Exhortations to cease from sin, to mutual charity, to do all for the glory of God, to be willing to suffer for Christ.
That they arme them selues to sinne no more after Baptisme, against the tentations of the Heathen, considering that the general and novv approcheth. 8 specially tovvard their euen-Christians to shevv their charitie, hospitalitie and grace, doing al to the glorie of God. 1• And as for being persecuted because they are Christians, to reioyce, considering the revvard that they shal haue vvith Christ, and damnation that they avoid thereby.
1Christ therefore having suffered in the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sins:Cristo adunque patito avendo nella carne, armatevi ancor voi dello stesso pensiero: che chi ha patito nella, carne, ha finito di peccare:CHRIST therfore hauing suffered in the flesh, be you also armed vvith the same cogitation. because he that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sinnes:Christo igitur passo in carne, et vos eadem cogitatione armamini: quia qui passus est in carne, desiit a peccatis: 2That now he may live the rest of his time in the flesh, not after the desires of men but according to the will of God.Talmente che non pelle passioni degli uomini, ma pel volere di Dio nella carne viva quel, che gli resta di tempo.that novv not after the desires of men, but according to the vvil of God he liue the rest of his time in the flesh.ut jam non desideriis hominum, sed voluntati Dei, quod reliquum est in carne vivat temporis. 3For the time past is sufficient to have fulfilled the will of the Gentiles, for them who have walked in riotousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings and unlawful worshipping of idols.Imperocché basti l'aver nel tempo passato soddisfatti i capricci gentileschi a coloro, i quali si sono occupati nelle lussurie, nelle cupidità, nello sbevazzare, e nel bagordare, e nell'illecito culto degli idoli.For the time past sufficeth (to accomplish the vvil of the Gentiles) them that haue vvalked in riotousnes, desires, excesse of wine, banketings, porations, and vnlavvful seruices of Idols.Sufficit enim præteritum tempus ad voluntatem gentium consummandam his qui ambulaverunt in luxuriis, desideriis, vinolentiis, comessationibus, potationibus, et illicitis idolorum cultibus. 4Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them into the same confusion of riotousness: speaking evil of you.Per la qual cosa sono fuori di loro stessi, e bestemmiano, perché voi non concorrete nello stesso obbrobrio di lussuria.Vvherein they maruel blaspheming, you not concurring into the same confusion of riotousnes.In quo admirantur non concurrentibus vobis in eamdem luxuriæ confusionem, blasphemantes. 5Who shall render account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.I quali renderan conto a colui, che è pronto a giudicare i vivi, e i morti.vvho shal render account to him, vvhich is ready to iudge the liuing and the dead.Qui reddent rationem ei qui paratus est judicare vivos et mortuos.
6For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to the dead: That they might be judged indeed according to men, in the flesh: but may live according to God, in the Spirit.Imperocché per questo pure è stato predicato il vangelo a' morti: affinchè siano giudicati secondo gli uomini quanto alla carne, ma vivano secondo Dio quanto allo spirito.For, for this cause also vvas it euangelized to the dead: that they may be iudged in deede according to men, in the flesh: but may liue according to God in the Spirit.Propter hoc enim et mortuis evangelizatum est: ut judicentur quidem secundum homines in carne, vivant autem secundum Deum in spiritu. 7But the end of all is at hand. Be prudent therefore and watch in prayers.Or la fine delle cose tutte è vicina. Siate perciò prudenti, e vegliate nelle orazioni.And the end of al •shal approche'. Be vvise therfore: and vvatch in praiers.Omnium autem finis appropinquavit. Estote itaque prudentes, et vigilate in orationibus. 8But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins.Sopra tutto poi abbiate perseverante tra voi stessi la mutua carità: perché la carità cuopre la moltitudine de' peccati.But before al things, hauing mutual charitie cōtinual among your selues: because • charitie couereth the multitude of sinnes.Ante omnia autem, mutuam in vobismetipsis caritatem continuam habentes: quia caritas operit multitudinem peccatorum. 9Using hospitality one towards another, without murmuring,Praticate l'ospitalità gli uni verso degli altri senza rimprocci.Vsing hospitalitie one tovvard an other vvithout murmuring.Hospitales invicem sine murmuratione. 10As every man hath received grace, ministering the same one to another: as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.Ciascheduno secondo il dono ricevutone faccia scambievolmente copia agli altri, come i buoni dispensatori della moltiforme grazia di Dio.Euery one as he hath receiued grace, ministring the same one tovvard an other: as good dispensers of the manifold grace of God.Unusquisque, sicut accepit gratiam, in alterutrum illam administrantes, sicut boni dispensatores multiformis gratiæ Dei. 11If any man speak, let him speak, as the words of God. If any minister, let him do it, as of the power which God administereth: that in all things God may be honoured through Jesus Christ: to whom is glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.Chi parla, (parli) come parlari di Dio: chi è nel ministero, (lo usi) come una virtù comunicata da Dio: affinchè in tutto sia onorato Dio per Gesù Cristo: a cui è gloria, ed imperio ne' secoli de' secoli. Così sia.If any man speake, as the vvordes of God. if any man minister: as of the povver, vvhich God administreth. that in al things God may be honoured by IESVS Christ: to vvhom is glorie and empire for euer and euer. Amen.Si quis loquitur, quasi sermones Dei: si quis ministrat, tamquam ex virtute, quam administrat Deus: ut in omnibus honorificetur Deus per Jesum Christum: cui est gloria et imperium in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.
