Saint John Chrysostom : HOMILY XI. ROM. VI. 5.

"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we

shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,"

What I had before occasion to remark, that I mention here too, that

he continually digresseth into exhortation, without making any

twofold division as he does in the other Epistles, and setting apart

the former portion for doctrines, and the latter for the care of moral

instruction. Here then he does not do so, but blends the latter with

the subject throughout, so as to gain it an easy admission. Here then

he says there are two mortifyings, and two deaths, and that one is

done by Christ in Baptism, and the other it is our duty to effect by

earnestness afterwards. 

For that our former sins were buried, came

of His gift. But the remaining dead to sin after baptism must be the

work of our own earnestness, however much we find God here also

giving us large help. For this is not the only thing Baptism has the

power to do, to obliterate our former transgressions; for it also

secures against subsequent ones. As then in the case of the former,

thy contribution was faith that they might be obliterated, so also in

those subsequent to this, show thou forth the change in thine aims,

that thou mayest not defile thyself again. For it is this and the like

that he is counselling thee when he says, "for if we have been

planted together in the likeness of His Death, we shall be also in the

likeness of His Resurrection." Do you observe, how he rouses the

hearer by leading him straightway up to his Master, and taking great

pains to show the strong likeness? This is why he does not say "in

death," lest you should gainsay it, but, "in the likeness of His Death."

For our essence itself hath not died, but the man of sins, that is,

wickedness. And he does not say, "for if we have been" partakers of

"the likeness of His Death;" but what? "If we have. been planted

together," so, by the mention of planting, giving a hint of the fruit

resulting to us from it. For as His Body, by being buried in the earth,

brought forth as the fruit of it the salvation of the world; thus ours

also, being buried in baptism, bore as fruit righteousness,

sanctification, adoption, countless blessings. And it will bear also

hereafter the gift of the resurrection. Since then we were buried in

water, He in earth, and we in regard to sin, He in regard to His Body,

this is why he did not say, "we were planted together in His Death,"

but "in the likeness of His Death." For both the one and the other is

death, but not that of the same subject. If then he says, "we have

been planted together in His Death, we shall be in that of His

Resurrection," speaking here of the Resurrection which (Gr. be of

His Resurrection) is to come. For since when he was upon the

subject of the Death before, and said, "Know ye not, brethren, that so

many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His

Death?" he had not made any clear statement about the

Resurrection, but only about the way of life after baptism, bidding

men walk in newness of life; therefore he here resumes the same

subject, and proceeds to foretell to us clearly that Resurrection. And

that you may know that he is not speaking of that resulting from

baptism, but about the other, after saying, "for if we were planted

together in the likeness of His Death," he does not say that we shall

be in the likeness of His Resurrection, but we shall belong to the

Resurrection. For to prevent thy saying, and how, if we did not die as

He died, are we to rise as He rose? when he mentioned the Death, he

did not say, "planted together in the Death," but, "in the likeness of

His Death." But when he mentioned the Resurrection, he did not say,

"in the likeness of the Resurrection," but we shall be "of the

Resurrection" itself. And he does not say, We have been made, but

we shall be, by this word again plainly meaning that Resurrection

which has not yet taken place, but will hereafter. Then with a view to

give credibility to what he says, he points out another Resurrection

which is brought about here before that one, that from that which is

present thou mayest believe also that which is to come. For after

saying, "we shall be planted together in the Resurrection," he adds,

Ver. 6. "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the

body of sin might be destroyed."

So putting together both the cause and the demonstration of the

Resurrection which is to come. And he does not say is crucified, but

is crucified with Him, so bringing baptism near to the Cross. And on

this score also it was that he said above, "We have been planted

together in the likeness of His Death that the body of sin might be

destroyed," not giving that name to this body of ours, but to all

iniquity. For as he calls the whole sum of wickedness the old man,

thus again the wickedness which is made up of the different parts of

iniquity he calls the body of that man. And that what I am saying is

not mere guesswork, hearken to Paul's own interpretation of this

very thing in what comes next. For after saying, "that the body of sin

might be destroyed," he adds, "that henceforth we should not serve

sin." For the way in which I would have it dead is not so that ye

should be destroyed and die, but so that ye sin not. And as he goes

on he makes this still clearer.

Ver. 7. "For he that is dead," he says, "is freed (Gr. justified) from

sin."

