between Christians and the men of this world. Those who have the spirit
of the world are in heart and mind bound in earthly bonds, but the others long after the
love of the heavenly Father, having Him only before their eyes with much desire. I. THE
world of Christians is one thing—their way of living, their mind, and speech, and action,
is one—and the way of living, and mind and speech and action of the men of this world is
another. Those are one thing, and these another, and the difference between them is great.
The inhabitants of the earth, the children of this age, are like corn put in the sieve of
this earth, sifted by restless thoughts of this world, and by the ceaseless tossing of
earthly businesses and desires and of tangled material notions, while Satan waves their
souls about, as he sifts in this sieve of earthly businesses the whole sinful race of man,
ever since Adam fell by transgressing the commandment and came under the power of the
prince of wickedness. From the time when he gained this power, he does nothing but sift
with thoughts of deceit and agitation all the sons of this age, and dash them on the sieve
of the earth.

2. As the corn in the sieve is knocked by the man who sifts, and constantly shaken and
turned in it, so the prince of wickedness holds all men by means of earthly affairs, and
through these he shakes them, and agitates them, and tosses them, and knocks them on vain
lines of thought, and base desires, and earthly ties of the world, constantly taking
captive and agitating and alluring all the sinful race of Adam; as the Lord forewarned the
apostles how the wicked one would rise up against them: Satan hath desired to have you
that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed My Father that your faith fail not. The
word spoken to Cain by the Creator, that sentence pronounced upon him with an outward
meaning, Groaning and trembling and tossed shall thou be upon the earth, is a type and
likeness of what all sinners undergo in secret. After falling from the commandment and
entering the sinful state, the race of Adam has acquired that likeness in secret; it is
tossed about with shifting thoughts of fear and terror and every kind of commotion; the
prince of this world keeps each soul on the waves of all sorts and varieties of pleasure
and lust, unless it be begotten of God; as corn is turned incessantly in the sieve, he
keeps men’s thoughts rocking about in various directions, and shakes and entices them all
by worldly lusts, and pleasures of the flesh, and fears, and commotions.

3. The Lord showed that those who follow the deceits and desires of the wicked one bear
the likeness of Cain’s wickedness, when He reproved them and said, The lusts of your
father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth. So
that the whole sinful race of Adam has acquired that condemnation in secret, Groaning and
trembling shall ye be, and shaken in the sieve of the earth, by Satan sifting you. For as
from one Adam all the race of men was spread over the earth, so one form of evil passion
sank into the sinful race of men, and the prince of evil suffices to sift them all with
shifting, material, vain, troublesome thoughts. As one wind is enough to shake and agitate
all the plants and seeds, or as one darkness of the night is spread over all the inhabited
earth, so the prince of wickedness, who is himself the spiritual darkness of sin and
death, and a wild though hidden wind, rocks the whole race of men upon earth, and carries
them about with restless thoughts, and entices the hearts of men with the lusts of the
world, and fills every soul with the darkness of ignorance, blindness and forgetfulness,
save those which have been begotten from above, and have been translated in disposition
and mind to another world, according as it is said, But our citizenship is in heaven.

4. This constitutes the difference between true Christians and the rest of mankind, and
the distance between the two is great, as we said before. The Christian mind and way of
thinking is always in the heavenly frame; they behold as in a mirror the good things of
eternity, by reason of their partaking and having the Holy Ghost, by being born of God
from above, and being privileged to be children of God in truth and efficacy, and by
having arrived, through many conflicts and labours spread over a long time, at a fixed and
settled condition of freedom from disturbance and of rest, no longer sifted and wave-
tossed by unquiet and vain thoughts. By this they are greater and better than the world,
because their mind and the frame of their soul is in the peace of Christ and the love of
the Spirit. It was of such that the Lord spoke when He said that they had passed from
death unto life. Not in a form or in outward figures lies the distinguishing mark of
Christians. Most men think that the difference which distinguishes themselves from the
world consists in a form and in figures; and lo! in mind and frame they are like the
world, undergoing the same shaking, and inconstancy of thoughts, and unbelief, and
confusion, and helter-skelter as all other men. In outward form and appearance they differ
from the world, and in a few points of religious ordinance; but in heart and mind they are
bound with earthly bonds, never having acquired rest from God and the peace of the
heavenly Spirit in their heart, because they never sought it from God, nor believed that
He would vouchsafe these things to them.

5. For it is in the renewing of the mind, and the peace of the thoughts, and the love and
heavenly passion for the Lord, that the new creation of Christians distinguishes them from
all the men of the world. This was the purpose of the Lord’s coming, to vouchsafe these
spiritual blessings to those who truly believe in Him. Christians have a glory and a
beauty and a heavenly wealth which is beyond words, and it is won with pains, and sweat,
and trials, and many conflicts, and all by the grace of God. If the sight of an earthly
king is an object of desire to all men, so that every one who sojourns in the capital
desires to catch even a glimpse of his beauty, the magnificence of his apparel, the glory
of his purple, the beauty of his various pearls, the comeliness of his diadem, the
impressive retinue of dignities attending him—except that spiritual men think nothing of
all this, because they have had experience of another glory, which is heavenly and out of
the body, and have been smitten with another beauty unspeakable, and have an interest in
another wealth, and have felt in the inward man and are partakers of another Spirit—when
the men of this world, who have the spirit of the world, are so keenly desirous to set
eyes, if no more, on the earthly king with all his comeliness and glory—because in
proportion as his share of visible advantages excels that of other men, so even to have
set eyes on him is a distinction and an object of desire to them all, and each man
inwardly says, “I wish that some one would give me that glory, and comeliness, and
magnificence,” ascribing happiness to that man, like himself, earthly, of like passions,
and subject to death, though an object of desire for his temporal comeliness and glory—6.

if, I say, carnal men thus desire the glory of the earthly king, how much more are those
upon whom has dropped that dewdrop of the Spirit of the life of the Godhead, and has
smitten their heart with a divine passion for Christ the heavenly King, bound fast to that
beauty, to the unspeakable glory, the immortal comeliness, the unimaginable wealth of
Christ, the true eternal King, with desire and longing after whom they are carried away
captive, and have their whole being directed towards Him, and desire to obtain those
unspeakable blessings, which by the Spirit they see in a mirror; for whose sake they think
nothing of all the beauties and comelinesses and glories and honours and wealth of kings
and princes upon earth, because they are smitten with a divine beauty, and the life of
immortality in heaven has dropped upon their souls? Therefore their longing is towards
that love of the heavenly King, and having Him only before their eyes with great desire,
they detach themselves for His sake from all worldly affection, and withdraw from every
earthly tie, that they may be free always to cherish in their hearts that one longing, and
to mix nothing else with it.

Very few, however, are they who supply a good beginning with a good end, and come through
to the end without falling, with no love but one, for God only, and detached from all
else. Many are pricked at heart, and many become partakers of heavenly grace, and are
smitten with divine passion; but because of the conflicts and struggles and labours and
divers temptations of the devil to be borne on the way, they do not hold out, but are
occupied with divers and sundry worldly desires, because every one has some worldly thing
that he chooses to love, and has not detached his affections all round, and so they have
stopped short, and have been plunged in the deeps of the world, through the feebleness and
slackness and cowardice of their own wills, or through some worldly affection. For those
who wish really to come through to the end in good living must not willingly admit and
combine any other love or affection with that heavenly one, for fear of being hindered
from spiritual things, and turning backward, and at last being exiled from life. Great and
unspeakable and inestimable are the promises made by God; and in proportion to them great
faith and hope and labours and conflicts are required, and much trial. The blessings for
which a seeker of the kingdom of heaven hopes are no trifle. Thou desirest to reign with
Christ through ages without end;

wilt thou not readily welcome the conflicts and labours and temptations of this short span
of life, even unto death? The Lord cries, If any man will come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily rejoicing and follow Me; and again, If any man hate
not father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters, yea and his own life also, he
cannot be My disciple. But most men wish to attain the kingdom, and would like to inherit
eternal life, but do not refuse to live to their own wills and to follow them out. Not
denying themselves, they wish to inherit eternal life; and this is impossible. The Lord’s
saying is true. The men who come through without falling are those who according to the
Lord’s commandment have wholly denied themselves, and have abhorred all the desires, and
entanglements, and excitements, and pleasures, and businesses of the world, and who keep
Him only before their eyes, and desire to do His commandments, so that each man by his own
will turns away, even from a kingdom, and positively would not wish to have it, or to love
anything along with that love, by being pleased with any pleasures or desires of this
world, instead of keeping his whole love, to the utmost of his will and choice, fixed upon
the Lord.

A single example will shew you all that I mean. Sometimes a man passes judgment on
another. He knows that what he is inclined to do is wrong, but because he loves the thing,
and will not deny it, he is overcome. To begin with, inwardly, in his heart, there is war,
and conflict, weighing and balancing; the love of God and the love of the world are in the
scales; and then the man comes forth, and passes judgment upon his brother, perhaps even
to fighting and blows, saying within himself, “Let me speak; let me say it; nay, let me
not say it,” because, while remembering God, he yet seeks to obtain his own glory, and
will not deny himself, but if the love of the world for a moment outweighs the other and
dips the scale in his heart, at once the bad word springs to his lips. Then the mind from
within, like one who aims a missile, uses the tongue to shoot his neighbour, discharging
the volley of unseemly words at his discretion, in the desire to gain his own glory. Then
this shooting with unseemly words goes on and on, until the sin is diffused through other
members, and sometimes it comes to blows and wounds, body and members against body and
members, and sometimes the bad desire issues even in death and murder. See the origin and
the outcome of the love of worldly glory, when it has once turned the scale in the balance
of the heart in the way of self-will. The man would not deny himself, and fixed his
affection on a worldly thing, and all those wrong deeds were a result.

Think in this way, I pray you, of every form of sin and of every immoral practice, which
spring from the intrigues of evil, gaining over the will of the mind to worldly desires
and to the deceit and pleasure of the flesh. In this way every bad deed comes about,
adultery and theft, covetousness and drunkenness, love of money and vain glory, envy and
self-assertion, and every other bad practice that you can name. Sometimes actions that
appear good are performed for the sake of the glory and praise of men; and with God these
are on the same footing as injustice and theft or any other sin. God says, He hath
scattered the bones of men-pleasers. So the evil one likes to be served by things that
appear good. He is versatile and cunning in the lusts of the world. By means of some
earthly and carnal affection, by which a man in his natural will is bound, sin entices
him, until it becomes to him a fetter and a chain and a heavy weight, sinking and stifling
him in the world of wickedness, and not allowing him to come to the surface and get to
God. Whatever a man has loved in the world, weighs down his mind, and holds it down, and
will not let him come up.

In this balance, with its bias to the scale of evil, all mankind hangs and is tested,
Christians and all, whether dwelling in cities, or in mountains, or in monasteries, or in
fields, or in deserts; because the natural will of man entices him to set his affection on
something, and that affection is somewhere or other tied, and is not wholly towards God. A
man has set his affection, say, on property, another on gold and silver, another on the
wisdom of the eloquence of the world for the sake of glory from men; another has loved
power, another glory and honours among men, another wrath and anger—for yielding quickly
to it is loving it—another unseasonable conversations, another jealousy; another amuses
himself and seeks pleasure all day long; another deceives himself with idle thoughts;
another loves to be a teacher of the law for the glory of men; another finds pleasure in
sloth and heedlessness; another is absorbed in dress and clothes; another gives himself to
earthly cares; another loves sleep and jesting and low talk. Whether it be a little thing
of the world or a great that ties him, the man is kept down by it, and not allowed to
rise. Whatever passion a man does not bravely war against, is an object of his affection;
and it holds him fast, and weighs him down, and becomes to him a hindrance and a fetter,
preventing his mind from going up to God and pleasing Him, and from serving Him only and
thereby proving fit for the kingdom and obtaining eternal life.

The soul whose movement is truly towards the Lord, compels its affection wholly to Him,
and in will and intention binds itself with all its power to Him only, and from that
quarter gains the help of grace, and denies itself, and refuses to follow the desires of
its own mind, because the mind deals deceitfully with us through the evil that is present
with us and entices us; but surrenders itself entirely to the word of the Lord, and
detaches itself from every external bond, as far as lies in the power of the will, and
gives itself altogether to the Lord, and in this way will be enabled to pass without
difficulty through conflicts and troubles and afflictions. Where the affection is engaged,
from that quarter comes help or hindrance. If a man loves something of the world, that
thing becomes to him a burden and bonds to drag him downward, not suffering him to go
upwards and Godwards. If he loves the Lord and His commandments, from thence comes his
help, and from thence he is buoyed up, and all the precepts of the Lord become easy to
him, because his love for Him completely saves him; and it weights his scale towards the
good, or rather buoys him up and makes every battle and every affliction light, and
through the power of God it cuts through the world and through the powers of evil which in
the world lay traps for the soul, and which use all kinds of desires to bind the soul in
the depths of the world. In this way the man is disentangled from them through his
personal faith and much earnestness and through the help that comes from above, and is
accounted worthy of the eternal kingdom where his affection was set, and having truly
loved that kingdom with his personal will, and having received help of the Lord, he does
not fail of eternal life.

In order to see by plain illustrations how many men are ruined by their own wills, and are
drowned in the sea, and are carried off into captivity, imagine a house on fire, and one
man, wishing to save himself, as soon as he is aware of the fire, flees out of it naked,
leaving everything to its fate, and only caring to make sure of his own life is saved.
Another, wishing to take some of the furniture out of the house, or other articles, goes
inside to get them, and just as he takes them, the fire masters the house, and the man is
caught within and burned. You see that attaching himself by his personal will to some
temporal object he perishes in the fire. Or at sea, people are caught in a storm of waves
and shipwrecked. One strips himself naked, and plunges into the depth of the waters,
caring only to save himself; and so, though buffeted by the billows, he emerges to the top
of them, because there is nothing about him to break up, and thus manages to get through
the bitter sea, and purchases his own life. Another, desirous of saving some of his
clothes, fancies that he can dive and get through with what he has taken and all, and the
very things that he got hold of weigh him down, and sink him in the depth of the sea, and
for a trifling gain he loses himself, unable to secure his own life.

You see how his personal will causes his death. Or suppose a rumour comes of the irruption
of savage tribes. One man, the moment he hears of it, makes off, without wasting time, and
gets away with nothing but his bare self. Another, disbelieving that the enemy are coming,
or setting his heart on some of his possessions and anxious to take them with him, is slow
to flee, and the foes come and catch him, and carry him captive into the enemy country,
and there make a slave of him. You see how his personal will is the cause of slackness,
and want of energy, and attachment to some object or another, by which he is taken away
into captivity. In like manner, those who do not follow the commandments of the Lord, and
will not deny themselves and set their affection on the Lord alone, but choose to be bound
with earthly bonds, these, when the eternal fire comes, being tied and bound with the love
of the world, will find themselves burned, and sunk under the bitter sea of wickedness,
and carried captive by the savage captors who are the spirits of wickedness, and are lost.

If you please to learn from the holy inspired scripture how straight a perfected love to
the Lord can go, look at Job, how he divested himself, so to speak, of all that he
possessed—children, property, cattle, servants, and all that he had—how he stripped them
all off and escaped, and saved himself, even letting go his bodily clothing and abandoning
it to Satan, never blaspheming either in word or in his heart, nor uttering anything with
his lips before the Lord, but on the contrary blessed the Lord and said, The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so hath He done; blessed be
the name of the Lord. Although he was reputed to have great possessions, the testing which
he received from the Lord showed plainly that he had none but God. In like manner Abraham,
being bidden by the Lord to leave his country and his kindred and his father’s house,
immediately stripped himself, so to speak, of all—fatherland, kinsfolk, parents—and
followed the word of the Lord; then, many trials and temptations befalling him in the
meanwhile, his wife taken from him, living in a strange land, subjected to unjust
treatment, he was proved by all these things to love God only above everything. At last,
when by promise, after an interval of many years, he had gotten an only much-desired son,
he was asked to offer this son in sacrifice with his own hands, and readily stripped
himself of himself and denied himself, proving by the sacrifice of his only begotten that
there was nothing that he loved besides God: for if he readily parted with his son, how
much more, if he had been bidden to relinquish all his other possessions, or to distribute
them at one stroke to the poor, would he not readily and promptly have done it!

You see the straight character of a whole-hearted and perfected love to the Lord; and
those who wish to be fellow-heirs of these men must love nothing besides God, in order
that, when trial comes, they may be found serviceable and true, keeping their love to the
Lord unimpaired. Such can go through their conflict to the end—who have always heartily
loved God and God only, and have loosed themselves from all love of the world. But few,
and very few, are found who have taken up a love like this, renouncing all the pleasures
and desires of the world, and enduring patiently the assaults and temptations of the evil
one. If many in crossing the rivers are sucked under by the waters, are there not some who
pass over the turbulent streams of the world with its manifold desires, and of the various
temptations of the spirits of wickedness? Many ships on the sea are covered by the waves
and founder; but are there not some that get across, and travel over the waves, and reach
the haven of peace? There is need therefore of much faith, and patience, and conflict, and
endurance, and labour, and hunger and thirst for what is good, and keenness, and
importunity, and discretion, and understanding at all times; for most men wish to obtain
the kingdom without trouble, or pains, or sweat, and that is a thing impossible.

As in the world men go to some rich person, to work at harvest or something else, in order
to gain what they need for their sustenance, and some of them are sluggish and idle, not
working hard or labouring as they ought, and these, who have not toiled at all nor exerted
themselves for the rich man’s house, wish to receive equal pay with those who have
manfully and vigorously exerted themselves with all their might, as if they too had done
their work; so when we read in scripture how some righteous man pleased God, how he became
a friend and companion of God, and how all the fathers became friends and heirs of God,
what afflictions they endured, how much they suffered for God’s sake, how they played the
man and contended, we call them blessed, and wish to obtain equal gifts and dignities with
them, and covet earnestly those splendid endowments, without observing their pains and
struggles and afflictions and sufferings, and earnestly wish to receive honours and
dignities like those which they have from God, but their labours and pains and struggles
we will not accept. But I tell you, that everyone covets and desires this—harlots and
publicans and unrighteous men and all—easily and without labours or struggles to gain a
kingdom.

But this is the reason why temptations lie along the road, and many trials and
afflictions, and struggles, and exhausting labours, to prove, who have really loved the
Lord and Him only, with all their will and all their might, even to death, and have held
nothing else desirable along with love to Him. Justly therefore they enter into the
kingdom of heaven, having denied themselves according to the Lord’s word, and having loved
the Lord, and Him alone, more than their own breath; and their surpassing love shall be
requited with surpassing gifts of heaven. In those afflictions and sufferings, in that
patience and faith, are hidden the promises, and the glory, and the restitution of the
good things of heaven, as the fruit is in the seed when it is sown in the earth, or in the
tree when a graft is inserted into it and plastered with some degrading rotten stuff. Then
they were proved to have in them the comeliness and the glory and the abounding fruit
which clothes them; as the apostle says, Through much tribulation we may enter into the
kingdom of heaven, and the Lord, In your patience possess ye your souls, and again, In the
world ye shall have tribulation.

There is need of pains, and diligence, and watchfulness, and great heed, and of vigour and
importunity in prayer to the Lord, in order to pass through the traps of earthly desire,
and the snares of pleasure, and the pitfalls of the world, and to escape the assaults of
evil spirits, and to know well by what watchfulness and alertness of faith and love the
saints came to possess within their souls, even here, the heavenly treasure, that is, the
power of the Spirit, which is the earnest of the kingdom. The blessed apostle Paul,
discoursing of this heavenly treasure of the grace of the Spirit, and declaring the
exceeding greatness of that tribulation, and at the same indicating what each of us ought
to strive to attain in this life, says, We know that if our earthly house of this
tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. We ought all, therefore, to strive and endeavour by every kind of virtue,
and to believe that we shall gain possession of that house, even here. For if the house of
our body is dissolved, we have no other house for the soul to turn into. If, it says,
being clothed, we shall not be found naked—naked, that is, of the communion and inblending
of the Holy Ghost, in which alone the faithful soul can find rest. For this reason,
Christians who are Christians in truth and efficacy are confident and glad at departure
from the flesh, because they have that house made without hands, which house is the power
of the Spirit dwelling in them. Therefore, even if the house of the body is dissolved,
they are in no fear, because they have the heavenly house of the Spirit and that
incorruptible glory, which glory in the resurrection day shall build up and glorify the
house of the body as well, as the apostle tells us; He that raised up Christ from the dead
shall quicken also your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwelleth in you, and again,
That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh, and That
mortality, it says, may be swallowed up of life.

8. Let us then strive by faith and virtuous living to gain here that clothing, that when
we put off the body we may not be found naked, and there be nothing in that day to glorify
our flesh. For in proportion as any one has been permitted to become through faith and
diligence a partaker of the Holy Ghost, his body also shall be glorified in that day. What
the soul has now stored up within, shall then be revealed and displayed outwardly in the
body. As trees that have got over the winter, when warmed by the unseen influence of sun
and winds, put forth from within and shoot out their clothing of leaves, and as at that
season flowers of the grass come forth from within the bosom of the earth, and the earth
is covered and dressed, and the grass is like those lilies of which the Lord said that not
even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of them, for these are all parables and
types and figures of Christians at the resurrection.—9. so to all God-loving souls, to
true Christians, there comes a first month, a Xanthicus, which is called April. It is the
day of resurrection; and by the power of the Sun of Righteousness the glory of the Holy
Ghost comes out from within, decking and covering the bodies of the saints—the glory which
they had before, but hidden within in their souls. What a man has now, the same then comes
forth externally in the body.

This month, it says, shall be the first month of the year; this brings forth joy for all
the creation; this dresses the naked trees, opening the earth; this brings forth joy for
all living things; this displays mirth for all; this for Christians is Xanthicus, the
first month, which is the season of resurrection, in which their bodies shall be glorified
through the unspeakable light which even now is in them—that is the power of the Holy
Ghost—and which shall then be to them raiment, meat, drink, gladness, joy, peace, robe,
eternal life; for all beauty of brightness and of heavenly splendour will then come to
them from that Spirit of the Godhead which they were privileged even now to receive. 10.
How then ought every one of us to believe, and to strive, and to be diligent in all
virtuous living, and with much hope and patience to look for the privilege of receiving
now that power from heaven, and the glory of the Holy Ghost inwardly in the soul, in order
that then, when our bodies are dissolved, we may have what shall clothe and quicken us! If
so be, it says, that being clothed we shall not be found naked, and He shall quicken our
mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in us. The blessed Moses showed in a type,
through the glory of the Spirit which was set upon his countenance, upon which no man was
able to look steadfastly, how at the resurrection of the just the bodies of those that are
worthy shall be glorified, with a glory which even now the souls of holy and faithful
people are privileged to have within, upon the inner man. For we all, it says, with open
face, that is to say, in the inward man, reflecting as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory. In like manner, for forty days and
forty nights, as it is written, he did neither eat bread nor drink water. It was not
possible for the nature of the body to live so long without bread, unless he partook of
some other spiritual food; of which food the souls of the saints even now invisibly
partake by gift of the Spirit.

11. In two ways, therefore, the blessed Moses showed what glory of light and what
immaterial dainties of the Spirit true Christians shall have at the resurrection, which
even now are vouchsafed to them in a hidden manner, and therefore shall then be manifested
also upon their bodies. The glory which the saints now have in their souls, the same, as
we said before, shall cover and clothe their naked bodies, and catch them into heaven; and
thenceforward we shall rest, in body and soul, in the kingdom with the Lord for ever. When
God created Adam, He did not provide him with bodily wings, like the birds, but He had
designed for him the wings of the Holy Ghost, those wings which He purposes to give him at
the resurrection, to lift him up and catch him away whithersoever the Spirit pleases—which
holy souls even now are privileged to have, and fly up in mind to the heavenly frame of
thought. For Christians have a different world of their own, another table, other raiment,
another sort of enjoyment, other fellowship, another frame of mind; for which reason they
are superior to other men. The power of these things it is their privilege to have now
within them in their souls, through the Holy Ghost; therefore at the resurrection their
bodies also will be permitted to share those eternal blessings of the Spirit, and will be
mixed with that glory, which their souls in this life had known by experience.

12. Every one of us therefore ought to strive, and take pains, and be diligent in all
virtues, and to believe, and to seek from the Lord that the inward man may be made
partaker of that glory here and now, and that the soul may have fellowship in that
sanctity of the Spirit, in order that we may be cleansed from the defilements of
wickedness and may have at the resurrection wherewithal to clothe our bodies as they rise
naked, and to robe their uncomeliness, and quicken them, and refresh them for ever in the
kingdom of heaven. For Christ will come down from heaven, and raise up all the tribes of
Adam, those who from the beginning have fallen asleep, according to the holy scriptures,
and will set them all in two divisions, and those who bear His own sign, that is the seal
of the Spirit, He will call to Him as His very own and set them on His right hand; for My
sheep, He says, hear My voice, and I know Mine own and am known of Mine. Then shall the
bodies of these be arrayed with divine glory from their good works, and shall be full of
the glory of the Spirit, which they had in their souls even here; and thus being glorified
in the divine light, and caught up into heaven to meet the Lord in the air, as it is
written, we shall ever be with the Lord, rejoicing with Him to ages without end. Amen.

HOMILY VI

Those who desire to please God, ought to offer their prayers in peace and quietness, in
gentleness and wisdom, and not to give scandal to others by the use of loud outcries. The
Homily also contains two questions, whether the thrones and crowns are actual created
things, and concerning the twelve thrones of Israel. 1. THOSE who draw near to the Lord
ought to make their prayers in quietness and peace and great composure, and to fix their
minds upon the Lord not with unseemly and confused outcries, but with effort of the heart
and vigilant thoughts. If some one suffering from a malady needs to be cauterized or to
undergo a surgical operation, one man will bear the pain of it with courage and patience,
self-possessed, and making no noise or disturbance, while others undergoing the same
infliction give way under the fire or the knife to unseemly outcries, and yet the pain of
the man who calls out is exactly the same as that of the man who does not—of him who makes
a disturbance as of him who makes none. So are there some who under affliction and travail
of the soul submit to it with dignity and make no disturbance, controlling themselves by
mental reflexion, while others under the same affliction lose their power of endurance,
and make their prayers with disorderly noise, so as to give offence to those who hear
them. There are others again who are under no real concern, but for ostentation or
singularity make use of undisciplined outcries, as if by these they could please God.

2. A servant of God ought not thus to lose self-control, but to continue in all meekness
and wisdom, as the prophet said, Unto whom shall I look but unto him that is meek and
quiet, and that trembleth at My words? And in the cases of Moses and Elias we find that in
the appearances vouchsafed to them, although there was a great ministry of trumpets and
powers before the majesty of the Lord, yet the presence of the Lord was distinguished
amongst and from them all, and was manifested in peace and quietness and repose. Lo, it
says, a humble still small voice, and the Lord was in it. This shows that the Lord’s rest
is in peace and composure. Whatever foundation a man lays, however he starts, he will
continue in the same line to the last. If he begins praying with a loud voice and noisy
behaviour, he maintains to the last the same usage. Since the Lord is a lover of men, it
happens that He gives succour even to such an one; so they, through the encouragement of
grace, use the same ways to the last. Nevertheless we see that this is the part of the
uninstructed, because they give offence to others, and at the same time are themselves in
disorder at their prayers.

3. The true foundation of prayer is this, to concentrate attention, and to pray in great
quietness and peace, so as to give no offence to those outside. Such a man, if he receives
the grace of God upon his prayer, and continues to the last in his quietness, will edify
other people more. For God is not the God of confusion, but of peace. Those who pray
noisily are like the man who shouts to keep the rowers in time; they cannot pray
everywhere, either in churches, or in villages; perhaps only in the deserts can they do it
as they like. But those who pray quietly edify everybody everywhere. A man’s whole labour
should be employed upon his thoughts; he must cut away the bush of evil thoughts which
besets him, and urge himself to God, and not let his thoughts carry him where they like,
but collect them when they wander in any direction, distinguishing natural thoughts from
bad ones. Being under sin, the soul comes near to being like a great wood upon a hill, or
the reeds in the river, or thickets of thorns and bushes. Those who wish to pass through
the place, have to stretch out their hands, and with force and laborious effort to shove
aside the bushes that beset them. So do the thoughts that come from the adverse power
beset the soul like bushes. Much diligence and application of mind, therefore, is
required, in order to distinguish the thoughts which are not our own, but suggested by the
adverse power.

4. One man, trusting to his own abilities, thinks to fell the hills round him by himself;
another, governing his mind with composure and discernment, without great trouble makes
more of his work than the other. Thus there are some who at prayer make use of unseemly
outcries, as if they relied upon their muscular strength, not knowing how their thoughts
deceive them, and fancying that they can achieve a perfect success by their own power.
Others there are who pay attention to their thoughts, and exercise all their labour
within. These by their understanding and discernment are enabled to reach success, and to
shake off the insurrection of the thoughts and to walk after the will of the Lord. And we
find in the apostle that he calls the person who edifies others greater than he who does
not. He says, He that speaketh with tongues edifieth himself, but he that prophesieth
edifieth the church. Greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues.
Every one, therefore, will choose to edify others, and thus will have the kingdom of
heaven vouchsafed to him.

5. Question. Some people tell us that the thrones and crowns are actual creatures, not
spiritual things. How ought we to understand them? Answer. The throne of the Godhead is
our mind, and again, the throne of our mind is the Godhead and the Spirit. In like manner
Satan also and the powers and rulers of darkness have, ever since the transgression of the
commandment, seated themselves in the heart and mind and body of Adam, as their own
throne. That was why the Lord came, and took His body of the Virgin. For if He had willed
to come down in His uncovered Godhead, who would have been able to bear it? So He spoke to
men through the instrument of the body. By this means he put down the spirits of
wickedness, which had their seat in the body, from these thrones of mind and thought,
wherein they dwelt, and the Lord cleansed the conscience, and made Himself a throne of the
mind, the thoughts, and the body.

6. Question. What then is the meaning of the text, Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel? Answer. We find that this came to pass upon earth,
when the Lord had been taken up into heaven. For He sent the Comforter Spirit upon the
twelve apostles, and that holy power which came and tabernacled and seated itself in the
throne of their minds. When the bystanders said, These men are full of new wine, Peter
began at once to judge them, saying concerning Jesus, “A Man mighty in words and signs ye
crucified, hanging Him on a tree; and behold, He there did wondrous things, rending the
graves of stone, and raising the dead. For it is written, In the last days I will pour out
of My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” Many,
therefore, came to repentance under Peter’s instruction, so that a new world, elect of
God, came into being.

7. Do you see how the beginning of judgment appeared? A new world appeared there.
Authority was given them here to sit and judge even in this world. Not but that they are
to sit and give judgment hereafter, at the advent of the Lord, at the resurrection of the
dead. But it came to pass here also, when the Holy Ghost seated Himself on the thrones of
their minds. The diadems which Christians receive in that age are not creatures. Those who
say so, say amiss. The Spirit uses them as a suggestive figure. What does the apostle Paul
say concerning the heavenly Jerusalem? This is the mother of us all, in whose confession
we agree. As for the garment which Christians wear, it is evidently the Spirit Himself
that clothes them, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost for
ever. Amen.

HOMILY VII

Concerning the loving kindness of Christ towards men. The Homily also contains certain
questions and answers. 1. IMAGINE a man to go into a royal palace, and to see the
portraits and works of art there, treasures kept in one place, other things in another.
Imagine him to sit down to table with the king, and to have delicious meats and drinks set
before him, and to be in every way refreshed with the contemplation of such beautiful
things; and after that, to be hurried off, and found carried away to noisome places. Or
imagine a maiden fairer, wiser, and wealthier than all others, to take for her husband a
poor, lowly, ugly man, clothed in tatters; to take the filthy garments from him, and
clothe him with the robes of a king, and set a diadem on his head, and enter into union
with him. There comes a moment when that poor man begins to be frightened, and to say, “Am
I, who am wretched and poor and mean and lowly, to have such a wife given to me?” This is
what God has done to poor wretched man. He has given him to taste of another world, of
other delicious food; He has shown him glories and royal beauties unspeakable and
heavenly; and so the man, comparing those spiritual things with the things of this world,
casts all away, and whether king, or princes, or wise men meet his eye, he turns his gaze
to the heavenly treasure. For since God is love, man has received the heavenly and divine
fire of Christ, and is at rest, and rejoices, and is there fast bound.

2. Question. Is Satan in the same place as God, either in the air, or in men? Answer. The
sun yonder is but a creature. When it shines upon miry places, what harm does it take? How
much more can the Divine Being be in the same place as Satan without being sullied or
polluted? Evil, however, is darkened and blinded, and cannot see the purity and fineness
of God. If any one says that Satan has his own proper place, and God His, he makes God to
be circumscribed with reference to the place where the wicked one dwells. How then can we
say that the good is not circumscribed or comprehended, and that all things are contained
within it, and yet that the good is not polluted by the evil? What then? Because sky, and
sun, and mountains are in God, and have their consistency through Him, are they then God?
Created things are established in their own order, and the Creator, who is present with
them all, is God.

3. Question. When sin is transformed into an angel of light, and comes to look like grace,
how is a man to detect the wiles of the devil, and how shall he welcome and discern the
things of grace? Answer. The things of grace are attended by joy, peace, love, and truth.
Truth itself compels man to seek truth. But the forms of sin are disordered, and have
nothing of love or joy towards God. Endive looks like lettuce; but one is sweet, and the
other, for all its likeness, is bitter. Even in the realm of grace itself, there is what
looks like truth, and there is the substance of truth itself. The ray of the sun is one
thing, and the orb itself is another, and the ray does not give shine in the same sense in
which the light stored up in the orb does. A lamp is lighted in the house: the ray of it
which beams all round is one thing and the light in the lamp itself is another, brighter
and clearer. In like manner there are things of grace, which when a man sees them at a
distance, as spectacles to be looked at, give him joy even as spectacles; but he becomes
another man when the power of God enters into him, and occupies his heart and his members,
and makes his mind captive to the love of God. When they seized Peter and cast him into
prison, an angel of the Lord came, when he was shut in, and broke his chains, and brought
him out; and he, like one in a trance, thought he saw a vision.

4. Question. And how comes it that people who are under the influence of grace ever fall?
Answer. Even pure intelligences in their own nature are liable to slip and fall. A man
begins to be lifted up, to censure, to say, “Thou art a sinner,” while he considers
himself righteous. Do you not know what St. Paul says, There was given unto me a thorn in
the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure?
Even a pure nature is liable to be exalted above measure. 5. Question. Can a man, by means
of light, see his own soul? There are some people who do away with revelation, and affirm
that it is knowledge and sense which give vision. Answer. Sense differs from vision, and
vision from enlightenment; and the man who has enlightenment is greater than the man who
has only sense. His mind is enlightened, inasmuch as he has received a greater portion
than the man who has but sense, as is shown by his seeing within himself visions which he
cannot doubt. But revelation is a further thing. Great things, and mysteries of God, are
the subjects of revelation to the soul.

6. Question. Does one by revelation and the divine light see the soul? Answer. As these
eyes of ours see the sun, so those who are enlightened see the image of the soul; but not
many Christians have this sight. 7. Question. Has the soul any form? Answer. It has an
image or form in the same way as an angel has. As the angels have an image or form, and as
the outward man has his image, so the inner man has an image like an angel’s, and a form
like that of the outward man. 8. Question. Is the mind one thing and the soul another?
Answer. As the members of the body, being many, are called one man, so the soul has many
members, mind, conscience, will, thoughts accusing and excusing, but all these are
dependent upon one factor. They are members of the soul, and the soul is one, the inward
man. But as the outward eyes discover at a distance the thorns, precipices, and pitfalls,
and give warning beforehand, so the mind, when it is at all alert, discovers beforehand
the crafts and devices of the adverse power, and secures the soul in advance. It is in
fact the eye of the soul. Let us ascribe glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for ever
and ever. Amen.

HOMILY VIII

Concerning things which befall Christians at prayer, and concerning the measures of
perfection—whether it is possible for Christians to reach the perfect measure. 1. A MAN
goes in to bend the knee, and his heart is filled with the divine influence, and his soul
rejoices with the Lord, like bride with bridegroom, according to that word of the prophet
Esaias which says, As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall the Lord rejoice
over thee; and it comes to pass that being all day engaged he gives himself to prayer for
an hour, and the inward man is rapt in prayer into the unfathomable deep of that other
world in great sweetness, so that his whole mind is up aloft, rapt away thither, and
estranged from things below. For the time being forgetfulness comes into him with regard
to the interests of the earthly mind, because his thoughts are filled and taken captive to
divine and heavenly things, to things infinite and past comprehension, to wonderful things
which no human lips can express, so that for that hour he prays and says, “Would God that
my soul might pass along with my prayer!”

2. Question. Can any one enter into these things at all times? Answer. Grace is constantly
present, and is rooted in us, and worked into us like leaven, from our earliest years,
until the thing thus present becomes fixed in a man like a natural endowment, as if it
were one substance with him. But, for the man’s own good, it manages him in many different
ways, after its own pleasure. Sometimes the fire flames out and kindles more vehemently;
at other times more gently and mildly. The light that it gives kindles up at times and
shines with unusual brightness; at others it abates and burns low. The lamp is always
burning and shining, but when it is specially trimmed, it kindles up with intoxication of
the love of God; and then again by God’s dispensation it gives in, and though the light is
always there, it is comparatively dull.

3. To some, however, the sign of the cross has appeared in light and fastened itself upon
the inward man. At another time a man at his prayers has fallen into a kind of trance, and
found himself standing in the altar-space in church, and three loaves were offered to such
an one, leavened with oil, and the more he ate of them, the more they increased and grew.
At another time there was brought as it were a shining garment, such as there is none on
earth in the course of this world, nor is it possible for human hands to make the like;
for as when the Lord went up into the mountain with Peter and John, He changed the fashion
of His raiment and made it to flash with light, so was it with this garment, and the man
who was clothed with it wondered and was amazed. Another while, the light shining in the
heart disclosed the inner, deeper, hidden light, so that the man, swallowed up in the
sweetness of the contemplation, was no longer master of himself, but was like a fool or a
barbarian to this world by reason of the surpassing love and sweetness, by reason of the
hidden mysteries; so that the man for that season was set at liberty, and came to perfect
measures, and was pure and free from sin; yet afterwards grace retreated, and the veil of
the adverse power came; notwithstanding, grace still shews itself in part, and he stands
on the first and lowest step of perfection.

4. There are twelve steps, we might say, which a man has to pass before he reaches
perfection. For a season that measure has been attained, and perfection entered upon; and
then grace gives in, and he comes down by one step, and stands on the eleventh. Here and
there one man rich in grace has stood always, night and day, in perfect measures, at
liberty and in purity, always captive and aloft. Well now, if the man to whom those
marvellous things were shewn, of which he has had actual experience, were to have them
always present with him, he would be unable to undertake the dispensation of the word and
the burden of it, nor could he endure to listen to, or take any interest in, any ordinary
thing, concerning himself, or concerning the morrow, but only to sit in a corner, aloft
and intoxicated. So the perfect measure has not been given, in order that he may be free
to take an interest in his brethren, and in the ministry of the word. Nevertheless the
middle wall of partition has been broken through and death is overcome.

5. The case stands thus, as if some foggy power hangs over and forms a light screen, like
a dense air, though the lamp is burning and shining all the while, even as a veil hangs
over yonder light. So this man confesses that he is not perfect or altogether free from
sin. He says that the middle wall of partition has been broken through and shattered, and
yet at some point not wholly broken, nor at all times. There are moments when grace
kindles up and comforts and refreshes more fully; there are moments when it retreats and
clouds over, according as grace itself manages for the man’s advantage. But who is there
that has come to the perfect measure at particular seasons, and has tasted and had direct
experience of that world? A perfect Christian man, one completely free, I have not yet
seen. Although one and another is at rest in grace, and enters into mysteries and
revelations and into much sweetness of grace, still sin is yet present within. By reason
of the exceeding grace and of the light that is in them, men consider themselves free and
perfect; but inexperience deceives them. They are under the influence of grace, but I have
never yet seen a man that is free. I myself at times have in part come to that measure,
and I have learned to know that it does not constitute a perfect man.

6. Question. Tell us, if thou wilt, what measures thou art in? Answer. After the sign of
the cross, grace now acts thus. It calms all the members and the heart, so that the soul,
for much joy, appears like an innocent child, and the man no longer condemns Greek or Jew,
sinner or worldling. The inner man regards all men with a pure eye, and the man rejoices
over all the world, and desires that all should worship and love, Greeks and Jews. At
another moment, like the king’s son, he is as bold in the Son of God as in a father, and
doors are opened to him, and he enters within to many mansions and the further he goes in,
doors are again opened in progression, a hundred mansions leading to a hundred beyond, and
he is rich, and the richer he is, other new wonders are again disclosed to him, and he is
entrusted, as a son and an heir, with things that cannot be told by mankind or put into
syllables by mouth and tongue. Glory to God. Amen.

HOMILY IX

That the promises and prophecies of God are accomplished through manifold trial and
temptation, and that those who cleave to God alone are delivered from the temptation of
the evil one. 1. THE spiritual influence of God’s grace within the soul works with great
patience, wisdom, and mysterious management of the mind, while the man for long times and
seasons contends in much endurance; and then the work of grace is proved to be perfect in
him, his free will and choice being proved by much trial to be well-pleasing to the
Spirit, and the man having displayed thoroughness and perseverance for a good length of
time. We will illustrate this law of action from plain examples in the inspired
scriptures. 2. What I mean is well exhibited in Joseph. What times and seasons it took to
accomplish the predestined will of God concerning him, and to fulfil his visions. By what
pains and afflictions and distresses he was first proved, and endured them all nobly, and
was found in them all a thorough and faithful servant of God, and then became a king of
Egypt, and nurtured his family, and the prophecy of things unseen was accomplished, and
the will of God received its predicted end after long time and much management.

3. So with David. God anointed him king by the prophet Samuel, and when he was anointed,
he fled from Saul, who pursued him to destroy him. Where then was God’s anointing? Where
was the promise, so far as the immediate future was concerned? After his anointing, he was
grievously afflicted, wandering in desert places, and destitute even of bread, and taking
refuge among the heathen because of Saul’s designs against him. Such afflictions
encompassed the man whom God had anointed to be king. Then after long trial, and
affliction, and temptation, and patience, having once for all believed God, and assuring
himself, “What God did for me by the prophet’s anointing, and what God said should come to
pass concerning me, must without doubt come to pass, even though long patience be
required,” at length the will of God was done, and David reigned after all his trials.
Then the word of God was manifested, and the anointing at the hands of the prophet was
shewn to be sure and true.

4. So with Moses. God having foreknown and predestined him to be the ruler and deliverer
of the people, made him to become the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and he grew up to kingly
fortune and splendour and luxury, being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and
when he reached man’s estate, and was become great, he refused all those things, choosing
rather the suffering affliction and the reproaches of the Christ, as the apostle says,
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He became a fugitive from Egypt; and how
long did that son of a king, who was bred up to such enjoyment and royal luxury, spend in
the labours of a shepherd! Then at length, being approved to God and found faithful
through much patience, because he had endured many temptations, he became the deliverer,
the ruler, the king of Israel, and was addressed by God as a God to Pharaoh. Through him
God smote Egypt with plagues, and displayed through him great wonders upon Pharaoh, and
finally drowned the Egyptians in the sea. See, after what length of time the will and
purpose of God was declared, and after how many trials and afflictions it was fulfilled.

5. So again with Abraham. How long beforehand God promised to bestow on him a son, and yet
gave him none there and then, but for how many intervening years trials and temptations
befell him! But Abraham patiently endured all that came upon him, and was fully persuaded
by faith that He who had promised, and could not lie, would fulfil His own word, and so
being found faithful he obtained his promise. 6. In like manner Noah, being commanded in
his five-hundredth year by God to prepare the ark, and warned that He would bring a flood
upon the world, which was not brought until his six-hundredth year, waited patiently for a
hundred years, nothing doubting whether God would do what He said or not, but being once
for all fully persuaded by faith that what God had spoken must assuredly come to pass. So,
being found approved by resolution and faith and endurance and much patience, he alone
with his house was saved, having kept the commandment in purity.

7. We have alleged these scriptural grounds to show that God’s grace in man, and the gift
of the Holy Ghost, which is vouchsafed to a faithful soul, proceeds with much contention,
with much endurance and longsuffering, and temptations and trials, the man’s free will
being tried by all manner of afflictions. And when it does not grieve the Spirit in
anything, but is agreeable to grace through all commandments, then it is permitted to
obtain freedom from passions, and receives the fulfilment of the Spirit’s adoption, spoken
of in a mystery, and of the spiritual riches, and of the intelligence which is not of this
world, whereof true Christians are made partakers. For this reason they are for all
purposes superior to all the men of prudence, intelligence, and wisdom, who have the
spirit of the world. 8. For such an one judgeth all men, as it is written. He knows each
man, from whence he speaks, and where he stands, and what measures he is in; but not a man
of those that have the spirit of the world is able to know and judge him, but only he that
has the like heavenly Spirit of the Godhead knows his like, as the apostle says: Comparing
spiritual things with spiritual; but the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit, for they are foolishness unto him: but he that is spiritual judgeth all men, yet
he himself is judged by none. Such an one looks upon all things that the world holds
glorious, its riches, its luxury, and all its enjoyments—yea, and even its knowledge—and
all things belonging to this age, as loathsome and hateful.