12Dearly beloved, think not strange the burning heat which is to try you: as if some new thing happened to you.Carissimi, non vi stupite del gran fuoco accesovi contro per provarvi, come se cosa nuova vi avvenisse;My deerest, thinke it not strange in the feruour vvhich is to you for a tētation, as though some nevv thing happened to you:Carissimi, nolite peregrinari in fervore, qui ad tentationem vobis fit, quasi novi aliquid vobis contingat: 13But if you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.Ma godetevi di partecipare ai patimenti di Cristo, affinchè ancora vi rallegriate, ed esultiate, quando si manifesterà la gloria di lui.but communicating vvith the passions of Christ, be glad, that in the reuelation also of his glorie you may be glad reioycing.sed communicantes Christi passionibus gaudete, ut et in revelatione gloriæ ejus gaudeatis exsultantes. 14If you be reproached for the name of Christ, you shall be blessed: for that which is of the honour, glory and power of God, and that which is his Spirit resteth upon you.Che se siete ignominiosamente trattati pel nome di Cristo, sarete beati: dappoiché l'onore, la gloria, e la virtù di Dio, e lo Spirito di lui in voi riposa.If you be reuiled in the name of Christ, you shal be blessed: because that vvhich is of the honour, glorie, and vertue of God, and the Spirit vvhich is his, shal rest vpon you.Si exprobramini in nomine Christi, beati eritis: quoniam quod est honoris, gloriæ, et virtutis Dei, et qui est ejus Spiritus, super vos requiescit. 15But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or a railer or a coveter of other men’s things.Or che nissun di voi abbia a patir come omicida, o ladro, o maldicente, o insidiatore del ben altrui.But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a theefe, or a railer, or a coueter of other mens things.Nemo autem vestrum patiatur ut homicida, aut fur, aut maledicus, aut alienorum appetitor. 16But, if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed: but let him glorify God in that name.Se poi, come cristiano, non se ne vergogni: ma Dio glorifichi per tal riguardo.But if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorifie God in this name.Si autem ut christianus, non erubescat: glorificet autem Deum in isto nomine: 17For the time is, that judgment should begin at the house of God. And if at first at us, what shall be the end of them that believe not the gospel of God?Imperocché egli è tempo, che cominci il giudizio dalla casa di Dio. E se prima da noi: quale sarà la fine di coloro, che non ubbidiscono al vangelo di Dio?for the time is • that iudgement begin of the house of God. And if first of vs: vvhat shal be the end of them that beleeue not the Gospel of God?quoniam tempus est ut incipiat judicium a domo Dei. Si autem primum a nobis, quis finis eorum, qui non credunt Dei Evangelio ?
18And if the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?E se il giusto appena sarà salvato, dove compariranno l'empio, ed il peccatore?And • if the iust man shal scarse be saued: where shal the impious and sinner appeare?et si justus vix salvabitur, impius et peccator ubi parebunt ? 19Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God commend their souls in good deeds to the faithful Creator.Per la qual cosa quegli ancora, i quali per volontà di Dio patiscono, raccommandino le anime loro al Creatore fedele per mezzo di buone opere.Therfore they also that suffer according to the vvil of God, let them commend their soules to the faithful creator, in good deedes.Itaque et hi, qui patiuntur secundum voluntatem Dei, fideli Creatori commendent animas suas in benefactis.