This he says of every man, that as he that is dead is henceforth freed

from sinning, lying as a dead body, so must he that has come up

from baptism, since he has died there once for all, remain ever dead

to sin. If then thou hast died in baptism, remain dead, for any one

that dies can sin no more; but if thou sinnest, thou marrest God's

gift. After requiring of us then heroism (Gr. philosophy) of this

degree, he presently brings in the crown also, in these words.

Ver. 8. "Now if we be dead with Christ.":

And indeed even before the crown, this is in itself the greater crown,

the partaking with our Master. But he says, I give even another

reward. Of what kind is it? It is life eternal. For "we believe," he says,

"that we shall also live with Him." And whence is this clear?

Ver. 9. "That Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more."

And notice again his undauntedness, and how he makes the thing

good from opposite grounds. Since then it was likely that some

would feel perplexed at the Cross and the

Death, he shows that this very thing is a ground for feeling confident

henceforward.

For suppose not, he says, because He once died, that He is mortal,

for this is the very reason of His being immortal. For His death hath

been the death of death, and because He did die, He therefore doth

not die. For even that death Ver. 10. "He died unto sin."

"What does "unto sin" mean? It means that He was not subject even

to that one, but for our sin, that He might destroy it, and cut away its

sinews and all its power, therefore He died. Do you see how he

affrighteth them? For if He does not die again, then there is no

second layer, then do thou keep from all inclinableness to sin. For all

this he says to make a stand against the "let us do evil that good

may come. Let us remain in sin that grace may abound." To take

away this conception then, root and branch, it is, that he sets down

all this. But in that "He liveth, He liveth unto God," he says,--that is,

unchangeably, so that death hath no more any dominion over Him.

For if it was not through any liability to it that He died the former

death, save only for the sin of others, much less will He die again

now that He hath done that sin away. And this he says in the Epistle

to the Hebrews also, "But now once," he says, "in the end of the

world hath He appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of Himself.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the

judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and

unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without

sin unto salvation." (Heb. ix. 26-28.) And he both points out the

power of the life that is according to God, and also the strength of

sin. For with regard to the life according to God, he showeth that

Christ shall die no more. With regard to sin, that if it brought about

the death even of the Sinless, how can it do otherwise than be the

ruin of those that are subject to it? And then as he had discoursed

about His life; that none might say, What hath that which you have

been saying to do with us? he adds, Ver. 11. "Likewise reckon ye

also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God."

He well says, "reckon," because there is no setting that, which he is

speaking of, before the eyes as yet. And what are we to reckon? one

may ask. That we "are dead unto sin, but alive unto God. In Jesus

Christ our Lord." For he that so liveth will lay hold of every virtue, as

having Jesus Himself for his ally. For that is what, "in Christ,"

means, for if He raised them when dead, much more when alive will

He be able to keep them so.

Ver. 12. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye

should obey it in the lusts thereof."

He does not say, let not the flesh live or act, but, "let not sin reign,"

for He came not to destroy our nature, but to set our free choice

aright. Then to show that it is not through any force or necessity that

we are held down by iniquity, but willingly, he does not say, let it not

tyrannize, a word that would imply a necessity, but let it not reign.

For it is absurd for those who are being conducted to the kingdom of

heaven to have sin empress over them, and for those who are called

to reign with Christ to choose to be the captives of sin, as though

one should hurl the diadem from off his head, and choose to be the

slave of a frantic woman, who came begging, and was clothed in

rags. Next since it was a heavy task to get the upper hand of sin, see

how he shows it to be even easy, and how he allays the labor by

saying, "in your mortal body." For this shows that the struggles were

but for a time, and would soon bring themselves to a close. At the

same time he reminds us of our former evil plight, and of the root of

death, as it was from this that, contrary even to its beginning, it

became mortal. Yet it is possible even for one with a mortal body not

to sin. Do you see the abundancy of Christ's grace? For Adam,

though as yet he had not a mortal body, fell. But thou, who hast

received one even subject to death, canst be crowned. How then, is

it that "sin reigns?" he says. It is not from any power of its own, but

from thy listlessness. Wherefore after saying, "let it not reign," he

also points out the mode of this reigning, by going on to say "that ye

should obey it in the lusts thereof." For it is not honor to concede to

it (i.e. to the body) all things at will, nay, it is slavery in the extreme,

and the height of dishonor; for when it doth what it listeth, then is it

bereft of all liberties; but when it is put under restraints, then it best

keeps its own proper rank.