9. As one that is possessed and burning with a fever loathes and rejects the sweetest food
or drink that you offer him, because he burns with the fever and is vehemently exercised
by it, so those who burn with the heavenly, sacred, solemn longing of the Spirit, and are
smitten in soul with love of the love of God, and are vehemently exercised by the divine
and heavenly fire which the Lord came to send upon the earth, and desire that it should
speedily be kindled, and are aflame with the heavenly longing for Christ, these, as we
said before, consider all the glorious and precious things of this age contemptible and
hateful by reason of the fire of the love of Christ, which holds them fast and inflames
them and burns them with a Godward disposition and with the heavenly good things of love;
from which love nothing of all that are in heaven and earth and under the earth shall be
able to separate them, as the apostle Paul testified, saying, Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? and what follows.

10. But it is not possible that any one should obtain the possession of his own soul, and
of the heavenly love of the Spirit, unless he makes himself a stranger to all the things
of this age, and gives himself up to seeking the love of Christ, and his mind stands clear
of all material cares and earthly distractions, in order that he may be wholly occupied
with the one aim, directing these things by all the commandments, in order that his whole
care and seeking, and the engrossment and business of his soul, may be about the search
for the immaterial substance, how the soul should be adorned with the commandments of the
virtues, and with the heavenly adornment of the Spirit, and with the fellowship of the
purity and sanctification of Christ—so that having renounced all, and having cut himself
free all round from the hindrances of earth and of material things, and set himself clear
of fleshly love, whether it be the affection of parents or of kindred, the man may not
permit his mind to be busied or distracted with any other thing, such as power, glory,
honours, or fleshly friendships of the world, or any other earthly thoughts, but his mind
may wholly and entirely take upon itself care and pains for the seeking of the immaterial
substance of the soul, and may wholly and entirely endure in expectancy and waiting for
the coming of the Spirit; as the Lord says, In your patience possess ye your souls, and
again, Seek the kingdom and all these things shall be added unto you.

11. So may it be, that one who thus strives, and at all times takes heed to himself,
whether in prayer, or in obedience, or in any kind of work done according to God, should
be able to escape the darkness of wicked devils. The mind that is never off the search of
itself and the quest of the Lord avails to gain possession of its own soul—the soul that
was in the perdition of the passions—by always bringing itself into captivity to the Lord
with main force and earnestness, and by cleaving to Him only, as it is said, Bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; that by means of such striving and
longing and seeking the mind may attain to become with the Lord one Spirit of the gift and
grace of Christ, resting in the vessel of the soul, which has prepared herself for every
good work, and which does no despite unto the Spirit of the Lord by its own selfwill, and
by the wanderings of this world, its glories, powers, self-determinations, or fleshly
indulgences, and the companionships and society of evil men.

12. Lovely it is, when the soul, devoting herself wholly to the Lord, and cleaving to Him
only, and dwelling mindfully in His commandments, and worthily honouring the Spirit of
Christ which has come upon her and overshadowed her, is permitted to be one Spirit and one
composition with Him, as the apostle says, He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit.
But if a man gives himself away to cares, or glory, or power, or human honours, and seeks
after these things, and his soul is mixed up and enters into composition with earthly
considerations, or is bound and held by anything belonging to this age, and if such a soul
longs to transfer itself and escape and get away from the darkness of passions, in which
it is held by the evil powers, it cannot do so, because it loves and does the will of
darkness, and does not perfectly hate the practices of wickedness.

13. Let us therefore prepare ourselves to travel to the Lord with an undivided will and
purpose, and to become followers of Christ, to accomplish whatever He wills, and to think
upon His commandments to do them. Let us sever ourselves altogether from the love of the
world, and attach our souls to Him only, and keep in mind Him only as our business and
care and quest. If we have to be somewhat busied also in body, with the business laid upon
us, and with obedience for God’s sake, let not the mind be parted from its love and quest
and longing after the Lord; so that striving in such a mind, and journeying along the way
of righteousness with an upright intention, and always taking heed to ourselves, we may
obtain the promise of His Spirit, and may through grace be delivered from the perdition of
the darkness of the passions, by which the soul is exercised, that we may be made meet for
the eternal kingdom, and permitted to enjoy all eternity with Christ, glorifying the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.

HOMILY X

By lowliness of mind and earnestness the gifts of the Divine grace are preserved, but by
pride and sloth they are destroyed. 1. SOULS that love truth and God, that long with much
hope and faith to put on Christ completely, do not need so much to be put in remembrance
by others, nor do they endure, even for a while, to be deprived of the heavenly desire and
of passionate affection to the Lord; but being wholly and entirely nailed to the cross of
Christ, they perceive in themselves day by day a sense of spiritual advance towards the
spiritual Bridegroom. Being smitten with the heavenly longing, and hungering for the
righteousness of the virtues, they have a great and insatiable desire for the shining
forth of the Spirit. Even if they are privileged through their faith to receive the
knowledge of Divine mysteries, or are made partakers of the gladness of heavenly grace,
they put no trust in themselves, thinking themselves to be somewhat, but the more they are
permitted to receive spiritual gifts, the more insatiable they are of the heavenly
longing, and the more they seek on with diligence. The more they perceive in themselves a
spiritual advance, the more hungry and thirsty they are for the participation and increase
of grace; and the richer they spiritually are, the more do they esteem themselves to be
poor, being insatiable in the spiritual longing for the heavenly Bridegroom, as the
scripture says, They that eat Me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink Me shall yet be
thirsty.

2. Such souls, which have the love of the Lord ardently and insatiably, are meet for
eternal life; for which reason deliverance from the passions is vouchsafed to them, and
they obtain perfectly the shining forth and participation of the unspeakable and mystic
fellowship of the Holy Ghost, in the fulness of grace. But as many souls as are feeble and
slack, not seeking to receive here on earth, while they are still in the flesh, through
patience and longsuffering, sanctification of heart, not in part, but perfectly, and have
never hoped to partake in the Paraclete Spirit in perfection with all conscious
satisfaction and assurance, and have never expected to be delivered through the Spirit
from the passions of evil; or having at one time received the grace of God, have been
deceived by sin and have given themselves over to some form of carelessness and
remissness; 3. these, as having received the grace of the Spirit, and possessing some
comfort of grace in rest and aspiration and spiritual sweetness, presume upon this, and
are lifted up, and grow careless, without contrition of heart, and without humility of
mind, neither reaching the perfect measure of freedom from passion, nor waiting to be
perfectly filled with grace in all diligence and faith, but they felt assured, and took
their repose, and remained satisfied with their scanty comfort of grace, the result of
which advance to such souls was pride rather than humility, and they are at length
stripped of whatever grace was vouchsafed to them, because of their careless contempt, and
because of the vain arrogance of their self-conceit.

4. The soul that really loves God and Christ, though it may do ten thousand
righteousnesses, esteems itself as having wrought nothing, by reason of its insatiable
aspiration after God. Though it should exhaust the body with fastings, with watchings, its
attitude towards the virtues is as if it had not yet even begun to labour for them. Though
divers gifts of the Spirit, or revelations and heavenly mysteries, should be vouchsafed to
it, it feels in itself to have acquired nothing at all, by reason of its unlimited and
insatiable love to the Lord. All day long, hungering and thirsting through faith and love,
in persevering prayer, it continues to be insatiable for the mysteries of grace, and for
the accomplishment of every virtue. It is smitten with passionate love of the heavenly
Spirit, continually stirring up within itself through grace an ardent aspiration for the
heavenly Bridegroom, desiring to be perfectly admitted to the mystical, ineffable
fellowship with Him in sanctification of the Spirit. The face of the soul is unveiled, and
it gazes upon the heavenly Bridegroom face to face in a spiritual light that cannot be
described, mingling with Him in all fulness of assurance, being conformed to His death,
ever looking with great desire to die for Christ, and trusting with assurance to receive
by the Spirit a perfect deliverance from sin and from the darkness of the passions; in
order that having been cleansed by the Spirit, sanctified in soul and body, it may be
permitted to become a clean vessel to receive the heavenly unction and to entertain the
true King, even Christ; and then it is made meet for eternal life, being henceforward a
clean dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost.

5. For a soul to reach these measures, however, does not come all at once, or without
trial. Through many labours and struggles, and long time, and earnestness, with trial and
manifold temptations, it gains the spiritual increase and advance, even to the perfect
measure of freedom from passion, in order that willingly and bravely enduring every
temptation with which it is plied by evil, it may then be privileged to obtain the great
honours, and spiritual gifts, and heavenly riches, and thus become an inheritor of the
heavenly kingdom in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and might for ever. Amen.


FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
========================

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES continued

HOMILY XI

That the power of the Holy Ghost in man’s heart is like fire; and what things we need, in
order to distinguish the thoughts that spring up in the heart; and concerning the dead
serpent fixed by Moses at the top of the pole, which was a type of Christ. The Homily
contains two dialogues, one between Christ and the evil one, Satan; the other between
sinners and the same. 1. THAT heavenly fire of the Godhead, which Christians receive in
their hearts now in this present world, that same fire which now ministers inwardly in the
heart becomes outward when the body is dissolved, and recomposes the members, and causes a
resurrection of the members that had been dissolved. As the fire that ministered on the
altar at Jerusalem lay buried in a pit during the time of the captivity, and the selfsame
fire, when peace came and the captives returned home, was renewed, as it were, and
ministered in its accustomed manner, so now the heavenly fire works upon this body that is
so near us, which after its dissolution turns to mire, and renews it, and raises up the
bodies that had decayed. The inward fire that now dwells in the heart becomes then
external, and causes a resurrection of the body.

2. The fire in the furnace under Nabuchodonosor was no divine fire, but a creature; but
the Three Children, because of their righteousness, while they were in the visible fire,
had in their hearts the divine and heavenly fire ministering within their thoughts and
exerting its energy in them. That very fire showed itself outside them. It stood between
them and the visible fire, and restrained it, that it should not burn the righteous, nor
do them any manner of hurt. In like manner, when the mind of Israel and their thoughts
were bent upon departing far from the living God and turning to idolatry, Aaron was
compelled to tell them to bring their golden vessels and ornaments. Then the gold and the
vessels, which they cast into the fire, became an idol, and the fire, as it were, copied
their intention. That was a wonderful thing. They, secretly, in purpose and thought,
determined upon idolatry, and the fire accordingly fashioned the vessels thrown upon it
into an idol, and then they committed idolatry openly. As, then, the Three Children,
having thoughts of righteousness, received in themselves the fire of God, and worshipped
the Lord in truth, so now faithful souls receive that divine and heavenly fire, in this
world, in secret; and that fire forms a heavenly image upon their humanity. 3.

As the fire formed the golden vessels, and they became an idol, so does the Lord, who
copies the intentions of faithful and good souls, and forms an image even now in the soul
according to their desire, and at the resurrection it appears external to them, and
glorifies their bodies within and without. But as the bodies of some are at this time
decayed for a season, and dead, and dissolved, so also are their thoughts decayed by the
action of Satan, and are dead to the life indeed, and buried in mire and earth; for their
soul is perished. As, therefore, the Israelites cast the golden vessels into the fire, and
they became an idol, so now the man has given over his pure and good thoughts to evil, and
they have been buried in the mire of sin, and are become an idol. And what shall a man do
to discover them, and discern them, and cast them out of his own fire? Here the soul has
need of a divine lamp, even of the Holy Ghost, who sets in order the darkened house. It
needs the bright sun of righteousness, which enlightens and rises upon the heart, as an
instrument to win the battle.

4. That woman who lost the piece of silver, first lighted the lamp, and then set the house
in order, and thus, the house being set in order and the lamp lit, the piece of silver was
found, buried in dirt and filth and earth. So now the soul cannot of itself find its own
thoughts, and disengage them; but when the divine lamp is lit, it lights up the darkened
house, and then the soul beholds its thoughts, how they lie buried in the filth and mire
of sin. The sun rises, and then the soul beholds its loss, and begins to recall the
thoughts that were mingled among the dirt and the uncleanness. For indeed the soul lost
her image when she transgressed the commandment. 5. Suppose there is a king, and he has
goods and servants under him to minister to him, and he happens to be taken by his enemies
and carried captive. When he is taken and removed from his country, his ministers and
servants cannot but follow after him. Thus Adam was created pure by God for His service,
and these creatures were given him to minister to his wants. He was appointed lord and
king of all creatures. But when the evil word came to him, and conversed with him, he
first received it by the outward hearing, then it penetrated through his heart, and took
possession of all his being. When he was thus seized, creation, which served him and
ministered to him, was seized with him. Through him death reigned over every soul, and
defaced every image of Adam in consequence of his disobedience, so that men were turned
and came to the worship of devils. Lo, the fruits of the earth, which were created good by
God, are offered to the devils—bread, and wine, and oil; and they set animals upon their
altars; yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils.

6. At this point comes He in person, who fashioned body and soul, and undoes the whole
business of the wicked one, and his works accomplished in men’s thoughts, and renews and
forms a heavenly image, and makes a new thing of the soul, that Adam may again be king
over death and lord of the creatures. In the shadow of the law, Moses was called the
Saviour of Israel, because he brought them out of Egypt. So now the true Redeemer, Christ,
goes through into the hidden places of the soul, and brings it out of dark Egypt, and the
heavy yoke, and the bitter bondage. He commands us, therefore, to come out of the world,
and to become poor of all visible things, and to have no earthly care, but night and day
to stand at the door, and wait for the time when the Lord shall open the closed hearts,
and shall pour upon us the gift of the Spirit.

7. He told us therefore to leave gold, silver, kinsfolk, to sell that which we have and
distribute to the poor, and to treasure it up and seek it in heaven. For where thy
treasure is, there will thy heart be also. The Lord knew that in this quarter Satan
prevails over the thoughts, to drag them down to anxiety for material, earthly things. For
this reason God, in providential care for thy soul, told thee to renounce all, in order
that even against thy will thou mightest seek the heavenly riches, and keep thy heart
Godwards; for even if thou shouldest wish to return to the creaturely things, thou findest
nothing visible in thy possession. Wiliest thou, nillest thou, thou art compelled to send
thy mind to heaven, where thou hast treasured these things and laid them up; for where thy
treasure is, there will thy heart be also.

8. In the law God commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass, and lift it up, and fix it
upon the top of a pole, and as many as were stung by the serpents, when they fixed their
attention upon the brazen serpent, obtained healing. This was done by way of a
dispensation, in order that those who were held by earthly cares, and the worship of
idols, and the pleasures of Satan, and all manner of ungodliness, might by this means to
some extent look upward to things above, and gaining a respite from things below, might
give heed to higher things, and again proceed from these to that which is highest; and
thus advancing little by little to the higher and loftier kind, might learn to know that
there is a Most Highest surpassing all the creation. So likewise He commanded thee also to
make thyself poor, and to sell all and give to the poor, in order that after that, even if
thou shouldest wish to sink down upon the earth, it might be impossible. Searching into
thy heart, thou beginnest to commune with thy thoughts, “Inasmuch as we have nothing upon
earth, let us be getting heavenwards, where our treasure is, where we have set up a
business.” Thy mind begins to uplift an eye to the height, to seek the things above, and
in so doing to make progress.

9. What, however, is the dead serpent? The serpent fixed upon the top of the pole healed
those that were stung. The dead serpent overcame the live ones. Thus it is a figure of the
body of the Lord. The body which He took of the ever Virgin Mary, He offered it up upon
the cross, and hung it there, and fastened it upon the tree; and the dead body overcame
and slew the live serpent creeping in the heart. Here was a great marvel, how the dead
serpent slew the live one; but as Moses made a new thing, when he made a likeness of the
live serpent, so also the Lord made a new thing from the Virgin Mary, and put this on,
instead of bringing with Him a body from heaven. The heavenly Spirit entered in and
wrought in Adam, and brought him into combination with the Godhead, and put on human
flesh, and fashioned it in the womb. As no serpent of brass was ever commanded by the Lord
to be made in the world until Moses, so a new and sinless body was never seen in the world
until the Lord. For when the first Adam transgressed the commandment, death reigned over
his children without exception. So a dead body overcame the live serpent.

10. This wonderful thing is to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness.
But what says the apostle? But we preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, to the Jews a
stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness, but to us that are saved Christ the power
of God and the wisdom of God. In the dead body is life. Here is redemption; here is light.
Here the Lord comes to death, and discourses with him, and bids him bring the souls out of
hell and death, and give them back to Him. Behold then, death, troubled at these things,
goes in to his ministers, and gathers together all his powers; and the prince of
wickedness produces the bond-deeds, and says, “See, these obeyed my words; see how men
worshipped us. But God, who is a just judge, displays His justice here also, and says to
him, “Adam obeyed thee, and thou didst take possession of all the hearts of him. Humanity
obeyed thee. What is My body doing here? This is without sin. That body of the first Adam
was under obligation to thee, and thou hast a right to keep the bond-deeds of it; but to
Me all bear witness that I never sinned. I owe thee nothing, and all bear witness that I
am the Son of God. Above the heavens came a voice and bore witness upon the earth, This is
My beloved Son; hear Him. John witnesses, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world;

and the scripture again, Who did no sin, neither was guile found in Him; and, The prince
of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me. And thou thyself, O Satan, bearest witness
to Me, saying, I know Thee, who Thou art, the Son of God; and again, What have we to do
with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to torment us before the time? There are
three that bear witness to Me—He that is above the heavens sends forth a voice; they that
are on earth; and thou thyself. Therefore I purchase the body that was sold to thee
through the first Adam; I cancel thy bonds. I paid the debts of Adam, when I was crucified
and descended into hell; and I command thee, O hell and darkness and death, bring out the
imprisoned souls of Adam. Thus the evil powers, stricken with terror, give back the
imprisoned Adam.

11. But when you hear that at that time the Lord delivered the souls from hell and
darkness, and went down to hell, and did a glorious work, do not imagine that these things
are so very far from your own soul. Man is capable of admitting and receiving the evil
one. Death keeps fast hold of the souls of Adam, and the thoughts of the soul lie
imprisoned in the darkness. When you hear of sepulchres, do not think only of visible
ones; your own heart is a sepulchre and a tomb. When the prince of wickedness and his
angels burrow there, and make paths and thoroughfares there, on which the powers of Satan
walk into your mind and thoughts, are you not a hell, a tomb, a sepulchre, a dead man
towards God? There it was that Satan coined reprobate silver. In this soul he sowed seeds
of bitterness. It is leavened with old leaven; a fountain of mire springs there. Well,
then, the Lord comes into souls that seek after Him, into the deep of the heart-hell, and
there lays His command upon death, saying, “Bring out the imprisoned souls that are
seeking after Me, which thou detainest by force.” So He breaks through the heavy stones
that lie on the soul, opens the sepulchres, raises up the man that is dead indeed, brings
out of the dark jail the imprisoned soul.

12. Just as if a man were bound hand and foot with chains, and some one came and loosed
his bands, and let him walk free without interference, so the Lord looses from its bonds
the soul that is bound with the chains of death, and lets it go, and sets the mind free to
walk at ease and unhindered into God’s air. Suppose a man were in the middle of a river in
full flood, and overwhelmed by the water lay lifeless, drowned, with dreadful monsters all
round him. If another man, who is not used to swimming, should wish to save the one who
fell in, he too is lost, and is drowned with him. Clearly there is need of a skilled
swimmer, an expert, to go out into the depth of the water of the gulf, and dive, and bring
up the drowned man there among the monsters. The water itself, when it sees a man skilled
and knowing how to navigate it, helps such a man, and bears him up to the surface. The
soul, in the same way, has been plunged and drowned in the abyss of darkness and the deep
of death, and is dead and parted from God among dreadful monsters; and who is able to go
down into those secret chambers and the depths of hell and death, except that expert
Workman who fashioned the body? In His own person He enters into two quarters, into the
depth of hell, and into the deep gulf of the heart, where the soul with its thoughts is
held fast by death, and brings up out of the darksome hole the Adam that lay dead. And
death itself, through practice, becomes an assistance to man, like the water to the
swimmer.

13. What difficulty is there to God in entering into death, or into the deep gulf of the
heart either, and calling up the dead Adam from thence? In the natural world there are
houses and tenements where mankind dwell, and there are places where wild beasts dwell,
lions, or dragons, or other venomous beasts. If the sun, which is but a creature, enters
in every direction, through windows, through doors, and into the dens of lions, and into
the holes of serpents, and comes out again without taking any harm, how much more does the
God and Lord of all enter into the holes and dwelling-places where death pitched his tent,
and into souls, and rescue Adam from thence without being injured by death? The rain, too,
comes down from heaven, and reaches down into the lower parts of the earth, and there
moistens and renews the dried roots, and makes there a new growth.

14. One man maintains conflict and hardship and war against Satan. This man’s heart is
contrite; he is in care and mourning and tears. Such an one has come to stand in two
separate realms. If, then, in this state of things he perseveres, the Lord is with him for
the battle, and protects him; for he seeks in earnest, and knocks at the door till He
opens to him. Again, if you see here a good brother, it is grace which has established
him. But the man without foundation has no such fear of God. His heart is not contrite. He
is in no fear, nor does he secure his heart and members, not to walk disorderly. This
man’s soul is altogether free, for he has not yet entered into conflict. There is then a
difference between the man in conflict and hardship, and the man who does not know what
battle is. Even the seeds, when cast into the ground, undergo hardship with the frosts,
with the winter, with the coldness of the air, and in due season the growth is quickened.

15. It sometimes happens that Satan talks in the heart, “See how many wrong things thou
hast done! See how many follies thy soul is filled with, and thou art weighed down with
sins, that thou canst not be saved.” This he does, to reduce thee to despair, and to make
thee think that thy repentance is not acceptable. For since by the transgression
wickedness entered in, it talks with the soul every hour, like man with man. Answer him
then thou, “I have the testimonies of the Lord in writing, that say, I desire not the
death of the sinner, but his repentance, and that he should turn from his wickedness and
live.” It was for this that He came down, to save sinners, to raise the dead, to quicken
lost lives, to give light to those in darkness. In truth He came, and called us to the
adoption of sons, to a holy city which is ever at peace, to the life that never dies, to
glory incorruptible. Only let us put a good finish to our beginning. Let us abide in
poverty, in the condition of strangers, in suffering affliction, in petition to God,
knocking importunately at the door. Near as the body is to the soul, the Lord is nearer,
to come and open the locked doors of the heart, and to bestow on us the riches of heaven.
He is good and kind to man, and His promises cannot lie, if only we continue seeking Him
to the end. Glory be to the compassions of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost
for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XII

Concerning the state of Adam before he transgressed God’s commandment, and after he had
lost both his own image and the heavenly. The Homily contains some very profitable
questions. I. ADAM, on transgressing the commandment, suffered a twofold disaster. He lost
the pure and lovely possession of his nature, which was after the image and likeness of
God; and he lost also that very image in which was laid up for him according to promise
all the heavenly inheritance. Suppose there were a coin, bearing the image of the king,
and it were stamped afresh with a wrong stamp; the gold is lost, and the image is of no
value. Such was the disaster which befell Adam. Great riches and a great inheritance had
been prepared for him. Suppose there were a great estate, and it had many sources of
revenue in it; here a flourishing vineyard, there fruitful fields, there flocks and herds,
there gold and silver; so valuable was the estate before the disobedience, the estate
consisting in Adam’s own vessel. But when he entertained evil intentions and thoughts, he
was lost from God.

2. We do not say, however, that everything was lost, and destroyed, and died. He died
from, God, but to his own nature he lives. For behold, the whole world walks the earth,
and does its business. But God’s eye sees their mind and their imaginations, and as it
were looks round them and past them, and makes no communion with them, because nothing
that they think is well-pleasing to God. If there are houses of promiscuous reception and
of ill-fame, and places where disorders and debaucheries are carried on godly people, as
they pass, loathe them, and seeing refuse to see, for these things are to them dead. So
God casts an eye upon those who have revolted from His word and from His commandment, but
His eye passes on from them, and makes no communion there, nor can the Lord find a
resting-place in their thoughts. 3. Question. How can any one be poor in spirit,
especially when he is inwardly conscious that he is a changed man, and has made progress,
and has come to a knowledge and understanding which he did not possess before?

Answer. Until a man acquires these things and makes progress, he is not poor in spirit,
but has some opinion of himself; but when he comes to this understanding and point of
progress, grace itself teaches him to be poor in spirit, which means that a man being
righteous and chosen of God does not esteem himself to be anything, but holds his soul in
abasement and disregard, as if he knew nothing and had nothing, though he knows and has.
This is a fixed thing, like a law of nature, in the mind of men. Do you not see how our
forefather Abraham, elect as he was, described himself as dust and ashes, and David,
anointed to be king, had God with him, and yet what does he say? I am a worm and no man, a
very scorn of men, and the outcast of the people. 4. Those therefore who desire to be
fellow-heirs with these, and fellow-citizens of the heavenly city, and to be glorified
with them, ought to have this humility of mind, and not to think themselves to be
anything, but to keep the heart contrite. Though grace works after a different manner in
each individual Christian, and has a diversity of members, yet all are of one city, of the
same mind, of the same tongue, recognising one another. As there are many members in the
body, but one soul is in them all and moves them, so one Spirit works differently in all,
but they are of one city, and of one way. All the righteous have gone the straight and
narrow way, being persecuted, tormented, reviled, living in goatskins, in dens, in caves
of the earth. The apostles likewise say, Even unto this hour we both hunger and thirst,
and are naked, and reviled, and have no certain dwelling-place. Some of them were
beheaded, some crucified, others afflicted in various ways. And the Lord of prophets and
apostles Himself, how did He fare, as if He had forgotten His divine glory? He was made an
example for us; He wore in mockery a crown of thorns upon His head; He submitted to
spittings, buffets, and the cross.

5. If God so fared on earth, thou oughtest also to copy Him. The apostles and the prophets
fared thus, and we, if we would be built upon the foundation of the Lord and of the
apostles, ought to copy them. The apostle says by the Holy Spirit, Be ye imitators of me,
as I am of Christ. But if thou lovest the glories of men, and desirest to be worshipped,
and seekest repose, thou art turned out of the way. It behoves thee to be crucified with
the Crucified, to suffer with Him that suffered, that so thou mayest be glorified with Him
that is glorified. The bride must needs suffer with the Bridegroom, and so become partner
and fellow heir with Christ. It is not feasible, without sufferings, and without the
rough, straight, narrow way, to enter into the city of the saints, and be at rest, and
reign with the King to ages without end.

6. Question. You said that Adam lost both his own image and the heavenly one. If then he
partook of the heavenly image, had he the Holy Ghost? Answer. So long as the Word of God
was with him, and the commandment, everything was his. The Word Himself was to him an
inheritance; He was his clothing, and a glory that was his defence; He was his
instruction. He suggested to him to give all things names: “Call this heaven, this sun,
this moon, this earth, this a bird, this a beast, this a tree;” as he was taught, so he
named them. 7. Question. Had he the experience and fellowship of the Spirit? Answer. The
Word Himself being with him was everything to him, whether knowledge, or experience, or
inheritance, or instruction. What does John say of the Word? In the beginning was the
Word. You see that the Word was everything. If there was also an outward glory with him,
let us take no offence at it; for it says that they were naked, and that they did not look
at each other; and after transgressing the commandment they saw that they were naked, and
were ashamed.

8. Question. Then before this, were they clothed with the glory of God for a cloak?
Answer. As in the case of the prophets, the Spirit wrought in them and taught them, and
was within them, and appeared to them outwardly, so with Adam. The Spirit, when it pleased
Him, was with him, and taught him, and suggested, “Speak thus,” and he said it. For the
Word was all things to him, and so long as he abode in the commandment he was a friend of
God. And yet why should we be surprised if in spite of such conditions of existence he
transgressed the commandment? Those who have been filled with the Holy Ghost still have
the thoughts of nature, and have the will to comply with them. Thus Adam, though present
with God in paradise, transgressed of himself by his own will, and obeyed the evil side.
Still, even after the transgression, he had knowledge.

9. Question. What kind of knowledge? Answer. When a robber is brought into court, and the
trial begins, and the magistrate says to him, “When you were doing these wrong things, did
you not know that you would be liable to be taken and put to death?” He has not the face
to say “No.” He knew, and when punishment ensues, he remembers and confesses all. And does
not the whoremonger know that he is doing wrong? And the man who is stealing, does he not
know that it is a sin? Thus, even without the scriptures, do not men know from natural
reasoning that there is a God? They cannot say in that day, “We did not know that Thou,
God, art.” He says to them, “Did ye not know the thunders and lightnings from heaven, that
there is a God who governs the creation?” Why then did the devils cry out, Thou art the
Son of God; why art Thou come to torment us before the time? Even now at the shrines of
martyrs they say, “You burn me, you burn me.” They did not, then, know the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. The transgression of Adam conveyed the knowledge.

10. Every one begins to ask, what state Adam was in, and what happened to him. Adam
himself received the knowledge of good and evil. We hear from the scriptures that he was
in a state of honour and purity, and on transgressing the commandment he was cast out of
paradise, and God was wroth with him. So he learns what things are good for him; and
having learnt what things are evil he secures himself, that he may not sin any more and
fall into the condemnation of death. Now we know that the whole creation of God is
governed by God. He it was that made heaven and earth, animals, creeping things, beasts.
We see them all, but do not know the number of them. What man is there that knows? God
only, who is in all things, even in the unborn offspring of the animals. Does He not know
the things that are under the earth, and that are above the heavens?

11. Let us then leave these things, and rather seek, like good men of business, to gain
possession of a heavenly inheritance and the things that are profitable to our souls. Let
us learn to gain possessions which will stay by us. If you, who are but human, begin to
search the thoughts of God, and to say, “I have found out something, and comprehend it,”
the human mind will be found surpassing the thoughts of God. But in this you are much
mistaken; and the more you desire to search and get to the bottom, the more you get out of
your depth, and fail to comprehend anything. Those visitations of His which happen to
you—what He works day by day in you, and how—these are beyond expression or comprehension;
you can do nothing but receive them with thankfulness, and believe. Have you been able to
take cognisance of your own soul from the time when you were born till now? If so, declare
to me the thoughts that spring up in you from dawn to dusk. Tell me the cogitations of
three days. Nay, you cannot. If then you could not comprehend the thoughts of your own
soul, how can you find out the thoughts and mind of God?

12. Nay, eat as much bread as you find, and leave the wide earth to pursue its way; go to
the brink of the river, and drink as much as you need, and pass on, and seek not to know
whence it comes, or how it flows. Do your best to have your foot cured, or the disease of
your eye, that you may see the light of the sun, but do not enquire how much light the sun
has, or how high it rises. The animal which is profitable for your use, that take: why do
you go off to the hills and try to discover how many wild asses and other beasts dwell
there? The babe, when it comes to its mother’s breast, takes the milk and thrives; it does
not search for the root and well-spring from which it flows so. It sucks the milk, and
empties the whole measure; and another hour passes—the breast fills up. The babe knows
nothing of it, nor the mother either, although the supply proceeds from all her members.
If then, you seek the Lord in the depth, there you find Him. If you seek in the water, you
find Him there, doing wonders. If you seek Him in the den, there you find Him between two
lions, guarding the righteous Daniel. If you seek Him in fire, there you find Him,
succouring His servants. If you seek Him in the mountain, there you find Him with Elias
and Moses. He is everywhere—beneath the earth, and above the heavens, and within us as
well. He is everywhere. So too your own soul is near you, and within you, and without you;
for wherever you please, in countries far away, there your mind is, whether westward or
eastward, or in the skies; there it is found.

13. Let us then seek above all things to have the brand and seal of the Lord upon us;
because in the day of judgment, when the severity of God is shewn, and all the tribes of
the earth, even all Adam, are gathered together, when the good Shepherd calls His own
flock, all those who have the brand recognise their own Shepherd, and the Shepherd takes
knowledge of those who have His own seal, and gathers them together from all the nations.
Those that are His hear His voice, and go behind Him. The world is divided into two parts,
and one flock is dark, which goes into eternal fire, and one is full of light, which is
led up to the heavenly rest. What we now make our own, within our souls, the same then
shines and is manifested, and clothes our bodies with glory. 14. As in the season of the
month of Xanthicus, the roots buried in the earth put forth their own fruits, and their
own blossoms and beauties, and bear fruit, and the good roots are manifested, and those
that have thorns are made manifest, so in that day each one makes evident by his own body
what he has done. The good things and the bad are alike manifested. There lies all the
judgment and the retribution. There is another food besides this visible food. When Moses
went up into the mount, he fasted forty days. He went up a man and no more; he came down
possessed of God. Now see; we behold in ourselves that if the body is not supported by
victuals, in a few days it is worn out; yet when Moses had fasted for forty days, he came
down more full of vigour than all of them. It was because he was fed by God, and his body
was provided with another and a heavenly food. The Word of God was made food to him, and
he had a glory in his countenance. What happened to him was an example. That glory now
shines inwardly in the hearts of Christians; at the resurrection, their bodies are
covered, as they rise, with another, a divine, raiment, and are fed with a heavenly meat.

15. Question. What is meant by a woman praying with her head uncovered? Answer. Because in
the apostles’ time they wore their hair loose for a covering. For this reason the Lord and
the apostles came into the world of creation, and taught it sobriety. The woman, however,
stands as a type of the church. Whereas in the visible world the women at that time wore
their hair undone for a covering, the church clothes and wraps her children in divine and
glorified garments. And in the old days of the church of Israel the congregation was one,
and it was covered by the Spirit, and they were clothed with the Spirit for a glory,
although they themselves did not correspond with it. Well, the word “church” is used of
the individual soul, as well as of many; for the soul gathers together all her faculties
and is thus a church to God. For the soul was fitted for communion with the heavenly
Bridegroom, and mingles with the heavenly One. This is observed both of the many and of
the one. Thus the prophet says of Jerusalem, I found thee desolate and naked, and I
clothed thee, and so forth, as if he spoke of a single person.

16. Question. What does it mean when Martha said to the Lord about Mary, “I am hard at
work about many things, while she sits beside Thee”? Answer. What Mary might well have
said to Martha, the Lord, anticipating her, replied—that she had left everything to sit at
the Lord’s feet, and bless God all day long. You see, her sitting was for love’s sake. But
that God’s word may be made clearer, listen to this. If any one loves Jesus, and attends
to Him in earnest, and not in a casual way, but in love abides by Him, God is already
devising to make some return to that soul for its love, although the man does not know
what he is to receive, or what portion God is about to give to the soul. When Mary loved
Him, and sat at His feet, the gift that was added to her was no casual gift; He gave her a
certain hidden virtue from His own substance. The very words which God spoke in peace to
Mary were so many spirits, and a power; and these words entering into her heart were made
a soul to her soul and a spirit to her spirit, and a divine power was filled into her
heart. Where that power shall lodge, it cannot but abide permanently, as a possession not
to be taken away. For this reason the Lord, who knew what He gave her, said Mary hath
chosen the good part. But after a time the things which Martha had done so eagerly in the
way of service brought her to that gift of grace. She too received divine power in her
soul.

17. What is there to be surprised at if those who came to the Lord, and were personally
attached to Him, received His power, when the apostles spoke the word, and the Holy Ghost
fell on those who believed? Cornelius received power from the word which he heard; how
much more, when the Lord spoke the word to Mary, or to Zacchæus, or to the sinful woman
who let her hair down and wiped the Lord’s feet, or to the woman of Samaria, or to the
robber, did power go out, and the Holy Ghost was mingled with their souls? And still those
who love God, and leave all things, and persevere in prayer, are taught in secret things
that they knew not. The truth itself is manifested to them, according to their choice, and
teaches them, I am the truth. The apostles themselves, before the crucifixion, by
continuing with the Lord, saw great signs—how the lepers were cleansed and the dead raised
up, and knew not how divine power goes up and down and ministers in the heart, and that
they should be spiritually born again, and mingled with the heavenly soul, and become a
new creation. Because of the signs which He did, they loved the Lord. But the Lord said to
them, “Why marvel ye at the signs? I give unto you a great inheritance, which the whole
world hath not.”

18. His words seemed strange to them, until He rose from the dead, and carried up His body
on our behalf above the heavens; and then the Paraclete Spirit entered into their souls
and was mingled with them, and the Truth in person manifests itself in faithful souls, and
the heavenly Man comes to be with the man that thou art, and becomes one communion with
thee. As many as give themselves to serve, and eagerly do all things out of zeal and faith
and the love of God, that very service after a time brings them into the knowledge of the
truth itself. The Lord is manifested to their souls, and teaches them the ways of the Holy
Ghost. Glory and worship to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, for ever.
Amen.

HOMILY XIII

What fruit God expects from Christians. 1. ALL things that are seen were created by God,
and He gave them to men for refreshment and enjoyment, and He gave them also a law of
righteousness. But from the time of Christ’s coming God seeks other fruit, and another
righteousness, purity of the heart, a good conscience, kind words, holy and good thoughts,
and all the discipline of the saints. The Lord says, “Except your righteousness exceed
that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. In the law
it is written, Thou shalt not commit fornication; but I say unto you, Thou shalt not
desire, neither shalt thou be angry.” He who wishes to be a friend of God, and a brother
and son of Christ, must do something more than other men, that is, to consecrate heart and
mind themselves, and to stretch up his thoughts towards God. In this way God secretly
gives life and help to the heart, and entrusts Himself to it. When a man gives God his
secret things, that is, his mind and thoughts, not occupying himself elsewhere, nor
wandering away, but putting constraint upon himself, then the Lord deems him worthy of
mysteries, in greater sanctity and purity, and gives him heavenly food and spiritual
drink.

2. A man who is possessed of much substance, and has both servants and children, gives a
different kind of food to the servants from what he gives to his own born children,
because the children are their father’s heirs, and eat with him, being made like to their
father. Even so Christ, the true Master of the house, who created all things Himself,
nourishes the evil and the unthankful, but the children whom He has begotten of His own
substance, to whom He has imparted of His grace, in whom the Lord is formed, these He
provides beyond others with special refreshment and diet and meat and drink. Going up and
down with Jesus their Father, they receive the gift of Himself, as the Lord says, He that
eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood dwelleth in Me, and I in him, and he shall not see
death. Those who possess the true inheritance have been begotten as sons of a heavenly
Father, and pass their time in their Father’s house, as the Lord says, The servant abideth
not in the house, but the son abideth for ever.

3. If we then desire to be born of the heavenly Father, we ought to do something that
exceeds the rest of mankind—diligence, effort, zeal, love, a good conversation, to be in
faith and fear, as desiring to attain good things of such magnitude, and to inherit God.
The Lord, it says, is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thus the Lord,
beholding our good purpose and our endurance, performs His mercy, and cleanses us from the
defilement of sin, and from the eternal fire that is in us, and makes us meet for the
kingdom. Glory to His tender compassion and to the good pleasure shewn of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

HOMILY XIV

Those who give their thoughts and their mind to God do so in the hope that the eyes of
their heart may be enlightened, and God vouchsafes to them mysteries in the greatest
sanctity and purity, and imparts to them of His grace. What we who desire to attain the
good things of heaven ought to do. Then the apostles and the prophets are compared to the
sun’s rays coming in at a window. The Homily also teaches what is Satan’s “Earth,” and
what that of the angels, and that both are intangible and invisible. 1. ALL works visibly
done in the world are done in hope, with a view to partaking of the results of the labour.
If it were not for the assurance of enjoyment from the toil, no advantage would be gained.
The husbandman sows in hope of fruits, and is supported under his labours by the
expectation. He that plougheth, the apostle says, plougheth in hope. He that takes a wife,
does it in hope of having heirs. The merchant commits himself to the sea and the risk of
death for the sake of gain. So also in the Kingdom of Heaven a man gives himself up in
hope that the eyes of his heart may be enlightened, withdrawing from the affairs of this
life, and keeping himself free for prayers and supplications, looking for the Lord, when
He shall come and manifest Himself to him, and shall cleanse him from the sin that dwells
in him.

2. He puts no confidence, however, in his labours and manner of life, until he obtains the
things hoped for, until the Lord comes and dwells in him in the full experience and energy
of the Spirit. And when he tastes the goodness of the Lord, and delights in the fruits of
the Spirit, and the veil of darkness is taken away, and the light of Christ shines upon
him and works in him in joy unspeakable, then is he fully satisfied, having the Lord with
him in great affection, as the merchant in the illustration rejoices when he has gained.
But he still has conflict and fear from the robber spirits of wickedness, lest he should
grow slack and lose his labour, before he is accepted in the kingdom of heaven, in the
Jerusalem which is above. 3. Let us then beseech God that He would put off from us the old
man, and put on us the heavenly Christ, here and now, so that being in gladness, and thus
being led by Him, we shall be in great tranquillity. The Lord, who desires to fill us with
the taste of the kingdom, says, Without Me ye can do nothing.

And yet He knew how to enlighten many by means of the apostles. They were but creatures,
but they nourished their fellow servants. Thoughts that were dead and corrupted they
quickened and restored to life by their good conversation and instruction. It is possible
for one creature to nourish and quicken another. The clouds, the rain and the sun, when so
commanded, quicken the seeds of wheat or barley, though they are only creatures. Like
light which comes in through a window, while the sun sends out his beams upon all the
world, so the prophets were the lights of their own house of Israel, and no more; but the
apostles were suns, shooting out their beams into all the quarters of the world. 4. Well,
there is an “earth,” on which the beasts dwell; and there is an “earth” in the air, in
which the birds walk and live. If the birds wish to stand or walk on land, there are
fowlers to catch them. The fishes too have an “earth,” which is the water of the sea.
Wherever anything is born, on land or in the air, there it has its existence, its
sustenance, and its pleasure. In the same way there is a Satanic “earth” and home, where
the powers of darkness and the spirits of wickedness live and walk and take their
pleasure; and there is a luminous “earth” of the Godhead, where the camps of angels and of
holy spirits walk and take pleasure. That darksome earth cannot be seen with the eyes of
this body, nor be felt; neither is the luminous earth of the Godhead felt, or seen by the
fleshly eyes. But to those who are spiritual both are discernible to the heart’s eye, that
Satanic earth of darkness and the luminous earth of the Godhead.

5. The fable of those without says that there are mountains, which are fiery, because
there is fire in them, and there are there animals like sheep. Those who hunt them make
iron wheels, and cast hooks and throw them into the fire, because those animals have fire
for their meat, and fire for their drink, their pleasure, their increase, and their life.
Fire is everything to them. If you bring them out into another air, they die. When their
coats are dirtied, they are not washed in water, but in the fire, and they get cleaner and
whiter. Christians in like manner have that heavenly fire for their meat. That is their
pleasure. That cleanses, and washes, and sanctifies their heart. That brings them to
increase. That is their air and their life. If they go out of it, they are destroyed by
the evil spirit, as the animals in the fable die when they leave the fire, as the fish
when they leave the waters. As fourfooted beasts cast into the sea are drowned, as birds
walking on the ground are taken by the fowlers, so the soul which will not stay in that
“earth” is stifled and perishes. If it has not that divine fire for meat and drink and
raiment, and cleansing of heart and sanctification of soul, it is taken by the evil
spirits and demolished. But as for us, let us enquire in earnest whether we have been sown
in that unseen “earth,” and engrafted in the heavenly vine. Glory be to, His mercies.
Amen.


FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
========================

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES continued

HOMILY XV

This Homily teaches at large how the soul ought to behave herself in holiness and chastity
and purity towards her Spouse Christ Jesus, the Saviour of the World. It contains also
certain discussions full of great instruction, viz., whether at the resurrection all the
members are raised up, and a great many more concerning Evil, and Grace, and Free Will,
and the dignity of human nature. 1. A VERY wealthy man, a glorious king, sets his heart,
it may be, on a poor woman, who possesses nothing but her own person. He becomes her
lover, and desires to take her to live with him as his spouse. Then, if she shows all
benevolence to her husband, retaining also her love to him, lo! that poor needy woman, who
possessed nothing, finds herself mistress of all that belongs to her husband. If, on the
other hand, she should act contrary to duty and obligation, and should behave improperly
in her husband’s house, she is then cast out with disgrace and contumely, putting her two
hands upon her head, as is said figuratively in the law of Moses concerning a wife who is
disorderly and of no advantage to her husband. Then sorrow and great mourning become hers,
while she reflects what wealth she is fallen from, and what glory has passed away from
her, dishonoured as she is because of her folly.