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Witham
He that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sins. Some expound these words of Christ; but he never had committed the least sin. The true sense is, that every one who suffers by Christ's example, leaves off a sinful life, so as not to fall into great sins. (Witham)
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Witham
For the time past is sufficient, etc. As if he said, you who were Gentiles, have already lived too long in vices before your conversion; so that they who are not yet converted, admire[Ver. 3. In quo admirantur, xenizontai, from xenos, hospes, peregrinus. The same word is used ver. 12, nolite peregrinari in fervore, me xenizesthe te en umin purosei: in ustione, meaning the heat of persecutions.] at the change they see in you, make a jest of you, talk against you for your not running on with them in the same wicked and shameful disorders: but they shall render an exact account of all to the just Judge of the living and the dead. For as I told you before, in the last chapter, (ver. 19.) for this cause (that is, because Christ is judge of all) he descended to the place where the souls of the dead were, and preached to them, shewing himself, their Redeemer, who judgeth and condemneth those who had lived according to the flesh, but gave life to those who had lived well, or done penance according to the spirit of God. (Witham)
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Witham
Charity covereth a multitude of sins. It is a great means to atone for them; or it may signify, that a charitable mind excuses many sins in others. (Witham)
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Witham
As good stewards of the manifold grace of God. An admonition to the ministers of the gospel, to employ well their talents and the graces received to the honour and glory of God. (Witham)
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Witham
Think not strange, etc. Be not surprised, nor discouraged that a hot and sharp persecution is come upon you at this time, as if it were a new and an extraordinary thing. It is what you must expect and be ready to receive with patience, and even with joy, when you suffer as Christ did before you, and for his sake: this is the way to eternal happiness in heaven. (Witham)
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Witham
Which is of the honour, glory, etc. He gives them the reason why they must rejoice and look upon themselves happy to suffer for the name of Christ, because to suffer for God's sake is glorious, is a mark that the glorious, the honourable, and the powerful spirit of God rests upon them: for as Paul said, (Hebrews 12:6.) "For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Nothing then is more honourable, nothing more advantageous, than to suffer for being a Christian. This word is only found here, and in Acts 11:26. (Witham)
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Or a railer.[Ver. 15. Maledicus, kakopoios, malefactor.] The Greek here signifies one that does evil, or a malefactor.
Witham
Or as coveting the goods of others.[Ver. 15. Alienorum appetitor, allotrioepiskopos, aliorum inspector.] The Greek rather signifies one curiously prying into the affairs of others, which Protestants translate a busy body. (Witham)
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The time is that judgment should begin at the house of God. By judgment seems to be here understood afflictions, persecutions, and trials in this world; and the sense is, that the time of this life is a time of suffering.
Witham
And if first at us. That is, if the justice of God deal in this manner with his friends whom he loves, much greater will be hereafter the punishments of sinners, and of those who have refused to believe in Christ. (Witham)
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Challoner
Scarcely. That is, not without much labour and difficulty. (Challoner)
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Scarcely.... That is, not without much labour and difficulty; and because of the dangers which constantly surround, the temptations of the world, of the devil, and of our own corrupt nature.
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It hath the same difficulty and sense that the other like wordes haue before, Chap. 3. See the annotation there v. 19. and S. Aug. ep. 69. & Oecumenius vpon this place.
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•is at hand.
In the liturgy The Epistle vpon Sunday next after the Ascension.
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Concordance Prou. 10
Concordance Ro. 12,
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9. Charitie couereth.] Faith onely cannot iustifie, Not only faith. seeing that charitie also doth cause remission of sinnes. And saying charitie, he meaneth loue and charitable vvorkes tovvard our neighbours, Vvorkes of mercie. vnto vvhich vvorkes of mercie the Scriptures do specially attribute the force to extinguish al sinnes. See S. Augustine c. 69 E•chiridij and tract. 1. in ep. 1. Io. •. 1. and venerable Bede vpon this place. And in the like sense the holy Scriptures commonly commend vnto vs almes and deedes of mercie for redemption of our sinnes. Prouerb. c. 10. Ecclesiastici 12. v. 2. Danielis •. 4. v. 24.