Ver. 13. "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of

unrighteousness unto sin . . . .but as instruments of righteousness."

The body then is indifferent between vice and virtue, as also

instruments (or arms) are. But either effect is wrought by him that

useth it. As if a soldier fighting in his country's behalf, and a robber

who was arming against the inhabitants, had the same weapons for

defence. For the fault is not laid to the suit of armor, but to those that

use it to an ill end. And this one may say of the flesh too which

becomes this or that owing to the mind's decision, not owing to its

own nature. For if it be curious after the beauty of another, the eye

becomes an instrument of iniquity, not through any agency of its

own (for what is of the eye, is but seeing, not seeing amiss), but

through the fault of the thought which commands it. But if you bridle

it, it becomes an instrument of righteousness. Thus with the tongue,

thus with the hands, thus with all the other members. And he well

calls sin unrighteousness. For by sinning a man deals unrighteously

either by himself or by his neighbor, or rather by himself more than

by his neighbor. Having then led us away from wickedness, he leads

us to virtue, in these words:

"But yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the

dead."

See how by his bare words he exhorts them, on that side naming

"sin" and on this "God." For by showing what a difference there is

between the rulers, he casts out of all excuse the soldier that leaveth

God, and desireth to serve under the dominion of sin. But it is not

only in this way, but also by the sequel, that he establishes this; by

saying, "as alive from the dead." For by these he shows the

wretchedness of the other, and the greatness of God's gift. For

consider, he says, what you were, and what you have been made.

What then were ye? Dead, and ruined by a destruction which could

not from any quarter be repaired. For neither was there any one who

had the power to assist you. And what have ye been made out of

those dead ones? Alive with immortal life. And by whom? By the allpowerful

God. Ye ought therefore to marshal yourselves under Him

with as much cheerful readiness, as men would who had been made

alive from being dead.

"And your members as instruments of righteousness."

Hence, the body is not evil, since it may be made an arm of

righteousness. But by calling it an arm, he makes it clear that there

is a hard warfare at hand for us. And for this reason we need strong

armor, and also a noble spirit, and one acquainted too with the ways

of this warfare; and above all we need a commander. The

Commander however is standing by, ever ready to help us, and

abiding unconquerable, and has furnished us with strong arms

likewise. Farther, we have need of a purpose of mind to handle them

as should be, so that we may both obey our Commander, and take

the field for our country. Having then given us this vigorous

exhortation, and reminded us of arms, and battle, and wars, see how

he encourages the soldier again and cherishes his ready spirit.

Ver. 14. "For sin shall no more have dominion over you; for ye are

not under the Law, but under grace."

If then sin hath no more dominion over us, why does he lay so great

a charge upon them as he does in the words, "Let not sin reign in

your mortal body," and, "yield not ye your members as instruments

of unrighteousness unto sin?" What does that here said mean then?

He is sowing a kind of seed in this statement, which he means to

develop afterwards, and to cultivate in a powerful argument. What

then is this statement? It is this; that our body, before Christ's

coming, was an easy prey to the assaults of sin. For after death a

great swarm of passions entered also. And for this cause it was not

lightsome for running the race of virtue. For there was no Spirit

present to assist, nor any baptism of power to mortify. (John vii. 39.)

But as some horse (Plato Phaedr. to 74) that answereth not the rein,

it ran indeed, but made frequent slips, the Law meanwhile

announcing what was to be done and what not, yet not conveying

into those in the race anything over and above exhortation by means

of words. But when Christ had come, the effort became afterwards

more easy, and therefore we had a more distant goal (meizona ta

skammata) set us, in that the assistance we had given us was

greater. Wherefore also Christ saith, "Except your righteousness

shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye

shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matt. v. 20.) But

this he says more clearly in the sequel. But at present he alludes

here briefly to it, to show that unless we stoop down very low to it,

sin will not get the better of us. For it is not the Law only that

exhorteth us, but grace too which also remitted our former sins, and

secures us against future ones. For it promised them crowns after

toils, but this (i.e. grace) crowned them first, and than led them to the

contest. Now it seems to me that he is not signifying here the whole

life of a believer, but instituting a comparison between the Baptism

and the Law. And this he says in another passage also "The letter

killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." (2 Cor. iii. 6.) For the Law

convinceth of transgression, but grace undoes transgression. As

then the former by convincing establisheth sin so the latter by

forgiving suffereth us not to be under sin. And so thou art in two

ways set free from this thraldom; both in thy not being under the

Law, and in thy enjoying grace. After then he had by these words

given the hearer a breathing time, he again furnishes him a

safeguard, by introducing an exhortation in reply to an objection,

and by saying as follows.