2. In like manner a soul which Christ the heavenly Bridegroom has espoused for mystical
divine fellowship with Himself, and which has tasted of the heavenly riches, ought with
great diligence sincerely to please Christ, her heavenly Wooer, and dutifully and properly
to fulfil the service of the Spirit entrusted to her, to please God in all things, and to
grieve the Spirit in nothing, and duly to preserve the modesty and love towards him in
which beauty lies, and to behave herself well in the house of the heavenly King in all
benevolence for the grace given to her. Behold, a soul like this is made mistress of all
the good things of the Lord, and even the glorious body of His Godhead becomes hers. But
if she fail, and act contrary to duty in her service, and do not the things that please
Him, and follow not His will, nor co-operate with the grace of the Spirit which is with
her, then she is deprived of her honours with disgrace and indignity, and banished from
life, as being unprofitable and unfit for the fellowship of the heavenly King. Then over
that soul there is woe and lamentation and weeping among all holy spirits unseen. Angels,
powers, apostles, prophets, martyrs weep over her.

3. For as there is joy in heaven, the Lord tells us, over one sinner that repenteth, so is
there great woe and weeping in heaven over one soul that falls away from the eternal life.
As on earth, when a rich man dies, he is accompanied out of life with music and dirge and
wailing by his own brethren and kinsfolk and friends and acquaintances, so over that soul
all the saints mourn with dirges and sad music. The Bible says the same thing elsewhere in
figurative language. The pine is fallen, it says, mourn, ye cedars. For as Israel, when he
was thought to please the Lord—though he never pleased Him as he ought—had a pillar of
cloud to overshadow him, and a pillar of fire to give him shine; saw the sea divide before
him, water clear proceeding out of the rock; but when their mind and intention turned from
God, then they were delivered to serpents, or to their enemies, being led away in sore
captivities and tormented with bitter bondage. This the Spirit mystically declared in the
prophet Ezekiel also, saying of such a soul, as of Jerusalem, I found thee naked in the
wilderness, and I washed thee from the water of thine uncleanness, and I clothed thee with
raiment, and put bracelets upon thy hands, and chains about thy neck, and earrings in
thine ears, and thou becamest renowned among all the heathen. Fine flour and oil and honey
didst thou eat, and after all thou didst forget My benefits, and wentest after thy lovers,
and didst commit fornication with shame.

4. So likewise the Spirit utters warning to the soul which through grace knows God, which
after being cleansed from its former sins and adorned with the ornaments of the Holy
Ghost, and after partaking of the divine and heavenly food, does not behave dutifully with
much discretion, and does not properly preserve benevolence and love for Christ the
heavenly Bridegroom, and so is rejected and put away from the life of which at one time it
was a partaker. For Satan can raise and exalt himself even against those who have reached
such measures as these; even against those who have known God in grace and power, sin
still lifts itself up and strives to overthrow them. We must therefore strive, and watch
over ourselves intelligently, to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, as it
is written. As many as are made partakers of the Spirit of Christ, see that you do not
behave contemptuously in anything, small or great, and do no despite to the grace of the
Spirit, that you may not be excluded from the life of which you have already been made
partakers.

5. I will repeat this in a. different character. If a servant comes into a palace, to be
employed upon the vessels used there, he takes of what belongs to the king—he himself has
nothing to bring—and ministers to the king with the king’s own vessels. Here he needs much
intelligence and judgment, that he may make no mistake in serving, by bringing one dish to
the royal table when he should bring another, but should serve the courses, first and
last, in the right succession. If through ignorance and want of judgment he does not serve
the king in the right order, it is as much as his place and life are worth. In like manner
a soul which is serving God in grace and the Spirit requires much discretion and
knowledge, that it may commit no fault with the vessels of God, that is, in the service of
the Spirit, by not keeping its own will in harmony with grace. It is possible in the
service of the Spirit, performed secretly by the inner man, for the soul to serve the Lord
in vessels of its own, that is, with its own spirit; but God cannot be served without
God’s vessels, that is, without grace, so as to please Him in all His will.

6. And when grace is received, there is then great need of intelligence and
discretion—which themselves are given by God to the soul that seeks them from Him—in order
to serve Him acceptably in the Spirit which is received, and not to be surprised into a
mistake by sin, led astray by ignorance and presumption and carelessness, and acting
contrary to what the Lord’s will demands; because punishment and death and mourning will
be to such a soul. The holy apostle says, Lest, when I have preached to others, I myself
should be a castaway. You see what fear he had, though he was God’s apostle. Let us then
beseech God that we, as many as have obtained the grace of God, may minister the service
of the Spirit according to His will, in more than an ordinary way, and may keep no company
with the notion of contempt, in order that thus we may live in a manner pleasing to Him,
and may serve Him with spiritual service according to His will, and having done this may
inherit eternal life.

7. Some one is compassed with infirmity. It happens that some of his members are sound,
his eyesight perhaps, or something else, but the rest of his members are disabled. So it
is in the spiritual world. A man may perhaps be sound in three members of his spirit, but
he is not perfect or that. You see how many stages and measures of the Spirit there are,
how the mischief is strained out and refined off bit by bit, and not all at once. The
Lord’s whole providence and government, the rising of the sun, and everything that He has
created, are for the sake of the kingdom, which the elect are to inherit, for the
constitution of the kingdom of peace and concord. 8. Christians therefore ought to strive
continually, and never to pass judgment on anyone—no, not upon the harlot on the street,
or upon open sinners and disorderly persons—but to regard all men with singleness of
intention and purity of eye, so that it may become like a fixed law of nature to despise
no one, to judge no one, to abhor no one, to make no distinctions between them. If you see
a man with one eye, be not divided in your heart, but look upon him as if he were whole.
If a man is maimed of one hand, see him as not maimed, the lame as straight, the palsied
as whole. This is purity of heart, when you see sinners or sick people, to have compassion
on them and be tenderhearted towards them. It happens sometimes that the saints of the
Lord sit in theatres and behold the deceit of the world. According to the inner man they
are conversing with God, while according to the outer man they appear to men as
contemplating what goes on in the world.

9. Worldly people are under one influence from the spirit of error, to mind earthly
things; Christians have another purpose, another mind; they are of another world, another
city. The Spirit of God has fellowship with their souls, and they tread down the
adversary. It is written, The last enemy that is destroyed is death. The godly are masters
of all things; but those who are slack in faith and sinners are the slaves of all, and the
fire burns them, and the stone and the sword slay them, and in the end devils have
dominion over them. 10. Question. In the resurrection do all the members rise again?
Answer. To God all things are easy; and He has so promised, though to human frailty and
thought it appears impossible. For as God took of the dust and the earth, and constituted
the body as a different kind of thing, not at all resembling the earth, and made many
sorts of elements in it, such as hair, and skin, and bones, and sinews; or as a needle
thrown into the fire changes its colour and is converted into fire, although the nature of
iron is not taken away, but still subsists; so in the resurrection all the members, are
raised up, and not a hair perishes, as it is written, and all become light-like, all are
plunged in light and fire, and changed, and yet are not, as some say, resolved and turned
into fire, with nothing of their natural substance left. Peter is Peter, and Paul is Paul,
and Philip is Philip. Each one remains in his own nature and personality, though filled
with the Spirit. If you say that the nature is resolved, then Peter and Paul are no more,
and God is everywhere and in all directions, and neither those who go away into hell are
conscious of their punishment, nor are those who go into the kingdom conscious of the
benefit, II. Suppose there were a garden, planted with all sorts of fruit-trees, and there
were in it pear, or apple, and vine, with fruit and leaves; and suppose the garden and all
the trees and their leaves were changed and altered into another nature, and the former
ones became light-like; so men are altered at the resurrection, and their members become
holy and light-like.

12. The men of God, then, ought to prepare themselves for conflict and combat. As a brave
young man bears the blows that fall on him, and the wrestling match, and hits back, so
Christians ought to put up with afflictions without and wars within, in order that, though
belaboured, they may conquer by endurance. That is the Christian’s road. Where the Holy
Ghost is, there follow, like a shadow, persecution and wrestling. You see the prophets,
how they were persecuted by their countrymen from first to last, while the Holy Ghost
worked upon them. You see how the Lord, who is the Way and the Truth, was persecuted, not
by another nation, but by His own. By His own race of Israel He was persecuted and
crucified. So was it with the apostles. The Paraclete Spirit removed from the quarter
whence the cross came, and passed to the Christians. No Jew was persecuted; Christians
were the only martyrs. For this reason they ought not to be surprised. The truth must
needs be persecuted.

13. Question. Some say that evil enters from without, and that if a man pleases, he does
not admit it, but sends it off. Answer. As the serpent spoke to Eve, and because of her
compliance gained admission within, so to this day sin, which is without, gains admission
through man’s compliance. Sin has power and liberty to enter into the heart. For our
thoughts are not external to us, but from within, out of the heart. The apostle says, I
will that the men pray, without wrath and evil disputations. For there are thoughts
proceeding out of the heart, as the Gospel says. Go to prayer, and observe thy heart and
mind, and determine to send up thy prayer to God pure, and look well there, whether there
be nothing to hinder it, whether the prayer be pure, whether thy mind is wholly occupied
with the Lord, as the husbandman’s with his husbandry, the married man’s with his wife,
the merchant’s with his merchandise; or whether thou bendest thy knees to prayer, while
others pluck thy thoughts asunder.

14. But you say that the Lord came and condemned sin by the cross, and that it is now
within no longer. Suppose a soldier puts up his chariot at some one’s house, he is free
when he pleases to go in and out of that house. So sin is free to make its arguments heard
in the heart. It is written, Satan entered into the heart of Judas. But if you say that by
Christ’s coming sin was condemned, and that after baptism evil is no more at liberty to
argue in the heart, do you not know that from the advent of the Lord to this day all that
have been baptized have had bad thoughts at times? Have not some of them turned to
vainglory, or to fornication, or to gluttony? All the worldly people dwelling within the
pale of the church, are their hearts spotless and pure? Or do we find that many sins are
committed after baptism, and that many live in sin? So even after baptism the thief is
free to enter, and to do what he likes.

15. It is written, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. But thou sayest,
“I do love; and I have the Holy Spirit.” Hast thou constant remembrance, and passionate
affection, and burning ardour for the Lord? Art thou fast bound that way day and night? If
thou hast a love like that, thou art pure; but if not, then search thou still, whether, if
earthly business or foul and evil thoughts come thy way, thou hast no inclination to them,
or whether thy soul is always drawn to love and longing after God. The thoughts of the
world drag the mind down to earthly and corruptible things, and do not suffer it to love
God or to remember the Lord. And oftentimes, on the other hand, the unlearned man goes to
prayer, and bends the knee, and his mind enters into rest, and deep as he may dig and get
below, the wall of evil that withstands him breaks down, and he enters into vision and
wisdom, where potentates and wise men and orators cannot penetrate to understand and know
the delicacy of his mind, since he is engrossed in divine mysteries. One who is
inexperienced in judging of hearts does not know how to value them, for lack of
experience. Well, Christians abhor the glorious things of the earth, and account them but
dung in comparison with the magnificence of those things—a magnificence which works
effectually in them.

16. Question. Is it possible for a man who has a gift of grace to fall? Answer. If he gets
careless, he falls. The adversaries never are idle or shirk battle. How much more then
ought you never to cease from the quest of God? For great is your loss if you are
careless, although you may think yourself to be exercised in the very mystery of grace.
17. Question. Does grace remain after a man has fallen? Answer. It is God’s desire to
bring the man back to life, and He disposes him to weep his way back and to repent. If it
does remain, it is for the purpose of making you a surer workman in repenting of those
things by which you formerly did amiss. 18. Question. Are those who are perfect liable to
difficulty or warfare, or are they wholly free from anxiety? Answer. The adversary never
ceases from warring. Satan is merciless in his hatred of men; therefore he never shirks
from warring against every man. But he is not seen to set upon all to the same degree.
Governors of provinces and counts at court pay tribute to the emperor; but the man in that
position has such confidence in his wealth of gold and silver that he meets his taxes out
of superfluous income, and feels no loss. A man who gives alms never feels it a loss, and
in the same way Satan considers these things no part of his serious business. But take a
poor man, destitute even of daily food; he is beaten and tortured, because he cannot pay
the tax; he spends his time in being scraped and harried, and cannot die; while another
man is commanded to lose his head, and perishes at a moment’s notice. So it is among
Christians. There are some who are vigorously warred upon and scraped by sin; and yet they
become the firmer and wiser for the wars, despising the power of the adversary, and they
are in no peril in that quarter, because they are unfallen and assured of their own
salvation, because they have often practised in the war with evil, and have gained
experience. Having God with them, they are led and are at rest. 19. Others, however, who
have not yet had practice, if they fall into a single difficulty, and war is stirred
against them, sink at once into destruction and perdition.

Like travellers in a city intending to see their dear ones and acquaintances, who meet
many people in the market-places, but are not stopped by them, because their aim is to
find their friends, and when they knock at the door outside and call, their dear ones open
to them with joy; but if they loiter in the market-places, and are deluded or detained by
those who encounter them, the door is shut, and no one opens to them; so those who press
forward to reach our Master, Christ the true Beloved, ought to look down upon all others
and take no notice of them. Counts and governors, who have entrance into the palace to the
king, are in much fear, how they shall present their accounts, and lest for some mistake
in answering for themselves they should be brought to trial and to punishment; but simple
country folk, who have never set eyes on a prince, pass their days without anxiety. That
is the way with this world beneath the sky, from kings down to the poor. Knowing nothing
of the glory of Christ, they care only about matters of this life. Not readily does any
one bethink him of the day of judgment. But those who in thought enter in before Christ’s
judgment seat, where His throne is, and pass their lives in His presence, are in fear and
trembling continually, to make no mistake concerning His holy commandments.

20. When the rich men of the earth have brought much fruit into their garners, they set to
work again every day to get more, in order to have plenty, and not run short. If they
presume upon the wealth laid up in the garners, and take things easily and add no more,
but use up what they have stored already, they soon sink into want and poverty. So they
have to labour and add, enlarging their intake, that they may not get behindhand. In
Christianity, to taste of the grace of God is like that. Taste, it says, and see how
gracious the Lord is. This tasting is an effectual power of the Spirit in full certainty,
ministering in the heart. As many as are the sons of light, and of the ministry of the New
Covenant in the Holy Ghost, these have nothing to learn from men; they are taught of God.
Grace itself writes upon their hearts the laws of the Spirit. They ought not therefore to
rest their assurance only upon the scriptures that are written in ink; the grace of God
writes the laws of the Spirit and the mysteries of heaven upon the tables of the heart as
well. For the heart governs and reigns over the whole bodily organism; and when grace
possesses the ranges of the heart, it reigns over all the members and the thoughts. For
there, in the heart, is the mind, and all the faculties of the soul, and its expectation;
therefore grace penetrates also to all the members of the body.

21. On the other hand, as many as are sons of darkness, sin reigns over their heart, and
penetrates to all their members, for out of their hearts proceed evil thoughts, and thus
diffused puts the man in darkness. Those who say that evil is not born and bred in man,
may have no anxiety about to-morrow, nor any desire either. For a certain length of time,
evil ceases to cause trouble in them by suggesting some object of desire, so that a man
will affirm on oath, “Such a passion no longer assails me.” After a short while he is
consumed with the desire, so that he is found guilty of perjury into the bargain. As water
runs through a pipe, so does sin through the heart and thoughts. As many as will not have
this notion, are refuted and mocked by sin itself, even if sin did not wish to triumph;
for evil endeavours to escape notice and to be hidden in the mind of man.

22. If a man loves God, then God also mingles His love with him. Once trusted by man, He
adds to him the trust of heaven, and the man becomes a twofold being. Whatever part of
yourself you offer to Him, He mingles with your soul a like part of His own, that all that
you do may be purely done, and your love pure and your prayer pure. Great is the dignity
of man. See how mighty are the heaven and the earth, the sun and the moon; but the Lord
was not pleased to rest in them, but in man only. Man, therefore, is of more value than
all created things—I may venture to say, not only than visible creatures, but invisible
likewise, even than the ministering spirits. It was not of Michael and Gabriel, the
archangels, that He said, Let us make them after Our image and likeness, but about the
spiritual substance of man, I mean his immortal soul. For it is written, The angels of the
Lord encamp round about them that fear Him.

The material creatures are bound by an unchangeable kind of nature. 23. Heaven was once
established for good and all—the sun, the moon, the earth—and the Lord had no pleasure in
them, though they cannot alter from what they were created, neither have they any will.
But you are for this reason after the image and likeness of God, because, as God is His
own Master, and does what pleases Him—and, if He pleases, has power to send the righteous
to hell and sinners into the kingdom, but He does not choose to do so, nor does He admit
the thought, for the Lord is a righteous judge—so are you your own master, and if you
choose to perish, you are of alterable nature. If you choose to blaspheme, to concoct
poisons, to murder somebody, no one opposes or hinders you. If a man chooses, he is
subject to God, and walks in the way of righteousness, and restrains his desires. This
mind of ours is evenly balanced, having power to subdue by resolute thoughts the impulses
and shameful desires of evil.

24. If in a great house, where there are things of gold and silver, and garments of
various kinds, and money, young men and women who live there suppress their own minds,
though nature, by reason of indwelling sin, covets them all, and because of the human fear
of their masters they check the impulses of desire, how much more, where the fear of God
is, ought a man to fight and counteract the indwelling evil. God has enjoined on thee what
thou canst do. The nature of irrational animals is tied. The serpent’s nature is bitter
and venomous; therefore all serpents are such. The wolf is habitually ravenous; all wolves
are of the same nature. The lamb’s gentleness makes it a prey; all lambs are of the same
nature. The dove is guileless and harmless; all doves are of the same nature. But man is
not like that. One man is like a ravening wolf; another, like the lamb, is a prey. Both
are of the stock of mankind. 25. One man is not satisfied with his own wife, but goes
a-whoring, while another does not so much as suffer a desire to rise in his heart. One man
plunders his neighbour’s goods; another, in piety towards God, gives away his own. You see
how alterable this nature is. You find it inclining to evil, you find it inclining again
to good. In both cases it is in a position to assent to such action as it likes.

Nature, then, is susceptible both of good and evil, either of divine grace or of the
contrary power, but is under no compulsion. Adam himself to begin with, being in a state
of purity, was sovereign of his own thoughts; but from the time that he transgressed the
commandment, mountains grievous to be borne lie on his mind, and the thoughts of evil
mingling with it are all made his own, and yet not one of them is his own, because they
are under the dominion of evil. 26. You ought then to seek for a lamp to be lighted, that
you may find pure thoughts. Those are the natural thoughts, which God made. People brought
up at sea learn to swim, and when waves and billows rise, they are not surprised at it;
but those who are not used to these things, when even a little sea comes up, take fright
and go under. So it is with Christians. As the mind of a child of three cannot take in or
understand the mind of a grownup reasoner, because there is a great difference of age
between them, so Christians contemplate the world like infant children, with their eyes
fixed upon the measure of grace. They are strangers to this age. Their city and their rest
is elsewhere. Christians have the comfort of the Spirit, tears, and mourning, and sighing;
and even the tears are an enjoyment to them. They have fear also, in the midst of joy and
rejoicing, and thus are they like men carrying their blood in their hands, having no
confidence in themselves, or thinking themselves to be anything, but despised and rejected
above all men.

27. Suppose there were a king, who entrusted his treasure to some poor man. The man who
received the charge of it does not hold it for his own, but always acknowledges his
poverty, not daring to squander out of another’s treasure. He bears continually in mind,
not only that the treasure is another’s, but “it was a mighty king who entrusted me with
it, and whenever he pleases he takes it away from me.” So ought those who have the grace
of God to esteem themselves, to be humble-minded and to acknowledge their poverty. As the
poor man who received the charge of the treasure from the king, if he presumes upon the
treasure that is another’s, and is proud as of wealth of his own, and his heart conceives
arrogance, the king takes away his treasure, and the man who had it in charge is left poor
as he was before; so if those who have grace presume, and their hearts are puffed up, the
Lord takes His grace from them, and they are left such as they were before receiving the
grace from the Lord.

28. There are many, who, in spite of grace being with them, are cheated by sin without
observing it. Suppose there is a maid in a house, and also a young man; and she is
wheedled into consenting to him, and falls, and loses her character. So the dreadful
serpent of sin is always with the soul, tickling and enticing it; and if it consents, the
incorporeal soul enters into connexion with the incorporeal evil of that spirit. Spirit
enters into connexion with spirit, and he who gives consent commits adultery in his heart,
admitting the suggestion of the wicked one. This then is the measure of your conflict, not
to commit this crime in your thoughts, but to resist with your mind, and do battle and
conflict within, and not to comply, and to take no pleasure in the thought of what is
wrong; and if the Lord finds in you this preparation, at the last day He takes you to
Himself in His kingdom.

29. For there are things which the Lord so orders that He may not leave Himself without
testimony of His divine grace and calling; and there are others which He orders in the way
of permission, that a man may be proved and exercised, that his self-determination may be
made plain. Those in afflictions and temptations, if they endure, do not fail of the
kingdom of heaven; therefore Christians in circumstances of distress are not vexed or
grieved. If they are tried by poverty or suffering, they ought not to be surprised, but
rather to take pleasure in poverty and reckon it as wealth, and fasting as feasting, and
dishonour and obscurity as glory. On the other hand, if they should fall into
circumstances which in this life are glorious, which incline them to worldly ease, or
wealth, or glory, or luxury, they ought not to take pleasure in these things, but to shun
them as they would shun fire.

30. In the world around us, if a very small nation is stirred to war against the emperor,
he is at no pains to go to the front in person, but sends soldiers with their officers,
and they carry on the war. But if the nation in motion against him is a very great one,
powerful enough to ravage his empire, the emperor himself is compelled to take the field,
with those in the palace and in his camps, and to join in battle. Consider then your own
dignity. God set Himself in motion, in company with His camp—I mean the angels and holy
spirits—and came to your protection in person, to deliver you from death. Take good care
of yourself, then, and bethink yourself what a provision has been made for you. We use an
illustration from this life, being still in it. Suppose there were an emperor, and he were
to find a man in want and suffering, and were not ashamed of him, but treated his wounds
with healing medicines, and brought him into his palace, and clothed him with the purple
and the diadem, and made him partaker of the royal table; even so Christ the heavenly King
came to suffering man and healed him, and made him partaker of the royal table, and this
without putting constraint upon his will, but by persuasion He sets him in such honour.

31. It is written in the gospel that the Lord sent His servants, calling those who were
willing, and declaring to them that dinner was ready; but those who had been called
excused themselves, alleging, one, “I have bought some yoke of oxen,” another, “I have
betrothed to myself a wife.” You see that the entertainer was ready, but the people
invited refused. They alone were answerable for it. So great is the dignity of Christians.
Consider how the Lord has prepared for them the kingdom, and calls them to enter in, and
they will not. As for the gift which they are to inherit, one might say, if every one from
the creation of Adam to the end of the world strove against Satan and endured afflictions,
he would do nothing great in comparison with the glory which he is to inherit; for he will
reign to ages without end with Christ. Glory to Him Who so loved a soul like this, for
giving Himself and His grace and entrusting the soul therewith! Glory to His greatness!

32. According to all appearances, all we brethren who sit here have but one image and the
one character of Adam. Well, have we in secret also, in the things within, one purpose
among us all, and one heart? Are we all one, good and godly? Or are there some of us who
have fellowship with Christ and His angels, and others with Satan and the devils? And yet
we all sit together appearing like one man; every one of us bears the same character of
Adam. You see how different the invisible substance, the inward man, is from the outward,
when we all look like one man, and yet some are with Christ and the angels, and some with
Satan and the unclean spirits. The heart contains an unfathomable depth. In it are
reception-rooms, and bedchambers, doors, and porches, and many offices and passages. In it
is the workshop of righteousness or of unrighteousness. In it is death; in it is life. In
it is the good traffic, and the contrary.

33. Suppose there were a very great palace, and this were deserted, and became full of
every evil smell, and of many dead bodies. Well, the heart is Christ’s palace, and it is
full of all uncleanness, and of crowds of many wicked spirits. It must be refounded and
rebuilt, and its store-chambers and bedrooms put in order; for there Christ the King, with
the angels and holy spirits, comes to rest, and to dwell, and to walk in it, and to set
His kingdom. I tell you, it is like a ship furnished with plenty of tackle, where the
captain disposes of all, and sets them their tasks, finding fault with some, and showing
others their way about. The heart has a captain in the mind, the conscience, which is ever
judging us, thoughts accusing or else excusing one another. 34. You see that conscience
will not slubber over such thoughts, which comply with sin, but at once judges them. It
tells no lies. It attests what it must say before God in the day of judgment, as though
judging us continually. Suppose there be a chariot and reins; the animals and all the
apparatus are under one driver; so when he pleases, he is carried along by the chariot at
a great rate, and when he pleases, he stops it. Whichever way he pleases to turn it, there
it goes along with him. The whole chariot is in the driver’s power. In like manner the
heart contains many natural faculties bound up with it, and it is the mind and conscience
which chides and guides the heart, and calls from sleep the natural faculties that spring
in the heart. The soul has many members, though it is but one.

35. From the time that Adam transgressed the commandment, the serpent entered in and made
himself master of the house, and became like a second soul beside the soul. For the Lord
says, Whoso denieth not himself, and hateth not his own soul, is not My disciple, and, He
that loveth his soul shall lose it. Sin entering into the soul has become like a member of
it, and is united with the bodily man, and therefore many unclean thoughts spring up in
the heart. He who does the wishes of his soul, does the wishes of evil, because it is
entwined and mingled with the soul. He who brings his soul into subjection, and is angry
with himself and with the desires that beset him, is like one who subdues an enemy’s city.
This man is permitted to come to good measures of the Spirit, and is rewarded through the
power of God with the pure man, and is made greater than himself; for such an one is
deified, and made a son of God, receiving the heavenly stamp upon his soul. For His elect
are anointed with the oil of consecration, and are made men of rank and kings.

36. Such is the nature that men have. In the depth of wickedness and the bondage of sin, a
man is at liberty to turn to what is good. A man bound over to the Holy Spirit, and
inebriated with heavenly things, has power to turn to evil. A woman clothed in rags,
famished, and dirty all over, is with much labour brought to royal rank, and arrayed in
purple and crown, and made a king’s bride. She remembers her former filthy condition, and
is half-minded to go back to her old state; but she will not deliberately return to her
former shame, for that would be folly. Yet even those who have tasted of the grace of God,
and are partakers of the Spirit, if they do not take heed to themselves, are extinguished,
and become worse than they were before, when they were in the world. Not that God is
liable to change, or impotent, or that the Spirit is Himself quenched; but men do not
correspond to grace, and for this reason miscarry, and fall into a thousand evils. For
those who have tasted of that gift have both things present with them, joy and comfort,
fear and trembling, gladness and mourning. They mourn for themselves and for all Adam,
since mankind is all one, and the tears of such persons are bread, and their mourning
sweetness and refreshment.

37. If you see a man proud and puffed up because he has a share of grace, this man, even
if he should work miracles and raise the dead, but does not hold his soul worthless and
contemptible, and continue poor in spirit and an object of abhorrence to himself, is
cheated by sin without knowing it. Even if he works signs you cannot believe him, for the
sign of Christianity is this, to be approved of God while earnestly shunning the notice of
men, and even if a man has the entire treasures of the King, to conceal them, and to say
continually, “It is not mine; another has put this treasure in my charge. I am a poor man,
and when He pleases, He takes it from me.” If any one says, “I am rich; I have enough. I
have gained; I need nothing more,” he is no Christian; he is a vessel of error and of the
devil. The enjoyment of God is insatiable. The more any one tastes and eats of Him, the
more he hungers. Such men’s ardour and passion for God is beyond restraint, and the more
they endeavour to get on and make progress, the more they esteem themselves poor, as those
that are in need and have nothing. This is what they say: “I am not fit for this sun to
shine upon me.” This is the sign of Christianity, this humility. 38. But if a man says, “I
am satisfied and filled,” he is a deceiver and a liar.

As the body of the Lord was glorified, when He went up into the mountain, and was
transfigured into the divine glory and into the infinite light, so are the bodies of the
saints glorified and shine like lightning. The glory that was within Christ was outspread
upon His body and shone; and in like manner in the saints, the power of Christ within them
shall in that day be poured outwardly upon their bodies. For even now they partake of His
substance and nature in their minds; for it is written, He that sanctifieth and they that
are sanctified are of one, and, The glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given them. As
many lamps are lighted from one flame, the bodies of the saints, being members of Christ,
must needs be what Christ is, and nothing else. 39. Question. What advantage have
Christians over the first Adam? for he was immortal and incorruptible, both in body and in
soul, whereas Christians die and come to corruption.

Answer. The real death is within, in the heart, and is concealed, and it is the inner man
that perishes. So if any one has passed from death unto life in that hidden region, he
does indeed live for ever, and never dies. Although the bodies of such men are dissolved
for a season, they are raised again in glory, for they are hallowed. So we call the death
of Christians sleep and repose. If the man were immortal, and his body exempt from
corruption, the whole world, beholding the strange fact that Christian men’s bodies were
incorruptible, would come over to the good by a kind of compulsion, not by a voluntary
decision. 40. In order that the freedom of will which God gave man at the beginning might
once for all be shewn and might abide, providence orders these matters, and bodily
dissolution takes place, that it may be at the man’s discretion to turn to the good or to
the bad. For even one who is perfect in evil, deep in sin, making himself a tool of the
devil, by whom he is completely mastered, is not bound by any necessity. He is at liberty
to become a chosen vessel, a vessel of life. In like manner on the other side those who
are drunk with the Godhead, although filled full with the Holy Ghost and under His
dominion, are not held by any necessity, but have their free choice to turn and do what
they please in the present world.

41. Question. Is it by degrees that evil is diminished and rooted out, and a man advances
in grace? or is evil rooted out at once, when he receives a visitation? Answer. As the
unborn babe in his mother’s womb is not at once fashioned into a man, but the image is
formed by degrees and born, and even then is not fullgrown, but takes many years to
develope, and become a man; and again, as the seeds of barley or of wheat do not root the
moment they are put in the ground, but storm and wind pass over them, and then in due time
the ears form; and the man who plants a pear tree does not at once partake of the fruit;
so likewise in spiritual things, where there is so much wisdom and delicacy employed, it
is only little by little that a man grows and comes to a perfect man, to the measure of
the stature, not, as some say, “Off with one coat, and on with another.”

42. He who wishes to be a learned man goes and learns his letters. When he has got to the
top there, off he goes to the Latin school, and is at the very bottom. When he gets to be
top there too, off he goes again to the advanced school, and is once more at the bottom, a
freshman. Then, when he becomes a “scholasticus,” he is a freshman among the pleaders, and
last of them all. When he once more rises to the top, he is then made a governor, and when
he reaches the position of chief magistrate, he takes to him the aid of the assessor.
Well, if the world of sense has such a series of promotions, how much more have the
heavenly mysteries their promotions, and increase the number of grades, and then, through
much practice and many a testing, the man who gets through is made perfect. Christians who
have truly tasted of grace, and have the sign of the cross upon their mind and heart,
these, from the king to the beggar, consider all things but dung and ill savour; and these
are able to know that the whole world of earth, and the treasures of the emperor, and his
riches, and his glory, and the discourses of wisdom are but a vain show, having no solid
basis, but passing away; and whatever there is under the heaven, to them is easily
contemned.

43. Why so? Because the things above the heavens are so strange and wonderful, which are
not to be found in kings’ treasures, nor in wisdom of words, nor in worldly glory, and
dignities, and wealth—such wealth they possess, who have the Lord and Creator of all
things in their inmost man, a possession which does not pass away, but abides. Christians
know the soul to be precious beyond all created things; for man alone was made after the
image and likeness of God. Behold the heaven, how vast it is, and the earth; and the
creatures in them are valuable, and their bodies are great; but man is valuable above all
those bodies, inasmuch as the Lord was well pleased in him alone. The whales of the sea
also, and the mountains, and the beasts, in outward appearance are greater than man.
Behold then thy dignity, and of how great value thou art, that God hath made thee above
angels, because for thy help and deliverance He came upon earth Himself in person.

44. God and His angels came for thy salvation. The King, the King’s Son, held council with
His Father, and the Word was sent, and put on the garment of flesh, and concealed His own
Godhead, that like might be saved by like, and laid down His life upon the cross. So great
is the love of God towards man. The Immortal chose to be crucified for thee. Consider then
how God loved the world, because He gave His only begotten Son for them. How shall He not
with Him freely give us all things? In another place it says, Verily I say unto you that
He shall make him ruler over all His goods. Elsewhere it shews the angels as ministers of
the saints. When Elias was in the mountain, and the foreigners came against him, the young
servant said, “There are many Coming against us, and we are by ourselves.” Then Elias
answered, “Do you not see camps and multitudes of angels with us round about succouring
us?” You see that the Master and the multitudes of the angels are with His servants. How
great then is the soul, and how much valued by God, that God and the angels seek after it
for fellowship with themselves and for a kingdom! And Satan and his powers seek after it
for their own party.

45. For as in the natural world kings are not waited upon by boorish people, but by those
who are good-looking and well-educated, so in the heavenly palace those who wait upon the
heavenly King are the blameless, the irreproachable, the pure in heart. As in the palace
good-looking maidens, that have no kind of blemish, the handsomest, go into the society of
kings, so in the spiritual order, it is the souls that are adorned with all good manners
which have the society of the heavenly King. In visible things, where a prince goes to
stay, if it should happen that that house contains anything that is not clean, it is put
to rights, and much cleaning takes place, and sweet odours are poured out; how much more
does the house of the soul, in which the Lord rests, require cleaning, that He may be able
to enter in and rest there, who is without spot or blemish! In such a heart God and the
whole church of heaven rests.

46. In the natural world, if a father enjoys possessions, and has diadems and precious
stones, he hides these in storehouses, and they are treasured up for his beloved son, and
to him he gives them. So God has entrusted what He has gotten, with His own precious
things, to the soul. In the natural order, if there is a war, and a king comes with his
army to fight, and his side is inferior in numbers or in strength, immediately he sendeth
an ambassage, desiring conditions of peace; but if it be a very great nation against an
equal nation, and king against king—say the king of the Persians against the emperor of
the Romans—the two kings have no choice but to move with all their forces. See then how
great is thy dignity, that God has moved with His own forces—that is, with angels and
spirits—to join issue with the adversary in order to deliver thee from death. God came for
thy sake.

47. Suppose a king were to find a poor man who had leprosy all over his body, and were not
ashamed of him, but applied remedies to his wounds, and healed his sores, and then took
him to the royal table, and arrayed him in purple, and made him a king; that is what God
did to the race of men. He washed their wounds, and healed them, and brought them into the
heavenly bridechamber. Great then is the dignity of Christians, so great that there is
nothing to compare with it. But if the Christian becomes high-minded and allows evil to
steal over him, he is like a city without a wall, and the robbers come into it from any
quarter they please, with nothing to hinder them, and lay it waste and set it on fire.
Thus, whilst thou art taking things easily, and paying no heed to thyself, the spirits of
wickedness come in upon thee, and destroy and lay waste thy mind, dissipating thy thoughts
upon this present world.

48. Many people who are well informed about outward things, and pursue knowledge, and take
pains about the correctness of their lives, consider that this constitutes perfection, not
looking deep into their hearts, or seeing the bad things there which keep the soul in.
According to the inner meaning of evil, it is a root in the members; the thief is in the
house, that is, the opposing power. It is a defiant and an invisible force; and unless a
man sets himself to combat sin, the inward evil gradually spreads, and by multiplying
carries the man along into open sins, to commit them. Evil is continually gushing up like
the eye of a well-spring. Be thou then busied upon stopping the streams of evil, lest thou
shouldest fall into a thousand wrong things and be like one in stupor. Suppose there to be
a nobleman living at ease in affluence, and the officers of the governor and those who
serve warrants arrest him, carrying him off to the governor, saying, “You are accused on a
serious charge, and your head is in danger.” At the very tidings of such a fear, he loses
all his ideas, and is like one in a stupor. 49. Conceive, then, that it is thus with the
spirits of wickedness.

The world that you see round you, from the king to the beggar, are all in confusion and
disorder and battle, and none of them knows the reason, or that it is the manifestation of
the evil which crept in through Adam’s disobedience, the sting of death. For the sin which
crept in, being a kind of invisible power of Satan, and a reality, implanted all evils.
Without being detected it works upon the inner man and upon the mind, and contends with
the thoughts; but men are not aware that they are doing these things at the instigation of
an alien force. They think it all to be natural, and that they do these things of their
own determination, while those who have the peace of Christ in their minds, and His
enlightenment, know very well the source of these movements. 50. The world is subject to
the lust of evil, and knows it not, and there is an unclean fire which kindles the heart,
and so spreads into all the members, and disposes men to lasciviousness and a thousand
wrong things. Those who let themselves be tickled and pleased with it commit the sin
inwardly in the heart, and thus the evil gets room, and they fall into open impurity. Mark
that the same is true of the love of money, and of vain glory, pride, envy, anger. A man
is invited to a dinner, and many meats are offered him; sin suggests that he should taste
them all, and so his soul is pleased and becomes overloaded. Lusts are intolerable
mountains, among which are rivers of dragons and venomous beasts and serpents. As if a
whale were to swallow up a man in its belly, so sin swallows up souls. They are burning
flames of fire, and fiery darts of the wicked one. The apostle says, That ye may be able
to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. The evil got room, and has laid its
foundations around the soul.

51. But the prudent, when the passions bestir themselves, will not comply, but are angry
with the evil desires, and make themselves enemies to themselves. For Satan has a great
wish to rest and stretch himself in the soul, and is annoyed and cramped when the soul
will not comply with him. Some there are under the command of the divine power, who if
they see a young man with a woman may perhaps think a little, but their mind is not
defiled, nor do they inwardly commit sin; but it is not yet possible to be confident in
such a case. There are others in whom the thing is at an end, quenched, and withered up;
but these are the measures of the great ones. As men in the trade go down naked into the
deep of the sea, into the watery death, to find there pearls that will do for a royal
crown, and purple dye, so those who embrace the single life go naked out of the world, and
go down into the deep of the sea of evil and into the gulf of darkness, and from those
depths they take and bring up precious stones suitable for the crown of Christ, for the
heavenly church, for a new world, and a city of light, and a people of angels.

52. As in a net many kinds of fishes are included, and they cast back the worse kinds at
once into the sea, so the net of grace is spread over all, and seeks satisfaction; but men
will not consent, therefore they are thrown back again into the very pit of darkness. As
much sand is washed away before the gold is found, and that in very small grains like
millet, so out of many there are few found to be approved. Those who have the work of the
kingdom are made manifest, and those who only dress up the word of it appear. Those who
are seasoned with the heavenly salt appear, and those who speak out of the treasures of
the Spirit. The vessels in which God is well pleased appear, and He gives them His own
grace; while others with much patience receive the hallowing power, in divers manners, as
the Lord wills. So he who speaks, unless he be guided by heavenly light and wisdom, cannot
satisfy the mind of every one, since there are so many different purposes, some at war,
and some at rest.

53. If a city has been laid waste, and one wishes to rebuild it, he at once demolishes
completely the things that are ruinous and fallen, and so begins to dig and to lay, his
foundations where he dug, and to carry up the building, though there is as yet no house;
and he who wishes to make a pleasure garden in a waste, ill-smelling place begins first to
clean it up, and to make a fence round it, and to prepare water-courses, and then he
plants, and the plants grow, that thus after a long time the garden may bear fruit; so the
purposes of men since the fall are dried up, laid waste, and thorny. God said to the man,
Thorns and thistles shall the earth bring forth to thee. There is need, therefore, of much
toil and labour, for a man to seek and lay up the foundation, till fire shall come into
men’s hearts, and shall begin to clear off the thorns; and so they begin to be sanctified,
glorifying the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XVI

That spiritual persons are subject to temptations and to the adversities which spring from
the first sin. 1. ALL spiritual substances, that is to say, of angels, and human souls,
and devils, were made by the Creator innocent and perfectly simple. The fact that some of
them turned to evil was an after-effect of their free will. It was by their own choice
that they departed from the right way of thinking. If we say that they were so made by the
Creator, we say that God is an unjust judge for sending Satan to the fire. There are
certain heretics who say that matter is without beginning, and that matter is the root,
and that the root is power, and an evenly matched power. To this you may fairly reply,
“Which then is the conquering power? Certainly that of God. Then the vanquished is no
longer a match, either in duration or in power.” Those who say that evil is a substantive
thing, know nothing. To God there is no substantive evil, according to His divine freedom
from passion; but in us it works with full force and makes itself felt, suggesting all
foul concupiscences. It is not mixed up with us, however, as some say, like the mixture of
wine with water; it is as corn by itself and tares by themselves, though both in the same
field; as in a house, the thief in one part, and the master in another.

2. Here is a well-spring running with clear water, and there is mud under it. When one
stirs the mud, the whole well-spring is fouled. So the soul, when stirred, is fouled and
mingled with evil, and Satan becomes one thing with the soul, both being spirits, in the
act of fornication or of murder. For this reason, he that is joined to the harlot is one
body. But at another moment the soul subsists by itself, penitent for what it has done,
and weeps and prays, and remembers God. For if the soul were always plunged in evil, how
could it act thus? since Satan is never willing that men should come to repentance, for he
knows no compassion. The wife according to agreement with her husband becomes one with
him, but at another moment they are parted; because it often happens that one of them dies
and the other lives. Something of the same kind takes place in the fellowship of the Holy
Ghost. They become one Spirit, for he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. This takes
place when the man is swallowed up in grace.

3. There are some, however, who have a taste of God, but are still subject to the
influence of the enemy, and think it strange, in their lack of experience, that after the
visitation of God they should still be subject to doubts about the mysteries of
Christianity. Those who have grown old in them do not think it strange. As skilled
husbandmen, from long experience, in a season of plenty are not entirely without care, but
look forward to times of dearth and short supplies, and, on the other hand, when those
times of dearth and short supplies overtake them, are not very despondent, in view of
changes for the better, so in the spiritual realm, when the soul falls into divers
temptations, it neither considers it strange, nor is despondent, because it knows that it
is permitted on sufferance to be tested and disciplined by evil. On the other hand, when
it is in much wealth and contentment it is not without care, but looks forward to the
coming change.

The sun, which is a bodily and created thing, shines down into unsavoury places, where
there are mud and impurities, without being injured or defiled; how much rather does the
pure and holy Spirit keep company with the soul, when still subject to influence from the
wicked one, without contracting anything from them. The light shineth in darkness, and the
darkness comprehended it not. 4. When therefore a man is deep in, and is rich in grace,
there is still a remnant of evil with him. He has a helper at hand to succour him. So when
one is in adversities and in great billows of suffering, he ought not to despond; for if
he does, sin thrives and makes more way in him. But when one has constant hope in God, the
evil diminishes and dries out. That some are palsied or maimed, in fever or sickness, this
is a consequence of sin. For sin is the root of all evils, and the passions caused by the
desires of the soul and by evil thoughts are owing to it. If there is a running spring,
and the places about it are moist and boggy, yet when the weather gets hot, the spring and
the places near it dry up. So with God’s servants, upon whom grace abounds, this grace
dries up the desire which comes from the wicked one, and that which comes from nature
likewise; since now the men of God are greater than the first Adam.

5. God is infinite and incomprehensible. He shows Himself everywhere, in the mountains,
and in the sea, and beneath the deep; yet not by change of place, like the angels who come
down from heaven to the earth. He is in heaven, and He is here. But you will say to me,
“How can God be in hell? or how can He be in the darkness, or in Satan, or in places that
are unsavoury?” I answer that He is impassible and contains all things, for He is
infinite, while Satan, being His creature, is tied. That which is good is not soiled, nor
darkened. If you say that He does not contain all things, including hell and Satan, you
make Him limited with regard to that place where the wicked one is, so that we have to
look for another, above Him. God must be everywhere; but because of the mystery of the
Godhead and the fineness in Him, the darkness, though contained in Him, comprehends Him
not; nor can the evil partake of His purity, even though it be in Him. To God there is no
such thing as a substantive evil, since He is in nothing injured by it.

6. To us, however, evil is a reality, because it dwells and works in the heart, suggesting
wicked and defiling thoughts, and not allowing us to pray purely, but bringing our mind
into captivity to this world. It has clothed itself with our souls, and touched even our
bones and members. As Satan therefore is in the air, and God is in no way injured by being
there also, so sin is in the soul, and the grace of God is there likewise, without
suffering any injury. As a servant near his master is always in fear because of being so
near, and does nothing without him, so ought we to refer our thoughts to our Master,
Christ, who knows the heart, and to disclose them to Him, and to have within the hope and
confidence that “He is my glory, and He is my Father, and He is my riches.” Thou oughtest
continually to have in thy conscience care and fear. Even if a man has not the grace of
God so firmly planted and fixed in him, that night and day the thing which hourly guides
and wakens and directs him to good things is joined to his soul as by a natural bond, at
least, let him see to it that he has this care, this fear, this labour, this contrition of
heart continually fixed, as an unalterable fact of nature.