Concordance Heb. 13.
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Concordance Ro. 12, 6.
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In the liturgy The Epistle for a Martyr.
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Concordance Mt. 5, 11.
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Concordance Hier. 25, 29.
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17. That iudgement begin.] In this time of the new Testament, The better mē most afflicted in this life. the faithful and al those that meane to liue godly (specially of the Clergie) must first and principally be subiect to Gods chastisement and temporal afflictions, vvhich are here called iudgement. Vvhich the Apostle recordeth for the comfort and confirmation of the Catholike Christians, vvho vvere at the time of the vvriting hereof, excedingly persecuted by the heathen Princes & people.
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18. If the iust.] Not that a man dying iust and in the fauour of God, The iust man him self is hardly saued. can afterward be in doubt of his saluation, or may be reiected of God: but that the iust being both in this life subiect to assaults, tentations, troubles, and. dangers of falling from God and losing their state of iustice, & also oftentimes to make a straite count, & to be temporally chastised in the next life, Against the vaine securitie of only faith. cannot be saued vvithout great vvatch, feare, and trembling, and much labouring and chastisement. And this is far contrarie to the Protestants doctrine, that putteth no iustice but in faith alone, maketh none iust in deede and in truth, teacheth men to be so secure and assured of their saluation, that he that hath liued vvickedly al his life, if he onely haue their faith at his death, that is, if he beleeue stedfastly that he is one of the elect, he shal be as sure of his saluation immediatly after his departure, as the best liuer in the vvorld.
Concordance Prou. 11, 31.
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 3.26
… But when He came among us from Mary once at the end of the ages for the abolition of sin (for so it was pleasing to the Father, to send His own Son ‘made of a woman, made under the Law’), then it is said, that He took flesh and became man, and in that flesh He suffered for us (as Peter says, ‘Christ therefore having suffered for us in the flesh
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Synodal Letter to the People of Antioch. (Tomus ad Antiochenos.) 1
… nor was there one that raised up Lazarus, another that asked concerning him; but the same it was that said as man, ‘Where does Lazarus lie ;’ and as God raised him up: the same that as man and in the body spat, but divinely as Son of God opened the eyes of the man blind from his birth ; and while, as Peter says
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 2.7
57. For so hath the Apostle Paul likewise said: “Because they have crucified the flesh of Christ.” And again the Apostle Peter saith: “Christ having suffered according to the flesh.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.39
… And as living stones let us be built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood offering up spiritual sacrifices through Christ our Lord. For we are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 29.10
… that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 164
… who shall give account to Him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.” After these words he subjoins: “For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 3
Eran. —The divine Peter says “Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh.”
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St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 22.1
… Any one who comes in ought not to be able, of his own free will, to accost or speak to any of the brothers, before those to whom the responsibility of general discipline is committed have approved of it as pleasing to God, with a view to the common good. The Christian ought not to be enslaved by wine;
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Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The Second Epistle of Clement 16
… Know ye that the day of judgment draweth nigh like a burning oven, and certain of the heavens and all the earth will melt, like lead melting in fire; and then will appear the hidden and manifest deeds of men. Good, then, is alms as repentance from sin; better is fasting than prayer, and alms than both; “charity covereth a multitude of sins,”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.28
… but they are justified by His gift and grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” Also in the Epistle of Peter the apostle: “Christ hath died once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might present us to God.” Also in the same place: “For in this also was it preached to them that are dead, that they might be raised again.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 164
… voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.” On the same principle of interpretation, also, there is nothing compelling us to understand the immediately succeeding words of Peter—“For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit”
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St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Ephesians: Shorter and Longer Versions 10
… they know not what they do.” If any one, the more he is injured, displays the more patience, blessed is he. If any one is defrauded, if any one is despised, for the name of the Lord, he truly is the servant of Christ. Take heed that no plant of the devil be found among you, for such a plant is bitter and salt. “Watch ye, and be ye sober,”
St Polycarp † AD 155 Epistle to the Philippians 7
… and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan. Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from the beginning; “watching unto prayer,”
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Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 49
Let him who has love in Christ keep the commandments of Christ. Who can describe the [blessed] bond of the love of God? What man is able to tell the excellence of its beauty, as it ought to be told? The height to which love exalts is unspeakable. Love unites us to God. Love covers a multitude of sins.
Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 6
… “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” For, strictly speaking, there cannot any longer be reckoned ought against the martyrs, by whom in the baptism (of blood) life itself is laid down. Thus, “love covers the multitude of sins;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 20.13
… but when thou remainest implacable, then, all persons will deride thee. Then thou wilt give to the devil the advantage of this wide breach. For the enmity becomes then more difficult to be got rid of, not by mere lapse of time, but from the circumstances too that take place in the meanwhile. For as “charity covereth a multitude of sins,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 40
… For us, there is nothing good without friendship. Let there be good things without number, but what is the benefit—be it wealth, be it luxury—without friendship? No possession equal to this, even in matters of this life, just as there is nothing worse than men hating (us). “Charity hides a multitude of sins” (
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
… If we do not what we would, but what we would not, how can you say that a man can be without sin if he chooses? You see that neither an Apostle, nor any believer can perform what he wishes.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 88.9
… For it is written, “Purifying their hearts by faith;” and again, “Charity covereth a multitude of sins.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 93.40
… for it is written, “Charity [love] covereth a multitude of sins.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Baptism, Against the Donatists 2.13
… Let us throw ourselves together on our knees before the Lord. Do you share with us our unity; let us share with you your contrition and let charity cover the multitude of sins.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Baptism, Against the Donatists 6.24
… but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Hence also Peter says, "For charity shall cover the multitude of sins;"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Correction of the Donatists 10
… I answer, You do not indeed receive baptism, which was able to exist in you outside the framework of the body of Christ, although it could not profit you; but you receive the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace without which no one can see God; and you receive charity, which, as it is written, "shall cover the multitude of sins."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 35
The Apostle Peter, likewise, says, “And, above all things, have fervent love among yourselves: for love shall cover the multitude of sins.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 21.18
… “Love moreover is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” And because it is through sin that we are alienated from the possession of true good, “Love covereth a multitude of sins.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 1.6
… many drops fill the river; many grains make the lump. And what hope is there? Before all, confession: lest any think himself righteous, and, before the eyes of God who seeth that which is, man, that was not and is, lift up the neck. Before all, then, confession; then, love: for of charity what is said? “Charity covereth a multitude of sins.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 5.3
… And how fares it with him concerning his other sins, of which it is said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us?” Let him hear that which shall set his mind at rest from another place of Scripture; “Charity covereth a multitude of sins.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 11.6
… or a liking for goodness itself and the love of virtue. For then we read that the fear of evil loathes contamination: “The fear of the Lord hateth evil.” Hope also shuts out the assaults of all faults: for “all who hope in Him shall not fail.” Love also fears no destruction from sins, for “love never faileth;” and again: “love covers a multitude of sins.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 20.8
… “Repent and be converted that your sins may be forgiven;” and John the Baptist and the Lord Himself: “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand:” but also by the affection of love is the weight of our sins overwhelmed: for “charity covers a multitude of sins.”
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St Theonas of Alexandria † AD 300 The Epistle of Theonas, Bishop of Alexandria, to Lucianus, the Chief Chamberlain 2
… nor, again, on the other hand, does anything so much annoy and vex him as the moroseness and impatience and grumbling of his servant. Be such things far from you Christians, whose walk is in zeal for the faith. But in order that God may be honoured
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.20
… lest, when they have fulfilled all aright, they give something to themselves, and so at once lose all after they have accomplished all. For, that they may not attribute to themselves the virtue of their liberality, let them hear what is written, If any man administer, let him do it as of the ability which God administereth (
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.24
… They ought to be admonished to take heed, lest their manner of saying things be at variance with the excellence of what is said, and lest they preach one thing in their speaking and another in their outward bearing. Let them hear, therefore, what is written, If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God (
Pseudo-Clement The First Epistle of the Blessed Clement, the Disciple of Peter the Apostle 11
… And they hearken not to that which the Scripture has said: “Let not many be teachers among you, my brethren, and be not all of you prophets.” For “he who does not transgress in word is a perfect man, able to keep down and subjugate his whole body.” And, “If a man speak, let him speak in the words of God.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 12
… If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; because glory and the Spirit of God rest upon you: if only none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters; yet (if any man suffer) as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 55.2
… but as often as ye partake in Christ’s sufferings, rejoice in all things, that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached in the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the name of the majesty and power of the Lord resteth on you, which indeed on their part is blasphemed, but on our part is glorified.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus 9
… If ye be reproached in the name of Christ, happy are ye; because the name of the majesty and power of the Lord resteth upon you; which indeed according to them is blasphemed, but according to us is honoured.”