Ver. 15. "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the Law,

but under grace? God forbid."

So he first adopted a form of adjuration, because it was an absurb

thing he had named. And then he makes his discourse pass on to

exhortation, and shows the great facility of the struggle, in the

following words.

Ver. 16. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to

obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto

death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

I do not, he would say, mention hell as yet, nor that great (Ms. Bodl.

long) punishment, but the shame it is in this world, when ye become

slaves, and slaves of your own accord too, and sin's slaves, and

when the wages are such as a second death. For if before baptism, it

wrought death of the body, and the wound required so great

attendance, that the Lord of all came down to die, and so put a stop

to the evil; if after so great a gift, and so great liberty, it seize thee

again, while thou bendest down under it willingly, what is there that

it may not do? Do not then run into such a pit, or willingly give

thyself up. For in the case of wars, soldiers are often given up even

against their will. But in this case, unless thou desertest of thyself,

there is no one who will get the better of thee. Having then tried to

shame them by a sense of duty, he alarms them also by the rewards,

and lays before them the wages of both; righteousness, and death,

and that a death not like the former, but far worse. For if Christ is to

die no more, who is to do away with death? No one! We must then be

punished, and have vengeance taken upon us forever. For a death

preceptible to the senses is not still to come in this case, as in the

former, which gives the body rest, and separates it from the soul.

"For the last enemy, death, is destroyed" (1 Cor. xv. 26), whence the

punishment will be deathless. But not to them that obey, for

righteousness, and the blessings springing from it, will be their

rewards.

Ver. 17. "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye

have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was

delivered unto you." (Lit. "into which ye were delivered.")

After shaming them by the slavery, after alarming them by the

rewards, and so exhorting them, he again rights them by calling the

benefits to mind. For by these he shows that they were great evils

from which they were freed, and that not by any labors of their own,

and that things henceforth would be more manageable. Just as any

one who has rescued a captive from a cruel tyrant, and advises him

not to run away back to him, reminds him of his grievous thraldom;

so does Paul set the evils passed away most emphatically before us,

by giving thanks to God. For it was no human power that could set

us free from all those evils, but, "thanks be to God," who was willing

and able to do such great things. And he well says, "Ye have obeyed

from the heart." Ye were neither forced nor pressed, but ye came

over of your own accord, with willing mind. Now this is like one that

praises and rebukes at once. For after having willingly come, and not

having had any necessity to undergo, what allowance can you claim,

or what excuse can you make, if you run away back to your former

estate? Next that you may learn that it came not of your own willing

temper only, but the whole of it of God's grace also, after saying, "Ye

have obeyed from the heart," he adds," that form of doctrine which

was delivered you." For the obedience from the heart shows the free

will. But the being delivered, hints the assistance from God. But what

is the form of doctrine? It is living aright, and in conformity with the

best conversation.

Ver. 18. "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of

righteousness."

There are two gifts of God which he here points out. The "freeing

from sin," and also the "making them servants to righteousness,"

which is better than any freedom. For God hath done the same as if a

person were to take an orphan, who had been carried away by

savages into their own country, and were not only to free him from

captivity, but were to set a kind father ever him, and bring him to

very great dignity. And this has been done in our case. For it was not

our old evils alone that He freed us from, since He even led us to the

life of angels, and paved the way for us to the best conversation,

handing us over to the safe keeping of righteousness, and killing our

former evils, and deadening the old man, and leading us to an

immortal life.

Let us then continue living this life; for many of those who seem to

breathe and to walk about are in a more wretched plight than the

dead. For there are different kinds of deadness; and one there is of

the body, according to which Abraham was dead, and still was not

dead. For "God," He says, "is not a God of the dead, but of the

living." (Matt. xxii. 32.) Another is of the soul which Christ alludes to

when He says, "Let the dead bury their dead." (ib. viii. 22. Another,

which is even the subject of praise, which is brought about by

religion (filosofias), of which Paul saith, "Mortify your members

which are upon the earth." (Col. iii. 5.) Another, which is the cause

even of this, the one which takes place in baptism. "For our old

man," he says, "has been crucified" (ver. 6), that is, has been

deadened. Since then we know this, let us flee from the deadness by

which, even though alive, we die. And let us not be afraid of that with

which common death comes on. But the other two, whereof one is

blissful, having been given by God, the other praiseworthy (cf. Ar.