7. Like a bee secretly forming her comb in the hive, grace secretly forms in hearts the
love of herself, and changes them from bitterness to sweetness, from roughness to
smoothness. As a silversmith and engraver, engraving a plate, partly covers up the various
little animals that he is cutting, but when he has finished, displays it flashing with the
light, so the Lord, the true artificer, engraves our hearts, and silently makes them new,
until they pass away from the body, and then the beauty of the soul is shown. Those who
wish to construct bowls, and to depict animals upon them, first make their design in wax,
and then cast them after the likeness, so that the work is finished in accordance with
that design. So sin, though it is a spirit, has an image, and assumes many forms; and in
the same manner the inner man is like one of these animals, with an image and a shape, for
the inner man is a likeness of the outer. Great then is the vessel, and precious, since in
it alone of all the creatures the Lord was well pleased. And the good thoughts of the soul
are like precious stones and pearls, and the impure thoughts are filled with dead men’s
bones and all uncleanness and ill-savour.

8. Christians then are of another world, sons of the heavenly Adam, a new race, children
of the Holy Ghost, shining brethren of Christ, like their Father, the heavenly shining
Adam. Of that city, of that kindred, of that power, they are not of this world, but of
another world. He Himself says, Ye are not of this world, even as I am not of this world.
But as a merchant on a voyage of many stages, in the multiplication of his merchandise,
sends to his friends to procure him houses, gardens, clothes that he requires, and when he
sets out for home, brings with him great wealth, and his friends and kinsfolk welcome him
with great rejoicing, so in spiritual things, if any are making the heavenly wealth their
merchandise, their fellow citizens, the spirits of saints and angels, are aware of it, and
say with admiration, “Our brethren on the earth have come into great wealth.” So they,
having the Lord with them at their departure, come with mighty rejoicing to those above,
and those who belong to the Lord receive them, having prepared for them there houses, and
gardens, and clothes all bright and costly.

9. We need sobriety in all things, then, in order that the good things that we seem to
have may not turn to our hurt. For those who are naturally kind, unless they secure
themselves, are gradually drawn aside by their very kindness; and those who have wisdom
are deceived by their wisdom. A man must be well tempered together in all directions,
kindness with severity, wisdom with discretion, word with deed, in everything to trust in
the Lord, not in himself. For virtue is seasoned with many different spices, as an article
of necessary diet is seasoned with condiment of some kind—not with honey only, but with
pepper sometimes—and so is found good for food. 10. Those who say that sin is not in man,
are like people plunged under a deluge of many waters, who will not acknowledge it, but
say, “We heard a sound of waters.” Plunged under the depth of the waves of evil, they say
that sin is not in their mind or thoughts. There is a difference between those who have a
theory and talk, but are not seasoned with the salt of heaven—who discourse of a royal
table, but have never eaten or enjoyed it—and a man who has had a sight of the king
himself, to whom the treasures have been opened, and he has entered in, and inherited
them, and eaten and drunk of the costly viands.

11. If a mother has an only son, very handsome, wise, adorned with all things good, upon
whom she sets all her hopes, and it falls out that she buries him, then endless distress
comes upon her, and mourning that cannot be comforted. So ought the mind, when the soul
has died to God, to take up mourning and tears, endless distress, to have a contrite
heart, to be in fear and care, and at the same time to have a hunger and thirst for what
is good continually. Such an one passes into the hands of God’s grace and of hope, and he
no longer remains in that mourning, but rejoices as one that finds a treasure, and again
trembles for fear he should lose it, for the thieves are coming. Like a man who has
suffered many losses by thieves, and has got away from them with much difficulty, and
after this has come into great affluence and a large fortune, and has no more dread of
loss because of his abundant wealth; so spiritual men, after first passing through many
temptations and dreadful places, and then filled with grace and replete with good things,
are no longer in terror of those who would plunder them, since their wealth is not small;
yet they fear, not with the beginner’s fear of evil spirits, but with fear and care how to
employ the spiritual gifts entrusted to them.

12. Such an one despises himself beyond all sinners, and holds this notion implanted in
him as if by nature, and the farther he advances in the knowledge of God, the more he
considers himself an ignoramus, and the more he learns, the less he thinks he knows. It is
grace which ministers this effect, and makes it like a part of nature in the soul. As a
little child is carried by a strong young man, and he who carries it takes it about
wherever he pleases, so the grace that works in the deep carries the soul, and lifts it up
to the heavens, to the perfect world, to the everlasting rest. But even in grace there are
measures and degrees of rank. The commander-in-chief, who has access to the king, differs
from the captain. As a house that is filled with smoke discharges it also into the open
air, so the evil compressed into the soul is discharged without and produces fruits. As
those to whom is committed the government of a province or of the royal treasury are all
the time in anxiety lest they should after all offend the king, so those who have been
entrusted with a spiritual work are always in anxiety, and though they are at rest, are as
if they had never found it. For the kingdom of darkness which had broken into the city of
the soul, and the barbarous forces which keep possession of its ranges, are in course of
expulsion from it. 13. Christ the King sends to avenge the city, and throws the usurpers
into chains, and settles heavenly troops and an armament of holy spirits there, as in
their own country; and then the sun shines in the heart, and its rays run through into all
the members; and so a deep peace is the reigning power there.

But the man’s resolution in combat and strife, and his genuine worth, and his goodwill
towards God, are then shown when grace withdraws and he will still be brave and cry to
God. You, when you hear that there are rivers of dragons, and mouths of lions, and the
dark forces beneath the heaven, and fire that burns and crackles in the members, think
nothing of it, not knowing that unless you receive the earnest of the Holy Spirit, they
hold your soul as it departs from the body, and do not suffer you to rise to heaven. In
like manner, when you hear of the dignity of the soul, how precious the intelligent
substance is, you do not understand that it was not of angels, but of human nature, that
He said, Let Us make after Our image and likeness, and that heaven and earth pass away,
but that you were called to immortality, and adoption and brotherhood, and marriage with
the King. In the world around us, all that belongs to the bridegroom is the bride’s; and
all that belongs to the Lord, no matter what it is, He commits to you. He came to your aid
in person, to call you up above; and you neither consider nor understand your dignity.
Justly the inspired man mourns over your fall, saying, Man being in honour hath no
understanding, but is compared unto the beasts without reason, and is made like unto them.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XVII

Concerning the spiritual unction of Christians, and their glory, and that without Christ
it is impossible to be saved or to become a partaker of eternal life. 1. PERFECT
Christians, who have been permitted to arrive at measures of perfection and to come very
near the King, these are continually consecrated to the cross of Christ. As in the days of
the prophets the unction was more precious than all things else, since unction made them
kings and prophets, so now spiritual men, who are anointed with the heavenly unction,
become Christs according to grace, so that they too are kings, and prophets of heavenly
mysteries. These are sons, and lords, and gods, made prisoners and captives, plunged deep,
crucified, consecrated. If the anointing of oil, which came from a material plant, a
visible tree, had such force that those who were anointed received dignity beyond
dispute—for it was a fixed rule, so that they were appointed kings; David, for instance,
after being anointed, immediately fell into persecutions and was afflicted, and then after
seven years became king—how much more do all who are anointed in mind and the inner man
with the hallowing and cheering oil of gladness, the heavenly spiritual oil, receive the
stamp of that kingdom of the imperishable and everlasting power, the earnest of the
Spirit, the Holy Ghost the Comforter. He is called the Comforter, because He comforts and
cheers those who are in afflictions.

2. These, being anointed from the tree of life, Jesus Christ, the heavenly plant, are
privileged to come to measures of perfection, the measures of the kingdom and the
adoption, truly sharers of the secrets of the heavenly King, having free access to the
Almighty, entering into His palace, where the angels and the spirits of the saints are,
even while they are still in this world. Although they have not yet received the perfect
inheritance prepared for them in that age, they are sure, from the earnest which they have
now received, as if already crowned and reigning; and being about to reign with Christ,
they are not surprised at the abundance and freedom of the Spirit. Why? Because while
still in the flesh they had that relish of sweetness, and that effectual working of power.
3. When a man is a friend of the emperor, employed about the palace, acquainted with his
secrets, and seeing his purple, if that man is made emperor himself and crowned, he is not
surprised or taken aback, since he has long been exercised in the secrets of the palace.
No boorish or uneducated person, or stranger to the secret, can go in and reign, but only
those of experience and training. So Christians, who in that age are to reign, are not
surprised, having already learned the secrets of grace. When man first transgressed the
commandment, the devil covered the soul all over with a covering of darkness. Then grace
comes, and wholly removes the veil, so that the soul, now cleared, and regaining its
proper nature, created without blemish and clear, continually beholds clearly with its
clear eyes the glory of the true light and the true sun of righteousness beaming in the
heart itself.

4. As at the end of the world the firmament is removed and the righteous thenceforth live
in the kingdom and the light and the glory, seeing nothing else but how Christ in glory is
always on the right hand of the Father, so these men even now are caught away into that
age, and are taken captive, and behold all the beauties and the wonders that are done
there. On earth as we are, we have our citizenship in heaven, spending our time and
activities in that world, so far as the mind and the inner man are concerned. As the
visible eye, when clear, always clearly sees the sun, so the mind perfectly cleansed
always sees the glory of the light of Christ, and is with the Lord night and day, in like
manner as the Lord’s body united with the Godhead is always with the Holy Ghost. Men do
not, however, attain these measures in a moment, but with labour and pains and much
contention. Some there are who have grace with them working and abiding, yet evil also is
with them inwardly, and the two modes of citizenship, of light and of darkness, are at
work upon the same heart.

5. But you will say to me, “What communion hath light with darkness? Where is the divine
light darkened or troubled; and the undefiled and pure, where is it defiled?” It is
written, The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. We must not
therefore think of these things under a single aspect and without dissection. So great is
the repose of some men in God’s grace that they become stronger than the evil that is with
them, and having a gift of prayer and much repose in God, at another moment they are under
the influence of evil thoughts, and are deceived by sin, though they are still in the
grace of God. Light-minded people, who have not learned the business, when grace to some
extent works upon them, imagine that there is no more such a thing as sin. But those who
have discretion and are prudent dare not deny that even when we have the grace of God we
are liable to the influence of foul and polluting thoughts.

6. We have often found among the brethren that they have found such gladness and grace
that for five or six years, they say, concupiscence had withered away, and after this,
when they supposed that they were free from it, the evil, which had been concealed, set
upon them, and they were all on fire with concupiscence, so that they were surprised, and
said, “After so long a time, whence did this evil rise against us?” No man of sound mind
dares to say, “While grace is with me, I am completely set free from sin.” Both the two
characters are at work upon the mind. People of no experience in these matters, when grace
has had some little effect upon them, imagine that they have already conquered, and are
perfect Christians. For my part, I say that the fact is this;—when the sun is in the sky,
shining in a clear air, and clouds come about him and cover him, and make the air thick,
and yet the sun, far within, is not robbed either of his light or of his proper being, so
is it with those who are not completely cleansed. Being in the grace of God, and yet held
by sin beneath the surface, they have the natural motions and their actual thoughts strong
towards God, and yet are not entirely belonging to good. 7. And on the other hand some who
under the surface are held by the good side, the side of grace, are still in bondage and
subjection to bad thoughts and the side of evil.

It needs great discretion, therefore, to know by experience that this is the state of the
case. I assure you that even the apostles, though they had the Comforter, were not
entirely without anxiety. With joy and gladness they had fear and trembling, proceeding
from grace itself, not from the side of evil; but the same grace secured them, that they
might not swerve, though it were but a little. If a man throws a bit of a stone against a
wall, it does not injure the wall or move it from its place. A dart flung at one who wears
a breastplate hurts neither the iron nor the wearer’s body; it strikes and bounds back. So
even though a fragment of evil got near the apostles, it did not injure them, because they
were clothed with the perfect power of Christ, and they, being themselves perfect, were at
liberty to work their righteousnesses.

8. Since then some will have it that after grace the soul is without anxiety, God requires
the will of the soul, even in the perfect, for the service of the Spirit, that they may
act in agreement. The apostle says, Quench not the Spirit. Some among them were unwilling
to be burdensome to others; some walked for themselves; others took from men of the world
and distributed to the poor. This was a worthier part. Some who have grace care only about
themselves, others endeavour to benefit their neighbour’s souls also. These are far
superior to the others. Some who have grace, for God’s name’s sake deliver up their bodies
to mockeries and sufferings. These again are above those. Some in the pursuit of virtue
are disposed to boast and to be honoured of men, saying that they are Christians and
partake of the Holy Ghost. Others endeavour to hide themselves even from meeting men.
These are much superior to those others. You see how even in perfection goodwill towards
God completed by the natural will is found superior and in greater abundance.

If a man clothed in beggarly garments should see himself in a vision rich, and on waking
from sleep should see himself again poor and naked, so those who utter a spiritual
discourse seem to speak suitably enough, but if they have not the thing they discourse
about verified in their mind by tasting and power and personal experience, they stand in a
vain show. Or like a woman decked out in silks and arrayed in pearls, who offers herself
in a place of ill fame, the heart of these men is a resort of unclean spirits, while they
set themselves up to discourse of righteousness, when they have never had a glimpse of the
realities. 10. A fish cannot live out of the water; no one can walk without feet, or see
light without eyes, or speak without a tongue, or hear without ears. So without the Lord
Jesus, and the working of divine power, no one can know the mysteries and wisdom of God,
or be rich and a Christian. The wise, the warriors, the brave men, the philosophers of
God, are those who are led and shepherded in the inner man by the divine power. The
philosophers of the Greeks learn to make speeches; others are rude in speech, but
rejoicing and exulting in the grace of God, men of piety. Let us judge which are the
better. The kingdom of God, it says, is not in word, but in deed and in power.

11. For a man to say, “This bread is made of corn,” is easy enough. He should tell us how
bread is prepared in detail, and baked. To talk of freedom from passions, and of
perfection, is easy; but in experience to be brought to perfection is the lot of few. The
gospel says in short compass, “Thou shalt not be angry; thou shalt not covet. If any man
smite thee on the cheek, turn to him the other also. If any man judge to take away thy
cloak, give him thy coat also.” The apostle, tracing out how the work of cleansing should
be done, little by little with patience and perseverance, teaches at large, first feeding
with milk, like babes, then carrying on to growth and to full age. The gospel said that
the garment was made of wool; the apostle declared in detail, how it is made.

12. So those who utter spiritual discourses, without tasting what they discourse of, are
like a man who travels on a desert plain, assailed by burning heat, and being thirsty,
draws a picture of a running stream of water, with a sketch of himself drinking, when all
the while his lips are parched, and his tongue also, by the thirst that possesses him; or
as if a man should discourse of honey, that it is sweet, though never having tasted it, he
does not know the force of the sweetness. Such is the case with those who make discourse
about perfection, and rejoicing, or freedom from passions, without having the effectual
working and personal knowledge of them. The things are not all as they describe them. When
a man of that kind is once permitted to find himself in the reality, he judges in his own
mind: “I have not found it to be as I supposed. I discoursed in one way, and the Spirit
works in another.”

13. For Christianity is indeed meat and drink; and the more a man eats of it, the more his
mind is allured by the sweetness, and is not to be restrained or satisfied, but asks for
more, without ever being filled, and goes on eating. If a man is thirsty, and there is
given him a pleasant draught, then, when he has begun to taste it, he gets the more
eagerly close to the drink, more ardent for it than before. And indeed the tasting of the
Spirit is well-nigh without a limit, so that it is really like the supposed case. And
these are not mere words. This is the practical working of the Holy Ghost mysteriously
ministering in the mind. Some imagine that because they abstain from marriage and other
visible things, they are already saints. That is not so. Evil still lives and lifts itself
up in the mind and in the heart. The saint is one who is cleansed and sanctified in the
inner man. For where truth raises its head, there error attacks, endeavouring to conceal
and obscure it. 14. When the Jews possessed the priesthood, then those of that nation were
persecuted and afflicted, because they stood firm in the truth, Eleazar and the Maccabees.
Now that after the cross and the veil the Spirit has departed from them, the truth has
been revealed here and works here. So those of this nation are persecuted in turn. The
persecution and affliction which befell that nation was that the lovers of the truth might
witness to it. For how shall the truth appear, unless it has adversaries who are false and
oppose the truth? Even among the brethren there are some who endure sufferings and
afflictions, and yet have need of much wariness, lest they fall. One of the brethren was
once at prayer with a certain person, and was taken captive by divine power, and caught
away, and saw the city of Jerusalem above, and shining figures, and infinite light, and
heard a voice, saying, “This is the place of repose of the righteous;” and shortly after,
he was puffed up, and imagined that what he had seen concerned himself, and after that, he
was found to fall into the nethermost depths of sin, into a thousand evil things.

15. If one who had been inside and aloft fell thus, how can the ordinary man say, “By
fasting, and making myself a stranger, and dispersing my property, I am a saint already”?
Mere abstention from evil things is not perfection—only if thou hast entered into thy
ruined mind, and hast slain the serpent that lies under the mind beneath the surface of
the thoughts, and burrows into what we call the secret chambers and storehouses of the
soul and murders thee—for the heart is a deep gulf—only, I say, if thou hast killed him,
and cast out all the uncleanness that was in thee. All the philosophers, and the law, and
the prophets, and the coming of the Saviour, have to do with purity. There is no man, Jew
or Greek, that does not love purity, though they cannot be pure. We must go on seeking how
and by what means the purity of the heart may be gained. Certainly no other way than
through Him who was crucified for us. He is the way, the life, the truth, the door, the
pearl, the living heavenly bread. Without that truth it is impossible to know truth, or to
be saved. As therefore in regard to the outer man and visible affairs thou didst renounce
all and hast distributed thy property, so in the matter of worldly wisdom, if thou hast
knowledge and the force of words, thou oughtest to cast all away, and to esteem them as
nothing, that so thou mayest be built up by the foolishness of preaching, which preaching
is the true wisdom, which has not the pride of words, but has a power that works
effectually by means of the holy cross. Glory be to the consubstantial Trinity for ever.
Amen.


FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
========================

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES continued

HOMILY XVIII

Concerning the Christians’ treasure, which is Christ and the Holy Ghost, who practises
them in various ways to come to perfection. 1. IF a man is very rich in this world, and
possesses a hidden treasure, out of that treasure and wealth that he has he purchases
whatever he has a mind to purchase. Whatever rare articles in the world he fancies, he
readily amasses them, relying upon the treasure, because by means of it he easily procures
any piece of property he fancies. In like manner those who seek at God’s hand, and have
found, and have the heavenly treasure of the Spirit, which is the Lord Himself shining in
their hearts, accomplish every righteousness of virtues, and every acquisition of goodness
commanded by the Lord, out of the treasure of Christ in them, and by means of it they
amass a yet more abundant heavenly wealth. By means of that heavenly treasure they effect
every virtue of righteousness, relying upon the multitude of the spiritual riches within
them, and easily work every righteousness and commandment of the Lord by means of the
invisible wealth of grace that is in them. The apostle says, Having this treasure in
earthen vessels, that is, the treasure which it was granted to them in this life to
possess within themselves, the sanctifying power of the Spirit; and again, Who was made to
us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

2. So one who has found and has within him this heavenly treasure of the Spirit, effects
thereby every righteousness of commandments and every accomplishment of virtues
unblameably and purely, without forcing and with ease. Let us therefore beseech God, and
seek and beg of Him, to bestow on us the treasure of His Spirit, and that thus we may be
able to walk in all His commandments unblameably and purely, and to fulfil all the
righteousness of the Spirit purely and perfectly, by means of the heavenly treasure, which
is Christ. For he that is poor and naked and needy and famished in the world can acquire
nothing; his poverty restrains him; but the possessor of treasure, as I said, easily
acquires such articles as he fancies, without painful effort. Thus the soul that is naked
and destitute of the fellowship of the Spirit, and lies under the horrible poverty of sin,
cannot, if it would, produce any of the fruits of the Spirit of righteousness in truth,
before partaking of the Spirit.

3. Nevertheless, every one should force himself to ask of the Lord to be permitted to
receive and find the heavenly treasure of the Spirit, so as to be able without difficulty
and with readiness to do all the commandments of the Lord unblameably and purely, which
before he could not succeed in doing, whatever force he might use. Poor and naked of the
fellowship of the Spirit, how could he acquire such heavenly possessions, without any
spiritual treasure or wealth? But the soul which has found the Lord, the true treasure, by
seeking of the Spirit and faith and much patience, works out the fruits of the Spirit, as
I said before, with ease; and all righteousness and commandments of the Lord, which the
Spirit has commanded, she does, in herself, and by herself, purely, and perfectly, and
unblameably. 4. Let us use another illustration. If there is a rich man, and he makes a
costly repast, he spends out of his wealth and the treasure that he has, and is under no
fear that he will run short of anything, being so rich; and so he entertains the guests
whom he has invited at cost and with splendour, setting before them many different dishes
of the latest fashion. The poor man, who has no such wealth, if he wishes to provide a
repast for a few friends, has all to borrow, the very dishes, the drapery, and everything
else; and then, after the invited guests have dined on a poor man’s dinner, when it is
over, he gives back to each person that he had borrowed of, a silver dish, a piece of
drapery, or whatever else it was, and so, when all is given back, he himself remains poor
and naked, having no wealth of his own to entertain himself with.

5. In the same way, when those who are rich in the Holy Ghost, really having the heavenly
wealth and the fellowship of the Spirit in themselves, speak to any the word of truth,
when they impart spiritual discourses to any and desire to entertain souls, it is out of
their own wealth and out of their own treasure, which they possess within themselves, that
they speak, and out of this that they entertain the souls of the hearers of the spiritual
discourse; and they have no fear lest they should run short, because they possess within
themselves a heavenly treasure of goodness, upon which they draw to entertain those whom
they are spiritually feasting. But one who is poor, and does not possess of the wealth of
Christ, and has no spiritual wealth in his soul, yielding a stream of all goodness, both
of words and of deeds, and of divine ideas, and of mysteries unspeakable, even if he
wishes to speak a word of truth and to entertain some of his hearers, yet not possessing
in himself the word of God in power and reality, but only repeating from memory, and
borrowing words from various parts of the bible, or what he has heard from spiritual men,
and relating and teaching this—see, he seems to entertain others, and others enjoy what he
tells them, but after he has gone through it, each word goes back to the source from which
it was taken, and he himself remains once more naked and poor, having no treasure of the
Spirit for his own, upon which he draws to entertain others, not being himself first
entertained, nor rejoicing in the Spirit.

6. For this reason we should first seek from God with labour of heart and in faith, that
He would grant us to find His wealth, the true treasure of Christ, in our hearts, in the
power and effectual working of the Spirit. In this way, first finding in ourselves the
Lord to be our profit and salvation and eternal life, we may then profit others also, as
is possible and attainable, drawing upon Christ, the treasure within, for all goodness of
spiritual words, and setting forth mysteries of heaven. For thus it pleased the goodness
of the Father to dwell in every one who believes and asks of Him. He that loveth Me, it
says, shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him;
and again, We will come, I and My Father, and will make Our abode with him. Thus the
infinite kindness of the Father willed; thus the inconceivable love of Christ was pleased;
thus the unspeakable goodness of the Spirit promised. Glory to the unspeakable compassion
of the Holy Trinity.

7. For those to whom it has been given to become children of God, and to be born from
above of the Spirit, who have within them Christ shining and refreshing them, are led in
many different ways of the Spirit, and acted upon by grace invisibly in the heart, in
spiritual rest. Let us employ figures of tangible enjoyments in the world, to signify in
some measure the dealings of grace in the heart. There are times when they are as if
entertained at a royal banquet, and rejoicing with joy and gladness inexpressible. At
another moment they are like a bride reposing in communion with her bridegroom in a divine
repose. Another time they become like angels without bodies, they are so light and
unencumbered, body and all. Another time they are as if drunken with strong drink, being
exhilarated and intoxicated with the Spirit, with the intoxication of divine and spiritual
mysteries. 8. Another time they are as if in weeping and lamentation for the human race;
and in supplication for the whole Adam they take up a mourning and a weeping, being
consumed by the love of the Spirit towards mankind. At another they are fired by the
Spirit with such rejoicing and love, that if it were possible they would take every man
into their own hearts, without distinguishing between bad and good. Sometimes they are so
humbled beneath all others in the humility of the Spirit, that they think themselves to be
the last and least of all.

Sometimes the Spirit keeps them in such joy unspeakable that they are wearied out. Another
time they are like a mighty man who has taken the king’s whole armour, and come down upon
his enemies to battle, and fights against them powerfully, and has conquered; for, like
him, the spiritual man takes the heavenly weapons of the Spirit, and comes down upon the
enemies, and battles with them, and puts them under his feet. 9. At another time the soul
reposes in a certain great quietness and calm and peace, with no sense of anything else
but spiritual pleasure, and repose unspeakable, and well-being. At another, it is
instructed by grace in a kind of unspeakable understanding and wisdom, and the knowledge
of the unsearchable Spirit, in things which it is impossible to utter with tongue and
speech. So various are the dealings of grace in them, and in so many ways does it lead the
soul which it refreshes according to the will of God, and exercises it in different
manners, in order to restore it to the heavenly Father perfect and faultless and pure.

10. But the operations of the Spirit of which I have spoken belong to the great measures
which are near perfection. For these various refreshings of grace, though they are
expressed in different manners, are constantly brought to bear upon such people, one
operation succeeding another. For when the soul arrives at the perfection of the Spirit,
perfectly cleansed from passion, and united and mingled with the Spirit Paraclete by that
unspeakable communion, and is permitted to become spirit itself in mixture with the
Spirit, then it is made all light, all eye, all spirit, all joy, all rest, all gladness,
all love, all compassion, all goodness and loving-kindness. As in the bottom of the sea a
stone is encompassed on every side by water, so these men, mingled in every way with the
Spirit, are made like Christ, having in themselves the virtues of the power of the Spirit
unalterably, being faultless and spotless and pure within and without. 11. Restored by the
Spirit, how can they produce outwardly the fruit of evil? At all times and in all
circumstances the fruits of the Spirit shine forth in them.

Let us then beseech God, and believe in love and much hope, that He may give us the
heavenly grace of the gift of the Spirit, that that Spirit Himself may govern us also, and
guide us into all the will of God, and refresh us in all the variety of His refreshing, in
order that through such governance and exercise of grace, and spiritual improvement, we
may be allowed to attain the perfection of the fulness of Christ, as the apostle says,
That ye may be filled with all the fulness of Christ, and again, Till we all come unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. The Lord has
promised to bestow on all that believe in Him and ask in truth the mysteries of the
unspeakable communion of the Spirit. Let us therefore devote ourselves entirely to the
Lord, and hasten to obtain the good things we have spoken of. Dedicated in soul and body,
and nailed to the cross of Christ, let us become fit for the eternal kingdom, glorifying
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XIX

Christians who desire to make progress and to grow ought to force themselves to every good
thing, so as to deliver themselves from indwelling sin, and to be filled with the Holy
Ghost. 1. THE man who desires to come to the Lord, and to be found worthy of eternal life,
and to become the dwelling-place of Christ, and to be filled with the Holy Ghost, that he
may be able to produce the fruits of the Spirit, and perform the commandments of Christ
purely and faultlessly, ought to begin by first believing the Lord steadfastly, and giving
himself wholly to the words of His commandments, and renouncing the world altogether, that
his whole mind may be occupied about nothing secular. And he should persevere continually
in prayer, continually waiting in expectant faith for the visitation and succour of the
Lord, keeping the aim of his mind always fixed upon this. Then he should force himself to
every good work and to all the commandments of the Lord, because of sin that is present
with him. For instance, let him force himself to humility of mind in sight of all men, and
to consider himself less and worse than them, not seeking honour, or praise, or the glory
of men, from anyone, as it is written in the gospel, but always having the Lord only
before his eyes, and His commandments, desiring to please Him only in the meekness of the
heart, as the Lord says, Learn of Me, because I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall
find rest unto your souls.

2. In like manner let him accustom himself to be merciful, kind, compassionate, good, to
the utmost of his power, as the Lord says, Be ye good and kind, even as your heavenly
Father is pitiful; and again He says, If ye love Me, keep My commandments; and again, Be
violent, for the violent take the kingdom of heaven by force, and, Strive to enter in by
the strait gate. Above all things let him keep the humility and conduct of the Lord, and
His meekness and behaviour, as his pattern, in all never-forgetful memory. Let him
persevere in prayers, always beseeching and believing, that the Lord may come and dwell in
him, and may perfect and strengthen him in all His commandments, and that the Lord Himself
may become the dwelling-place of his soul, and thus one day, what he now does by force
with a reluctant heart, he may do willingly, accustoming himself always to what is good,
and being ever mindful of the Lord, and in much love waiting for Him in the Holy Spirit.
Then the Lord, beholding such a purpose, and his good diligence, how he forces himself to
the remembrance of the Lord, and ever compels his heart, whether it will or no, to that
which is good, and to humility and meekness and charity, and guides it to the best of his
power by force, shows mercy upon him, and delivers him from his enemies and from
indwelling sin, filling him with the Holy Ghost; and thus afterwards without force or
labour he does all the commandments of the Lord in truth, or rather the Lord in him does
His own commandments, and then he brings forth the fruits of the Spirit purely.

3. But before this, in coming to the Lord, a man must thus force himself to that which is
good, even against the inclination of his heart, continually expecting His mercy with no
doubtful faith, and force himself to charity, when he has no charity—force himself to
meekness, when he has no meekness—force himself to pity, and to have a merciful
heart—force himself to be looked down upon, and when he is looked down upon, to bear it
patiently, and when he is made light of or put to shame, not to be angry, as it is said,
Beloved, avenge not yourselves—to force himself to prayer, when he has not spiritual
prayer; and thus God, beholding him thus striving, and compelling himself by force, in
spite of an unwilling heart, gives him the true prayer of the Spirit, gives him true
charity, meekness, bowels of mercies, true kindness, and in short fills him with the
fruits of the Spirit.

4. But if a man forces himself only to prayer, when he has no prayer, that he may obtain
the grace of prayer, but will not force himself to meekness and humility and charity and
the rest of the Lord’s commandments, and takes no pains or trouble or striving to succeed
in these, as far as purpose and freewill can go, sometimes a grace of prayer is given him,
in part, with refreshment and gladness from the Spirit, according to his asking; but in
character he is like what he was before. He has no meekness, because he did not seek it
with pains, or prepare himself beforehand to become so. He has no humility, because he did
not ask for it, or force himself to it. He has not charity towards all men, because he had
no concern or striving about it in his asking for prayer; and in the accomplishment of his
work, he has no faith and trust in God, because he did not know himself, did not discover
that he was without it, or take trouble at any cost to himself, seeking from the Lord to
obtain firm faith towards Him and a real trust.

5. For as everyone forces and compels himself to prayer in spite of the reluctance of the
heart, so ought he to force himself likewise to trust, and so to humility, and so to
charity, and so to meekness, sincerity and simplicity, and so unto all patience and
longsuffering (according to that which is written) with joyfulness; and so to think little
of himself, and to esteem himself poor and last; and so not to engage in conversation to
no profit, but always to meditate and speak the things of God with mouth and heart; so
also not to be angry or clamorous, according to that which is said, Let all bitterness,
and anger, and clamour, be put away from you, with all malice;—to all the ways of the
Lord, to all practice of virtue and of good and noble living, to all behaviour of
goodness, to all humility of meekness, not to be proud, high-minded, or puffed up, or to
speak against any one.

6. To all these things must a man force himself, who desires to approve himself to Christ
and to please Him in order that the Lord, seeing his earnestness and purpose in compelling
himself thus to all goodness and simplicity, and kindness and humility, and charity and
prayer, and driving himself to them by force, may give him His whole self—the Lord Himself
in truth doing all these things purely in him without labour or forcing, which before he
could not do even by force because of sin that was with him; and all the practices of
virtue come to him like nature. For from that time onward, the Lord coming and dwelling in
him, and he in Him, Himself performs in him His own commandments, without effort, filling
him with the fruits of the Spirit. But if a man forces himself only to prayer, until he
shall receive a gift of it from God, but does not in like manner force and compel and
accustom himself to these other things, he cannot in truth perform them purely and
faultlessly. He should prepare himself in this way to that which is good to the best of
his power; for sometimes the divine grace comes to him while asking and praying. For God
is good and kind, and to those who ask Him He gives what they ask. But if a man has not
the things of which we have spoken, and has not accustomed or adapted himself to them
beforehand, even if he receives grace, he will lose it, and falls by pride, or at least
makes no progress or increase in the grace that came to him, since he does not give
himself to the commandments of the Lord with a will. For the dwelling-place and repose of
the Spirit is humility, charity and meekness, and the other commandments of the Lord.

7. One who wishes to please God in truth, and to receive from Him the heavenly grace of
the Spirit, and to increase and be perfected in the Holy Ghost, ought, therefore, to force
himself to all the commandments of God, and to subdue his heart, however unwilling it may
be, according to the saying, Therefore hold I straight all Thy commandments, and all false
ways I utterly abhor. As a man forces and compels himself to perseverance in prayer, until
he has succeeded in this, so in like manner, if he only will, he forces and compels
himself to all the practices of virtue, and forms a good habit, and thus always asking and
praying the Lord, and obtaining his petition, and receiving a taste of God, and becoming a
partaker of the Holy Ghost, he causes the gift that was bestowed on him to grow and
thrive, resting in his humility, in charity, in meekness.

8. The Spirit Himself bestows these things upon him, and teaches him true prayer, true
charity, true meekness, to which before he forced himself, and sought for them, and cared
for them, and meditated upon them, and they were given him; and having thus grown up and
been perfected in God, he is permitted to become an heir of the kingdom. The humble never
falls. Whence indeed could he fall, being lower than all? A proud mind is a great
humiliation; a humble mind is a great exaltation and honour and dignity. Let us therefore
force and compel ourselves to humility, though our heart may dislike it, and to meekness,
and to charity, praying and beseeching God in faith, hope, and charity incessantly with
such an expectancy and aim, that He would send His Spirit into our hearts, that we may
pray and worship God in spirit and in truth, 9. that the Spirit Himself may pray in us,
that the Spirit Himself may teach us true prayer, which now we have not, though we force
ourselves to it; true humility, which now we cannot attain, even by force; may teach us to
bring forth in truth bowels of mercies, kindness, and all the commandments of the Lord,
without pain or forcing, as the Spirit Himself knows how, filling us with His fruits;

and thus the commandments of the Lord being fulfilled by us through His Spirit, who alone
knows the will of the Lord, and the Spirit having perfected us in Himself and Himself
perfected in us, when we are once cleansed from every defilement and spot of sin, He will
present our souls pure and faultless, like fair brides, to Christ, we resting in God in
His kingdom, and God resting in us world without end. Glory to His compassions and to His
mercy and love, that He has vouchsafed such honour and glory to mankind, has vouchsafed to
make them sons of the heavenly Father, and has called them brethren of His own. To Him be
glory for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XX

Only Christ, the true Physician of the inner man, can heal the soul, and array it in the
garment of grace. 1. IF any one is naked for want of the divine and heavenly raiment,
which is the power of the Holy Ghost—as it is said, If any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of His—let him weep and beseech the Lord, that he may receive the
spiritual raiment from heaven, that his soul, now naked of the heavenly operation, may be
clothed, because the man who is not clad in the raiment of the Spirit is covered with much
shame of vile affections. In the outer world, if any one is naked, he is in great shame
and disgrace, and friends turn away from friends when they are naked, and kinsfolk from
those belonging to them, and children, seeing their father stripped naked, have turned
their faces away, not to look upon their father’s naked body, and have gone backwards and
covered him, and have not till then turned their faces to him. In the same way God’s face
is turned away from souls that are not clothed with the raiment of the Spirit in full
assurance, from men who have not put on the Lord Jesus Christ in power and reality.

2. The first man when he beheld himself naked was ashamed, so great is the disgrace
attaching to nakedness. If then in bodily things nakedness means so much shame, how much
more is the soul which is naked of divine power, and wears not, nor is clad with the
unspeakable, incorruptible heavenly raiment, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in reality,
covered with still greater shame and disgrace of vile affections; and every one who is
naked of that divine glory ought to be as much ashamed of himself and as much aware of his
disgrace, as Adam was when he was naked. Although he made himself an apron of fig-leaves,
he wore his shame and nakedness none the less, acknowledging his poverty. Let such a soul
then ask of Christ, who gives glory and arrays therewith in light unspeakable, not making
for itself a cloak of vain thoughts, deceiving itself with the imagination of a
righteousness of its own, or fancying that it possesses the vesture of salvation.

3. If anyone takes his stand upon a righteousness and redemption of his own, not looking
for the righteousness of God which is the Lord, as the apostle says, Who is made to us
righteousness and redemption, he labours in vain and to no purpose. For all the dream of a
righteousness of his own is at the last day manifested as nothing but filthy rags, as the
prophet Esaias says, All our righteousness is as filthy rags. Let us then beg and implore
God to clothe us with the garment of salvation, our Lord Jesus Christ, the unspeakable
light, which souls that have once worn it shall never put off again, but in the
resurrection their bodies also shall be glorified by the glory of the light, with which
faithful and noble souls are even now clad, as the apostle says, He that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Glory to His unspeakable compassion and His inexpressible mercy.

4. And again, as the woman that was diseased with an issue of blood, on believing truly
and touching the Lord’s hem, at once found cure, and the flow of the unclean fountain of
her blood dried up, so every soul that has the incurable wound of sin, the fountain of
unclean and evil thoughts, if it only comes to Christ and implores in true faith, finds
saving cure of that incurable fountain of the passions, and that fountain which sends up
the unclean thoughts fails and dries up through the power of Jesus only;—nothing else can
cure this wound. For the enemy at the transgression of Adam so contrived to wound and
darken the inner man, the directing mind which sees God. Thenceforth his eyes looked
clearly upon bad things and upon the passions, but were shut out from the good things of
heaven. 5. He was so sore wounded that none could cure him but the Lord only. To Him alone
it was possible. He came and took away the sin of the world; that is, He dried up the
unclean fountain of the thoughts of the soul. As that diseased woman spent all that she
had upon those who professed to be able to cure her, but could be healed by none, until
she approached the Lord, truly believing and touching the hem of His garment, and then at
once felt the cure, and the issue of blood staunched, so the soul, wounded at the
beginning with the incurable wound of evil passions, none, whether righteous men, or
fathers, or prophets, or patriarchs, had force to heal.

6. Moses came, but he could not bestow a complete cure. Priests, gifts, tithes, sabbaths,
new-moons, washings, sacrifices, burnt offerings, and every other righteousness, was
performed under the law, and the soul could not get cured and cleansed from the unclean
issue of bad thoughts. Every righteousness of the soul was unavailing to heal man, until
the Saviour came, the true Physician, who cures without cost, who gave Himself a ransom
for mankind. He alone accomplished the great, saving deliverance and cure of the soul. He
set it free from bondage, and brought it out of darkness, glorifying it with His own
light. He dried up the fountain of unclean thoughts that was in it. Behold, it says, the
Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. 7. The earth could not be cured and
healed of so great an invisible plague by any medicines of her own, that is, by righteous
actions proceeding only from herself; but by the heavenly divine nature of the gift of the
Holy Ghost. Only by this medicine could man find cure and attain life, being cleansed in
heart by the Holy Ghost. But as that woman, though she could not be cured, and remained
undone, yet had feet to come to the Lord, and coming to find cure; and as that blind man,
though he could not pass over and come to the Lord, because he could not see, yet sent a
swifter messenger in his voice, saying Thou Son of David, have mercy on me, and thus
believed and found cure by the Lord’s coming to him and making him to see clearly, so the
soul, though undone by vile affections, and blinded by the darkness of sin, yet has the
power of will to cry out and call to Jesus, that He would come and work eternal
deliverance for the soul.

8. Had not that blind man cried out, had not that sick woman come to the Lord, they would
not have found cure; so, unless a man comes to the Lord of his own free will and with
whole purpose of heart, and petitions Him with assurance of faith, he finds no cure. Why
was it that they were at once cured on believing, while we have not yet seen truly clear,
and have not been cured of the hidden affections? And yet the Lord takes more thought for
the immortal soul than for the body,—the soul which, if it once gains clear sight,
according to him who says, Open thou mine eyes shall never again be blinded, and once
cured shall never have wrecked health. If the Lord came upon earth and took such care of
perishable bodies, how much more of the immortal soul, made after His own likeness? It is
because of our unbelief, because of our divided mind, because we do not love Him with all
the heart, nor really believe Him, that we have not yet found the spiritual cure and
salvation. Let us then believe Him, and come to Him in reality, that He may speedily work
in us the true cure. He has promised to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, and to
open to them that knock, and to be found of them that seek, and He that has made the
promise cannot lie. To Him be glory and might for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXI

A Christian man has a twofold warfare set before him, an inward and an outward, the
latter, in withdrawing from earthly distractions; the former, in the heart, against the
suggestions of the spirits of wickedness. 1. THE man who wishes really to please God, and
is in truth an enemy to the opposite party of evil, has to wrestle in two conflicts and
two contentions—one in the visible affairs of this life, by withdrawing from earthly
distractions and from the love of worldly ties and from affections of sin—the other, in
hidden things, by fighting against the spirits of wickedness themselves, as the Apostle
said, We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. 2. When man transgressed the commandment, and was exiled from Paradise, he was
bound down in two ways and with two different chains. One was in this life, in the affairs
of this life, and in the love of the world, that is to say, the love of fleshly pleasures
and lusts, of wealth, and glory, and possessions, of wife and children, of kinsfolk, of
country, of particular places, of clothes, and of all other things of sense, from which
the word of God bids him be loosed by his own free choice—since what binds every man to
the things of sense is his own consent—in order that, having loosed and emancipated
himself from all these, he may be able to master the commandment perfectly. But besides
this, in the hidden region, the soul is hedged and hemmed and walled round, and bound with
chains of darkness by the spirits of wickedness, unable to love the Lord as it would, or
to believe as it would, or to pray as it would. On all sides, both in things manifest and
in things hidden, contrariety has come down to us from the transgression of the first man.

3. Accordingly, as soon as a man hears the word of God, and makes the effort, and casts
away the affairs of this life and the bonds of the world, and denies all the fleshly
pleasures, and looses himself from these, then, when attending constantly upon the Lord
and giving all his time to Him, he is in a position to discover that there is another
wrestling, in the heart, another hidden opposition, and another war with the suggestions
of the spirits of wickedness, and another contest in front of him. Thus standing steadfast
and calling upon the Lord in undoubting faith and much patience, and looking for the
succour that comes from Him, he is enabled to obtain from that source inward deliverance
from the bonds and hedges and earthworks and darkness of the spirits of wickedness, which
are the workings of the hidden passions. 4. But this war can be brought to nought by the
grace and power of God. By himself no man can deliver himself from the contrariety and
error of thoughts and of unobserved passions and of devices of the evil one.

If, however, a man is entangled among the things of sense by the affairs of this world,
and meshed in various earthly bonds, and carried away by the lusts of evil, he does not so
much as discover that there is another wrestling and pummelling and battle within. Let it
be that when a man makes the effort and takes himself away, and looses himself from these
visible bonds of secular and material affairs and fleshly pleasures, and begins to attend
constantly upon the Lord, emptying himself of this world, he is then at length in a
position to recognise the inward wrestling of passions in the field against him, and the
inward battle, and the evil thoughts: if, as I said before, he does not make the effort,
and deny the world, and loose himself from earthly desires with all his heart, and
determine wholly and entirely to cleave to the Lord, he does not discover the error of the
hidden spirits of wickedness, and the hidden passions of evil, but is a stranger to
himself, as one who knows not that he is wounded, and has hidden passions without being
aware of them. He is still bound to the visible order, and entangled with the affairs of
this world, and does not mind it.

5. The man who has really denied the world, and has made the effort and flung off the
burden of the earth, and has taken himself away from the vain desires of fleshly
pleasures, and glory, and authority and human honours, and has withdrawn from them with
his whole heart—since the Lord secretly helps him in this open effort, in proportion to
his denial of the will of the world—and has taken his stand to serve the Lord, and
attended constantly upon it with his whole self, body and soul, this man, I say, finds
contrariety, and hidden passions, and unseen bonds, and secret battle and effort, and
hidden striving; and thus beseeching the Lord, and receiving from heaven the armour of the
Spirit, which the blessed apostle reckons up, the breastplate of righteousness and the
helmet of salvation, and the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, and arming
himself with these, he will be able to stand against the hidden wiles of the devil amidst
the wickednesses of the present. Having provided himself with this armour by all prayer
and perseverance and supplication and fasting, and all by faith, he will be able to fight
out the battle against the principalities and the powers, and the world rulers; and thus
having overcome the opposing forces by the co-operation of the Spirit and his own
earnestness in all virtues, he will become meet for eternal life, glorifying the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost; to whom be glory and might for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXII

Concerning the twofold state of those who depart out of this life. 1. WHEN the soul of a
man departs out of the body, a great mystery is there accomplished. If it is under the
guilt of sins, there come bands of devils, and angels of the left hand, and powers of
darkness take over that soul, and hold it fast on their side. No one ought to be surprised
at this. If, while alive and in this world, the man was subject and compliant to them, and
made himself their bondman, how much more, when he departs out of this world, is he kept
down and held fast by them. That this is the case, you ought to understand from what
happens on the good side. God’s holy servants even now have angels continually beside
them, and holy spirits encompassing and protecting them; and when they depart out of the
body, the bands of angels take over their souls to their own side, into the pure world,
and so they bring them to the Lord; to whom be glory and might for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXIII

1 As only those born of the seed royal can wear the costly royal pearl, so only the
children of God are allowed to wear the pearl of heaven. 1. THE great, costly, royal
pearl, which serves for a king’s crown, is suitable only for a king, and only a king can
wear it. Another man is not allowed to wear such a pearl. So unless a man is begotten by
the royal Spirit of God, and is made to be of the royal family of heaven and a child of
God, according as it is written, But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to
become children of God, he cannot wear the costly pearl of heaven, the image of the
inexpressible light, which is the Lord, being no king’s son. For those who possess and
wear the pearl, live and reign with Christ for ever. So said the apostle, As we have worn
the image of the earthy, we shall also wear the image of the heavenly.