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.33.9
… Thus, too, [she passes through an experience] similar to that of the ancient prophets, as the Lord declares, “For so persecuted they the prophets who were before you;” inasmuch as she does indeed, in a new fashion, suffer persecution from those who do not receive the word of God, while the self-same spirit rests upon her
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 6.4
… whom you yourselves, even as being lovers and guardians of your own praise, should rebuke and check and correct. For what a disgrace is suffered by your name, when one spends his days in intoxication and debauchery, another returns to that country whence he was banished, to perish when arrested, not now as being a Christian, but as being a criminal!
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.38
In the Epistle of Peter to them of Pontus: “Nor let any of you suffer as a thief, or a murderer, or as an evil-doer, or as a minder of other people’s business, but as a Christian.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 147
… Master, constantly carry on their lips this His dearest name and cry in the words of the Song of Songs “My beloved is mine and I am his;” “I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.” And besides all this that name of ours which we love so well we have derived from the name of Christ. We are called Christians.
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St Polycarp † AD 155 Epistle to the Philippians 8
Let us then continually persevere in our hope, and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, “who bore our sins in His own body on the tree,” “who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth,” but endured all things for us, that we might live in Him. Let us then be imitators of His patience; and if we suffer
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 25
… 26 .) Verily this is the reason why it was there they were appointed to be called Christians, because Paul there spent so long time! “And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the Church, and taught much people. And the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 164
… for which reason the same apostle says in another place: “The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 22.14
… and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that believe not the gospel of the Lord? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 22.20
… This truth is set forth at length by the Apostle Peter in the passage already quoted, where he says: "It is time that judgment should begin at the house of the Lord. And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of those that believe not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely are saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Harmony of the Gospels 2.4
… “The time is come that judgment should begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be to them that obey not the gospel of God? and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 9.1
For notice of two judgments is conveyed to us throughout the Scriptures, if any one will give heed to them, one hidden, the other manifest. The hidden one is passing now, of which the Apostle Peter says, “The time is come that judgment should begin from the house of the Lord.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 60.6
6. Wherefore this? “Thou hast given to men fearing Thee, a sign that they should flee from the face of the bow” ( ver. 4 ). Through tribulations temporal, he saith, Thou hast signified to Thine own to flee from the wrath of fire everlasting. For, saith the Apostle Peter, “Time it is that Judgment begin with the House of God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 94.18
… If sons are scourged, what must the most wicked slaves expect? For which reason he added: “And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?” To which he added this testimony: “For if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 119.8
60. “At midnight,” he saith, “I rise to give thanks unto Thee: because of Thy righteous judgments” ( ver. 62 ). This very fact, that the bands of the ungodly surround the righteous, is one of the righteous judgments of God. On which account the Apostle Peter saith, “The time is come when judgment must begin at the house of the Lord.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 119.21
… for it follows, “but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” Not to be deprived of strength in any evils, is therefore the falling seven times, and the rising again of the just man. Justly hath the Church then praised God seven times in a day for His righteous judgments; because, when it was time that judgment should begin at the house of God,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 119.22
171. But in this faith, though the heathen rage furiously, and the people imagine a vain thing: though the flesh be slain while it preacheth Thee: “My soul shall live, and shall praise Thee: and Thy judgments shall help me” ( ver. 175 ). These are those judgments, which it was time should begin at the house of the Lord.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 9
… Wherefore he said, “He shall suffer loss:” lo, here is one punishment: “but he himself shall be saved, but so as by fire;” lo, again, here is a second. And his meaning is, “He himself shall not perish in the same way as his works, passing into nought, but he shall abide in the fire.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 6.4
… as it is written in another place, “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and ungodly appear?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 31.24
24. “Love the Lord, all ye His saints” ( ver. 23 ). The Prophet again exhorts, having sight of these things, and saith, “Love the Lord, all ye His saints; for the Lord will require truth.” Since “if the righteous shall scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and the ungodly appear?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 60.6
… the world should rage, when slaughters should be made at the hands of persecutors, when far and wide blood of believers should be spilled, when in chains, in prisons, in tortures, many hard things Christians should suffer, in these hard things, I say, lest they should faint, Peter saith to them, “Time it is that Judgment begin with the House of God,” etc.