Eth. i. 12), which is accomplished by ourselves together with God, let

us both choose and be emulous of. And of those two, one doth David

pronounce blessed, when he says, "Blessed are they whose

iniquities are forgiven" (Ps. xxxii. 1); and the other, Paul holds in

admiration, saying, and writing to the Galatians, "They that be

Christ's have crucified the flesh." (Gal. v. 24.) But of the other couple,

one Christ declares to be easy to hold in contempt, when He says,

"Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:"

and the other fearful, for, "Fear" (He says) "Him that is able to

destroy both body and soul in hell." (Matt. x. 28.) And therefore let us

flee from this, and choose that deadness which is held blessed and

admirable; that of the other two, we may escape the one and not fear

the other: for it is not the least good to us to see the sun, and to eat

and drink, unless the life of good words be with us. For what would

be the advantage, pray, of a king dressed in a purple robe and

possessed of arms, but without a single subject, and exposed to all

that had a mind to attack and insult him? In like manner it will be no

advantage to a Christian to have faith, and the gift of baptism, and

yet be open to all the passions. In that way the disgrace will be

greater, and the shame more. For as such an one having the diadem

and purple is so far from gaining by this dress any honor to himself,

that he even does disgrace to that by his own shame: so the believer

also, who leadeth a corrupt life, is so far from becoming, as such, an

object of respect, that he is only the more one of scorn. "For as

many," it says, "as sinned without law, shall also perish without law;

and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the

law." (Rom. ii. 12). And in the Epistle to the Hebrews, he says, "He

that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three

witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be

thought worthy, who had trodden under foot the Son of God?" (Heb.

x. 28, 29.) And with reason. For I placed (He might say) all the

passions in subjection to thee by baptism. How then comes it that

thou hast disgraced so great a gift, and hast become one thing

instead of another? I have killed and buried thy former

transgressions, like worms--how is it that thou hast bred others?--for

sins are worse than worms, since these do harm to the body, those

to the soul; and those make the more offensive stench. Yet we

perceive it not, and so we are at no pains to purge them out. Thus

the drunkard knows not how disgustful the stale wine is, but he that

is not drunken has a distinct perception of it. So with sins also, he

that lives soberly knows thoroughly that other mire, and the stain.

But he that gives himself up to wickedness, like a man made drowsy

with drunkenness, does not even know the very fact that he is ill.

And this is the most grievous part of vice, that it does not allow

those who fall into it even to see the greatness of their own bane, but

as they lie in the mire, they think they are enjoying perfumes. And so

they have not even the power of getting free, but when full of worms,

like men that pride themselves in precious stones. so do they exult

in these. And for this reason they have not so much as the will to kill

them, but they even nourish these up, and multiply them in

themselves, until they send them on to the worms of the world to

come. For these are providers for those, and are not only providers,

but even the fathers of those that never die; as it says, "their worm

shall not die." (Mark ix. 44.) These kindle the hell which never

extinguishes. To prevent this from happening then, let us do away

with this fountain of evil, and extinguish the furnace, and let us draw

up the root of wickedness from beneath, since you will do no good

by cutting the tree off from above, if the root remains below, and

sends up fresh shoots of the same kind again. What then is the root

of the evils? Learn from the good husbandman (i.e. St. Paul 1 Cor. iii.

6-9), who has an accurate knowledge of such things, and tends the

spiritual vine and cultivates the whole world. Now what does he say

is the cause of all the evils? The love of money. For the "love of

money is the root of all evils." (1 Tim. vi. 10). Hence come fightings,

and enmities and wars; hence emulations, and railings, and

suspicions, and insults; hence murders, and thefts, and violations of

sepulchres. Through this, not cities and countries only, but roads

and habitable and inhabitable parts, and mountains, and groves, and

hills, and, in a word, all places are filled with blood and murder. And

not even from the sea has this evil withdrawn, but even there also

with great fury hath it revelled, since pirates beset it on all sides,

thus devising a new mode of robbery.

Through this have the laws of nature been subverted, and the claims

of relationship set aside, and the laws of piety itself broken through.