2. As long as a horse grazes in the scrub among the wild animals he is in no subjection to
men; but when he is caught for the purpose of taming, they put on him a heavy bridle,
until he learns to walk properly and in good order. Then he is exercised by a skilled
rider, that he may become serviceable for war; then they put armour on him, the
breastplate and the coat of mail, and first they hang up a bridle and shake it before the
horse’s eyes, that he may get accustomed to it and not shy at it; and when thus taught by
his rider, he learns to war with the enemy. Without rider and without breastplate, a horse
is of no use for war. But when he has been trained and is accustomed to the war, he no
sooner smells the battle and hears the sound of it, than he charges readily upon the enemy
of his own accord, so that the sound that he makes is enough to strike terror into the
foe. In like manner, the soul, which since the transgression is wild and in no subjection,
roams in the desert of the world with the wild beasts, which are the spirits of
wickedness, in sin withholding service. But when it hears the word of God, and believes,
it is bridled by the Spirit, and puts away its wild ways and the fleshly mind, being
guided by Christ its rider.

3 Then it gets into distress, and the process of taming, and difficulty, that it may be
proved, in order that by degrees it may be brought into subjection by the Spirit, the sin
that is in it diminishing by degrees and disappearing. Thus the soul, putting on the
breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation, and the shield of faith, and
the sword of the Spirit, is taught to war against its enemies. Thus, being armed with the
Spirit of the Lord, it contends against the spirits of wickedness, and quenches the fiery
darts of the wicked one. Without the armour of the Spirit, it does not come into the
fighting line; but when it has the Lord’s armour, as soon as it hears and perceives hot
battles, it goeth on, as it says in Job, with a shout and a cry, because at the very sound
of its prayer the enemies fall prostrate. Thus having contended and conquered in the
battle by the Spirit, it carries off crowns of victory with great boldness, and thus rests
with the heavenly King; to whom be glory and might for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXIV

The state of Christians is like merchandise, and like leaven. As merchants amass earthly
gains, so Christians gather together their thoughts that were scattered about the world.
As leaven turns the whole lump into leaven, so the leaven of sin permeates the whole race
of Adam; but Christ puts a heavenly leaven of goodness in faithful souls. 1. CHRISTIANS
are like merchants trading for very great gains. As merchants amass out of the earth
earthly gains, so Christians collect together out of all the earth, by means of all
virtues and the power of the Spirit, the thoughts of their own heart in this present age.
This is the greatest and the true merchandise. For this world is opposed to the world
above, and this present age to the eternity above. The Christian therefore, according to
holy scripture, must deny the world, and be translated and pass in mind out of this
present age, in which the mind is placed and exposed to allurements ever since the
transgression of Adam, into another age, and in frame of thought must live in the world of
the Godhead above, as it is said, But our conversation is in heaven.

2. But there is no succeeding in this unless the soul will deny this world and shall
believe in the Lord wholeheartedly, in which case the power of the Spirit of God is able
to gather in the heart, now scattered over the whole earth, to the love of the Lord, and
to translate its frame of mind into the eternal world. From the time of Adam’s
transgression the thoughts of the soul have been scattered away from the love of God to
this present age, being mingled with material and earthly thoughts. But as Adam, when he
transgressed, took into his system a leaven of evil affections, so by participation all
who were born of him, and the whole race of Adam, partook of that leaven, and ever since
it has grown and increased, until the affections of sin have so developed in men that they
have come to fornications and lasciviousnesses and idolatries and murders and other wrong
things, until humanity is all leavened with evil. To such an extent has the evil developed
among men, that they have come to think that there is no God, and to worship inanimate
stones instead, and to be unable so much as to take in the notion of a God. To such an
extent has the leaven of wrong affections leavened the race of the old Adam.

3. In the same manner, the Lord, when He came on earth, was pleased to suffer on behalf of
all, and to purchase them with His own blood, and to put the heavenly leaven of goodness
in faithful souls, when they have been humbled under sin, and then by a process of growth
and development to fulfil in them every righteousness enjoined upon them and all virtues,
until they are leavened into one in that which is good, and become with the Lord one
Spirit, according to St. Paul’s saying, so that sin and wickedness cannot even in thought
come into the soul so completely and entirely leavened with the Divine Spirit, as it is
said, Charity thinketh no evil, and the rest. But without the previous leavening from
heaven, which is the power of the Divine Spirit, it is impossible for the soul to be
leavened with the goodness of the Lord, and to arrive at life, even as the race of Adam
could never have been perverted to such malice and wickedness, if the previous leavening
of malice, which is sin, had not crept into him, being, as it is, a power of Satan of a
spiritual and immaterial nature.

4. If a person were to knead flour without first putting in leaven, however much pains he
may think good to take, turning it over and over, and working it up, the lump remains
unleavened and unfit for food; but if leaven is put in, it draws to itself the whole lump
of flour, and works it all to leaven, as the Lord said in His comparison of the kingdom,
The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of
meal, until the whole was leavened. If there were meat, and a person were to take all
manner of care of it, but did not salt it with the salt which destroys worms and prevents
ill odour, the meat stinks and decays and becomes unserviceable to man. In the same way
conceive of all mankind as being so much meat or dough, and imagine the salt and the
leaven to belong to another world, the divine nature of the Holy Ghost. Now if this
heavenly leaven of the Spirit, this good, holy salt of the Godhead, from yonder age and
from yonder home, be not mixed and put into the human nature of men, there is no ridding
the soul of the ill odour of wickedness, there is no leavening it from the heaviness and
unleavened condition of evil.

5. Whatever the soul may think fit to do of itself, whatever care and pains it may take,
relying only upon its own power, and thinking to be able to effect a perfect success by
itself, without the co-operation of the Spirit, it is greatly mistaken. It is of no use
for the heavenly places; it is of no use for the kingdom—that soul which supposes that it
can achieve perfect purity of itself, and by itself alone, without the Spirit. Unless the
man who is under the influence of passions will come to God, denying the world, and will
believe with patience and hope to receive a good thing foreign to his own nature, namely
the power of the Holy Ghost, and unless the Lord shall drop upon the soul from on high the
life of the Godhead, such a man will never experience true life, will never recover from
the drunkenness of materialism; the enlightenment of the Spirit will never shine in that
benighted soul, or kindle in it a holy daytime; it will never awake out of that deepest
sleep of ignorance, and so come to know God of a truth through God’s power and the
efficacy of grace.

6. Unless a man is permitted thus through faith to receive grace, he is not qualified or
adapted for the kingdom; but on the other hand, if he receives the grace of the Spirit,
and does not at all change his mind, or do despite to grace by negligence or wrong-doing,
and thus contends for some time without grieving the Spirit, he shall be enabled to obtain
eternal life. As one perceives the workings of evil by the passions, by anger, by
concupiscence, by envy, by heaviness, by wicked thoughts and other wrong things, so ought
one to perceive the grace and power of God by the virtues, by kindness, by goodness, by
cheerfulness, by gaiety, by divine gladness, in order to be likened to and mingled with
the good and divine nature, with the kind and holy workings of grace. When the will is
gradually and progressively tested by time and opportunity, whether it is continually at
one with grace and is found well-pleasing, it comes gradually to be altogether in the
Spirit, and so being wrought by the Spirit to holiness and purity is made meet for the
kingdom. Glory and worship to the undefiled Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost
for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXV

This Homily teaches that no man, without being strengthened by Christ, is capable of
overcoming the stumbling-blocks of the evil one, and what those who desire the divine
glory must do. It teaches also that through Adam’s disobedience we came down into bondage
to carnal passions, from which we are delivered by the mystery that is in the cross. It
instructs us besides that the power of tears and of the divine fire is great. 1. Those
upon whom the divine law is written, not with ink and letters, but implanted in hearts of
flesh, these, having the eyes of their mind enlightened, and reaching after a hope, not
tangible and seen, but invisible and immaterial, have power to get the better of the
stumbling-blocks of the evil one, not by themselves, but from the power that never can be
defeated. But those who have not been honoured with God’s word, nor instructed by divine
law, are vainly puffed up, and fancy that by their own free will they can bring to nought
the resources of sin—sin which is only condemned through the mystery contained in the
cross. It lies in the power of man’s free will to resist the devil, but it does not extend
to an absolute command over the passions. Except the Lord build the house, it says, and
keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain, and the builder laboureth in vain.

2. You cannot go upon the asp and basilisk, and tread under your feet the lion and the
dragon, without first purging yourself as far as human ability goes, and being
strengthened by Him who said to the apostles, Behold, I have given you power to tread on
serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy. If human nature had had
force, without the whole armour of the Holy Ghost, to stand against the wiles of the
devil, the apostle would not have said, The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your
feet shortly, and again, Whom the Lord shall destroy with the Spirit of His mouth. That is
why we are bidden of the Lord to pray, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
the evil one. If we are not delivered by the superior power from the fiery darts of the
wicked one and admitted to the adoption of sons, our social existence is in vain; we are
far from the power of God.

3. Accordingly, one who wishes to be a partaker of the divine glory, and to see as in a
glass the form of Christ in the ruling faculty of his own soul, ought with insatiable
affection and an inclination which is never filled, with all his heart and all his might,
by night and when it is day, to seek the help which comes mightily from God, of which, as
I have said before, it is impossible to partake, unless a man first abstains from the
luxury of the world, from the desires of the opposing power, which is alien to the light,
and is an activity of wickedness with no kinship to a good activity, but wholly estranged
from it. Therefore, if you wish to know why we, who were created in honour and put to live
in paradise, came at last to be compared unto the beasts that have no understanding and
were made like to them, having fallen from the glory of innocence, understand that, having
become by the transgression the slaves of the fleshly passions, we shut ourselves out of
the happy land of the living, and being reduced to captivity we are still sitting by the
waters of Babylon; and because we are still held in Egypt, we have not yet inherited the
land of promise, flowing with milk and honey. We have not yet been leavened with the
leaven of sincerity, but are still in the leaven of wickedness. Our heart is not yet
sprinkled with the blood of God;

for the snare of hell, and the hook of sin is still fixed in it. 4. We have not yet taken
to ourselves the gladness of Christ’s salvation, for the sting of death is still rooted in
us. We have not yet put on the new man, which after God is created in holiness, since we
have not yet put off the old man which is corrupt according to the sinful lusts. We have
not yet borne the image of the heavenly, nor been made conformed to His glory. We have not
yet worshipped God in spirit and in truth, because sin reigns in our mortal body. We have
not yet beheld the glory of the incorruptible, for we are still under the operation of the
moonless night. We have not yet put on the armour of light, since we have not yet put off
the armour and the darts and the works of darkness. We have not yet been transformed by
the renewing of the mind, for we are still conformed to this world in the vanity of the
mind. We are not yet glorified with Christ, because we have not suffered with Him. We do
not yet bear in our body the marks of Him, and are not in the secret of the cross of
Christ, for we are still in the affections and lusts of the flesh. We are not yet heirs of
God and joint heirs with Christ, for the spirit of bondage is still in us, not that of
adoption.

We have not yet become the temple of God and the habitation of the Holy Ghost, for we are
still the temple of idols and the hold of the spirits of wickedness because of our
propensity to the passions. 5. In truth we have not yet acquired simplicity of conduct or
the brightness of the mind. We have not yet had vouchsafed to us the guileless and
reasonable milk and the growth invisible. The day has not yet dawned upon us, nor the day
star risen in our hearts. We have not yet been mingled with the sun of righteousness, nor
begun to flash with His rays. We have not yet received the likeness of the Lord nor been
made partakers of the divine nature. We have not yet become the genuine purple of the
King, nor the unfalsified image of God. We are not yet smitten with the passionate love of
God, or stricken by the spiritual charity of the Bridegroom. We are not yet acquainted
with that ineffable communion, and have not experienced the power and peace that there is
in sanctification. To sum it all up, we are not yet a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. forasmuch as we are still serpents, a
generation of vipers.

6. How should we be anything but serpents, we who are not found in obedience to God, but
in the disobedience which came by the serpent? How to bewail the calamity as it deserves,
I cannot find. How to cry aloud and weep to Him that is able to expel the error lodged
within me, I do not know. How shall I sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? How shall I
lament for Jerusalem? How shall I flee from the grievous bondage of Pharaoh? How am I to
quit the foul place of sojourn? How can I deny the bitter tyranny? How can I get out of
the land of Egypt? How can I cross the Red Sea? how pass the great wilderness? how escape
perishing from the bite of serpents? how conquer the aliens? How shall I utterly destroy
the heathen within me? How shall I receive the oracles of the law of God upon these tables
of mine? How shall I see the true pillar of light, and of the cloud proceeding from the
Holy Ghost? How shall I enjoy the manna of eternal delight? how drink the water from the
life-giving rock? How am I to pass over Jordan, entering into the good land of promise?
How am I to see the Captain of the Lord’s host, whom Joshua the son of Nun, when he saw
Him, immediately fell down and worshipped? 7. Unless I go through all this and destroy the
heathen within me, I cannot go into the sanctuary of God and rest, nor become a partaker
of the glory of the King.

Therefore labour to become a child of God without fault, and to enter into that rest,
whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Christ. Labour to be enrolled in the church
in heaven with the firstborn that you may be found at the right hand of the majesty of the
Most High. Labour to enter into the holy city, the Jerusalem that is at peace, that is
above, above all, where also is Paradise. You have no other way to be admitted to these
wonderful and blessed types, unless you pour out tears day and night, like him who says,
Every night wash I my bed, and water my couch with my tears. You know well that they that
sow in tears shall reap in joy. The prophet says boldly, Hold not Thy peace at my tears;
and again, Put my tears into Thy bottle; are not these things noted in Thy book? and, My
ears have been my meat day and night; and in another psalm, I have mingled my drink with
weeping.

8. For the tear that is really shed out of much affliction and anguish of heart in the
knowledge of the truth, with burning of the inward parts, is indeed a food of the soul,
supplied from the heavenly bread, of which Mary preeminently partook, when she sat at the
feet of the Lord and wept, after the testimony of the Saviour Himself. He says, Mary hath
chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. O those precious pearls in
the flow of blessed tears! O that immediate and ready hearing! What a strong, wise mind!
What keen love of the Spirit of the Lord, moving vehemently towards the unsullied
Bridegroom! What a sting of desire in the soul for God the Word! What swift communion of
the bride with the heavenly Bridegroom! 9. Imitate her then, my child; imitate her whose
eyes were fixed upon nothing but Him only, who said, I am come to send fire upon the
earth, and I would that it were already kindled. There is indeed a burning of the Spirit,
which burns hearts into flame. The immaterial divine fire has the effect of enlightening
souls and trying them, like unalloyed gold in the furnace, but of consuming iniquity, like
thorns or stubble; for our God is a consuming fire, taking vengeance on them that know Him
not in flaming fire, and on them that obey not His gospel. It was this fire that worked in
the apostles, when they spoke with fiery tongues. It was this fire which shone by the
voice round St. Paul; enlightening his mind, but blinding his sense of sight; for not
without the flesh did he see the power of that light. It was this fire which appeared to
Moses in the bush. This fire, in the shape of a chariot, caught up Elias from the earth.
The blessed David was seeking the operation of this fire when he said, Examine me, O Lord,
and prove me: try out my reins and my heart. 10. It was this fire which warmed the heart
of Cleopas and those with him while the Saviour talked after His resurrection. So the
angels and ministering spirits partake of the shining of this fire, according to what is
said, Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flaming fire.

It is this fire which burns up the beam that is in the inward eye, making the mind clear,
that, recovering its natural power of penetration, it may see without interruption the
wonderful things of God, according as one says, Open Thou mine eyes, that I may see the
wondrous things of Thy law. This fire drives away devils, and destroys sin; but it is the
power of resurrection, and the effectual working of immortality, the illumination of holy
souls, and the strengthening of rational powers. Let us pray that this fire may reach us
also, that always walking in light, we may never for a moment dash our feet against a
stone, but shining as lights in the world, may hold forth the word of everlasting life;
that enjoying ourselves among the good things of God we may rest with the Lord in life,
glorifying the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXVI

Concerning the worth and value, the power and efficiency of the immortal soul, and how it
is tempted by Satan and obtains deliverance from the temptations. It contains also some
questions full of very great instruction. 1. Do not regard lightly the immaterial
substance of the soul, beloved one. The immortal soul is a precious vessel. See how great
the heaven and the earth are, and God was not satisfied with them, but only with thee.
Consider thy dignity and thy nobility, that to thy succour the Lord came in person, not by
the medium of angels, to recall thee who wert lost, thee who wert wounded, and to restore
to thee the primal fashioning of the pure Adam. For man was master from the sky above to
the things beneath, and capable of discerning the affections, without any connexion with
devils, pure from sin, the image and likeness of God. But by the transgression he is lost,
and wounded and brought to death. Satan has darkened his mind. In one thing this is so,
and in another he lives and discerns, and has a will.

2. Question. When the Holy Ghost comes, is not the natural desire eradicated along with
the sin? Answer. I have already said that sin is eradicated, and man recovers the primal
fashioning of the pure Adam. Man, however, by the power of the Spirit and the spiritual
regeneration, not only comes to the measures of the first Adam, but is made greater than
he. Man is deified. 3. Question. Is Satan let loose upon us by measure, or does he fight
as he pleases? Answer. As for him, his attack is not directed only against Christians, but
against idolaters, and against all the world. If therefore he were allowed to fight as he
pleases, he would have demolished all. Why? Because that is his object and his will. But
as the potter puts his vessels in, and heats the furnace gradually by measure, not
overmuch, lest, if they were baked too violently, they should crack, and not too little,
lest they should be spoiled by being half-baked; and if the silversmith or goldsmith
applies the fire by measure, for if the fire is in excess, the gold and the silver are
melted, and get watery, and are spoiled; and if the mind of man knows how to measure the
burden to the beast, to the camel or whatever animal it is, according to its burden-
bearing capacity; how much rather does God, knowing what vessels men are, let loose the
enemy power accordingly, in different degrees?

4. And as the earth is one, but here is rocky and there rich, and one part is suitable for
vine-culture, another for growing wheat or barley, so do these fields of human hearts and
wills differ from each other, and so are the gifts of grace from above bestowed. To one is
given a ministry of the word, to another discernment, to a third gifts of healings. God
knows a man’s capacity for stewardship, and distributes His different gifts accordingly.
In the like manner with regard to warfare the enemy power is let loose upon men by a kind
of measure, according as each man is able to receive and bear the brunt. 5. Question. When
a man has received the divine power, and is in some degree altered by it, does he still
remain in the state of nature? Answer. In order that the will may be tested, even after
grace, to see what way it inclines and gives consent, nature remains as it was before, the
hard man in his hardness, and the light-hearted in his light-heartedness. It sometimes
happens that an unlearned person is spiritually born again, and converted to a state of
wisdom, and hidden mysteries are made known to him; and yet he remains by nature an
unlearned man. Another was made by nature hard; and he gives up his will to godliness, and
God accepts him; but the hardness of his nature remains, though God is satisfied in him.
Another is of kindly habits, gentle, and good: he gives himself to God, and God accepts
him; but if he does not continue in works of goodness, He is not satisfied. The whole
nature of Adam is liable to change, for better or for worse, capable of what is wrong,
yet, if it so pleases, without carrying it into effect.

6. It is like writing in a book. You write what you did not mean to write, and you erase
it again. The book takes any kind of writing. So the hard man gave his will to God, was
converted to what is good, was accepted by God; for God, to show His compassions, accepts
men of all kinds, every sort of disposition. The apostles, when they came into a city,
stayed there some time, and healed some of those who were ill, and others not. The
apostles themselves would have liked to raise all their dead, and bring to health all who
were ill, and they had not entirely their own way: they were not permitted to do all that
they liked. In like manner, when Paul was seized by the ethnarch, if the grace that was
with him had but willed it, he would have made ethnarch and wall to cleave asunder—and he
a man possessed of the Paraclete; but the apostle was let down by means of a basket. Where
then was the divine power that was with them? These things happened providentially, that
in some matters they did signs and wonderful works, and in some were powerless, in order
to show the difference of faith between those who believed not and those who believed, and
to test and display the freedom of the will, whether some would take offence at their
weaker side. If the apostles had done every single thing that they liked, men and their
free will would have been planted in God’s service by compulsory force because of the
miracles, and it would no longer have been the work of faith or of unbelief. Christianity
is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.

7. What is written of Job is not without significance, how Satan desired him. He was not
able to do anything of himself, without leave. What does the devil say to the Lord? “Give
him into my hands: surely he will bless Thee to Thy face.” Job is the same to-day, and God
is the same, and the devil is the same. In proportion as a man finds the help of God, and
is zealous and fervent in grace, Satan desires him, and says to the Lord, “Because Thou
succourest him, and helpest him, he serves Thee: let him go, and deliver him to me, surely
he will bless Thee to Thy face.” So, just because the soul is comforted, grace withdraws,
and the soul is delivered to temptations. The devil comes, bringing ten thousand evils to
bear—despair, giving it up, wicked thoughts—afflicting the soul, to loosen it and estrange
it from hope of God.

8. But the prudent soul, when in miseries and affliction, never despairs, but holds what
it holds, and whatever he may bring to bear, it endures amidst ten thousand temptations,
saying, “If I die for it, I will not let Him go.” Then, if the man endures to the end, the
Lord begins to argue with Satan, “Thou seest how many miseries and afflictions thou hast
brought to bear upon him; and he has not listened to thee, but serves Me, and fears Me.”
Then the devil is ashamed, and has nothing more to say. In Job’s case, if he had known
that in spite of falling into temptations Job would dare and not be worsted, he would
never have desired him, for fear of being ashamed. So it is still with those who endure
afflictions and temptations; Satan is ashamed and sorry, because he has got nothing by it.
The Lord begins to reason with him, “Behold, I gave thee permission; behold, I suffered
thee to tempt him. Wast thou able to do anything? Did he listen to thee at all?”

9. Question. Does Satan know all a man’s thoughts and intentions? Answer. If one man, by
being with another, knows about him, and you, who are twenty years old, know the affairs
of your neighbour, can Satan fail to know your reasonings? He has been with you from your
birth. He is six thousand years old. Yet I do not say that he knows what a man will do
before he tempts him. The tempter tempts, but does not know whether the man will yield or
not yield, till such time as the soul gives up its will into bondage. Nor do I say that
the devil knows all the thoughts and devices of the heart. Suppose there is a tree with
many branches and many limbs. A man may be able to grasp two or three branches of the
tree. So the soul has many branches and many limbs. There are some branches of thought and
intention which Satan grasps; there are other thoughts and intentions not grasped by
Satan. 10. In one thing the side of evil is the stronger when thoughts spring up, in
another the man’s thought is more than conqueror, receiving succour and deliverance from
God, and resisting sin. At one point the man is mastered, at another he has his will.
Sometimes he comes to God with fervour, and Satan knows it, and sees that he is acting
against him, and cannot restrain him. Why? Because he has the will to cry to God; he has
the natural fruits of loving God, of believing, of seeking and coming.

In the outer world, the husbandman tills the ground; but in spite of his tilling, he needs
rains and showers from above. If no moisture comes from above, the husbandman has no
profit from his tilling of the ground. So is it with the spiritual world. There are two
factors to be taken into consideration. The man must cultivate with a will the ground of
his heart, and labour upon it—for God requires the man’s labour and toil and travail. But
unless clouds of heaven make their appearance from above, and showers of grace, the
husbandman does not profit by his toil. 11. This is the mark of Christianity—however much
a man toils, and however many righteousnesses he performs, to feel that he has done
nothing, and in fasting to say, “This is not fasting,” and in praying, “This is not
prayer,” and in perseverance at prayer, “I have shown no perseverance; I am only just
beginning to practise and to take pains”; and even if he is righteous before God, he
should say, “I am not righteous, not I; I do not take pains, but only make a beginning
every day.” He should every day have the hope and the joy and the expectation of the
coming kingdom and deliverance, and to say, “If to-day I have not been delivered, I shall
to-morrow.” As the man who plants a vine has the joy and the hope in himself, before ever
he embarks upon the toil, and sketches out vineyards in his mind, and reckons up the
income, when there has been no wine yet, and so enters upon the toil—for the hope and
expectation make him labour cheerfully, and for the time being he incurs many expenses out
of pocket; and in like manner the man who builds a house, and the man who tills a field,
are at much expense to themselves first, in hope of the advantage to come; so it is here.
If a man does not keep before his eyes the joy and the hope, “I shall find deliverance and
life,” he cannot endure the afflictions, or the burden, and adopt the narrow way. It is
the presence of hope and joy that make him labour and endure the afflictions.

12. But as it is not easy for a brand to escape from the fire, so neither can the soul
escape out of the fire of death, except with a great deal of trouble. For the most part,
Satan, under pretext of good thoughts, that in such and such a way you can please God,
offers suggestions to the soul, and underhand seduces it to subtle and specious notions,
and it does not know how to discern that it is being seduced, and thus it falls into the
snare and perdition of the devil. The most deadly weapon of the combatant and champion is
this, to enter into the heart and make war there upon Satan, and to hate himself and to
deny his own soul, to be angry with it and rebuke it, and to resist the desires that dwell
there, and grapple with his thoughts, and fight with himself.

13. If outwardly you keep your body from corruption and fornication, but inwardly commit
adultery, to God you are an adulterer and a fornicator in your thoughts, and you have
gained nothing by the virginity of your body. If there is a young woman and a young man,
and he by guile wheedles her till she is corrupted, she then becomes an object of loathing
to her spouse, because she has been unfaithful. So the incorporeal soul, if it holds
fellowship with the serpent that lurks within, the wicked spirit, goes a-whoring from God,
as it is written, Everyone that looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed
adultery already in his heart. There is a fornication effected in the body, and there is a
fornication of the soul, when it holds fellowship with Satan. The same soul is partner and
sister either of devils, or of God and the angels; and if it commits adultery with the
devil, it is unfit for the heavenly Bridegroom.

14. Question. Is Satan ever quiet, and a man set free from warfare, or has he war as long
as he lives? Answer. Satan is never quiet from warring. As long as ever a man lives in
this world and wears the flesh, he has to war. But when all the fiery darts of the wicked
one are quenched, what harm does it do the man, if Satan does try conclusions with him? A
man is a friend of the king’s, and an adversary brings a suit against him. When he has the
king to favour and befriend him, and the king gives him a helping hand, he takes no harm.
When any one succeeds in passing through all ranks and degrees and becomes a friend of the
king’s, no one then can do him any harm. There are in the outward world cities which
receive gifts and subsidies from the emperor. If they do perform some service, they lose
nothing by it, when they gain and get such advantages from the emperor. So Christians,
even if the enemy fights against them, have taken up their quarters with the Godhead, and
have put on the power and rest from on high, and do not mind the war.

15. As the Lord put on the body, leaving behind all principality and power, so Christians
put on the Holy Ghost, and are at rest. Even if war comes outwardly, Satan may knock, but
they are secured within by the power of the Lord, and do not mind Satan. He tempted the
Lord in the wilderness forty days, and what harm did it do Him, to approach His body
outwardly? Inwardly He was God. So Christians, though outwardly tempted, are inwardly
filled with the Godhead, and are in nothing injured. But if any one has reached these
measures, he has arrived at the perfect love of Christ, and at the fulness of the Godhead.
One that is not so, has still war within. For an hour he is at rest in prayer; at another
hour he stands in affliction and at war. Such is the will of the Lord. Because he is still
a child, He practises him in the wars; and both things spring up in him, light and
darkness, rest and affliction. They rest in prayer, and at another hour they are in
distress.

16. Do you not hear what Paul says, “Though I have all gifts, though I give my body to be
burned, though I speak with the tongues of angels, and have not charity, I am nothing.
These gifts serve only as inducements. Those who are contented with them, are but
children, though in the light. Many of the brethren have come to such measures, and had
gifts of healing, and revelation and prophecy, and because they did not reach the perfect
love, wherein lies the bond of perfectness, war came upon them, and they took no heed, and
fell. But if anyone reaches the perfect love, that man is from thenceforth fast bound, and
is the captive of grace. If anyone approaches within a little of the measure but does not
reach to be fast bound in love itself, such an one is still subject to fear, and war, and
falling, and unless he takes good care of himself, Satan throws him.

17. In this way many have erred when grace came to them. They thought that they had
attained perfection, and said, “That is enough; we need no more.” But the Lord has no end,
and there is no comprehending Him. Christians do not presume to say, “We have
comprehended,” but are humbled, still seeking night and day. In the outer world, there is
no end to learning, and no man knows it except a scholar who has acquired some degree of
learning. So in the matter before us, God cannot be comprehended or measured, unless by
those who have had a taste of Him, whom they have personally received, and they recognise
their own incapacity. If a man who has a smattering of learning goes to a country place,
where the people are no scholars, he is admired by them as a scholar, because they are
altogether illiterate, and have no means of judging. But let that same man with his small
amount of learning pass into a city where there are rhetoricians and real scholars; he
dare not appear among them, or open his mouth, because the true scholars consider him
illiterate.

18. Question. If a man who is still at war, and who still has both these things in his
soul—sin and grace—is removed from this world, where does he go, when both sides have a
hold upon him? Answer. He goes where his mind aims, and where his love is. Only if
affliction and war come upon you, you ought to resist, and to hate it. That the war comes
upon you is not your doing, but to hate it, is; and then the Lord, seeing your mind, that
you are striving, and that you love Him with your whole soul, parts death from your soul
in one moment—which is not hard for Him to do—and takes you to His bosom and into the
light. In a moment of time He snatches you out of the mouth of darkness, and translates
you at once into His kingdom. For to God all things are easy to do in a moment of time, if
only your love is set upon Him. God needs man’s working, because the soul is capable of
fellowship with the Godhead.

19. I have often already made use of the parable of the husbandman, how after labouring
and putting his seed into the ground he must wait for the rain from above. Unless clouds
appear and winds blow, the labour of the husbandman is of no use. The seed lies bare.
Apply this to the spiritual order. If the man rests only upon his own working, and does
not receive in addition something which his nature cannot supply, he cannot yield to the
Lord fruits worthy of Him. Now what is man’s working? To renounce, to go out of the world,
to pray when it is hard, to be on the watch, to love God and the brethren. This is his own
doing. But if he rests upon this working of his own, and does not hope to receive anything
else besides, and the winds of the Holy Ghost do not blow upon the soul, and if clouds of
heaven do not appear, nor rain from heaven fall and moisten the soul, the man cannot yield
to the Lord fruits worthy of Him.

20. It is written that when the husbandman sees the branch bearing fruit, he purgeth it,
that it may bring forth more fruit, but that which beareth not fruit he rooteth out, and
giveth it to burning. But this is the part of man, that whether he fasts, or keeps watch,
or prays, or does some fine thing, he should ascribe all to the Lord, and say, “If God had
not enabled me, I could not have fasted, or prayed, or gone out of the world.” In this
way, God, seeing your intention, that you ascribe to God the things that are yours, which
you do of your own nature, bestows upon you in return the things that are His—the
spiritual things, the divine and heavenly things. And what are they? The fruits of the
Spirit, gladness and mirth. 21. Question. But since there are natural fruits like these,
love, faith, prayer, show us the difference, how the natural things are, and how the
spiritual.

Answer. The things which you do of yourself are all very well, and acceptable to God, but
they are not quite pure. For instance, you love God, but not perfectly. The Lord comes,
and gives a love which is unchangeable, the heavenly love. You pray in the natural manner
with wandering and doubt; God gives you the pure prayer, in Spirit and in truth. In the
visible world, the soil of itself for the most part produces thorns; the husbandman digs,
works it carefully, puts in seed, but the thorns which no one sowed, spring up and
multiply; for after the transgression it was said to Adam, Thistles and thorns shall the
earth bring forth unto thee. The husbandman again takes trouble, digs up the thorns, and
yet they multiply. Apply this spiritually. Since the transgression the ground of the heart
brings forth thorns and thistles. The man works it, takes trouble, and still the thorns of
the evil spirits spring up. Then the Holy Ghost Himself helpeth the infirmities of men,
and the Lord puts heavenly seed in that ground of the heart, and works it; and though the
seed is cast, the thistles and thorns still spring up. Again the Lord and the man together
work the ground of the soul, and yet the evil spirits and the thorns shoot up there and
grow, until the summer comes, and grace abounds, and the thorns are withered by the heat
of the sun.

22. For though evil is present with nature, yet it no longer has the same dominion over
it, or the same range. The delicate blades of the wheat may be choked by the tares; but
when summer comes, after the drying off of the fruits, the tares harm the wheat no more.
If there should happen to be thirty peck of pure wheat, and a mixture of tares of perhaps
a quart is in it, what comparison does it bear? It is swamped in the abundance of the
wheat. So in grace, when the gift of God and grace abounds in the man, and he is rich in
the Lord, and yet evil is present to some extent, it cannot seriously harm the man, nor
has it any force or range against him. The coming of the Lord and His provision had this
object—to liberate those who were in bondage to evil, and bound over, and subject to it,
and to make them conquerors of the death of sin. Brethren therefore ought not to think it
strange, if some people give them trouble, with a view to getting rid of evil.

23. In the Old Testament, Moses and Aaron, when they held the priesthood, had much to
suffer. Caiaphas, when he occupied their seat, himself persecuted and condemned the Lord;
yet the Lord, in respect for the priesthood, suffered him to execute the office. The
prophets likewise were persecuted by their own nation. Peter was the successor of Moses,
entrusted with Christ’s new church and with the true priesthood; for we have now a baptism
of fire and the Spirit, and a circumcision in the heart. For the divine and heavenly
Spirit lodges in the mind; nevertheless even these perfect ones, so long as they are in
the flesh, are not free from anxiety, because of the freedom of their will, but are still
subject to fear, and for that same reason are allowed to be tempted. But if the soul
succeeds in reaching that city of the saints, then, but not before, it is able to live
without trouble and temptations. There, no longer is there anxiety, or trouble, or
weariness, or old age, or Satan, or warfare, but rest, joy, peace, and salvation. The Lord
is in the midst of them, and He is called the Saviour, becauses He saves the captives. He
is called the Physician, forasmuch as He gives the heavenly and divine medicine, and heals
the sufferings of the soul; for in some respects they have dominion over the man. To speak
of them in comparison, Jesus is King and God; Satan is an usurper and a tyrant.

24. Well, God and His angels wish to adopt this man for the kingdom with themselves, the
devil likewise and his angels desire to adopt him to themselves. The soul is in the middle
between the two subsistences, and to whichever side the will of the soul inclines, of that
side it becomes a possession and a son. And as a father, who sends his son to a foreign
country, where he will meet with venomous creatures by the way, gives him remedies and
antidotes, in order that if the venomous creatures or dragons attack him he may give them
his remedy and kill them; so endeavour, I charge you, to receive the heavenly remedy, the
healing and antidote of the soul, that by means of it you may kill the poisonous beasts of
unclean spirits. It is indeed no easy matter to get a clean heart; only with much effort
and labour can a man get a clean conscience and heart, that the evil may be quite
eradicated.

25. It sometimes happens that grace comes to a man without his heart being cleansed. The
reason why those who have fallen fell was that they did not believe that after grace smoke
and sin could still be present with them. But all the righteous have gone the straight and
narrow way to please God, and gone on it to the end. Abraham was rich toward God, as well
as to the world, but he called himself dust and ashes. David says, A very scorn of men,
and the outcast of the people, a worm and no man. In like manner all the prophets and
apostles were ill-treated and reviled. The Lord Himself, who is the Way, and is God, when
He came for thy sake, not for His own, to be a pattern to thee of every good thing—see to
what humiliation He came, having taken the form of a servant, who is God, the Son of God,
King, the Son of the King, giving healing remedies and curing those that are wounded, when
He Himself appeared outwardly as one of the wounded.

26. But do not despise His divine dignity when thou beholdest Him outwardly humbled as one
like us. It was for our sake that he appeared thus, not for His own. Consider, at the hour
when they cried, Crucify Him, crucify Him, and the multitude came together, how He was
humbled beyond all men. In the ordinary world, if there be a malefactor, and he receives
sentence from the magistrate, he is then abhorred by the whole people, and set at nought.
So was the Lord at the hour of the cross. As a man that was going to die, He was held of
no account by the Pharisees. And when they spat in His face, and put on Him the crown of
thorns, and buffeted Him, what further humiliation could He have undergone? It is written,
I gave My back to the smiters, and I hid not My face from shame and spitting, and my
cheeks from buffeting. If God condescends to such insults and sufferings and humiliation,
thou, who art by nature clay and of mortal nature, howsoever thou mayest be humbled, thou
wilt never do anything like Thy Master. God for thy sake humbled himself, and thou wilt
not be humbled for thine own sake, but art proud and puffed up. He came to take upon Him
thy afflictions and thy burdens, and to give Thee His own rest; and thou art unwilling to
bear troubles and to suffer in order to gain healing for thy wounds. Glory be to His
patience and long-suffering for ever. Amen.


FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
========================

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES continued

HOMILY XXVII

This Homily, like the foregoing, describes at length the dignity and status of a Christian
man. Then it teaches many useful things concerning free will, intermixing some questions
full of divine wisdom. 1. KNOW, O man, thy nobility and thy dignity, how honourable thou
art, the brother of Christ, the friend of the King, the bride of the heavenly Bridegroom.
He who has learned to know the dignity of his own soul, is in a position to know the power
and the mysteries of the Godhead, and thereby to be the more humbled; since by the power
of God a man beholds the greatness of his own fall. But as He passed through passion and
cross before He was glorified and sat down on the Father’s right hand, so thou also must
suffer with Him, be crucified with Him, and so ascend and sit with Him, and be joined with
the body of Christ, and reign for ever with Him in that world—if so be that we suffer with
Him, that we may be also glorified together.

2. For those who prove able to overcome and pass the fences of evil, enter into the
heavenly city, which is at peace, and is full of many good things, where the spirits of
just men are at rest. Therefore we ought to take great pains and strive mightily for this;
for it is not right for the Bridegroom, who came for thy sake, to suffer and be crucified,
while the bride, for whose sake the Bridegroom came, idles along and wanders. A harlot
gives herself away disorderly to anybody; so the soul has given herself away to every
devil, and i corrupted by those spirits. There are some who have sin and evil because they
choose to have it, others against their choice. What is the meaning of this? Those who
have evil of their own choice are those who have given away their will to evil, and take
pleasure in it, and make friends with it. These have peace with Satan, and make no war in
their thoughts with the devil. But those with whom it is against their choice, have the
sin that is in them warring in their members, as the apostle says; and the misty power and
the veil is against their choice, and they do not consent to it in their thoughts, and
take no pleasure in it, nor comply with it, but contend with it by word and deed, and
throw their whole weight against it, and are angry with themselves. These are far nobler
and more honourable in God’s eyes than the others, who of their own choice give away their
wills to evil, and have pleasure in it.

3. Suppose a king were to find a poor maiden, clothed in rags, and were not ashamed, but
took away her soiled clothes, and washed off her blackness, and adorned her with splendid
clothes, and made her a partner of the king, and gave her a share of his table and the
banquet; so did the Lord find the soul wounded and stricken, and gave her medicine, and
took off her the black garments and the disgrace of sin, and clothed her with royal,
heavenly garments, the garments of the Godhead, all shining and glorious, and put a crown
upon her, and made her a partaker of the royal table for joy and gladness. And as when
there is a pleasure garden, and it has there fruit trees, and all sweet-smelling ones, and
there are there many charming spots, all lovely and filled with fragrance and refreshment,
and whoever goes there is delighted and refreshed; so are the souls in the kingdom, all in
joy, delight, and peace. Kings and lords they are, and gods; for it is written, King of
kings, and Lord of lords.

4. Christianity, then, is no ordinary thing. This mystery is great. Recognise therefore
thy nobility, that thou art called to kingly dignity, a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, and a holy nation. The mystery of Christianity is foreign to this world. The
visible glory of the emperor and his wealth are earthly, and perishable, and passing away;
but that kingdom and wealth are divine things, heavenly and glorious, never to pass away
or be dissolved. For they reign together with the heavenly King, in the heavenly church,
and He is the firstborn from the dead, and they also are firstborn. And yet, though they
are all this, chosen and approved before God, in their own eyes they are the least, and
highly disapproved; and this is fixed in them like a part of nature, to esteem themselves
nothing. 5. Question. Are they then unaware that they have received something additional,
and have acquired what they had not before, that was foreign to their nature?

Answer. What I say is that they are not approved, and that they have made no progress, and
they do not know how they acquired what they had not; but while they are all this, grace
itself comes and teaches them not to count their soul dear, for all their progress, but to
count themselves naturally the reverse of dear, and dear though they are to God, to
themselves they are not so. With all their progress and knowledge of God, they are as if
they knew nothing, and rich as they are before God, in their own eyes they are poverty
stricken. But as Christ took the form of a servant, and conquered the devil by humility,
so at the beginning it was by pride and self-esteem that the serpent overthrew Adam; and
the same serpent, lurking in hearts, still casts down and destroys the race of Christians
by self-esteem.

6. If a man is free and well born, according to the world, and possessed of much wealth,
and continues to make money, and increases his income, he loses his senses, and becomes
self-confident, and becomes unbearable, and kicks and cuffs everybody. That is the way
with some people of no discretion, who, on finding some little enjoyment and power of
prayer, began to be puffed up and to lose their senses, and to pass sentence; and so they
fell to the lowest parts of the earth. The same serpent who threw Adam out by pride,
saying, Ye shall be as gods, still suggests pride in men’s hearts, saying, “You are
perfect; you have enough; you have got rich; you have no need; you are blessed.” There are
others in the world, who have riches, and improve upon them with large incomes, and yet
hold within the bounds of discretion, and neither boast nor are lifted up, but keep their
level, because they know that after affluence comes dearth; and again when loss and dearth
befall them, they are not dismayed, but still keep level, knowing that the turn of plenty
will come back; and by long training in these matters, they are never surprised, and in
times of increase and plenty are not elated, and if loss comes upon them, they are not
surprised.

7. Christianity is in practice something like this—the tasting of the truth, the eating
and drinking of the truth, to eat and drink on and on in reality and to good effect.
Suppose there to be a spring, and some one that is thirsty begins to drink of it, and then
before he has done some one carries him off, and will not allow him to be as much filled
as he desires, that man is the more inflamed for having tasted of the water, and he makes
the more earnest effort to get it. So in the spiritual order a man tastes and partakes of
heavenly sustenance, and then, before he has done, it withdraws, and no one enables him to
take his fill. 8. Question. Why is he not allowed to take his fill? Answer. The Lord knows
the man’s weakness, that he is easily lifted up. Therefore He withdraws, and permits the
man to be exercised and put to trouble. If you receive but a little, and no one can put up
with you, you are so puffed up with it, how much more intolerable you would have been if
some one had given you your fill at once! But God, knowing that weakness, providentially
brings you into troubles, that you may be humble, and the more earnest in seeking God. A
poor man according to the world found a purse of gold, and was so light with pleasure that
he began to proclaim, “I have found a purse; I am a rich man”; then by the report the
loser heard of it, and recovered it. Another man, who was rich, lost his senses, and began
to kick, and to be insolent to everybody, and to exalt himself above certain persons, when
the emperor heard of it, and confiscated his property. So it is in the spiritual realm. If
some people taste but a little refreshment, they do not know how to manage it, but lose
even what they had received, for sin tempts them, and darkens their mind.

9. Question. How do some fall after the visitation of grace? Is not Satan shown to be much
the weaker? Where it is day, how can there be night? Answer. It is not that grace is
quenched or feeble; but in order that your free-will and your liberty may be tested, which
way it inclines, grace makes way for sin; and then you again draw nigh to the Lord with
your will, and entreat that grace may visit you. How is it written, Quench not the Spirit?
The Spirit cannot be quenched, but is always light; but you, if you are careless and do
not with your own will correspond, are yourself quenched and lose the Spirit. In like
manner it says, Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye were sealed unto the day of
redemption. You see that it lies in your own will and freedom of determination to honour
the Holy Spirit and not to grieve Him. I assure you that freedom of choice remains even in
perfect Christians, who are subjugated to what is good and intoxicated with it, and the
consequence is that, though put to the proof by ten thousand evils, they turn to that
which is good.

10. As when persons of rank and wealth and high birth by their own will and choice forsake
their wealth and birth and dignities, and go and put on poor sordid clothing, and
dishonour instead of respect, and bear hardship, and are held of no account, this is all
left to their own discretion. You may believe me, that even the apostles, perfected as
they were in grace, were not hindered by that grace from doing as they desired, if they
wished occasionally to do a thing that was not pleasing to grace. Our nature is
susceptible of good and bad, and the adverse power acts by persuasion, not compulsion. You
have free choice to incline which way you will. Do you not read that Peter was to be
blamed, and that Paul went and reproved him. In spite of being what he was, he was still
to be blamed. And Paul, for all his spirituality, of his own will, engaged in a dispute
with Barnabas, and they grew so sharp that they withdrew from one another. And that same
Paul says, Ye that are spiritual, restore such an one, considering thyself, lest thou also
be tempted. There! the spiritual are tempted, because their freedom of will remains; and
the enemies keep plying them as long as they are in this world.

11. Question. Could not the apostles sin, if they chose? or was grace too mighty for their
wills? Answer. They could not sin, because they could not choose to sin, being in light
and in such grace. I do not say that grace in them was weak. What I say is that grace
permits even perfect spiritual persons to have the use of their will, and power to do what
they choose, and to turn in which direction they like. And human nature, which is weak,
has power to turn, even when good is present with it. If there are people in full armour,
with breastplate and other arms, they are then well protected inside, and the enemies do
not attack them; or if they attack, it is within the power of their will either to make
use of those arms, and to fight and struggle with the foe, and to carry off the victory,
or to take a liking to that foe, and come to terms with him, and refrain from fighting, in
spite of the armour. In the same way, Christians, arrayed with perfect power, and
possessed of the armour of heaven, can, if they are so minded, take a liking to Satan, and
come to terms with him, and desist from the war. Nature is liable to change, and a man
can, if he pleases, become a son of God or a son of perdition. His freedom of will
remains.

12. It is one thing to give a description of bread and table, and another to eat and take
the relish of that bread, and to be strengthened in all your members. It is one thing to
speak in words about a delicious drink, and another to go and draw from the very spring,
and to take your fill of the delicious drink. It is one thing to discourse of war, and of
noble combatants and warriors, and another to go yourself into the fighting-line, and to
close with the enemy, and to go in and out, and to take and give, and to carry off the
victory. In spiritual things the same holds good. It is one thing to give descriptive
accounts with a certain head-knowledge and correct notions, and another in substance and
reality, in full experience, and in the inward man, and in the mind, to possess the
treasure and the grace and the taste and the effectual working of the Holy Ghost. Those
who utter bare words, make a parade and are puffed up by their mind. Our speech, it says,
and our preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power; and again elsewhere, The end of the commandment is love out of a pure
heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned. A man like that does not fall. To many
who sought after God, the door has been opened, and they have seen a treasure, and have
entered into it; and in the midst of their joy, while they were saying, “We have found a
treasure,” He has shut the doors upon them. Then they began to cry aloud, and to mourn,
and to seek the more. “We found a treasure and have lost it.” Grace withdraws of set
purpose, that we may seek more earnestly. The treasure is shown, to encourage us to seek
after it.

13. Question. Some say that after grace a man has passed from death unto life. Can then
one who is in the light have impure thoughts? Answer. It is written, Having begun in the
Spirit, do ye now finish in the flesh? It says again, Put on the whole armour of the
Spirit, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Naturally enough,
these are two different places—one where he was when he put on the armour, and one where
he is when he fights with the principalities and powers—in the light, or in the darkness.
Again, That ye may be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one, and again, Grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, and again, It is impossible for those who were once
enlightened, and have tasted the gift of God, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
and fell away, to renew them again. There! those who were enlightened and have tasted fall
away. You see that a man has the power of will to agree with the Spirit, or to grieve Him.
Certainly he takes up arms with a view to going to battle and contending against the foe;
certainly he was enlightened, in order to campaign against the darkness.

14. Question. What does the apostle mean by saying, Though I have all knowledge and all
prophecy, and speak with the tongues of angels, I am nothing? Answer. We ought not to
understand it to mean that the apostle is nothing; but in comparison with that charity
which is perfect, these things are little, and he who is in these measures may fall; but
he who has charity is beyond falling. I can assure you, that I have seen men who had come
by all the spiritual gifts and were partakers of the Spirit, who, not having attained
perfect charity, fell. One, a nobleman by birth, renounced the world, sold his
possessions, gave his slaves their liberty; being a man of prudence and understanding, he
was renowned for his strict and holy life; and meanwhile, conceiving an opinion of himself
and getting proud, at last he came down to debaucheries and a thousand bad things. 15.
Another in time of persecution gave his own body, and was a confessor. When peace was
restored, he was set free, and had a great name. His eyelids were injured by having been
smoked. This man, being much glorified and called to prayers, took victuals, and gave to
his servant, and his mind was as if he had never heard the word of God. Another gave his
body under persecution, and was hung up, and scraped, and then flung into prison. There he
was religiously served by one of the sisters-regular. He contracted a familiarity with
her, while in prison, and fell into fornication. Observe the fall of the rich man who sold
his possessions, and of him who gave his body to martyrdom. 16.

Another, a prudent ascetic, who lived with me in the same dwelling and prayed with me, was
so rich in grace that in praying beside me he would be struck speechless, grace boiled so
within him. There was given him also the gift of healings, and he not only drove away
devils, but those who were bound hand and foot and had dreadful sufferings he would cure
by the imposition of his hands. Then he relaxed his care, and being much glorified by the
world, and taking pleasure in it, he became vain, and fell into the lowest depths of sin.
Observe the fall of one who had the gift of healing. You see how men fall, before reaching
the measures of charity. For one who arrives at charity is bound and intoxicated; he is
drowned, and carried captive to another world, as if he had no consciousness of his own
nature.

17. Question. What is the meaning of the things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man? Answer. At that time, the great and the
righteous men, and kings and prophets, were aware indeed that the Redeemer was coming; but
that He should suffer and be crucified, and His blood poured out upon the cross, they
neither knew, nor had they heard it; neither had it entered into their heart that there
should be a baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and that in the church bread and wine
should be offered, the symbol of His flesh and blood, and that those who partake of the
visible bread eat spiritually the flesh of the Lord, and that the apostles and Christians
receive the Paraclete, and are endued with power from on high, and are filled with the
Godhead, and their souls mingled with the Holy Ghost. This the prophets and kings knew
not, neither did it enter into their heart. Now, Christians have a very different wealth,
and their hearts are set upon the Godhead; but for all this joy and comfort, they are
still under fear and trembling.

18. Question. What fear and trembling? Answer. That they may make no mistake, but
correspond with grace. It is like a man possessed of treasures, who is journeying to
places where there are robbers. He is glad of the riches and the treasure; but he is in
fear lest the robbers should set upon him and spoil him of them; and as one who carries
his blood in his hands, so is he. Look, so far as outward things go, we have all made our
renuntiation, and are strangers, without possessions, and deprived of fleshly fellowship.
Now, there lies the body in prayer; the brethren must say whether the mind is in
correspondence with the body. Artisans and foremen in the world usually apply their whole
body to their business and their mind too, both night and day. Now look well to yourself.
Your body is strange to this world; is your mind alienated from the age? do you never
wander into the world? Every man of the world, soldier, or merchant, wherever his body is,
has his mind also there fixed, and there is his treasure. It is written, Where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also. 19. What treasure is your mind after? Is it
wholly and entirely Godwards, or not? If it is not, you must tell me what it is that
hinders. Certainly they are evil spirits, Satan and the devils, who have hold of the mind,
and put fetters on the soul.

The devil is very wily, and has many conjuring tricks, and loopholes, and all manner of
shifts, and keeps hold of the ranges and thoughts of the soul, and will not allow it to
pray properly and to draw nigh to God. For nature itself is capable of fellowship with the
devils and spirits of wickedness, and likewise with angels and the Holy Ghost. It is the
temple of Satan, or the temple of the Holy Ghost. Examine your mind, brethren; which are
you in fellowship with? angels, or devils? Whose temple are you? a habitation of God, or
of the devil? With what treasure is your heart filled? grace, or Satan? Like a house that
has been filled with evil smells and filthiness, it must be thoroughly cleansed, and set
in order, and filled with all fragrance and treasures, that the Holy Ghost may come
instead of Satan, and may rest in the hearts of Christians.

20. Not the moment, however, that he hears the word of God, does a man come to be of the
good side. If hearing made him of the good side at once, there would no longer be
conflicts, or critical battles, or a race. Without further ado, if only he had heard, he
would have come into peace and to perfect measures. But the facts are otherwise. You take
away the man’s free will, if you say so, and deny the existence of the opposite power,
wrestling with the mind. What we say is this, that the man who hears the word comes to
compunction, and after that, grace purposely withdraws, for the man’s good, and he enters
into training and the discipline of battle, and engages in a struggle and contest with
Satan, and only after a long race and contest carries off the prizes of victory, and
becomes a Christian. If merely hearing made a man to belong without more ado to the good,
then all the theatre-people and the whoremongers will go into the kingdom and the life. No
one will give them this without effort and striving, because it is a straight and narrow
way. By this rough way we have to travel, and to endure, and bear affliction, and so to
enter into life.

21. If it were possible to succeed without effort, Christianity would no longer be a stone
of stumbling and a rock of offence. There would be no faith and unbelief. You would make
man a creature of necessity, incapable of turning to good or evil. It is only to one who
can turn to either side that a law is given—one who is at liberty to do battle with the
adverse power. No law is laid down for a nature that is under necessity. The sun, the
heaven and the earth, call for no legislation; such creatures are of a nature governed by
necessity, and for this reason they are not liable to reward or punishment. Reward and
glory are prepared for him who turns to the good; hell and punishment are prepared for
this convertible nature, capable of fleeing from the evil and throwing its weight upon the
right-hand side, the side of good. If you say that he is not of an alterable nature, you
make the good man undeserving of praise. For one who is good and kind by nature does not
deserve praise for it, though he may be very desirable. What is not good by choice is not
praiseworthy, however desirable it may be. Praise is only deserved by one who by his
personal resolution with effort and struggle makes the good his own through free-will and
choice.

22. As if when the Persians have a camp on one side and the Romans a camp on the other,
two winged youths of equal powers should come forth from them and engage in a struggle, so
the opposing force and the mind are in equipoise. Satan has power to influence and entice
the soul to his own will, and the soul has equal power to resist and to refuse any
compliance with him. Both powers, good and evil, act by suasion, not by compulsion. A
choice like this may count upon divine assistance, and is able in its struggle to receive
weapons from heaven, and by them to root out evil and conquer it. To resist sin is in the
power of the soul, though without God it cannot conquer the evil or root it out. Those who
say that sin is like a mighty giant and the soul like a little child are wrong. If things
were so ill-matched, sin like a giant and the soul like a little child, the Law-giver
would be unjust, in having given man a law to struggle against Satan.

23. This is the foundation of the way to God—in much patience, in hope, in humility, in
poverty of spirit, in meekness to travel along the way of life; and it is by these things
that a man can come to have righteousness in himself. By righteousness we mean the Lord
Himself. These commandments, which so enjoin us, are like milestones and waymarks that
stand by the king’s highway, which leads wayfarers up to the heavenly city. We read,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are the merciful, blessed
are the peacemakers. That is what you may call Christianity. If any one does not travel by
this way, he has wandered where there is no way; he uses a bad foundation. Glory to the
compassions of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXVIII

This Homily describes and bewails the calamity of the soul, that by reason of sin the Lord
does not dwell in it; and concerning John the Baptist, that none among those born of women
is greater than he. 1. AS once God was wroth with the Jews, and gave Jerusalem openly over
to its enemies, and they which hated them were lords over them, and there was no longer
any feast there, or any offering; so, being wroth with the soul, He gave it over to its
enemies, both to devils and to passions; and so, when these had seduced it, they ruined it
utterly, and no longer was there any feast there, or any incense or offering sent up by it
to God, its tokens being filled in the streets, dreadful beasts and serpent spirits of
wickedness making their domicile within it; and as a house, if it has not the master
resident in it, gets clothed with darkness and shame and abuse, and filled with dirt and
filth, so the soul which has not its Master with His angels making merry in it, gets
filled with the darkness of sin, and the shame of passions, and all manner of disgrace.

2. Alas for the street, if no one walks in it, nor hears in it the voice of man, because
it becomes the habitation of wild beasts. Alas for the soul when the Lord takes not His
way in it, and drives not out of it with His voice the spiritual wild beasts of
wickedness. Alas for the house when the master does not live in it. Alas for the land when
it has not the husbandman to till it. Alas for the ship when it has not the steersman,
because it is carried along by the waves and surges of the sea and is lost. Alas for the
soul when it has not Christ, the true steersman, in it, because finding itself in the sea
of the bitterness of darkness, and tossed by the surge of passions, and storm-beaten by
the winds of evil spirits, it ends by gaining perdition. Alas for the soul, when it has
not Christ to till it carefully, that it may be able to bring forth good fruits of the
Spirit; because left desolate, and filled with thorns and thistles, its fruit in the end
is the burning of fire. Alas for the soul when it has not Christ, its Master, living in
it; because, left desolate, and being filled with the noisome odour of passions, it finds
itself the habitation of iniquity.

3. As the husbandman, when he goes to till the ground, must take the proper tools and
clothing for tilling, so Christ, the King, the heavenly and true husbandman, in coming to
humanity, which had been laid desolate by sin, put on the body, and carried the cross for
His tool, and so tilled the desolate soul, and took out of it the thorns and thistles of
evil spirits, and plucked up the tares of sin, and burned up with fire every weed of its
sins; and thus tilling it with the wood of the cross He planted in it that fairest
paradise of the Spirit, bearing every fruit that is sweet and desirable for God as its
owner. 4. And as in Egypt, during the three days’ darkness, the son saw not his father,
nor brother, brother, nor true friend his friend, because the darkness hid them, so when
Adam transgressed the commandment and fell from his former glory, and came under the power
of the spirit of the world, and the veil of darkness fell upon his soul, from his time and
until the last Adam, the Lord, they saw not the true Father in heaven, or the good, kind
mother, the grace of the Spirit, or the sweet and desired Brother, the Lord, or the
friends and kindred, the holy angels, with whom He rejoiced, making merry and keeping
festival. And it was not only until the last Adam, but even to this day those upon whom
the Sun of righteousness, Christ, has not arisen, and in whom the eyes of the soul have
not been opened and enlightened by the true light, are still under the same darkness of
sin, wrought upon by the same influence of pleasures, subject to the same punishment, not
yet having eyes to behold the Father.

5. This is a thing which every one ought to know, that there are eyes deeper within than
these eyes, and a hearing deeper within than this hearing. As these eyes sensibly behold
and recognise the face of a friend or beloved one, so the eyes of the worthy and faithful
soul, being spiritually enlightened with the light of God, behold and recognise the true
Friend, the sweetest and greatly longed for Bridegroom, the Lord, while the soul is shone
upon by the adorable Spirit; and thus beholding with the mind the desirable and only
inexpressible beauty, it is smitten with passionate love of God, and is directed into all
virtues of the Spirit, and thus possesses an unbounded, unfailing love for the Lord it
longs for. What therefore is more blessed than that everlasting voice of John, when he
shows the Lord before our eyes, saying, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world.

6. Truly among them that are born of women there is none greater than John the Baptist. He
is the fulfilment of all the prophets. All the prophets prophesied of the Lord, showing
His coming afar off: John prophesied of the Saviour and showed Him before all eyes, crying
aloud and saying, Behold the Lamb of God! What a sweet and beautiful voice of him who
shews then and there Him whom he heralded! Greater than John is none of them that are born
of women. But he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he—the apostles,
born of God from above, who received the firstfruits of the Comforter Spirit—for they were
allowed to be His fellow-judges and partners of His throne; they have been made redeemers
of men. You find them dividing the sea of evil powers, leading believing souls through.
You find them husbandmen, tilling the vine of the soul. You find them bridesmen, marrying
souls to Christ: I have espoused you, it says, to one Husband. You find them giving life
to men. In short, you find them in sundry parts and in divers manners serving the Spirit.
This is the little one who is greater than John the Baptist.

7. As the husbandman governs a yoke of oxen and tills the ground, so the Lord Jesus, the
fair true Husbandman, yoked the apostles two and two and sent them forth, tilling with
them the ground of those who hear and truly believe. Only this is worth saying, that the
kingdom of God and the preaching of the apostles is not in the word of hearing only, like
one who knows a set of words and rehearses them to others, but the kingdom is in power and
effectual working of the Spirit. This was the sad case of the children of the Israelites;
always studying the scriptures, and in fact making the Lord the theme of their study, and
yet not receiving the truth itself, they parted with that inheritance to others. So those
who rehearse to others words of the Spirit, while they do not themselves possess the word
in power, part with the inheritance to others. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to
the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXIX

God works the dispensations of grace upon mankind after a twofold manner, intending to
require the fruits of it by a just judgment. 1. THE wisdom of God, being infinite and
incomprehensible, works the dispensations of grace incomprehensibly and unsearchably upon
the human race in various fashions for the testing of our free will, so that those who
love Him with their whole heart, and will endure every danger and toil for God’s sake, may
be made manifest. To some the gifts and endowments of the Holy Ghost come in advance,
directly they draw near in faith and prayer, without labour, or sweat, or toil. Sometimes,
while they are still in the world, God gives them grace, not idly, nor out of season, nor
at random, but in an unspeakable and incomprehensible wisdom, in order to try the
determination and free will of those who have so quickly received the grace of God,
whether they were sensible of the benefit and of the kindness and sweetness of God that
was shewn them, in proportion to the grace received without pains of their own, in return
for which they ought to show diligence, and run well, and fight hard, and to bear the
fruit of will and purpose and love, and to give back a requital for their spiritual gifts,
by yielding themselves wholly up to the love of the Lord, and accomplishing His will
alone, and perfectly withdrawing from all carnal affection.

2. To others, even when they have withdrawn from the world, and have renounced this age,
according to the gospel, and pass their time in much perseverance in prayer and fasting
and diligence and the other virtues, God does not immediately grant the grace and the
refreshment and rejoicing of the Spirit, being patient with them and reserving the gift.
And this He does, not idly, nor unreasonably, not at random, but with unspeakable wisdom,
for the testing of their free will, to see whether they have counted God faithful and true
who promised to give to them that ask and to open the door of life to them that knock, to
see whether after believing His word in truth they continue to the end in full assurance
of faith and diligence, asking and seeking, and will not prove faint-hearted, and draw
back, and give up, and in unbelief and hopelessness despise the quest, not persevering to
the end, because of the putting off of the time, and because of the testing of their will
and purpose.

3. For he who does not receive at once, is the more kindled through God’s delay and
patience, and the more desirous of the good things of heaven, and every day adds to his
longing and diligence, his running and striving, and every disposition of virtue, his
hunger and thirst after that which is good, not slacking for the sinful suggestions which
are present in the soul, or turning aside to despise or forget or despair; nor again under
pretence of patience will he give himself over to slackness, using this argument, that
“Some day or other I shall receive the grace of God,” and from this enticed by sin into
carelessness. On the contrary, so long as the Lord Himself in His delay is patient over
him, testing the faith and love of his will, the man himself ought the more keenly, the
more laboriously, without giving in, without turning faint, to seek the gift of God,
having once for all believed and assured himself, that God is true and cannot lie, who has
promised to give His grace to those who ask with faith to the end, in all perseverance.

4. For God is faithful and true in His leading of faithful souls, and they have set to
their seal that He is true, according to the true word. Therefore in accordance with this
intuition of faith they examine themselves to see in what respects they on their part are
lacking—in labour, in striving, in diligence, in faith, in love, or in the rest of the
dispositions of virtue; and thus examining with all minute exactness, they force and
constrain themselves to the best of their power to please the Lord, having once for all
believed that God, being true, will not cheat them of the gift of the Spirit, if they
continue to the end with all diligence serving Him and waiting upon Him, but that they
will have the heavenly grace vouchsafed to them, while they are still in the flesh, and
will obtain eternal life. 5. And so they set in motion all their love towards the Lord,
denying everything else, and looking only for Him with much desire and hunger and thirst,
and always waiting for the refreshment and consolation of grace, and not willingly finding
consolation or refreshment or binding attachment in anything of this world; but always
resisting material attractions they look only for the help and succour of God, when the
Lord Himself is secretly present already to souls that take upon them this kind of
diligence, and purpose of heart and endurance, and helps them, and preserves them, and
confirms them unto every fruit of virtue, even though they are in trouble and distress,
even though they have not yet in certainty of the truth and in manifestation to the soul
received the grace of the Spirit and the refreshment of the heavenly gift, and have not
had experience of it in full consciousness, because of the unspeakable wisdom of God, and
His inexpressible judgments, in which He tries believing souls in various ways, with a
view to a love which is of the will and of purpose. For there are bounds and measures and
degrees of choice and purpose, and of the will to love, and of disposition to obey all His
holy commandments with might and main; and when souls thus fill up the measure of their
love and duty, they are permitted to receive the kingdom and the eternal life.

6. For God is just and just are His judgments, and with Him there is no respect of
persons; and He judges each in proportion to the varying benefits with which He has
endowed mankind—benefits of body or of spirit, whether knowledge, or understanding, or
discernment—and will require the fruits of virtue accordingly, and will render to each the
due reward of his works in the day of judgment. He will come, we are told, and will render
to every man according to his deeds, and mighty men shall be mightily tormented, for mercy
will soon pardon the meanest; and the Lord says, The servant which knew his lord’s will,
and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many
stripes; but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few
stripes; and unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required, and to whom men have
committed much, of him they will ask the more. The knowledge and understanding I have
mentioned may be variously thought of, either according to grace and the heavenly gift of
the Spirit, or in conformity with the natural intelligence and discernment, and through
the instruction of the divine scriptures. Of each man will be required the fruits of
virtue in proportion to the benefits conferred upon him from God, whether natural, or
given by God’s grace. Therefore every man is inexcusable before God in the day of
judgment, for every man will be required to answer of his will and purpose according to
what he knew of the fruits of faith and love and every other virtue towards God, whether
he knew by hearing, or had never heard the word of God.

7. For the faithful, truth-loving soul, looking to the eternal blessings laid up for the
righteous, and to the unspeakable benefit of the grace of God that is to visit it, esteems
itself, and its diligence and pains and labour, all unworthy in comparison with the
unspeakable promises of the Spirit. This is the poor in spirit, whom the Lord pronounced
blessed; this is he who hungers and thirsts after righteousness; this is he who is
contrite in heart. Those who take upon them this purpose and diligence and pains and
longing after virtue, and continue therein to the end, will be enabled to obtain life and
the eternal kingdom in truth. Therefore let no brother be exalted against his brother, or
proceed to form an opinion of himself under the cheating influence of sin, to think,
“Behold, I for my part possess a spiritual gift.” It is not fit that Christians should
have these notions. You know not what the morrow may do for him; you are ignorant what his
end will be, and what your own. Let each give heed to himself, and examine his own
conscience at all times, and try the work of his heart, what diligence and striving
towards God his mind has; and looking towards the perfect mark, of liberty, and of freedom
from passions, and of the Spirit’s rest, let him run without stopping and without sloth,
never satisfied with any spiritual gift or with any righteous attainment. Glory and
adoration to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXX

The soul that is to enter into the kingdom of God must be born of the Holy Ghost; and how
this is effected. 1. THOSE who hear the word ought to give proof of the work of the word
in their own souls. The word of God is no idle word, but has its own work upon the soul.
For this reason it is sometimes called a “work,” with a view to the “work” being found in
the hearers. May the Lord, then, grant the work of the truth in the hearers, in order that
the word may be found fruitful in us. For as the shadow precedes the body, but the shadow
manifests the body, while the truth is the body itself, so the word is like a shadow of
the truth of Christ. But the word precedes the truth. Fathers upon earth beget children of
their own nature, from their own body and soul, and when they are begotten they educate
them carefully with all diligence as their own children, until they become full-grown men
and successors and heirs. For the aim and whole care of the fathers from the outset is to
beget children and to have heirs, and if they had not begotten them, they would have had
great sorrow and grief, and on the other hand they had corresponding joy when they had
begotten them. Their kinsfolk and neighbours likewise rejoice.

2. In the same way our Lord Jesus Christ, taking thought for the salvation of man,
employed from the outset all His providential care through the fathers and the patriarchs,
through the law and the prophets, and in the end came Himself, and despising the shame of
the cross, endured death; and all this toil and care of His was in order that He might
beget children from Himself, from His own nature, being pleased that they should be
begotten of the Spirit from above, of His own Godhead. And as those fathers, if they have
no children, are grieved, so the Lord, who loved mankind as His own image, willed to beget
them of the seed of His own Godhead; so, if any of them will not come to such a birth, to
be born of the womb of the Spirit of the Godhead, Christ is submitted to great grief,
after suffering for them and enduring so much to save them.

3. For the Lord wills all men to have the privilege of this birth. He died for all, and
called all to life. But life is the birth from above of God. Without it the soul cannot
live. The Lord says, Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
And so, on the other hand, as many as believe the Lord, and come and receive the privilege
of this birth, cause joy and great gladness in heaven to the parents that begat them; and
all angels and holy powers rejoice over the soul that is born of the Spirit and has become
spirit itself. For this body is a similitude of the soul, and the soul is the image of the
Spirit; and as the body without the soul is dead, and unable to do anything at all, so
without the heavenly soul, that is, without the Divine Spirit, the soul is dead from the
kingdom, being unable to do any of the things of God without the Spirit.

4. As the portrait painter keeps an eye upon the king’s face and draws, and when the
king’s face is towards him, attending to him at his painting, he draws the portrait easily
and well, but when he turns his face away, he cannot draw, because the face is not gazing
at the painter; in like manner Christ, the good artist, for those who believe Him and gaze
continually at Him, straightway portrays after His own image a heavenly man. Out of His
own Spirit, out of the substance of light itself, the ineffable light, He paints a
heavenly image, and bestows upon it its good and gracious Spouse. If a man does not gaze
constantly at Him, overlooking everything else, the Lord will not paint His image with His
own light. We must therefore gaze upon Him, believing and loving Him, throwing away all
else, and attending to Him, in order that He may paint His own heavenly image and send it
into our souls, and thus, wearing Christ, we may receive eternal life, and even here may
have full assurance and be at rest.

5. As the golden coin, if it does not receive the imprint of the king’s image, does not
come upon the market, and is not stored in the king’s treasuries, but is discarded, so the
soul, if it has not the image of the heavenly Spirit in light unspeakable, even Christ
imprinted on it, is not fit for the treasuries above, and is discarded by the good
merchants of the kingdom, the apostles. He who was invited, and did not wear the wedding
garment, was cast out as an alien into the alien darkness, for not wearing the heavenly
image. This is the mark and sign of the Lord imprinted upon souls, being the Spirit of
light unspeakable. And as a dead man is useless, and of no use to those of the place, and
so they carry him outside the city and bury him, so the soul which does not bear the
heavenly image of the divine light, the life of the soul, is cast away and discarded; for
a dead soul is of no use to that city of the saints, not bearing the luminous and Divine
Spirit. For as in the world the soul is the life of the body, so in the eternal heavenly
world the life of the soul is the Spirit of the Godhead. Without the life of the Spirit,
this soul is dead to those above, and of no use.

6. He therefore that seeks to believe and come to the Lord, should entreat that he may
receive here on earth the Divine Spirit; for that Spirit is the life of the soul, and for
this cause the Lord came, that He might give life to the soul here on earth, even His
Spirit. For He says, While ye have the light, believe in the light; the night cometh, when
ye can no longer work. Therefore if any man has not sought, while here, and received life
for his soul, even the divine light of the Spirit, when he departs out of the body, he is
separated forthwith in the regions of darkness on the left hand, not entering into the
kingdom of heaven, having his end in hell with the devil and his angels. As gold or
silver, when cast into the fire, becomes purer and better attested, and nothing can impair
it, such as wood or hay—for it devours everything that comes near it, for they also become
fire—so the soul going up and down in the fire of the Spirit and in the divine light will
suffer no harm by any of the evil spirits. Even if anything shall draw nigh it, it is
consumed by the heavenly fire of the Spirit: Or as a bird, when aloft on the wing, is in
no anxiety, fearing not the bird-catchers nor evil beasts, for up so high it derides them,
so the soul, receiving the wings of the Spirit, and flying into the heights of heaven, is
above everything, and derides them all.

7. And Israel after the flesh, when Moses that day divided the sea, went through it below;
but these, being God’s children, walk on the top over the sea of bitterness of the evil
powers. Their body and their soul have become the house of God. In that day when Adam
fell, God came walking in the garden. He wept, as it were, beholding Adam, and said,
“After what good things, what evils hast thou chosen! After what glory, what shame dost
thou wear! How dark art thou now! how ill-looking! how corrupt! After what light, what
darkness hath covered thee!” And when Adam fell and died from God, his Maker bewailed him;
angels, and all the powers, the heavens, the earth, and all the creatures mourned over his
death and fall, for they saw him that had been given them for their king become the
servant of a hostile and evil power. Therefore he clothed himself with darkness in his own
soul, a bitter and an evil darkness, for he was made a subject of the prince of darkness.
This was he who was wounded by the robbers, and became half dead, as he went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho.

8. Lazarus also, whom the Lord raised, who stank so that no one could go near the
sepulchre, was a symbol of Adam whose soul had come to stink and was filled with blackness
and darkness. But thou, when thou hearest of Adam, and the wounded man, and Lazarus, let
not thy mind go off as it were to the hills, but be thou within in thy soul, for thou
thyself bearest the same wounds, the same stench, the same darkness. We all are his sons,
of that dark race, and all partake of the same stench. The malady from which he suffered,
we all, who are of Adam’s seed, suffer from the same. Such a malady has befallen us, as
Esaias says, It is not a wound, nor a bruise, nor an inflamed sore; it is not possible to
apply a mollifying ointment, nor oil, nor to make bandages. Thus were we wounded with an
incurable wound; the Lord alone could heal it. For this reason He came in His own person;
because none of the ancients, nor the law itself, nor the prophets, were able to heal this
wound. He alone by His coming healed that sore of the soul, that incurable sore.

9. Let us then welcome our God and Lord, the true healer, who alone is able to come and
cure our souls, after He has laboured so much for our sake. He is always knocking at the
doors of our hearts, that we may open to Him, that He may enter in and rest in our souls,
and we may wash and anoint His feet, and He may make His abode with us. The Lord in that
passage reproached the man who did not wash His feet; and again He says elsewhere, Behold,
I stand at the door and knock, if any man will open unto Me, and I shall come in unto him.
To this end He endured to suffer many things, giving His own body unto death, and
purchasing us out of bondage, in order that He might come to our soul and make His abode
with it. For this cause the Lord says to those on the left hand in the day of judgment,
that are sent by Him to hell with the devil, I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; I
was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink. His food
and His drink, His clothing and shelter and rest is in our souls. Therefore He is always
knocking, desiring to enter into us. Let us then receive Him, and bring Him within into
ourselves; because He is our food and our drink and our eternal life, and every soul that
has not now received Him within and given Him rest, or rather found rest in Him, has no
inheritance in the kingdom of heaven with the saints, and cannot enter into the heavenly
city. But Thou, Lord Jesus Christ, bring us thereunto, glorifying Thy name, with the
Father and the Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXXI

The believer ought to be changed in mind, and gather up all his thoughts in God; for in
these all service of God consists. 1. THE believer ought to ask of God to be changed in
his purposes, by an alteration of heart from bitterness to sweet, and remember how the
blind man was healed, the woman with an issue of blood likewise obtained healing by the
touch of His hem, the nature of lions was tamed, the nature of fire was deadened. Because
God is the highest good; and unto Him thou oughtest to gather up thy mind and thoughts,
and to think of nothing else, but to watch expectantly for Him. 2. Let the soul,
therefore, be as one that gathers in straying children and admonishes the thoughts which
sin has scattered, and bring them home into her body, always watching for the Lord in
fasting and charity, when He shall come and gather her in truth. The future being
uncertain, let her set her hope yet more upon her Pilot, with a good hope, and remember
how Rahab, when living among aliens, believed the Israelites, and was admitted to share
their privilege, while the Israelites in their affections turned back into Egypt. As
therefore Rahab received no harm by dwelling among the aliens, but her faith made her at
home in the portion of the Israelites, so sin shall not harm those who in hope and faith
wait for the Redeemer, who at His coming changes the thoughts of the soul, and makes them
godlike, heavenly, good, and teaches the soul prayer—prayer true, undistracted,
unwandering. Fear not, He says, I go before thee, and will level the mountains; I will
break in pieces the gates of brass and cut in sunder the bars of iron. And again, Beware,
He says, that there be not a secret thought of wickedness in thy heart; say not in thy
heart, This nation is strong and powerful.

3. If we do not become slothful and give over the field to the unruly thoughts of evil,
but compel our minds to obey our will, forcing our thoughts to the Lord, assuredly the
Lord will come to us with His will and take us in unto Himself in truth. All well-pleasing
and all service are in the thoughts. Therefore endeavour to please the Lord, always
looking for Him within, seeking Him in thy thoughts, and forcing and constraining thine
own will and purpose to stretch upwards continually towards Him. Then see how He comes
unto thee and makes His abode with thee. In proportion as thou gatherest up thy mind to
seek Him, He is far more constrained by His own tender compassion and kindness to come to
thee and give thee rest. He stands contemplating thy mind, thy thoughts, thy intentions,
observing how thou seekest Him, whether with thy whole soul, not indolently, not
carelessly.

4. And when He sees thy diligence to seek Him, then He manifests Himself and appears to
thee, and imparts to thee of His own succour, and makes the victory thine, delivering thee
from thine enemies. Having first contemplated thy seeking unto Him, and how thy whole
expectation is without ceasing fixed on Him, He then teaches and gives thee true prayer,
true charity, which is Himself in thee made all things—paradise, tree of life, pearl,
crown, builder, husbandman, sufferer, incapable of suffering, man, God, wine and living
water, lamb, bridegroom, warrior, armour, Christ all in all. And as the babe knows not how
to take care of itself, or do for itself, but looks only to its mother, waiting until she
has pity on it and takes it up, so faithful souls always hope only in the Lord, ascribing
all righteousness to Him. As without the vine the branch is dried up, so is he who desires
to be justified without Christ. As is the robber and the thief, who does not enter through
the entrance, but climbeth up some other way, so is he who is justified to himself without
the Justifier.

5. Let us therefore take this body of ours, and make an altar of it, and lay upon it every
intention of ours, and beseech the Lord that He would send from heaven the great invisible
fire, and consume the altar and everything upon it, and that all the priests of Baal,
which are the opposing activities, may fall; and then we shall see the spiritual rain
coming in the soul like a man’s footprint, so that it becomes the promise of God in us, as
it is said in the prophet, I will raise up and build again the tabernacle of David which
is fallen, and will build again the ruins thereof, in order that the Lord with His own
loving kindness may shine upon the soul which is dwelling in night and darkness, in the
drunkenness of ignorance, so that it may wake to soberness and walk without stumbling,
performing the works of day and of life. For where the soul feeds, thence is it nourished,
either from the world, or from the Spirit of God; and God is there nourished, and lives,
and rests, and goes up and down.

6. To conclude, every one, if he will, shall prove himself, whence he is nourished, and
where he lives, and what condition he is in, so that having thus perceived, and gained an
accurate estimate, he may give himself perfectly to the movement towards that which is
good. Well, in praying, take heed to yourself at prayer, observing your thoughts and your
motions, where they come from, whether from God or from the adversary, and who it is that
supplies your heart with nourishment, the Lord, or the world-rulers of this age. And when,
O soul, thou hast proved and known, ask the Lord with labour and longing for heavenly
nourishment and growth and the motions of Christ, according to the saying, Our
conversation is in heaven, and not, as some imagine, in a shape or fashion. Behold, the
mind and disposition of those who have only a form of godliness is like the world. Behold
their agitation, and the fluctuation of their purposes, their unstable judgment, their
timidity and fear, according to that which is said, Groaning and trembling shalt thou be
upon the earth. According to their unbelief and the confusion of their unstable thoughts,
they are tossed about every hour, like all the rest of men. Such men only differ from the
world in fashion, not in mind, and only in bodily observances of the outer man; while in
heart and mind they are pulled this way and that way in the world, and are involved in
earthly ties and those of unprofitable cares, not having gained the peace from heaven in
their hearts, as the apostle says, Let the peace of God rule in your hearts—the peace
which reigns and renews the minds of believers in the love of God and of all the
brotherhood. Glory and worship to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for ever.
Amen.

HOMILY XXXII

The glory of Christians abides even now in their souls, and will be manifested at the time
of resurrection, and will glorify their bodies in correspondence with their piety. 1. THE
languages of this world differ. Every nation has a language of its own. But Christians
learn one new language, and are all instructed under one wisdom of God, not a wisdom of
this world, nor of this passing age. And as Christians walk in this creation, they come
upon new and heavenly sights, and upon glories and mysteries, taking occasion by what
meets their senses. There are various kinds of tame animals, as horse and ox. Each of them
has its own body and its own voice. So also among wild beasts; the lion has its own body
and its own voice, and the stag likewise. And among creeping things there is great
variety, and among winged creatures there are, many forms of body. The body and voice of
the eagle is one, the body and voice of the hawk is another. There are the same varieties
in the sea—many bodies unlike each other; and in the earth there are many seeds, but each
seed has its own fruit. There are many trees; but some trees are bigger and some smaller,
and the crops that they bear are very different; for each kind of tree has a flavour of
its own. And there are herbs, and great differences between them—some profitable for
health, others only for fragrance. But each tree produces from within the clothing which
meets the eye, leaves, and blossoms, and fruits. The seeds likewise bring forth from
within the clothing that we see. The lilies themselves produce their raiment from within,
and adorn the sward.

2. Even so those Christians, to whom it has been granted to gain in this life the heavenly
raiment, have that raiment dwelling in their souls; and when it is foreordained of God
that this creation should be dissolved, and that heaven and earth should pass away, then
the heavenly raiment, which here and now had clothed and glorified their souls, and which
they had possessed in their hearts, that same shall assuredly enrobe with glory their
naked bodies also, which rise from the tombs, the bodies which awake in that day, even
with the invisible heavenly gift and raiment which Christians receive even now. But as the
sheep or the camels, when they find grass, greedily and hastily get to the food and store
up provender within themselves, and in time of hunger bring up the same from their maw,
and chew the cud, and have for their food what they had before laid in; so in like manner
those who have now seized the kingdom of heaven, and living in spirit have tasted of the
heavenly food, at the time of resurrection have that same to cover and to warm all their
members.

3. As then we spoke of the variety of seeds, that many are sown in the same ground and
yield a diversity of fruits, all unlike each other; and likewise of trees, that some are
bigger and some less, but one ground holds the roots of them all; even so the heavenly
church, being but one, is without number, and each is adorned by the glory of the Spirit
in a manner peculiar to himself. For as the birds produce out of their own bodies the
raiment of their feathers, and great is the variety among them—for some flit along near
the ground, while others soar in the air—or as the heaven is one, and contains in itself
many stars, some brighter, some greater, some smaller, but all are fixed in the heaven; so
the saints are in divers manners rooted in the one heaven of the Godhead and in the earth
invisible. So also the thoughts which come to Adam are different when they come, but the
Spirit coming into the heart makes one thought and one heart, for both those above and
those below are governed by the same Spirit.

4. But what are the animals that divide the hoof? Since with their cloven hoof they make
straight way, they are set for a figure of those who walk uprightly in the law. But as the
body’s shadow is from the body itself, but cannot fulfil any fleshly function—for a shadow
cannot bind up wounds, or give food, or speak—and yet it is from the body itself, and
shows in advance the coming of the body, so the ancient law is a shadow of the new
covenant. The shadow reveals the truth beforehand, but it had no ministration of the
Spirit. Moses, clothed in flesh, could not enter into the heart, and take away the filthy
garments of darkness. Only spirit of spirit and fire of fire dissolves the power of the
evil darkness. Circumcision, in the shadow of the law, foreshows the true circumcision of
the heart approaching. The baptism of the law is a shadow of the true realities. That
baptism washed the body; but here a baptism of fire and Spirit cleanses and washes the
polluted mind. 5. There a priest compassed with infirmity entered into the holy place
offering sacrifice for himself and for the people; here the true High Priest, even Christ,
entered once for all into the tabernacle not made with hands and the altar above, ready to
cleanse those who ask Him, and the conscience that has been defiled. For He says, I will
be with you until the end of the world.

The high priest had on his breast two precious stones, and they bore the names of the
twelve patriarchs. What was done there was a type. For in such a manner the Lord put on
the apostles and sent them as evangelists and heralds of the whole world. You see how the
shadow shows the approach of the reality. Yet just as the shadow has no function to
perform, and heals no troubles, so neither could the ancient law heal the wounds or
troubles of the soul; for indeed it had no life. 6. The conjunction of two particular
things makes a perfect whole—for example, two covenants. Man was made after the image and
similitude of God: he has two eyes, two eyebrows, two hands, two feet, and if he should
chance to have but one eye, or one hand, or one foot, it is something to find fault with.
If a bird has but one wing, it cannot possibly fly with it. So the nature of mankind, if
it remains naked and by itself, and does not receive the mixture and communion of the
heavenly nature, has failed to be put right. It remains naked and deserving of blame in
its own nature, in great defilement. For the soul itself was surnamed the temple and
habitation of God, and the King’s bride; for it says, I will dwell in them, and walk in
them. So it pleased God; because He came down from holy heavens and embraced thy
reasonable nature, the flesh, which is of the earth, and mingled it with His divine
Spirit, in order that thou, the earthy, mightest receive the heavenly soul. And when thy
soul has communion with the Spirit, and the heavenly soul enters into thy soul, then art
thou a perfect man in God, and an heir, and a son.

7. But as neither the ages above nor those below can take in the greatness and
incomprehensibleness of God, so neither the worlds above nor those on earth are able to
comprehend His minuteness, and how He makes Himself small to those who are minute and
small. As His greatness is incomprehensible, so also is His minuteness; and it comes to
pass that He arranges for thee to be in afflictions, and sufferings, and humiliations; and
the things which thou deemest to be contrary to thee, these prove to be for thy soul’s
good. If thou desirest to be in the world, and to become rich, misfortune meets thee. Thou
beginnest to think with thyself, “Because I have failed in the world, what if I were to go
away and renounce it and serve God? When thou art come to this point, thou hearest the
commandment saying, “Sell what thou hast; hate fleshly society; serve God. Then thou
beginnest to thank thy misfortune in the world, that “on that account I am found obedient
to the commandment of Christ. Well then, in part, so far as outward things go, thou hast
changed thy mind, and withdrawn from the world and from fleshly society: it behoves thee
therefore to be changed in mind likewise from the fleshly temper to the heavenly temper.
Well, at the very sound thereof, thou beginnest to discriminate, and thou no longer hast
rest, but only care and trouble to gain what thou hast heard of. 8.

And when thou deemest thyself to have done all by renouncing, the Lord taketh account with
thee. “Why dost thou boast? Did not I create thy body and thy soul? Did not I make the
gold and silver? What hast thou done? The soul begins to make confession and to beseech
the Lord, and say, “All things are Thine. The house I am in is Thine. My clothes are
Thine. From Thee is my food, and of Thee am I supplied for every need. Then the Lord
begins to reply: “I thank thee. The goods are thine own. The good will is thine own; and
because of thy love towards Me, since thou hast made Me thy refuge, come, I will now give
thee what hitherto neither thou hast gained, nor do men have it upon earth. Take Me, thy
Lord, with thine own soul, that thou mayest ever be with Me in joy and gladness.”

9. A woman espoused to a husband brings all that she has and her whole dowry, and out of
her great affection casts it into the hands of her husband, and says this: “I have nothing
of my own. All that I have is yours; and my dowry is yours, and my soul and my body are
yours. So also the wise soul is virgin to the Lord, having communion with His Holy Spirit.
But as He, when He came upon earth, suffered and was crucified, so it behoves thee also to
suffer with Him. When thou withdrawest from the world, and beginnest to seek God, and to
discriminate, then thou findest thyself at war with thine own nature in its old habits and
the custom that thou hast grown up with; and in warring against custom, thou discoverest
thoughts that oppose thee, and war against thy mind, and these thoughts drag thee and make
thee stray into the material world from which thou camest out. So thou beginnest to wage
conflict and battle, setting in motion thoughts against thoughts, mind against mind, soul
against soul, spirit against spirit; and there the soul is in agony of fear. 10. For there
is revealed a certain hidden, subtle power of darkness seated in the heart; and the Lord
is nigh thy soul and body, seeing thy battle, and puts in thee secret heavenly thoughts,
and begins to give thee rest in secret.