For the thraldom of money hath armed, not against the living only,

but even against the departed too, the right hands of such men. And

at death even, they make no truce with them, but bursting open the

sepulchres, they put forth their impious hands even against dead

bodies, and not even him that hath let go of life will they suffer to be

let go from their plotting. And all the evils that you may find, whether

in the house or in the market-place, or in the courts of law, or in the

senate, or in the king's palace, or in any other place whatsoever, it is

from this that you will find they all spring. For this evil it is, this

assuredly, which fills all places with blood and murder, this lights up

the flame of hell, this makes cities as wretchedly off as a wilderness,

yea, even much worse. For those that beset the high roads, one can

easily be on one's guard against, as not being always upon attack.

But they who in the midst of cities imitate them are so much the

worse than them, in that these are harder to guard against, and dare

to do openly what the others do with secrecy. For those laws, which

have been made with a view to stopping their iniquity, they draw

even into alliance and fill the cities with this kind of murders and

pollutions. Is it not murder, pray, and worse than murder, to hand the

poor man over to famine, and to cast him into prison, and to expose

him not to famine only, but to tortures too, and to countless acts of

insolence? For even if you do not do these things yourself to him,

yet you are the occasion of their being done, you do them more than

the ministers who execute them. The murderer plunges his sword

into a man at once, and after giving him pain for a short time, he

does not carry the torture any farther.

But do you who by your calumnies, by your harassings, by your

plottings, make light darkess to him, and set him upon desiring

death ten thousand times over, consider how many deaths you

perpetrate instead of one only? And what is worse than all, you

plunder and are grasping, not impelled to it by poverty, without any

hunger to necessitate you, but that your horse's bridle may be

spattered over with gold enough, or the ceiling of your house, or the

capitals of your pillars. And what hell is there that this conduct

would not deserve, when it is a brother, and one that has shared with

yourself in blessings unutterable, and has been so highly honored

by the Lord, whom you, in order that you may deck out stones, and

floors, and the bodies of animals with neither reason, nor perception

of these ornaments, are casting into countless calamities? And your

dog is well attended too, while man, or rather Christ, for the sake of

the hound, and all these things I have named, is straitened with

extreme hunger. What can be worse than such confusion? What

more grievous than such lawlessness as this? What streams of fire

will be enough for such a soul? He that was made in the Image of

God stands in unseemly plight, through thy inhumanity; but the

faces of the mules that draw thy wife glisten with gold in abundance,

as do the skins and woods which compose that canopy. And if it is a

seat that is to be made, or a footstool, they are all made of gold and

silver.

But the member of Christ, for whom also He came hither from

Heaven, and shed His precious Blood, does not even enjoy the food

that is necessary for him, owing to thy rapaciousness. But the

couches are mantled with silver on every side, while the bodies of

the saints are deprived even of necessary clothing.

And to thee Christ is less precious than anything else, servants, or

mules, or couch, or chair, or footstool; for I

pass over furniture of still meaner use than these, leaving it to you to

know of it. But if thou art shocked at hearing this, stand aloof from

doing it, and then the words spoken will not harm thee. Stand aloof,

and cease from this madness. For plain madness it is, such

eagerness about these things. Wherefore letting go of these things,

let us look up, late as it is, towards Heaven, and let us call to mind

the Day which is coming, let us bethink ourselves of that awful

tribunal, and the exact accounts, and the sentence incorruptible. Let

us consider that God, who sees all these things, sends no lightnings

from Heaven; and yet what is done deserves not thunderbolts

merely. Yet He neither doth this, nor doth He let the sea loose upon

us, nor doth He burst the earth in twain, He quencheth not the sun,

nor doth He hurl the heaven with its stars upon us. He doth not move

aught from its place, but suffereth them to hole their course, and the

whole creation to minister to us. Pondering all this then, let us be

awestruck with the greatness of His love toward man, and let us

return to that noble origin which belongs to us, since at present

certainly we are in no better plight than the creatures without reason,

but even in a much worse one. For they do love their kin, and need

but the community of nature to cause affection towards each other.