But He suffers thee to be chastened for a while, and grace provides that thou shouldest
come into these very afflictions; and when thou comest into rest, grace makes herself
known to thee, and shows thee that it was for thy benefit that she permitted thee to be
exercised. It is as when a rich man has a child, and the child a tutor. For a while he
makes him smart with straps; and the chastisement, and the stripes, and the weals appear
grievous, until the child becomes a man, and then he begins to thank the tutor. So does
grace chastise thee by design, until thou comest unto a perfect man. 11. The husbandman
flings the seed in every direction; and he who plants a vine wishes that all of it should
bear fruit. So he applies the pruning-hook, and if he finds no fruit, he is grieved. So
the Lord wishes His word to be sown in the hearts of men. But as the husbandman is grieved
at the unrepaying ground, so the Lord is grieved at the unrepaying heart which bears no
fruit. As the winds blow everywhere, over all creation, and as the sun lightens upon all
the world, so the Godhead is everywhere, and is everywhere found. If thou seekest Him in
heaven, He is found there in the thoughts of the angels. If thou seekest Him upon earth,
He is found here also in the hearts of men. But few out of many are found the Christians
who are well pleasing to Him. Glory and majesty to the Father, and to the Son, and the
Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXXIII

We ought to pray to God continually and with attention. 1. IT behoves us to pray, not by
bodily habit, nor with a habit of crying, nor by a custom of silence, or of bending the
knees, but soberly, taking heed to our minds, to wait upon God, until He shall come to us
and visit the soul through all its modes of egress and its paths and senses, and so to be
silent when we ought, and to cry out when we ought, and to pray with loud crying, so long
as the mind is strong towards God. As the body, when at work, is entirely occupied with
the work on which it is engaged, and all the members of it help one another, so let the
soul be entirely given up to asking and love towards the Lord, not wandering and carried
about with thoughts, but with all its might endeavouring and gathering itself up with all
its thoughts, and bent upon waiting for Christ.

2. And thus will He lighten upon it, teaching it the true asking, giving it the pure
spiritual prayer, which is worthy of God, and the worship which is in spirit and in truth.
But as one who has taken up the profession of merchandise is not content with a single
device for getting gain, but presses forward to increase and multiply his gain in every
direction, after one device pursuing another, and then running on to another expedient,
and always shying off from what is unprofitable, runs to that which is more lucrative; so
let us also fit our souls out with versatility and skill, to obtain the great true gain,
even God, who teaches us truly to pray. In this way the Lord rests upon the soul’s good
intention, making it a throne of glory, and sitting and resting upon it. That was what we
heard from the prophet Ezekiel, concerning the spiritual creatures harnessed to the
chariot of the Lord. He represents them to us as eyes all over, as the soul is that
carries God, or rather is carried by God; it becomes all eye.

3. As a house that has its master at home is full of all orderliness and beauty and
seemliness, so the soul which has its Lord with it, and abiding in it, is full of all
beauty. It has the Lord with His spiritual treasures for its inhabitant and its
charioteer. But woe to the house whose master is away, and whose lord is not present. It
is desolate, and broken down, full of all uncleanness and disorder. There, as the prophet
says, sirens and demons dwell. In the deserted house are cats and dogs, and all
uncleanness. Woe to the soul that does not arise from its grievous fall, nor receive the
fair Master of the house, even Christ, for its inhabitant, but remains in its uncleanness,
and has within it those who persuade and compel it to have enmity with its own Bridegroom,
and desire to corrupt its thoughts from Christ.

4. But when the Lord sees that to the best of its ability the soul recollects itself,
always seeking and waiting for the Lord night and day, and crying to Him, even as He
commanded to pray without ceasing in everything, He will avenge it, as He promised,
cleansing it from the evil within it, and will present it unto Himself a bride without
blemish and without spot. Now if you believe that these things are true, as indeed they
are, take heed to yourself, whether your soul has found the light to guide it, and the
true meat and drink, which is the Lord. If you have not, seek night and day, that you may
receive. When you see the sun, seek the true Sun, for you are blind. When you behold the
light, look into your soul, whether you have found the true Light, the good Light. All the
things which meet the senses are a shadow of the true realities of the soul. There is
another man within, besides the man who is seen; and eyes, which Satan has blinded, and
ears, which he has deafened; and Jesus came to make this inward man whole. To whom be the
glory and the might, with the Father and the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXXIV

Concerning the glory of Christians which shall be vouchsafed to their bodies at the
resurrection, and they shall be enlightened together with the soul. 1. AS the bodily eyes
see everything clearly, so to the souls of the saints the beauties of the Godhead are
manifest and visible, and Christians are mingled with them and think upon them. To the
bodily eyes that glory is hidden, but to the believing soul it is clearly revealed—the
soul which was dead, which the Lord raises out of sin, even as He wakens the dead bodies
also, and prepares for it a new heaven and a new earth, and a sun of righteousness, giving
it all things out of His own Godhead. There is a true world, and a living earth, and a
fruitful vine, and a bread of life, and living water; as it is written, I believe to see
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, and again, Unto them that fear the
Lord shall the sun of righteousness arise, with healing in his wings; and the Lord said, I
am the true vine, and again, I am the bread of life, and again, He that drinketh of the
water that I shall give him, there shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life.

2. For the whole coming of the Lord was for man’s sake—man who lay dead in the grave of
the darkness of sin, of the unclean spirit and of evil powers—that now in this world He
might raise man up and quicken him, and cleanse him from all blackness, and enlighten him
with His own light, and array him in His own garments, the heavenly garments of His own
Godhead. But at the resurrection of the bodies, whose souls were raised before and
glorified before, then the bodies also are glorified with them, and are enlightened by the
soul which had been enlightened and glorified in this life. For the Lord is their home,
their tabernacle and their city. They are clothed with the habitation from heaven, not
made with hands, the glory of the divine light, as being made children of light. They will
gaze upon each other with no evil eye; for evil has been taken away. There is there no
male nor female, bond nor free, for all alike are changed into a divine nature, being
good, and Gods, and children of God. There brother will then speak peace to sister without
confusion, for all are one thing in Christ, at rest in one light. One will gaze upon
another, and in the gazing will forthwith shine back in truth, at the true contemplation
of light inexpressible.

3. Thus in many shapes and many varying divine glories they look upon each other, and each
is astonished and rejoices with joy unspeakable, gazing upon the other’s glory. You see
how the glories of God are beyond all utterance, and are incomprehensible, of light
inexpressible, and of mysteries eternal, and of good things without number. As, in the
world of sense, it is impossible for any one to comprehend in number the plants, or seeds,
or various blossoms of the earth, and it is out of the question for any one to measure or
understand the entire wealth of the earth; or as in the sea it is impossible for a man to
comprehend the living creatures in it, or their number, or their kinds, or their
differences, or the measure of its water or the measure of its place; or as in the air it
is impossible to know the number of the birds, or their kinds or variety; or as it is
impossible to comprehend the greatness of the sky, or the positions of the stars, or their
courses; so is it impossible to speak or to recount the wealth of Christians, which is
infinite and incomprehensible. For if these creatures are so infinite and incomprehensible
to men, how much more He that created and prepared them!

A man ought therefore rather to rejoice and be glad because such wealth and such an
inheritance is prepared for Christians, that no one can utter it or reckon it up. With all
diligence and humility therefore we ought to set ourselves to the Christian’s contest and
to receive that wealth. For the inheritance and portion of Christians is God Himself. The
Lord Himself, it says, is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Glory to Him who
gives Himself, and mingles His own holy nature with the souls of Christians, for ever.
Amen.

HOMILY XXXV

1 Concerning the old Sabbath and the new. 1. IN the shadow of the law given by Moses God
commanded that every man should rest on the sabbath and do nothing. This was a type and
shadow of the true sabbath given to the soul from the Lord. For the soul to which it has
been granted to be set free from base and foul thoughts both keeps true sabbath and enjoys
true rest, being idle and at leisure so far as the works of darkness are concerned. There,
in the typical sabbath, although they rested in bodily fashion, their souls were in
bondage to wickednesses and sins. This, the true sabbath, is true rest, the soul being
idle and cleansed from the suggestions of Satan, and resting in the eternal rest and joy
of the Lord. 2. As then He enjoined that even the unreasoning animals should rest on the
sabbath day, that the ox should not be forced under the yoke of necessity, and that they
should not lade the ass—for the animals also were to rest from their heavy works—so when
the Lord came and gave the true eternal sabbath, He gave rest to the soul which was
burdened and heavy laden with the burdens of the iniquity of unclean imaginations, and
labouring perforce at the works of unrighteousness, as being in bondage to bitter masters;
and He lightened it of the burdens, hard to be borne, of vain and impure imaginations; and
He took away the yoke, the bitter yoke, of the works of unrighteousness, and refreshed the
soul when it was wearied with the imaginations of uncleanness.

2 3. The Lord calls man to rest, saying, Come, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest; and as many souls as are obedient and draw near, He makes them rest
from all these heavy, burdensome, unclean thoughts, and they are idle from all iniquity,
keeping a true, delicious, holy sabbath, and celebrate a festival of the Spirit, a
festival of joy and gladness unspeakable; and they perform a pure service, well pleasing
to God, out of a pure heart. This is the true and the holy sabbath. Let us therefore
beseech God that we also may enter into this rest, that we may be idle from base and evil
and vain imaginations, that thus we may be able to serve God out of a pure heart, and
celebrate the feast of the Holy Ghost. Blessed is he who enters into that rest. Glory to
Him whose good pleasure it is, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXXVI

Concerning the twofold resurrection of souls and bodies, and of the divers glory of the
risen. 1. THE resurrection of dead souls is even now. The resurrection of bodies is in
that day. But as the stars, though fixed in heaven, are not all equal, but one differs
from another in brightness and magnitude, so in spiritual things there are advances,
according to the measure of faith, in the Spirit Himself, one man richer than another. The
scripture says, He that speaketh in a tongue speaketh by the Spirit of God, He is a
spiritual man, speaking to God. But he that prophesieth, edifieth the church. The latter
had the greater abundance of grace. The one edifies himself only; the other his neighbour
also. This is like a grain of corn sown in the earth; the same grain out of the same heart
produces many grains differing from each other. And again the ears, some are larger, some
smaller, but all are gathered into one threshing-floor, one barn; though they differ, one
bread is made of them. 2. Or as in a city there are multitudes of people, and some are
infant children, some men, or young men; but all drink water of one well, and all eat of
one bread, and have one air to breathe; or as lamps are, one with two wicks and one with
seven, but where the greater abundance of light is, the illumination is greater. So as
many as are in fire and light cannot be in darkness; but there is much difference. If a
father has two sons, one a child, the Other a young man, he sends the one abroad to
foreign cities and countries, but the little one he keeps continually under guard, because
he can do nothing. Glory be to God. Amen.


FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
========================

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES continued

HOMILY XXXVII

Concerning Paradise and the spiritual law. 1. THE friendship of the world, according to
that which is written, is enmity with God. For which cause the scripture bids every one to
keep his own heart with all diligence, that keeping in it the word, like a paradise, a man
may enjoy grace, not hearing the serpent that winds within, when he counsels the things
that make for pleasure, whereby is engendered the wrath that slays a brother, and the soul
that brings it forth perishes, but hearing the Lord when He says, “Take heed to faith and
hope, through which is engendered love towards God and man, which gives eternal life.”
Into this paradise Noe entered, keeping the commandment and working, and through love was
redeemed from the wrath. Keeping this paradise, Abraham heard the voice of God. Keeping
this, Moses received glory in his countenance. David likewise keeping this worked, from
whence he gained the mastery of his enemies; and Saul too, so long as he kept his heart,
prospered, but when at last he transgressed, at last he was forsaken. For the word of God
follows each man by measure according to proportion. So long as a man holds fast, he is
held fast; and so long as he guards, he is guarded.

2. For this cause the whole company of holy prophets, apostles, martyrs, kept the word in
their hearts, caring for nothing else, but despising earthly things, and abiding in the
commandment of the Holy Ghost, and preferring before all things the Spirit’s love of God
and the Spirit’s good, not in word only or in mere knowledge, but in word and deed as
well, by actual practice, choosing poverty instead of wealth, dishonour instead of glory,
suffering instead of pleasure, affliction instead of enjoyment, and for that reason love
instead of wrath. For as they hated the sweet things of life, they rather loved those who
took them away, as working with them to the purpose, forbearing to know good and evil.
They neither denied those who were good, nor blamed those who were evil, esteeming all
alike to be envoys of the Master’s dispensation. Therefore they had a well-disposed
benevolence towards all. When they heard the Lord say, Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven,
then they reckoned those who wronged them as benefactors, because from them they received
occasion for their own forgiveness. When again they heard, As ye would that men should do
unto you, do ye also unto them, then they began to love good men also according to
conscience. Leaving their own righteousness, and seeking the righteousness of God, they
naturally found love also included in it.

3. For the Lord, in giving many commandments concerning love, bade us seek the
righteousness of God, for He knows that it is the mother of love. There is no other way to
be saved but through our neighbour; according as He enjoined, Forgive, and ye shall be
forgiven. This is the spiritual law, written in faithful hearts, the fulfilling of the
first law. I came not, He says, to destroy the law, but to fulfil. How is it fulfilled?
Let me tell you. The first law, by reasonable occasion of him who sinned, condemned, over
and above, him that was sinned against; for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest
thyself. So says the law: In the midst of judgment, judgment; in the midst of striking, a
stroke. 4. Forgiveness is the fulfilling of the law. We have called it a “first law”; not
that God has set two laws before men, but one law, which is spiritual in its nature, but
in regard to retribution, it awards to each man the retribution which is just, forgiving
him that forgives, and contending with him that contends. With the clean, it says, thou
shalt be clean, and with the froward thou shalt wrestle. Therefore those who spiritually
fulfil it, and are favoured in proportion, came to love with a spiritual love not only
those who did them good, but also those that reproached them and persecuted them, looking
for a recompense of good things. Of good things, I say; not because they acquiesced in the
wrongs done to them, but because they did good to the souls of the wrongdoers. They
committed them to God as the means by which they obtained the beatitude; as it says,
Blessed are ye, when they shall revile you, and persecute you.

5. It was under a spiritual law that they were taught to be thus minded. While they
endured, and preserved their inward meekness, the Lord, looking upon the patience of the
heart under attack and of the love that lost not its self-control, broke through the
middle wall of partition, and they cast away perfect hatred, and their love was no longer
against the grain, but with relief. The Lord brought to nought the sword that turned every
way, which stirs the thoughts, and they entered into that within the veil, whither the
forerunner is for us entered, even the Lord; and they revelled in the fruits of the
Spirit, and having beheld things to come in security of heart, no longer, as the apostle
says, in a glass, and darkly, they said what eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, how many things God hath prepared for them that love
Him.

But I will ask this wonderful question. 6. Question. If it has not entered into the heart
of man, how do you come to know it—especially when you confessed in the Acts that you were
men of like passions with us? Answer. Well, listen what answer Paul makes to this. But
God, he says, hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the depths of God. But lest any one should say that to them the Spirit was
given because they were apostles, but that we are naturally incapable of it, he says
elsewhere in prayer, That God would give you to be strengthened with might in the inward
man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts; and again, But the Lord is the Spirit, and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; and again, But if any have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.

7. Let us therefore pray to partake of the Holy Spirit in full assurance and experience,
and to enter in whence we came out, and that for the future the serpent may be kept away
from us, the parent of wrath, the counsellor of vain glory, the spirit of carking and
surfeiting; so that having gained a firm faith we may keep the commandments of the Lord,
and may grow up in Him unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature, that we may no
longer be under dominion to the deceit of this world, but may be in the full assurance of
the Spirit, and not disbelieve, that the grace of God has pleasure even in sinners when
they repent (for that which is bestowed according to grace is not measured by comparison
with previous infirmity; otherwise grace is no more grace;) but believing in the Almighty
God may come with simple and not over-anxious heart to Him who through faith bestows the
participation of the Spirit, and not through comparison of the works of nature; for it
says, Ye received not the Spirit by the works of the law, but by the hearing of faith.

8. Question. What is the meaning of the text, I had rather speak five words in the church
with my understanding? Answer. The word church is understood of two several things, the
assembly of the faithful, and the compound soul. When it is taken spiritually, of the
individual man, the church denotes him as a compound whole. “Five words” mean the
comprehensive virtues which build up the whole man in varying modes of distribution. As he
who spoke in the Lord comprehended all wisdom in his five words, so he who follows the
Lord builds up godliness to abundance through the five virtues. Five they are, and they
comprehend all; first prayer, then temperance, alms, poverty, patience. These, performed
with longing desire and set purpose, are words of the soul spoken by the Lord and heard by
the heart. The Lord works, and then the Spirit speaks without sound, and the heart
performs in outward manifestation, in proportion as it desires.

9. And as these virtues contain all virtues, so they are productive of each other. If the
first is wanting, there is an end of all. Likewise through the second come those that
follow, and so on. How shall any one pray except under the operation of the Spirit? And
the scripture bears me out when it says, No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the
Holy Ghost. And how will a man persevere who enters on a course of temperance without
prayer and with no assistance? And he who is not temperate in everything, how shall he do
alms to the hungry or the wrongdoer? And he who does no alms, will not himself willingly
submit to poverty. And again, resentment is akin to the desire of money, whether it has or
whether it has not. But the virtuous soul is thus built up into the church, not because of
what it has done, but because of what it has desired. It is not his own work that saves a
man, but He who bestows on him the power. If any one therefore endures the marks of the
Lord, let him not pride himself on anything, even if he have done some ordinary thing, but
only on having loved and taken pains with a view to action. Never think that you have been
beforehand with the Lord in your virtue, according to him who says, It is He that worketh
in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

10. Question. What then does the scripture charge a man to do? Answer. We have already
said that a man has by nature the power of taking pains, and this is what it demands. It
charges therefore that a man should first consider, and that when he has considered, he
should love, and should use his will to take pains. But to have the mind influenced, or to
endure the labour, or to accomplish the work, this the grace of the Lord bestows on the
man who has willed and believed. Man’s will therefore is like a material support. Where
the will is not present, even God Himself does nothing, though He could, because of man’s
freedom. The effectual working of God depends upon the will of man. On the other hand, if
we give our whole will, He ascribes to us the whole work. Wonderful is God in all things,
and altogether beyond the grasp of our understanding; but we men endeavour to speak some
portion of His wonders, relying upon the scripture, or rather made intelligent by it. For
who, it says, hath known the mind of the Lord? But He says Himself, How often would I have
gathered thy children together, and ye would not, so that we believe by this that it is He
who gathers us, and demands of us nothing but the will. But what is it that manifests the
will, except voluntary labour?

11. For as iron when it saws, and fells, and delves, and plants, gets worn itself and
fails; but there is another who sets it in motion and applies it, and when it is battered
makes it red hot and renews it; so although man becomes worn and wearied in working that
which is good, yet the Lord works secretly in him, and when he is wearied and battered,
comforts and renews his heart, as the prophet says, Shall the axe boast itself apart from
him that heweth, or the saw exalt itself apart from him that draws it? So is it also with
regard to evil, when a man obeys it and makes himself ready for it. Then Satan also draws
and sharpens him, as the robber his sword. We have likened the heart to iron, because of
its insensibility to things and its great hardness. But we ought not, like insensible
iron, to be ignorant of Him who holds us—otherwise we should not change quickly from the
word which is our husbandman to the suggestion of the evil one—but rather, like the ox and
ass, to know Him who drives and guides us according to disposition; for it says, The ox
knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib, but Israel knoweth Me not. Let us
therefore pray to receive the knowledge of God, and to be instructed in the spiritual law
to the accomplishment of His holy commandments, glorifying the Father and the Son and the
Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXXVIII

Great exactness and intelligence is required to discern true Christians, and who these
are. 1. MANY who appear to be righteous are taken for Christians. It is a task for skilled
men and experts to try whether such men have really the stamp and image of the King, lest
perchance they should be counterfeits of the works of skilled men, and skilled men wonder
at them and criticise them. But people who are not skilled cannot test deceitful workers,
for they too wear the shape of monks and Christians. For the false apostles also suffered
for Christ, and they also preached the kingdom of heaven. That is why the apostle says In
perils more abundant, in afflictions above measure, in prisons more abundant, wishing to
show that he had suffered more than they. 2. Gold is easily found; but pearls and precious
stones which do for a king’s diadem are seldom found, for many times none that will do are
found. So Christians also are built up into the crown of Christ, that those souls may be
made partakers with the saints. Glory to Him who so loved that soul, suffered for it, and
raised it up from the dead. But as a veil was put over the face of Moses, that the people
might not gaze upon his face, so now a veil lies upon your heart, that you may not behold
the glory of God. When this is taken away, then He shines forth and manifests Himself to
Christians, to those who love Him and seek Him in truth, as He says, I will manifest
Myself to him, and will make My abode with him.

3. Let us endeavour then to come to Christ, who cannot lie, that we may obtain the
promise, and the new covenant, which the Lord has made new through His cross and death,
having burst the gates of hell and sin and brought out the faithful souls, and given them
the Comforter within, and brought them into His kingdom. Let us reign then with Him, even
we, in Jerusalem, His city, in the heavenly church, in the choir of the holy angels. The
brethren who have been long time exercised and tried, these can succour the less
experienced, and feel for them. 4. For some who had made themselves sure, and had been
mightily worked upon by grace of God, have found their members so sanctified that they
reckoned that concupiscence does not occur in Christianity, but that they had acquired a
sober and chaste mind, and that from henceforth the inward man was raised aloft to divine
and heavenly things, so that they really imagined such an one to have come already to the
perfect measures. And when the man imagined that he was already near the calm haven,
billows rose up against him, so that he found himself again in the middle of the ocean,
and was carried where sea was sky and death was ready. Thus sin entered after all, and
wrought all manner of evil concupiscence. And again a certain class of persons having some
grace vouchsafed to them, and having received a drop, so to speak, out of the whole deep
sea, find it hour by hour, and day by day, such a work of wonder, that the man who is
under its influence is amazed and astounded at the strange, surprising operation of God,
to think that he should be given such wisdom. After this, grace enlightens him, guides
him, gives him peace, makes him good in every way, being itself divine and heavenly, so
that in comparison with that man kings and potentates, wise men and nobles are esteemed as
least and worthless. After a time and season things change, so that of a truth such a man
esteems himself a greater sinner than all others; and again at another season sees himself
like a great colossal king, or a king’s powerful friend; again at another season sees
himself weak and a beggar. Then the mind falls into perplexity, why things should be thus
and then thus. Because Satan in his hatred of the good suggests evil things to those who
attain virtue, and strives to overthrow them. That is his occupation.

5. But do not submit to him, while you work at the righteousness that is accomplished in
the inner man, where stands the judgment seat of Christ, together with His undefiled
sanctuary, that the testimony of your conscience may glory in the cross of Christ, who has
purged your conscience from dead works, that you may serve God with your spirit, that you
may know what you worship, according to Him who said, We worship that which we know. Obey
God who guides you. Let your soul have communion with Christ, as bride with bridegroom.
For this mystery is great, it says; but I speak concerning Christ and the blameless soul.
To Him be the glory for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXXIX

Why the Holy Scripture was given to us by God. 1. AS a king writes letters to those upon
whom he wishes to confer patents and special gifts, and signifies to them all, “endeavour
to come quickly to me, that you may receive from me royal gifts”; and if they do not come
and receive them, they will be none the better off for having read the letters, but, on
the contrary, are liable to be put to death for not choosing to go and be honoured by the
king’s hand; so God, the King, has sent to men the holy scriptures as His letters,
declaring by them that they should pray to God and believing should ask and receive a
heavenly gift of the substance of His Godhead; for it is written, That we should be made
partakers of the divine nature. But if man will not come, and ask, and receive, he is none
the better off for having read the scriptures, but is rather liable to death, because he
did not choose to receive from the heavenly King the gift of life, without which it is
impossible to obtain immortal life, which is Christ. To whom be glory for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XL

That all the virtues and all the vices are bound each to other, and like a chain are
linked one to another. 1. CONCERNING exterior discipline, and what practice is best and
first, know this, beloved, that all the virtues are bound up together. The one is linked
to the other, like a kind of spiritual chain; prayer to love, love to joy, joy to
meekness, meekness to humility, humility to service, service to hope, hope to faith, faith
to obedience, obedience to simplicity. And on the opposite side, evil things are bound one
to another, hatred to anger, anger to pride, pride to vainglory, vainglory to unbelief,
unbelief to hardness of heart, hardness of heart to carelessness, carelessness to sloth,
sloth to sullenness, sullenness to want of endurance, want of endurance to love of
pleasure. The other parts of vice likewise are dependent upon each other; so also on the
good side the virtues are dependent on each other and connected.

2. But the chief of all good endeavour, the topmost of right actions, is perseverance in
prayer. From it we may daily gain increasingly the rest of the virtues through asking them
of God. By it is formed, in those to whom it is vouchsafed, the fellowship of the holiness
of God and of spiritual energy, and the attachment of the disposition of the mind to the
Lord in love unspeakable. The man who compels himself every day to persevere in prayer is
enflamed with divine affection and fiery longing by spiritual love towards God, and
receives the grace of the sanctifying perfection of the Spirit. 3. Question. Since there
are some who sell their goods, and emancipate their slaves, and perform commandments, yet
do not seek to receive the Spirit in this world, living thus, do they not go into the
kingdom of heaven? Answer. This is a subtle matter. Some say that there is one kingdom and
one hell; but we say that there are many grades and differences and measures, both in the
kingdom and in hell. As there is one soul in all the members, which operates aloft in the
brain, and also moves the feet beneath, so the Godhead contains all creatures, the
heavenly, and those under the bottomless pit, and is everywhere fulfilled in the creation,
although it transcends the creatures, because it is infinite and incomprehensible. This
Godhead looks upon men, and providentially orders all things according to reason; and when
some pray, not knowing what they seek, and some fast, others continue in service; God
being a just judge, gives to each a reward according to the measure of faith. What they
do, they do for the fear of God; but not all these are sons, or kings, or heirs.

4. And in the world there are some who are murderers, others fornicators, and others
extortioners, while others distribute their own possessions to the poor. Upon both these
classes the Lord keeps His eye, and to those who do good He gives refreshment and reward.
For there are superior measures, and there are little measures, and in light and glory
there are differences, and in hell itself and punishment appear poisoners and robbers, as
well as others who have committed only little sins. Those who say that there is one
kingdom and one hell, and that there are no degrees, say ill. How many worldly people
there are who are now continually at theatres and other disorderly things, and how many
there are now who pray and fear God! On these and those alike God keeps an eye, and, like
a just judge, prepares refreshment for the one and punishment for the other.

5. As men harness horses and drive chariots and race them against each other, while each
struggles to overcome and conquer his opponent, so is there a spectacle in the heart of
those who strive, the evil spirits wrestling with the soul, and God and the angels
beholding the contest. At each hour many fresh devices are set on foot by the soul, and
likewise by iniquity within. The soul has many secret devices, and in due time produces
them and gives them birth. Iniquity likewise has many devices and inventions, and gives
birth hour by hour to fresh devices against the soul. The mind is charioteer, and
harnesses the chariot of the soul, holding the reins of the thoughts; and thus it runs
against the chariot of Satan, where he too has harnessed against the soul. 6. Question. If
prayer is rest, how do some say, “We cannot pray,” and will not continue in prayer?

Answer. Rest itself, when it abounds, produces compassion and other forms of service, such
as to visit the brethren, to serve them with the word. Nature itself desires to go and see
the brethren, to speak a word. Nothing thrown in the fire can remain in its own nature. It
cannot help becoming fire. If you throw pebbles into the fire, they become a little lime.
The man who wishes to plunge at large into the sea, and to get into the middle of the
ocean, is submerged and disappears from sight, while the man who goes in step by step
wishes to come up and float on the top and get out at the haven to see the people on
shore. So in the spiritual world a man enters into the depth of grace, and again bethinks
him of his companions, and nature itself desires to go to one’s brethren to fulfil duties
of charity, and to prove the word.

7. Question. How can the two things be in the heart together, grace and sin? Answer. As
when there is fire outside a brazen vessel, then when you put fuel under, the vessel gets
hot, and the inside of it boils and bubbles up, because the fire outside burns up beneath;
but if a man pays no attention, and puts no fuel under, the fire begins to get less hot,
and almost to go out; so grace, which is the heavenly fire, is both inside you and outside
you. So if you pray, and give your thoughts to the love of Christ, see how you supplied
the fuel, and your thoughts become fire, and are plunged in longing after God; and even if
the Spirit withdraws a little, as though It were outside you, still It is within you, and
Its signs are seen outside you. But if one is careless, lending himself a little either to
worldly affairs or to wandering, iniquity comes back and enters into the soul, and begins
to afflict the whole man. The soul therefore remembers its former rest, and begins to be
afflicted, and to suffer without intermission.

8. The mind has again given heed to God. The former rest has begun to draw near it. It
begins to seek more earnestly. “I beseech Thee,” it says, “O Lord.” Little by little is
added to it the fire which kindles and refreshes the soul, as the hook lifts the fish out
of the depth by little and little. If this were not so, and he were not to taste of
bitterness and death, how could he have discerned the bitter from the sweet, and death
from life, and given thanks to the life-giving Father and Son and Holy Ghost, for ever?
Amen.

HOMILY XLI

Very deep are the secret chambers of the soul, which grows in part with the growth of
grace or of wickednesses. 1. THE precious vessel of the soul is of great depth, as it says
in a certain place, He seeketh out the deep, and the heart. When man swerved from the
commandment, and came under sentence of wrath, sin took him for her subject; and being
herself like a great deep of bitterness in subtilty and depth, she entered within and took
possession of the ranges of the soul, even to the deepest inner chambers of it. In such
fashion as this let us liken the soul and sin when mixed with it, as if there should be a
great big tree with many branches and it has its roots in the deepest parts of the earth.
So the sin which had come in, taking possession of the ranges of the deepest chambers of
the soul, came to be customary and to have the first say, growing up with each man from
infancy, and going up and down with him, and instructing him in evil things.

2. When therefore the influence of divine grace has overshadowed the soul according to the
measure of each man’s faith, and he receives help from on high, still grace has
overshadowed him only in part. Let not a man imagine that his whole soul has been
enlightened. There is still a large range of wickedness within, and the man has need of
much labour and pains, corresponding to the grace given him. That is the reason why divine
grace began to visit the soul only in part, though it had power to cleanse and perfect the
man in the turn of an hour, in order to test the man’s purpose, whether he preserves his
love towards God entire, not complying with the evil one in anything, but lending himself
wholly to grace. In this way the soul, approving itself time after time, and grieving
grace in nothing, nor using it despitefully, is helped by this method of little by little;
and grace itself finds range in the soul, and strikes root even to the deepest parts and
reasonings of it, when the soul on many occasions approves itself and corresponds with
grace, until the whole soul is embraced by the heavenly grace, which thenceforth reigns in
the vessel itself.

3. But if any one is not very humble, he is delivered to Satan, and is stripped naked of
the divine grace that was given him, and is tempted with many afflictions, and then his
self-esteem is shewn in its true colours, because in reality he is naked and wretched. He
who is rich in the grace of God ought to be very humble and contrite of heart, and to
consider himself as poor and having nothing. None of it is his own. Another gave it him,
and takes it away when He pleases. He who humbles himself thus before God and men is able
to keep the grace that was given to him, as the Lord says, He that humbleth himself shall
be exalted. Elect though he be of God, let him be reprobate to himself; and being really
faithful, let him consider himself unworthy. Such souls are well pleasing to God, and are
quickened in Christ, to whom be glory and might for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XLII

Not external things, but internal, advance or injure a man, namely the Spirit of grace or
the spirit of wickedness. 1. SUPPOSE there is a great city, and it is deserted, the walls
all broken down, and it be taken by enemies, its greatness is of no use. Care then must be
taken in proportion to its greatness that it should have strong walls, that the enemy may
not come in. In like manner, souls adorned with knowledge and intelligence and acuteness
of mind are like great cities. But careful inquiry must be made whether they are fortified
with the power of the Spirit, lest the enemy should get into them and lay them waste. The
wise men of the world, Aristotle, or Plato, or Socrates, being prudent in knowledge, were
like great cities, but they were made waste by enemies, because the Spirit of God was not
in them.

2. But as many simple folk as are partakers of grace are like little cities fortified by
the power of the cross. They only fall from grace for two causes, and perish either
because they cannot bear the afflictions that are brought upon them, or because, having
tasted the sweets of the pleasures of sin, they continued in them. Those who tread the way
cannot go through without temptations. As in childbirth the beggar and the queen have the
same pangs, and as the rich man’s land and the poor man’s alike, if they receive not the
necessary culture, cannot bear worthy fruits, so in the culture of the soul not the wise
man, not the rich man, reigns in grace, unless through endurance, and afflictions, and
many a labour. The life of Christians ought to be of that kind. As honey, being sweet,
does not admit of anything bitter or poisonous, so Christians are good to all who come
near them, good or bad, as the Lord says, Be ye good, like your heavenly Father. The thing
that injures and pollutes a man is from within. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, as
the Lord says; because the things which defile the man are from within.

3. From within, creeping and advancing in the soul, is the spirit of wickedness,
calculating, inciting, which is the veil of darkness, the old man, which those who flee to
God must put off, and put on the heavenly, new man, which is Christ. Nothing outside can
hurt a man, only the spirit of darkness dwelling in the heart, alive and active; so that
every one in his thoughts ought to possess the conflict, that Christ may shine upon his
heart. To whom be glory for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XLIII

Concerning the progress of a Christian man, the whole power of which depends upon the
heart, as is here described in various ways. 1. AS many lamps and burning torches are
kindled from the fire, but all the torches and lamps are kindled and shine from a single
nature, so Christians are kindled and shine from a single nature, the divine fire, the Son
of God, and have their torches burning in their hearts, and shine before Him while on
earth, as He did. For it says, Therefore hath God, even Thy God, anointed Thee with the
oil of gladness. That is why He was called Christ, in order that we also, being anointed
with the same oil with which He was anointed, might become Christs, of the one substance
and one body. It says again, Both He that sanctifieth and they which are sanctified are
all of one. 2. Christians, then, in one direction are like lamps containing the oil in
themselves, that is, the fruits of righteousness: but if it be not kindled from the lamp
of Godhead within them, they are nothing. The Lord was the burning lamp, because of the
Spirit of the Godhead which abode substantially in Him and set on fire His heart according
to His human nature.

As if there were a rotten pouch filled with pearls, so Christians ought to be lowly and
easily despised in the outward man, but inwardly in the inner man they have the pearl of
great price. Others are like to whited sepulchres, outwardly painted and decorated, but
within full of dead men’s bones, of much stench and unclean spirits. They are dead from
God, and clothed with all shame and filthiness and with the darkness of the adversary. 3.
The apostle says that the child, so long as he is little, is under tutors and governors of
evil spirits, which spirits do not wish the child to grow up, lest he should become a
full-grown man, and begin to aim at the advantage of the house, and to claim the lordship.
The Christian ought at all times to have God in remembrance; for it is written, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; that he may love the Lord not only when he goes
into the place of prayer, but that in walking, and talking, and eating, he may have the
remembrance of God, and love and dutiful affection for Him. It says, Where thy mind is,
there also is thy treasure. To whatever thing a man’s heart is tied, and where his desire
draws him, that is his God. If the heart at all times desires God, He is the Lord of his
heart. But if a man after renouncing and making himself without possessions, and without
home, and fasting—if this one is still tied to the man that he is, or to worldly affairs,
or to house, or to the charm of parents, where his heart is tied and his mind is captive,
that is his God, and he is found to have gone out of the world by the front door, but to
have entered and thrown himself into the world by the side door.

As sticks thrown into the fire cannot resist the power of the fire, but are forthwith
burned up, so the devils desiring to fight with a man to whom the Spirit has been
vouchsafed are burned and consumed by the divine power of the fire, if only the man is at
all times cleaving to the Lord, and keeping his trust and his hope towards Him. And even
if the devils are strong as strong mountains, they are burned by prayer, like wax by fire.
But meantime great is the struggle and the battle against them which awaits the soul.
There are rivers of dragons, and mouths of lions. There is fire which flames into the
soul. As the perfect evildoer, drunk with the spirit of error, is insatiable to evil,
either murdering, or committing adultery, so Christians, when they have been baptized into
the Holy Spirit, are without experience of evil; but those who have grace, but are still
mingled with sin, these are subject to fear, and travel through fearful places. 4.

For as merchants on a voyage, though they find a wind to suit them and the sea calm, but
have not yet reached the haven, are always subject to fear, lest suddenly a contrary wind
should stir and the sea rise into billows, and the ship be in peril, so Christians, even
if they have in themselves a favourable wind of the Holy Spirit blowing, are nevertheless
yet subject to fear, lest the wind of the adverse power should rise and blow on them, and
stir disturbance and billows for their souls. There is need therefore of great diligence,
that we may arrive at the haven of rest, at the perfect world, at the eternal life and
pleasure, at the city of the saints, at the heavenly Jerusalem, at the church of the
firstborn. Unless a man gets through these measures, he is under much fear, lest in the
meantime the evil power should effect some fall.

5. As a woman who has conceived carries her babe within in the dark, so to speak, and in
covert; but if by and by the child comes forth at the proper time, it sees a new creation,
which it never saw before, of sky and earth and sun, and immediately friends and kinsfolk
with cheerful countenances receive it into their arms; but if through some derangement it
happens that the child is displaced, then the surgeons whose business it is are obliged to
use the knife, and the child is thus found to pass from death to death, from darkness to
darkness—so think of what happens in the spiritual world. As many as have received the
seed of the Godhead, these have it invisibly, and because of sin which dwells there also
they conceal it in dark and obscure places. If therefore they make themselves sure, and
preserve the seed, these in due time are visibly born again, and then at the dissolution
of the body the angels and all the companies above receive them with cheerful
countenances. But if after receiving the weapons of Christ to fight manfully a man grows
slack, such a one is immediately delivered over to the enemies, and at the dissolution of
the body passes from the darkness which now encompasses him to another and a worse
darkness, and to perdition.

6. Suppose there to be a garden with many fruit trees and other sweet-smelling plants, and
that it were all well tilled and laid out for beauty, and that it had also a small wall by
way of hedge to preserve it, and suppose that a vehement stream goes through there, though
but a little of the water dashes against the wall and saps the foundation, it gets itself
a course, and little by little breaks up the foundation, and finds entrance and tears its
way, and roots up all the plants, and mars all the tilling, and makes it fruitless. So is
it with man’s heart. It has its good thoughts; but the streams of evil also are always
near the heart, desiring to cast it down, and to incline it to its own side. Then if the
mind be ever so little light, and yield to unclean thoughts, behold, the spirits of error
have found scope, and have entered in, and have overturned the beauties that were there,
and have destroyed the good thoughts and laid the soul waste.

7. As the eye is little in comparison of all the members, and the pupil, small as it is,
is a great vessel, because it sees at one glance sky, star, sun, moon, cities and other
creatures, and likewise these things, seen at the glance, are formed and imaged in the
little pupil of the eye; so is the mind in the heart, and the heart itself is but a little
vessel, and yet there are dragons, and there lions, and there venomous beasts, and all the
treasures of wickedness; and there are rough uneven ways, there chasms; there likewise is
God, there the angels, there life and the kingdom, there light and the apostles, there the
heavenly cities, there the treasures, there are all things. For as is a fog laid upon all
the world, so that man sees not man, so is the darkness of this age, laid upon all
creation and upon every nature of man from the transgression; for which cause, being
overshadowed of the darkness, they are in night, and pass their lives in dreadful places.
And as is a thick smoke in a single house, so is sin, with its filthy thoughts, settling
upon the thoughts of the heart, and creeping over them, and an infinite multitude of
devils.

8. As in the natural order, when a war is in preparation, the wise men and the great
personages do not go to it, but fear death and stay away; and raw recruits, and the poor,
and the ignorant are put forward; and it so falls out that they get a victory over the
enemies, and pursue them out of their borders, and receive from the king rewards of
victory and crowns, and come to promotions and dignities, and those great ones are found
to be behind them; so is it in the spiritual order. The ignorant begin by hearing the
word, and do the work thereof with the love of the truth in their thoughts, and receive
from God the grace of the Spirit; while the wise, and those who seek the word in subtle
fashion, these fly from the war, and make no advancement, and are found behind those who
fought and conquered.

9. As, when the winds blow vehemently, they move all the creatures under heaven, and
succeed in making a great sound, so the power of the enemy buffets and carries the
thoughts along, and shakes the depths of the heart at will, and scatters the thoughts for
its own advantage. Like tax-collectors sitting in the narrow ways, and laying hold upon
the passers-by, and extorting from them, so do the devils spy upon souls, and lay hold of
them; and when they pass out of the body, if they are not perfectly cleansed, they do not
suffer them to mount up to the mansions of heaven and to meet their Lord, and they are
driven down by the devils of the air. But if whilst they are yet in the flesh, they shall
with much labour and effort obtain from the Lord the grace from on high, assuredly these,
together with those who through virtuous living are at rest, shall go to the Lord, as He
promised, Where I am, there shall also My servant be, and to endless ages they reign with
the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY XLIV

What change and renewal is wrought in a Christian man by Christ, who has healed the
afflictions and diseases of the soul. 1. HE who comes to God, and desires to be in truth a
partner of Christ’s throne, ought to come with a view to this end, that he may be changed
and altered from his former condition and conduct, and be made a good and new man, who
brings nothing of the old man with him. If any man be in Christ, it says, he is a new
creature. This was the very purpose of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, to change and
alter and renew nature, and to create afresh this soul that was overturned by passions
through the transgression, mingling it with His own Spirit, the Spirit of Godhead. New
mind, and new soul, and new eyes, new ears, a new spiritual tongue, and in short new men
altogether—this was what He came to make of those who believe Him, or let us say new
bottles, anointing them with His own light of knowledge, that He might change their wine
into new wine, which is His Spirit; for new wine, He says, must be put into new bottles.

2. As the enemy, when he had got man into subjection, made him new for himself, enveloping
him in lusts of wickedness, and anointing him with the spirit of sin poured into him the
wine of all iniquity and evil doctrine; so the Lord, having delivered him from the enemy,
made him new, anointing him with His own Spirit, and poured into him the wine of life, the
new doctrine of the Spirit. He who changed the nature of the five loaves into the nature
of a multitude, and gave a voice to the irrational nature of an ass, and converted the
harlot to chastity, and prepared the nature of burning fire to bedew those who were in the
furnace, and tamed for Daniel the nature of savage lions; He is able also to change the
soul, which was waste and had become savage, from sin into His own goodness and loving-
kindness and peace, by the holy and good Spirit of promise.

3. As a shepherd knows how to cure the scabby sheep, and to protect it from wolves, so
Christ, the true shepherd, when He came, was alone able to cure and to convert man, the
lost and scabby sheep, from the scab and leprosy of sin. The priests and Levites and
teachers before were unable to cure the soul by the oblations of gifts and sacrifices, and
by their sprinklings of blood, wherewith indeed they were unable even to cure themselves.
For it is not possible, it says, that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sin. But the Lord said, showing the impotence of the physicians of the time, Ye will
surely say unto me this parable, Physician, heal thyself; as much as to say, “I am not
like them, who cannot so much as heal themselves. I am the true physician, and the good
shepherd, who lay down My life for the sheep, who am able to heal all manner of sickness
and all manner of disease of the soul. I am the sheep without spot, that was offered once,
and that am able to cure those that come to Me.” The true healing of the soul is from the
Lord only. Behold, it says, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, that
is to say, of the soul that has believed Him, and that loves Him with a whole heart.

4. The good Shepherd, then, heals the scabby sheep. Sheep cannot heal sheep. And except
man, the reasonable sheep, be healed, there is no entrance for him into the heavenly
church of the Lord. It is thus said even in the law through shadow and image. Concerning
the leper, and him who has a blemish, the Spirit speaks figuratively, with this meaning; A
leper, or one that hath a blemish, shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord; but it
charged the leper to go to the priest, and with much entreaty to take him to the house of
his tabernacle, and [ask him] to lay his hands upon the leprosy, indicating the spot where
the leprosy had attacked him, and to heal it. After the same manner, Christ, the true high
priest of good things to come, bending over souls that are afflicted with the leprosy of
sin, enters into the tabernacle of their body, and heals and cures their disorders. Thus
the soul will be enabled to enter into the heavenly church of the saints of the true
Israel. For any soul that bears the leprosy of the sin of the passions, and has not come
to the true high priest, and been healed now in the camp of the saints, cannot enter into
the heavenly church. For [that church] being without blemish, and pure, seeks souls that
are without blemish and pure. Blessed, says the scripture, are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God.

5. The soul which really believes Christ must be changed and altered from its present evil
condition to a new condition which is good, and from its present lowly nature into another
nature which is divine, and be itself made new by the power of the Holy Ghost. Thus can it
be fit for the heavenly kingdom. These things can be obtained by us if we believe and love
Him in truth, and live by all His holy commandments. If in the time of Elisaeus the
casting of light wood upon the waters brought up the heavy iron, how much more in this
case will the Lord send forth His light, buoyant, good, and heavenly Spirit, and by means
of Him bring up the soul that is sunk in the waters of wickedness, and make it light, and
wing it to the heights of heaven, and alter and change it out of its own nature.

6. In the visible world, no one can pass and get across the sea of himself, without having
the light and buoyant ship, built of wood, which alone is able to walk over the waters—for
if a man treads upon the sea, he is drowned and perishes. In the same way no soul can of
itself cross and pass over and get beyond the bitter sea of sin, and the dangerous deep of
the wicked powers of the darkness of the passions, unless he shall receive the buoyant,
heavenly, winged Spirit of Christ, which walks over all wickedness and passes on, whereby
he shall be enabled to arrive by a straight, right course at the heavenly haven of rest,
at the city of the kingdom. And as those who are in the ship do not draw, or drink of the
sea, nor have their clothing or their food from it, but bring these things with them from
abroad in the ship, so the souls of Christians do not take from this world, but from
above, out of heaven, heavenly sustenance, and spiritual clothing; and living thereby,
embarked in the ship of the good, life-giving Spirit, pass beyond the adverse evil powers
of principalities and dominions. And as all ships are built of one substance of wood, that
by means of them men may get over the bitter sea, so from one Godhead’s heavenly light of
the divers gifts of the one Spirit, all Christian souls receive power and fly high over
all wickedness.

7. But since the ship needs also a pilot, and a sweet, well-tempered wind to make a good
passage, the Lord Himself becomes all these in the faithful soul, carrying it over the
terrible storms and the wild waves of wickedness, and the blasts of the violent winds of
sin, mightily and skilfully and expertly, as He knows how, dispersing their tempest.
Without Christ, the heavenly pilot, it is impossible for any to pass the wicked sea of the
powers of darkness, and the gusts of bitter temptations. They go up, it says, to the
heavens, and down again to the deep. But Christ possesses all a pilot’s knowledge, both of
wars and temptations, treading over the wild waves. For in that He Himself, it says, was
tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted. 8. So our souls must be altered and
changed from their present condition to another condition, and a divine nature, and be
made new instead of old—that is, good and kind and faithful, instead of bitter and
faithless, and being thus made fit, be restored to the heavenly kingdom. The blessed Paul
writes thus of his own change, and of the apprehension wherewith he was apprehended of the
Lord: I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended by
Christ. How then is he apprehended of God? Like as if some usurper were to seize and carry
off a captivity, and it were then apprehended or caught by its true sovereign, so when
Paul was under the influence of the usurping spirit of sin, he persecuted the church and
made havoc of it. But since he acted through zeal for God according to ignorance,
supposing himself to be contending for truth, he was not disregarded, but the Lord
apprehended him, shining about him unspeakably, the heavenly King and true, vouchsafing
His own voice to the man, and striking him like a slave, set him free. Behold the Master’s
goodness and power of changing, how He is able to change souls that were enveloped in sin
and had relapsed into wildness, and in a moment of time to convert them to His own
goodness and peace!

9. All things are possible with God; as it proved in the case of the robber. In a moment
of time he was changed through faith, and restored to paradise. This was the purpose of
the Lord’s coming, to alter and create our souls anew, and make them, as it is written,
partakers of the divine nature, and to give into our soul a heavenly soul, that is the
Spirit of Godhead leading us to all virtue, that we might be enabled to live eternal life.
May it be that with all our hearts we should believe His inexpressible promises, because
He is true that promised. We must love the Lord, and be diligent every way in all virtues,
and ask persistently and continually, so as to receive the promise of His Spirit
completely and to perfection, that our souls may be brought to life while we are still in
flesh. For if the soul shall not receive in this world the hallowing of the Spirit through
much faith and prayer, and be made partaker of the divine nature, being mingled with grace
whereby it shall be able to fulfil every commandment unblameably and purely, it is not
made for the kingdom of heaven. What good thing a man has gained here, the same in that
day will be his life, through the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XLV

No art, no wealth of this world, but only the appearing of Christ, is able to cure man,
whose great kinship with God this Homily sets forth. 1. HE that has chosen the solitary
life ought to consider all things that are concerned with this world as alien and strange
to himself. One who in truth pursues the cross of Christ, denying all things, yea, and his
own life also, ought to have his mind nailed to the love of Christ, esteeming the Lord
before parents, brethren, wife, children, kindred, friends, possessions. This Christ set
forth, when He said, “Every one that hath not left father, or mother, or brethren, or
wife, or children, or lands, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me.” In nothing else is
salvation and peace found for men, as we have been told. How many kings have appeared of
the race of Adam, possessing all the earth, thinking great things because of their royal
power; and yet none of them, for all this kind of advantages, had the power to discern the
evil which had invaded the soul in consequence of the first man’s transgression, and had
darkened it, that it knew not the change which had passed over it—that the mind at first
was pure and saw its Master, being in honour, and now, because of its banishment, is
clothed with shame, the eyes of the heart being blinded, that it may not behold that
glory, which our father Adam before his disobedience beheld.

2. There have been also divers kinds of wise men according to the world; of whom some have
displayed excellence by means of philosophy; others have been admired for their expertness
in sophistry, others have displayed oratorical skill; others have been men of letters and
poets, and have composed histories according to the conventional plan. There have also
been different kinds of artificers, who have practised the arts according to the world.
Some have carved in wood all kinds of birds and fishes, and figures of men, and in those
have endeavoured to display their excellence. Some have taken in hand to fashion
portraits, statues in bronze and the like; others have erected great and beautiful
buildings; others, mining the earth, bring up the silver and gold that perishes, others
precious stones. Others, possessing personal beauties, were elated by the comeliness of
their countenances and were the more enticed by Satan, and fell into sin. And all these
artificers of whom I have spoken, being held by the serpent who dwells within, and not
knowing the sin that abode with them, have been captives and slaves to the evil power,
gaining no advantage from their science and their art.

3. The world, then, which is filled with all varieties, is like a rich man, who possesses
splendid great houses, and gold and silver, and divers properties, and service of all
sorts in abundance; and yet is oppressed by sufferings and sicknesses all at the same
time, and all his kinsfolk stand beside him, with all his riches, unable to relieve him of
his infirmities. No pursuit belonging to this life, not brethren, not wealth, not courage,
nor all other things that we have mentioned, relieve of sin the soul which has been
immersed by sin, and cannot discern things clearly. Only the appearing of Christ is able
to cleanse soul and body. Let us then rid ourselves of all temporal care, and devote
ourselves to the Lord, crying to Him night and day. This visible world, and the
satisfaction found in it, appear to solace the body, but so much the more do they sharpen
the maladies of the soul, and increase the mischief from which it suffers.

4. A certain prudent man, desiring to spare no pains in the inquiry, made it his business
to gain an experience of all the things that come to pass in this world, if he might by
chance profit by them. He had recourse to kings, potentates, rulers, and found no saving
cure from that quarter to apply to his soul, and after spending a long time with them was
none the better for it. He went again to the wise men of the world and the orators: he
quitted them also in the same way, having gained no benefit from them. He made the tour of
the painters, and of those who raise the gold and silver from the earth, and of all the
artists, and was unable to discover any remedy for his own wounds. At last, taking leave
of them, he began to seek God for himself, God who heals the diseases and maladies of the
soul. But while he kept an eye upon himself and thought these matters over, his mind was
found wandering among those very things from which he had ostensibly withdrawn because he
hated them.

5. As some woman who in the world is rich and possesses much money, and a fine house, is
bereft of protection, and those who set upon her to injure her and to lay her buildings
waste are many; and she, not brooking the affront, goes about seeking a powerful man to
marry her, well suited for the purpose and educated in all directions; and when after much
anxiety she gains such a husband, she rejoices over him, and finds in him a strong wall;
in the same way the soul, after the transgression, having been for a long time afflicted
by the adverse power, and having fallen into great isolation, a widow and desolate,
deserted by the heavenly Husband because of the transgression of the commandment, and made
the sport of all the opposing powers; for they drove her out of her wits, bewildering her
out of her heavenly understanding, so that she does not see what they have done to her,
but thinks that she was made like that from the beginning; then, having learned, by being
told, of her desolation and unprotected state, she groaned before the clemency of God, and
found life and salvation—why? Because she returned to her kindred. For there is no tie of
blood or suitableness like that between the soul and God, and between God and the soul.

God made the various kinds of birds—some to burrow in the ground, and to have their
sustenance and satisfaction from thence; for some He ordained that they should dive under
the waters, and have their life from thence. He fashioned two worlds—one above, for the
ministering spirits, and appointed that they should have their social life there; the
other below for men, under this atmosphere. He created also heaven and earth, sun and
moon, waters, trees that bear fruit, all manner of races of animals. But in none of them
does God find rest. All the creation is governed by Him; and yet He did not fix His throne
in them, or establish communion with them, but was well pleased with man alone, entering
into communion with him, and resting in him. Seest thou the kinship of God with man, and
of man with God? Therefore the sagacious and prudent soul, after going the round of all
created things, found no rest for herself, except in the Lord; and the Lord was well
pleased’ in nothing except in man alone.

6. If you open your eyes towards the sun, you find his orb in the sky, but his light and
his beams inclining to the earth, and all the power of its light and its radiance bearing
down upon the earth. So also the Lord is seated at the right hand of the Father above all
principality and power, but He keeps His eye intent upon the hearts of men on earth, that
He may bring those who wait for the succour that He gives, up to where He is; because He
says, Where I am, there shall My servant also be, and Paul again, He hath raised us up
together with Him and made us sit together with Him at His right hand in heavenly places.
Animals without reason are much more sagacious than we. They are all joined each to its
own kind, wild to wild, and sheep to their own species; and you—you do not ascend to your
heavenly kin, which is the Lord, but give yourself over and consent in your thoughts to
the thoughts of evil, making yourself an ally of sin, and fighting on its side against
yourself, thus making yourself prey for the enemy to devour; as if a bird were caught by
the eagle and eaten up, or a sheep by the wolf, or a child that knows nothing were to
stretch out its hand to the serpent, and were bitten by it and killed. The parables have
as it were their living counterparts in the spiritual reality.

7. As a wealthy maiden, betrothed to a husband, may receive ever so many presents before
the marriage, ornaments, or dresses, or costly vessels, but is not satisfied until the
time of the wedding comes and she is made one with him, so the soul, when it is engaged as
a bride to the heavenly Bridegroom, receives as an earnest from the Spirit gifts of
healings, it may be, or of knowledge, or of revelation, but it is not satisfied with
these, until it attains the complete union, namely, charity, which can never change nor
fail, which sets those who have longed for it free from passion and from agitation. Or as
a babe that is decked with pearls and costly clothes, when it is hungry, thinks nothing of
the things that it wears, but despises them, and cares only for its nurse’s breast, how it
may get the milk; so reckon it to be, I pray you, even with the spiritual gifts of God. To
whom be glory for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XLVI

Concerning the difference between God’s word and the worlds, and between God’s children
and the children of this world. 1. THE Word of God is God, and the word of the world is
world; and there is a great difference and distance between the Word of God and the word
of the world, and between the children of God and the children of the world. Everything
that is begotten resembles its parents. If then the offspring of the Spirit shall choose
to give itself up to the word of the world and the things of the earth and the glory of
the present order, it is mortified and perishes, being unable to find the true
satisfaction of life. Its satisfaction is only there, whence it was begotten. As the Lord
says, he who is encompassed by cares of this life and bound by earthly bonds is choked,
and becometh unfruitful from the Word of God. In like manner also he who is possessed by a
fleshly intention, who is a man of the world, if he should wish to listen to the Word of
God, is choked, and becomes like one devoid of reason; for, being accustomed to the
deceits of evil, when such men hear about God, they are as it were oppressed by tiresome
discourse, and their minds are sick of it.

2. Paul says, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit; for they are
foolishness unto him. And the prophet says, The word of God was to them as vomit. You see
that it is not possible to live except according to the word that each was born to. You
must listen to another way of putting it. If the carnal man gives himself up to be
changed, he begins by dying in that quarter, and becoming unfruitful as regards that
former life in wickedness. But as if a man is subject to a disease or a fever, although
his body is prostrate upon the bed, unable to accomplish any of the activities of the
earth, his mind is not quiet, but plucked this way and that, in concern about his
business, and seeks the physician, sending his friends to him; so the soul, weak with
passion from the transgression of the commandment, and in a state of impotence, comes to
the Lord and believes and finds His help; and when it has denied its former evil life,
although it still lies in its old weakness, unable to accomplish in truth the works of
life, yet to be zealously concerned about the life, to ask of the Lord, to seek the true
Physician—this it has and can.

3. It is not as some say, who are led astray by wrong teachings, that man is dead once for
all, and cannot accomplish anything good whatsoever. A babe has no force to accomplish
anything, and is unable to go on its own feet to its mother; but yet it rolls itself, and
makes a noise, and cries, seeking after its mother. The mother meanwhile pities it, and
rejoices that the little one seeks after her with pains and crying; and though the babe
cannot come to her, yet because of the child’s much seeking the mother comes to it
herself, all over-mastered by love for her babe, and takes it up, and cherishes it, and
nurses it with great affection. This is what God does, in His kindness towards man, with
the soul that comes to Him and longs for Him. Nay, much more, impelled by charity, He of
His own accord, in the goodness which is inherent in Him and is all His own, cleaves to
the intention of that soul, and becomes one spirit with it, according to the apostolic
saying. When the soul cleaves to the Lord, and the Lord pities and loves, coming to it and
cleaving to it, and the intention from that time remains continually faithful to the grace
of the Lord, they become one spirit, one composite thing, one intention, the soul and the
Lord; and while the body belonging to it is prostrate upon earth, the intention of the
soul has its conversation wholly in the heavenly Jerusalem, mounting even to the third
heaven, and cleaving to the Lord, and ministering to Him there.

4. And He, while sitting in the throne of majesty on high, in the heavenly city, is wholly
in company with the soul, in the body that belongs to it. He has set her image above in
Jerusalem, the heavenly city of the saints, and has set His own image, the image of the
unspeakable light of His Godhead, in her body. He ministers to her in the city of the
body, while she ministers to Him in the heavenly city. She has inherited Him in heaven,
and He has inherited her upon earth. The Lord becomes the soul’s inheritance, and the soul
becomes the inheritance of the Lord. If the intention and mind of sinners in darkness can
be so far from the body, and is able to sojourn at a distance, and to travel in a moment
to distant countries, and oftentimes, while the body is prostrate on the earth, the mind
is in another country, in company with him or her whom it loves, and sees itself living
there;—if, I say, the soul of the sinner is so light and volatile that his mind is not
debarred from places far away, much more does the soul from whom the veil of darkness has
been taken away by the power of the Holy Ghost, and her mental eyes have been enlightened
through the heavenly light, and she has been perfectly delivered from the passions of
shame, and has been made pure through grace, serve the Lord wholly in heaven in the
spirit, and serve Him wholly in the body, and find herself so expanded in thought as to be
everywhere and where she wills, and, where He wills, to serve the Lord.

5. This is what the apostle says, That ye may be able to comprehend with all the saints,
what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God. Consider the
unspeakable mysteries of the soul from which the Lord takes away the darkness that lies
over her, and reveals her, and is revealed to her; how He expands and extends the thoughts
of her mind to the breadths and lengths and depths and heights of all creation, visible
and invisible. A great and divine work and wonderful indeed is the soul. In fashioning
her, God made her such as to put no evil in her nature, but made her after the image of
the virtues of the Spirit. He put in her the laws of virtues, discernment, knowledge,
prudence, faith, charity, and the other virtues, according to the image of the Spirit.

6. Even now in knowledge and prudence and charity and faith the Lord is still found and
manifested to her. He has put in her intelligence, divers faculties, will, the ruling
mind. He has seated in her much other subtlety besides. He made her mobile, volatile,
unwearying. He bestowed on her to come and go in a moment, and in her thoughts to serve
Him where the Spirit wills. Altogether He created her such as to be His bride, and capable
of fellowship with Him, that He might be mingled with her, and be one spirit with her, as
the apostle says, He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. To whom be glory for
ever. Amen.

HOMILY XLVII

An allegorical interpretation of the things done under the Law. 1. THE glory of Moses
which he had upon his countenance was a figure of the true glory. For as in that case the
Jews were not able to look steadfastly upon the face of Moses, so now Christians receive
that glory of light in their souls, and the darkness, not bearing the radiance of the
light, is blinded and banished. They were made known to be the people of God by
circumcision: here, God’s peculiar people receive the sign of circumcision inwardly in
their heart. The heavenly knife cuts away the unwanted portion of the mind, which is the
impure uncircumcision of sin. With them was a baptism sanctifying the flesh; with us, a
baptism of Holy Ghost and fire, for this is what John preached; He shall baptize you with
Holy Ghost and fire. 2. There they had an outer tabernacle and an inner, and into the
first the priests went continually, accomplishing the services; but into the second went
the high priest alone once every year, with blood, the Holy Ghost this signifying, that
the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest. Here, on the other hand, those who
have the privilege enter into the tabernacle not made with hands, whither the forerunner
is for us entered, even Christ. It is written in the law that the priest should take two
doves, and kill the one, and sprinkle the living one with its blood, and loose it and let
it fly free. That which was done was a figure and shadow of the truth; for Christ was
slain, and His blood sprinkling us has made us to grow wings, for He has given us the
wings of the Holy Ghost, that we may fly without hindrance into the air of the Godhead.

3. To them was given a law written upon tables of stone; but to us, spiritual laws,
engraven upon fleshy tables of the heart, for it says, I will put My laws in their hearts,
and upon their minds will I write them. All those things were temporary and to be done
away; but now all are accomplished in truth on the inner man. The covenant is within, and
the battle within. In short, whatsoever things happened unto them were done in a figure,
and were written for our admonition. God foretold to Abraham the future, saying, Thy seed
shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and they shall afflict it, and make it
to serve four hundred years. This was fulfilled in the image of the shadow. The people
became a stranger, and was enslaved by the Egyptians, and was afflicted in clay and brick.
Pharaoh set over them superintendents and taskmasters, that they should do their works by
compulsion; and when the children of Israel groaned unto God by reason of their tasks,
then He looked upon them through Moses; and having smitten the Egyptians with many
plagues, He brought them out of Egypt, in the month of flowers, when first the pleasant
spring appears, and the gloom of winter is passing off. 4. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
to take a lamb without blemish, and to slay it, and to smear the blood of it upon the
doors and the lintels, that he that destroyed the firstborn of the Egyptians might not
touch them. The angel that was sent saw the sign of the blood from afar and removed; but
he entered into the houses that were not signed, and slew all the firstborn. Moreover He
commanded leaven to be put away out of every house, and enjoined that they should eat the
lamb that was slain with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and that they should eat it
with their loins girt, and their shoes upon their feet, and with their staves in their
hands;

and thus He commanded them to eat the Lord’s passover with all haste in the evening, and
not to break a bone of the lamb. 5. He brought them forth also with silver and gold,
commanding them to borrow everyone of his Egyptian neighbour vessels of gold and of
silver; and they came out of Egypt while the Egyptians were burying their firstborn, and
joy was theirs for their riddance of the squalid bondage, and grief and wailing to the
others for the destruction of their children. Wherefore Moses says, This is the night in
which God promised to deliver us. All these things are a mystery of the soul, redeemed by
the coming of Christ. For Israel is interpreted to be the mind beholding God. He is set
free from the bondage of darkness, from the Egyptian spirits. 6. For since at the
transgression man died the dreadful death of the soul, and received curse upon
curse—Thistles and thorns shall the ground bring forth unto thee, and again, Thou shalt
till the ground, and it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her fruits—thorns and
thistles sprouted and sprang up in the ground of his heart. His enemies by guile took away
his glory, and clothed him with shame. His light was taken away, and he was clothed in
darkness. They murdered his soul. They scattered and divided his faculties and dragged his
mind down from its height, and Israel became the man who is bondservant to the true
Pharaoh, and he set over him his overseers and taskmasters, those spirits of wickedness
which compel him, whether he will or no, to do his wicked works, and to fulfil the tale of
mortar and of brick. These withdrew him from his heavenly state of mind, and brought him
down to material, earthly, clayey works of wickedness, and words and devices and
reasonings that are vain. Taken from her proper height, the soul found herself in a
kingdom of hatred to man, where bitter rulers compel her to build them the evil cities of
sin.

7. But if the soul groans and cries unto God, He sends forth to her the spiritual Moses,
who delivers her from the bondage of the Egyptians: but she cries and groans first, and
only then begins to receive deliverance, being herself also delivered in the month of new
blossoms, in the springtime, when the ground of the soul can put forth the fair and
blossoming boughs of righteousness, and the bitter winter storms of the ignorance of
darkness are over, and of the great blindness that comes of shameful deeds and sins. Then
also He bids all old leaven to be removed out of each house, namely the deeds and
dispositions of the old man which waxeth corrupt, to cast away, as far as possible, wicked
thoughts and uncleanly imaginations. 8. The lamb must be slain and sacrificed, and the
blood of it be smeared upon the doors: for Christ, the true, good Lamb, without blemish,
was slain, and the lintels of the heart were anointed with His blood, that the blood of
Christ shed upon the cross might be to the soul for life and deliverance, and to the
devils of Egypt for woe and death. The blood of the Lamb without blemish is indeed woe to
them, and joy and gladness to the soul. Then, after the anointing, He bids to eat the lamb
at even, and the unleavened bread, with bitter herbs, with loins girt and shoes on feet,
and staff in hand. Unless the soul be prepared beforehand on every side, to the best of
her power, through good works, it is not given to her to eat of the lamb. And though the
lamb be sweet, and the unleavened bread excellent, yet the bitter herbs are bitter and
harsh; for with much affliction and bitterness the soul eats of the lamb and of the good
unleavened bread, while the sin that is with her afflicts her. 9. And it says that it
shall be eaten at even. The time of even is midway between light and darkness. So the soul
being near this deliverance is midway between light and darkness, while the power of God
stands firm and will not suffer the darkness to come over the soul and swallow it up.

And as Moses said, This is the night of the promise of God, so Christ, when the book was
given Him in the synagogue, as it is written, called it the acceptable year of the Lord,
and the day of redemption. There it was a night of retribution; here, a day of redemption.
And rightly so; for all those things were a figure and shadow of the truth, and in a
mystical prefiguration sketched the true salvation of the soul that has been shut up in
darkness, and secretly bound with fetters in the lowest pit, and shut in with gates of
brass, and cannot be set at liberty without the redemption of Christ. 10. So He brings the
soul out of Egypt and the bondage in it, the firstborn of Egypt being destroyed at the
exodus. Already a part of the power of the true Pharaoh falls. Mourning possesses the
Egyptians. They groan for grief at the salvation of the captive. He commands them to
borrow of the Egyptians vessels of gold and of silver, and to take them and go out. The
soul in going out of the darkness takes back her vessels of silver and gold, namely her
own good faculties purified seven times in the fire, in which God is served and satisfied.
The devils that were neighbours to her wasted and held and squandered her faculties.
Blessed is the soul that is redeemed out of darkness, and woe to the soul that does not
cry and groan to Him that is able to rescue her from those hard and bitter taskmasters.

11. The children of Israel march away, when they have kept the passover. The soul moves
onwards, when it has received the life of the Holy Ghost, and has tasted of the Lamb, and
been anointed with His blood, and has eaten the true bread, the living Word. A pillar of
fire and a pillar of cloud went before the Israelites, protecting them: the Holy Ghost
strengthens these, warming and guiding the soul in a way that can be felt. When Pharaoh
and the Egyptians knew of the people’s escape, and of their own loss of their bondservice,
he took courage to pursue, even after the destruction of the firstborn. He hastily
harnessed his chariots, and with all his people he made speed after them to destroy them;
but when he was now on the point of getting in among them, a cloud stood betwixt them,
hindering and darkening the one, and guiding the other with light and protecting them. Not
to prolong this discourse by developing the whole story, take the parable in all
particulars as referring to spiritual things.

12. When first the soul escapes from the Egyptians, the power of God draws near and helps
it, leading it to the truth. But when the spiritual Pharaoh, the king of the darkness of
sin, perceives that the soul is in revolt and is escaping from his kingdom, he catches up
the faculties so long held in possession—for these are his goods—and, clever as he is,
hopes that the soul will come back to him. But when he learns that it is fleeing from his
tyranny for good and all—a more audacious thing than the slaughter of the firstborn and
the stealing of the faculties—he dashes at it, fearing that if the soul clean escapes, no
one will be found to fulfil his will and work. He pursues it with afflictions and
temptations and invisible wars. There it is tested; there it is tried; there appears its
love towards Him who brought it out of Egypt. For it is delivered over to be tested and
tried in all manner of ways. 13. It beholds the power of the enemy desiring to get at it
and do it to death, and not able to do so. Between it and the Egyptian spirits the Lord
stands. It beholds before it a sea of bitterness and affliction or despair. It can neither
win its way back, seeing the enemy ready for it, nor move forward, for the terror of
death, and afflictions grievous and manifold encompassing it, make it to see death.

The soul therefore loses all opinion of itself, having the sentence of death in itself,
because of the swarm of evil ones that surrounds it. And when God sees the soul fallen
into the terror of death, and the enemy ready to swallow it up, then, then indeed He gives
it a little succour, dealing patiently with the soul, and testing it, whether it stands
fast in faith, whether it has love towards Him. For so has God appointed the way that
leadeth unto life, to be with affliction and distress, and much testing, and very bitter
temptations, that from thence the soul may afterwards arrive at the true land of the glory
of the children of God. When therefore the soul gives up all opinion of itself and
renounces itself, because of the exceeding affliction and the death before its eyes, in
that instant with a strong hand and an uplifted arm He rends the power of darkness through
the shining of the Holy Ghost, and the soul passes through the dreadful places, escaping
and passing through the sea of darkness and of the all-devouring fire.

14. These are mysteries of the soul which are truly brought to pass in a man who earnestly
endeavours to come to the promise of life, and is redeemed out of the kingdom of death,
and receives the earnest from God, and partakes of the Holy Ghost. Thereupon the soul
delivered from amidst her foes, and having passed through the bitter sea by the power of
God, and beholding her enemies destroyed before her eyes, whose bondservant she was
before, rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory, comforted by God, and at rest in
the Lord. Then the Spirit which she has received sings a new song unto God, with the
timbrel, that is the body, and the invisible strings of the harp, which is the soul and
its most subtle faculties, and the key of divine grace for striking the chords, and lifts
up praises to Christ who quickeneth. For as it is the breath that speaks, when it passes
through the pipe, so is the Holy Ghost through holy men who bear the Spirit, singing hymns
and psalms, and praying to God with a pure heart. Glory to Him who has delivered the soul
from the bondage of Pharaoh, and has made her His own throne, and house, and temple, and
His pure bride, and has brought her into the kingdom of eternal life, while yet in this
world.

15. In the law, unreasoning animals were offered in sacrifice, and unless they were slain,
the offerings were not acceptable; and now, unless sin be slain, the offering is not
acceptable with God, nor true. The people came to Marah, where was a well that gave bitter
water, unfit to drink. So God commanded Moses, when he was in despair, to throw a tree
into the bitter water, and when the tree was thus cast in, the water was made sweet, and
being converted from its bitterness became serviceable and fit for the people of God to
drink. In the same way the soul has been made bitter from drinking the poison of the
serpent and becoming like to his bitter nature, and made sinful. Wherefore God casts the
tree of life even into the bitter fountain of the heart, and it is converted from its
bitterness and made sweet, being mingled with the Spirit of Christ; and thus being made
good for use it passes on to the service of its Master, for it becomes spirit clothed in
flesh. Glory to Him who converts our bitterness into the sweetness and goodness of the
Spirit. Woe to him in whom the tree of life has not been cast! He cannot obtain any change
for the good.

16. The rod of Moses bore two images. To enemies it presented itself as a serpent, biting
and destroying; to the Israelites as a staff, on which they found support. Thus the true
wood of the cross, which is Christ, is the death of the enemy, the spirit of wickedness;
but to our souls, it is a staff, and a sure prop, and life, upon which they rest. There
were formerly types and shadows of these true realities. The ancient service is a shadow
and image of the present service. Circumcision, the tabernacle, the ark, the pot and the
manna, the priesthood, the incense, the washings, and, in short, all that was done in
Israel, and in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, was done with reference to this
soul, made after the image of God, and fallen under the yoke of bondage, and under the
kingdom of the darkness of bitterness.

17. For God desired to have communion with her, and espoused her to Himself as the King’s
bride, and He cleanses her from pollution, and washing her makes her bright from her
blackness and her shame, and quickens her out of the state of death, and heals her of her
shattered condition, and gives her peace, reconciling her enmity. For creature though she
is, she has been espoused as bride to the King’s Son; and by His own power God receives
her to Himself, gradually accommodating Himself to her changes, until He has increased her
with His own increase. For He stretches her out and lengthens her to an endless and
immeasurable increase, until she becomes a bride without blemish and worthy of Him. First
he begets her within Himself, and increases her through Himself, until she receives the
full-grown measure of His love. For being Himself a perfect Bridegroom, He takes her as a
perfect bride into the holy, mystical, undefiled fellowship of marriage; and then she
reigns with Him to endless ages. Amen.


FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
========================

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES continued

HOMILY XLVIII

Concerning perfect faith in God. 1. THE Lord in the gospel, wishing to bring His own
disciples to a perfect faith, said, He that is faithful in little, is faithful also in
much; and he that is unfaithful in little, is unfaithful also in much. What is the little?
and what is the much? The little are the promises of this world, which He has undertaken
to supply to those who believe Him, such as food, raiment, and the other things which are
for the refreshment or health of the body, and so on; enjoining that we should not be
anxious at all concerning these, but with confidence in Him to trust that the Lord is
always a provider for those who take refuge in Him. The much are the gifts of the eternal
and imperishable world, which He has undertaken to supply to those who believe Him, and
who are incessantly anxious concerning those things, and who ask Him for them. Because He
has given commandment to that effect. Seek ye only, He says, His kingdom and
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you, that in this way each one may
be proved by these little and temporal things, whether he believes God; because He has
undertaken to supply them, while we are free from anxiety about such things and are only
concerned about eternal things to come.

2. Then it is manifest that he believes concerning things imperishable, and is really
seeking eternal good things, if he preserves his faith sound concerning the things of
which we have spoken. For every one of those who obey the word of truth ought to prove and
examine himself, and indeed to let himself be examined and proved by spiritual men, how
far he has believed and given himself to God, whether really and truly according to His
word, or in fancied justification and faith, imagining that he has faith within him. A man
is proved and tested by the question whether he is faithful in the little, that is,
concerning temporal things. How that is done, I will show you. Do you say that you believe
the kingdom of heaven to be vouchsafed to you, and that you have been born from above and
made a son of God, and a fellow-heir of Christ, to reign with Him through all eternity,
and to take pleasure in light unspeakable during endless and innumerable ages like God? No
doubt you will say, “Yes; that was why I withdrew from the world and have given myself to
God.” 3. Examine yourself, then, whether earthly cares do not still hold you, and much
thought concerning the food and clothing of the body, and other attentions and
refreshments, as though you came by them of your own power, and were to make provision for
yourself, when you were enjoined to have no anxiety at all concerning yourself. If you
believe that you will receive things immortal, eternal, abiding, and abounding, how much
more do you not believe that the Lord will supply you with these passing and earthly
things, which God has given even to ungodly men, and to beasts and birds, even as He gave
you commandment that you should not be anxious at all about them, saying, Take no thought
what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed; for after
all these things do the Gentiles seek! But if you still have anxiety concerning these
things, and have not trusted yourself wholly to His word, know that you have not yet
believed that you shall receive the good things eternal, which are the kingdom of heaven,
although you imagine that you believe, while you are still found unfaithful in the small
things that perish.

And again, as the body is of more value than raiment, so is the soul of more value than
the body. Do you believe, then, that your soul is receiving healing at Christ’s hand from
the eternal wounds which with men are incurable, the wounds of the passions of sin, for
the sake of which healing the Lord also came hither, that He might now cure the souls of
the faithful of those incurable wounds, and cleanse them from the foulness of the leprosy
of evil,—He, the only true physician and healer? 4. You will say, “Certainly I believe it.
For this I stand, and this is my expectation.” Know, then, after searching yourself,
whether bodily ailments do not carry you off to earthly physicians, as if Christ, whom you
believed, could not heal you! See how you deceive yourself, because you imagine that you
believe, when you do not yet believe, as you ought, in truth. For if you believed the
eternal, irremediable wounds of the immortal soul, and its disorders of evil, to be cured
by Christ, you would have believed Him able to cure also the temporary disorders and
maladies of the body, and would have had recourse to Him only, to the neglect of medical
attentions and remedies. He who created the soul has made the body also; and He who heals
that immortal part, is able to cure the body also of its temporary disorders and maladies.

5. But you will say, no doubt, “God has given to the body for its healing the herbs of the
earth and its drugs, and has prepared the appliances of physicians for the disorders of
the body, ordaining that the body which is of the earth should be cured by the various
specifics of the earth. I agree with you that this is so. But take heed, and you will know
how the matter stands,—to whom these things are given, and for whom God, has ordained
them, according to His great and infinite kindness and love towards man. When man fell
from the commandment which he had received, and came under the sentence of wrath, and was
banished, as it were, into captivity and disgrace, or to toil in some mine, from the
pleasure of paradise into this world, and came under the power of darkness, and was
reduced to unbelief by the error of the passions, he fell thenceforward under the
disorders and maladies of the flesh, instead of being free from disorder and malady, as
before. And certainly all that are born of him have fallen under the same disorders. 6.
God, therefore, ordained these remedies for the weak and unbelieving, not willing to
destroy utterly the sinful race of men, because of His great loving-kindness, but gave
medicine to the men of the world, and to all who are without, for solace, and healing, and
care of the body, and permitted them to be used by those who could not yet entrust
themselves wholly to God.

But you, a monk, who have come to Christ, and desire to be a son of God, and to be born
from on high of the Spirit, and are expecting promises higher and greater than the first
man had, for all his freedom from disorder, even that God should please to give you the
presence of the Lord,—you, who are become a stranger to the world, ought to possess a
belief, and a conception, and a manner of life, new and strange beyond all the men of the
world. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen.

HOMILY XLIX

It is not enough to have got rid of the pleasure of this world, unless a man gets the
blessedness of the other. 1. WHEN a man has quitted his home, and renounced this world,
and has rid himself of the pleasure of the world, and of possessions, and of father and
mother, for the Lord’s sake, and has crucified himself, and made himself a stranger and
poor and needy, but does not find in himself divine comfort instead of the comfort of the
world, nor feel the pleasure of the Spirit in his own soul instead of the temporal
pleasure, and is not clothed in the inward man with the garments of the light of the
Godhead instead of those garments that perish, and does not know to satisfaction, instead
of this temporal and carnal fellowship, the fellowship of the heavenly Bridegroom in his
own soul, and has not the joy of the Spirit within instead of the tangible joy of this
world, and does not receive the solace of heavenly grace and a divine repletion in the
soul in the appearing to him of the glory of the Lord, as it is written; and, in short,
instead of this temporal enjoyment, does not obtain even now in his own soul an enjoyment
incorruptible, greatly to be desired; this man is become salt without savour; this man is
beyond all men miserable; this man has been deprived of things here, and failed to enjoy
divine gifts. He does not know divine mysteries through the working of the Spirit in the
inner man.

2. For this is the reason why a man is made a stranger to the world, in order that his
soul may pass in mind into another world and age, according to the apostle. Our
conversation, he says, is in heaven; and again, Though we walk on earth, we do not war
after the flesh. Therefore, one who renounces this world must firmly believe that we ought
in mind to pass even now through the Spirit into another age, and there to have our
conversation and pleasure and enjoyment of spiritual good things, and to be born of the
Spirit in the inner man, as the Lord said, He that believeth in Me, hath passed from death
unto life. Because there is another death besides the death that is seen, and another life
besides the life that is seen. The scripture says, She that liveth in pleasure is dead
while she liveth; and, Let the dead bury their dead; Because the dead shall not praise
Thee, O Lord, but we, the living, shall bless Thee.

3. For as the sun, when he has risen upon the earth, is all there upon the earth, but when
it comes to sunset, he gathers all his beams together, betaking himself to his own home;
so the soul which is not begotten from above of the Spirit is all on the earth, spread
abroad in thought and mind all over the earth, even to the ends of it; but when it is
permitted to receive the heavenly birth and fellowship of the Spirit, it gathers all its
thoughts together, and taking them still with it, enters in unto the Lord, into the
dwelling from heaven, not made with hands, and all its thoughts become heavenly and pure
and holy, making their way into the divine air. Delivered from the prison of the darkness
of the wicked ruler, who is the spirit of the world, the soul finds pure and divine
thoughts, because it has seemed good to God to make man partaker of the divine nature.

4. If, then, you are going to withdraw from all the affairs of this life, and if you
persevere in your prayer, shall you not esteem this labour rather to be full of rest, and
shall you not consider the little affliction and pain to be charged with joy and
recreation exceeding great? If your body and your soul had been consumed away hour after
hour throughout life for the sake of good things so great, what did that come to? Oh, the
unspeakable compassion of God, that He bestows Himself in free gift upon those who
believe, that in a little space of time they should inherit God, and God should dwell in
man’s body, and that the Lord should find a fair home in man! As God created the heaven
and the earth for man to dwell in, so He created man’s body and soul for a dwelling for
Himself, to inhabit and take His rest in the body as in His own house, having for His fair
bride the lovely soul, made after His own image. The apostle says, I have espoused you to
one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ; and again, Whose house we are.

As the husband with diligence treasures up all good things in his house, so the Lord lays
up and treasures in the soul and body, which are His house, the heavenly wealth of the
Spirit. Neither the wise by their wisdom nor the prudent by their prudence were able to
comprehend the subtilty of the soul, or to speak of it as it is, but only those to whom
through the Holy Ghost that comprehension is revealed, and the exact knowledge concerning
the soul is declared. Consider here, and discern, and understand, how. Listen. He is God;
the soul is not God. He is the Lord; it is a servant. He is Creator; it is a creature. He
is the Maker; it the thing made. There is nothing common to His nature, and to that of the
soul. But by reason of His infinite, unspeakable, inconceivable love and compassion, it
pleased Him to dwell in this thing of His making, this intelligent creature, this precious
and extraordinary work, as the scripture says, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of
His creatures, for His wisdom and fellowship, for His own habitation, for His own precious
and pure bride.

5. When such good things are set before us, and such promises have been promised, and such
has been the good pleasure of the Lord towards us, let us not neglect, O my children, nor
delay to press to the life eternal, and to give up ourselves entirely to pleasing the
Lord. Let us, then, beseech the Lord that by His own power of Godhead He would deliver us
from the prison of the darkness of the passions of shame, and would cause His own image
and handiwork to shine up, making the soul sound and pure, and so we may be permitted to
have the fellowship of the Spirit, glorifying the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for
ever. Amen.

HOMILY L

It is God that works wonders through His saints. 1. WHO was it that shut the doors of
heaven? Elias? or was it God in him, who commanded the rain? I trow that He who wields
power over heaven was Himself seated in his mind, and that by his tongue the Word of God
forbade rain to come down upon the earth, and spake again, and the gates of heaven were
opened, and the rain came down. Likewise also Moses put down a rod, and it became a
serpent, and he spake again and it became a rod; and he took ashes of the furnace and
sprinkled, and it became boils; and again he smote, and there came lice and frogs. Could
the nature of men do these things? He spake to the sea, and it was divided; to the river,
and it was turned into blood. Well, it is plain that a heavenly power was dwelling in his
mind, and did these signs through Moses.

2. David, how was he able, unarmed, to engage in battle with such a giant? And when he
hurled the stone at the Philistine, by David’s hand the hand of God guided the stone, and
it was the divine power itself that slew him and gained the victory. David could never
have done it: he was too weak in body. Joshua, the son of Nun, when he came to Jericho,
besieged it seven days, unable to do anything by his own nature; but when God commanded,
the walls fell down of themselves. And when he entered into the land of promise, the Lord
said to him, “Go forward to battle”; Joshua answered, “As the Lord liveth, I will not go
without Thee.” And who is it that commanded the sun to stand still another two hours in
the conflict of battle?—his nature alone, or the power that was with him? And Moses, when
he engaged with Amalek, if he stretched out his hands towards heaven unto God, smote
Amalek, but if he dropped his hands, Amalek prevailed.

3. But when you hear of these things happening, let not your mind travel far away; but
since these things were a figure and shadow of the realities, apply them to yourself. When
you shall stretch out the hands of your mind, and your thoughts, towards heaven, and shall
be minded to cleave to the Lord, Satan shall get the worst of it with your thoughts. And
as at Jericho the walls fell by the power of God, so now also the walls of evil that
hinder your mind, and the cities of Satan, and your enemies, shall be utterly destroyed by
the power of God. Thus, in the shadow, the power of God was continually present with the
righteous, doing visible wonders; and the divine grace dwelt in them inwardly as well.
Likewise upon the prophets also it wrought, and ministered the Spirit in their souls, to
prophesy, and to speak, when there was need to say great things to the world. For they did
not speak at all times, but when the Spirit that was in them would. Yet the power was
always with them.

4. If, then, the Holy Ghost was poured out to such an extent upon the shadow, how much
rather upon the New Covenant, upon the cross, upon the coming of Christ, where the
outpouring and drunkenness of the Spirit took effect. It says, I will pour out of My
Spirit upon all flesh. This is what the Lord Himself meant when He said, I will be with
you until the end of the world. For every one that seeketh, findeth. If ye, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him with power and much assurance, as the apostle
says. Such things, then, are found by measure, and time, and much labour, and patience,
and affection towards Him, the senses of the soul being exercised, as the scripture says,
through good and through evil, that is, through the crafts and plots and manifold
besetments and lyings in wait of evil on the one hand, and on the other through the
various gifts and divers helps of the working and power of the Spirit. He who discovers
the plotting of evil, defiling the inward man by means of the passions, and is not
acquainted himself with the help of the Holy Spirit of truth, strengthening his infirmity,
and renewing his soul in gladness of heart, such an one goes his way without discernment,
not discovering as yet the manifold dispensation of the grace and peace of God. And on the
other hand, he who is helped by the Lord, and is found in spiritual mirth and heavenly
gifts of grace, if he should imagine that he is no longer liable to be injured by sin, is
deceived without his knowing it, not discerning the subtilty of evil, and not
understanding the gradual growth of infancy to maturity in Christ. For through the supply
of the Holy and Divine Spirit faith increases and makes progress, and at the same time
every stronghold of wicked thoughts passes gradually to complete casting down.

Every one of us, therefore, ought to search whether he has found the treasure in this
earthen vessel, whether he has put on the purple of the Spirit, whether he has seen the
King and found rest in His near presence, or still serves in the outermost parts of the
house. The soul has many members, and great depth; and besides, sin has come in and taken
possession of all its members and of the ranges of the heart. Then, when man seeks, grace
comes to him, and takes possession, it may be of two members of the soul. So the
inexperienced man, being comforted by grace, imagines that grace has taken possession of
all the members of his soul, and that sin is rooted out. But the greatest part is still
under the power of sin, and only one part under grace; and he is cheated and knows it not.

We might write at greater length concerning these things to your sincerity of disposition,
but we have given you thus briefly a starting point, that like men of understanding you
may go to work upon it and search out the power of the words and become yet more
understanding in the Lord, and increase your singleness of heart in His grace and in the
power of the truth, so that holding fast your own salvation with all certainty, and being
delivered from all interference of wickedness and craft of the adversary, you may have the
privilege to be found unfallen and uncondemned in the day of judgment of our Lord Jesus
Christ; to whom be glory for ever. Amen.


SOURCES AND CREDITS
===================

Where each text comes from, and the licence under which it may be reused.

THE GREAT CATECHISM English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected
in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only
divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek
or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made.
Licence: Public domain.

ON THE FAITH English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected in the
Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only divided
it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek or
Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made. Licence:
Public domain.

ON "NOT THREE GODS" English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected
in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only
divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek
or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made.
Licence: Public domain.

ON THE HOLY TRINITY, AND OF THE GODHEAD OF THE HOLY SPIRIT English translation: an older
public-domain translation as collected in the Writings-Database
(HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and
short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown
beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, AGAINST THE FOLLOWERS OF MACEDONIUS English translation: an older
public-domain translation as collected in the Writings-Database
(HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and
short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown
beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

ON THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST English translation: an older public-domain translation as
collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-
Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

ON THE MAKING OF MAN English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected
in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only
divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek
or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made.
Licence: Public domain.

ON THE SOUL AND THE RESURRECTION English translation: an older public-domain translation
as collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-
Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

ON VIRGINITY English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected in the
Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only divided
it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek or
Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made. Licence:
Public domain.

ON INFANTS' EARLY DEATHS English translation: an older public-domain translation as
collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-
Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

ON PILGRIMAGES English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected in the
Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only divided
it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek or
Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made. Licence:
Public domain.

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES English translation: an older public-domain translation as
collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-
Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.