But thou who besides nature hast countless causes to draw thee

together and attach thee to the member: of thyself; the being

honored with the Word the partaking in one religion, the sharing in

countless blessings; art become of wilder nature than they, by

displaying so much carefulness about profitless things, and leaving

the Temples of God to perish in hunger and nakedness, and often

surrounding them also with a thousand evils. For if it is from love of

glory that you do these things, it is much more binding on you to

show your brother attention, than your horse. For the better the

creature that enjoys the act of kindness, the brighter the crown that

is woven for such carefulness. Since now while thou fallest into the

contrary of all this, thou pullest upon thyself accusers without

number, yet perceivest it not. For who is there that will not speak ill

of thee? who that will not indite thee as guilty of the greatest atrocity

and mis-anthrophy, when he sees that thou disregardest the human

race, and settest that of senseless creatures above men, and besides

senseless creatures, even the furniture of thy t house? Hast thou not

heard the Apostles say, that they who first received the word sold

both "houses and lands"

 (Acts iv. 34), that they might support the brethren? but you plunder

both houses and lands, that you may adorn a horse, or wood-work,

or skins, or walls, or a pavement. And what is worse is, that it is not

men only, but women too are afflicted with this madness, and urge

their husbands to this empty sort of pains, by forcing them to lay out

their money upon anything rather than the necessary things. And if

any one accuse them for this, they are practised with a defence,

itself loaded with much to be accused. For both the one and the

other are done at once, says one. What say you? are you not afraid

to utter such a thing, and to set the same store by horses and mules

and couches and footstools, as by Christ an hungered? Or rather not

even comparing them at all, but giving the larger share to these, and

to Him meting out with difficulty a scant share? Dost thou not know

that all belongs to Him, both thou and thine? Dost thou not know that

He fashioned thy body, as well as gave thee a soul, and apportioned

thee the whole world? but thou art not for giving a little recompense

to Him. But if thou lettest a little hut, thou requirest the rent with the

utmost rigor, and though reaping the whole of His creation, and

dwelling in so wide a world, thou hast not courage to lay down even

a little rent, but has given up to vainglory thyself and all thou hast.

For this is that whereof all these things come. The horse is none the

better above his natural excellence for having this ornament, neither

yet is the person mounted upon him, for sometimes he is only in the

less esteem for it; since many neglect the rider and turn their eyes to

the horse's ornaments, and to the attendants behind and before, and

to the fan-bearers. But the man, who is lackeyed by these, they hate

and turn their heads from, as a common enemy. But this does not

happen when thou adornest thy soul, for then men, and angels, and

the Lord of angels, all weave thee a crown. And so, if thou art in love

with glory, stand aloof from the things which thou art now doing, and

show thy taste not in thy house, but in thy soul, that thou mayest

become brilliant and conspicuous. For now nothing can be more

cheap than thou art, with thy soul unfurnished, and but the

handsomeness of thy house for a screen. But if thou art impatient of

hearing me speak in this way, listen to what one of those that are

without did, and at all events be shamed by their philosophy. For it is

said that a certain one of them, who went into a palace that shone

with gold in abundance, and glistened with the great beauty of the

marbles and the columns, when he saw the floor strewed with

carpets in all directions, spat in the face of the master of the house,

and when found fault with for it said, that since there was no other

part of the house where he could do this, he was obliged to do this

affront to his face. See how ridiculous a man is, who displays his

taste in exteriors, and how little he is in the eyes of all reasonable

men. And with good reason. For if a person were to leave thy wife to

be clad in rags, and to be neglected, and clothed thy maid-servants

with brilliant dresses, thou wouldest not bear it meekly, but wouldest

be exasperated, and say that it was insulting in the extreme. Reason

then in this way about your soul. When you display your taste in

walls then, and pavement, and furniture, and other things of the kind,

and do not give liberally in alms, or practise the other parts of a

religious life (filosofian); you do nothing less than this, or rather

what is worse than this by far. For the difference between servant

and mistress is nothing, but between soul and flesh, there is a great

disparity. But if it be so with the flesh, much more is it with a house

or a couch or a footstool. What kind of excuse then dost thou

deserve, who puttest silver on all these, but for it hast no regard,

though it be covered with filthy rags, squalid, hungry, and full of

wounds, torn by hounds unnumbered (Luke xvi. 20, 21); and after all

this fanciest that thou shall get thee glory by displaying thy taste in

externals wound about thee? And this is the very height of phrenzy,

while ridiculed, reproached, disgraced, dishonored, and falling into

the severest punishment, still to be vain of these things! Wherefore, I

beseech you, laying all this to heart, let us become sober-minded,

late as it is, and become our own masters, and transfer this adorning

from outward things to our souls. For so it will abide safe from

spoiling, and will make us equal to the angels, and will entertain us

with unaltering good, which may we all attain by the grace and love

toward man, etc.