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St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 12.4
… Blessed be Abraham of God most high, Who created heaven and earth . The prophet Hosea also is witness, saying, I am the Lord thy God, that establish the heavens and create the earth, Whose hands have created all the host of heaven . Peter too is witness, writing thus, Committing your souls as to a faithful Creator
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.14.9
… and faithful too by promise, that He may hear and not mislead those who come to Him. This may be also learned from the Epistle of the great Peter, who says, ‘Let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit their souls to a faithful Creator
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 7.24
… bearing all things, enduring all things for their love and hope of Him, giving thanks for all things favourable and unfavourable alike: I mean pleasant and painful, for reason knows that even these are often instruments of salvation; commending to Him our own souls
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1. Christ therefore having suffered in the flesh; and do you arm yourselves with the same thought. — The word "therefore" signifies that these things are inferred and concluded from what he said in the preceding chapter, verse 18: "Christ once died for our sins; the just for the unjust, that he might offer us to God." From this indeed he rightly concludes: Therefore you also conform yourselves to Christ suffering for you, and arm yourselves with the same thought, so that with Christ crucified you may likewise crucify your vices, preserve the justice received from him, and do not return to your former injustice; but present and offer yourselves just and holy to God, lest you make his passion and labors of no effect, and lest he himself have died for you in vain and to no purpose. Most excellently St. Bernard, sermon 3 on the Nativity of the Lord: "I was playing," he says, "outside in the street, and in the secret chamber of the royal palace judgment of death was being carried out against me. His Only-begotten heard this, went forth, laying aside his diadem, clothed in sackcloth, his head sprinkled with ashes, his feet bare, weeping and wailing that his little servant had been condemned to death. I behold him suddenly coming forth, I am amazed at the novelty, I ask the cause and hear it. What shall I do? Shall I still play, and mock his tears? Surely if I am mad and bereft of mind I will not follow him, nor will I weep together with him that weeps;" and soon after: "Recognize, O man, how grave are the wounds for which it was necessary that the Lord Christ be wounded: if these were not unto death, and unto eternal death, never would the Son of God die for their remedy." By his own blood therefore Christ abolished vices, and purchased virtues for us, so that we might preserve, increase and perfect them with all zeal, labor and effort. Note: "In the flesh" signifies first, that Christ suffered only in this life while he was in mortal flesh, not after death when he descended to the infernal regions, as Calvin blasphemously claims, saying that Christ endured the punishments of the damned, so that he might take upon himself and pay our damnation. Second, most of his pains, such as of scourges, whippings, spittings, thorns, nails, were in the flesh. Third, under "flesh" by synecdoche is understood the passible soul and capable of pains, and subject to them. For he alludes to that passion of Christ beginning in the garden from sadness: "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak," Matt. chapter xxvi, 41. Therefore, opposing flesh to spirit, under it and through it he understands the soul then sensitive: for this felt pains in the flesh, not the flesh itself. Whence St. Augustine, in the book On Faith and Works, chapter x, reads: "Christ having suffered through the flesh;" then the rational soul, namely his lower appetite, which regards the good and advantage of nature, or of the person, and feels and grieves over its inconveniences, troubles, pains. Whence of it the Apostle says: "The flesh," that is, the carnal soul and appetite "lusts against the spirit," Gal. v, 17; for the greater pains of Christ were in the sensitive soul, the greatest in the soul and rational appetite. For in this he conceived immense pain over the sins of individual men, because they most grievously offend God, so that by this act of pain and contrition he might satisfy God for them; in this also he grieved intensely over the malice and ingratitude of men, that so many would spurn his passion and grace, and willingly rush into the depths of hell. Whence fourth, by "flesh" understand synecdochically the whole humanity: for he opposes this to divinity; for some heretics, such as Eutyches with his followers, taught that the divinity of Christ suffered equally as the humanity. Thus St. Fulgentius, book III to Thrasia, IX: "For this reason," he says, "he confesses that Christ suffered in the flesh, whose divinity he knew remained altogether impassible." Thus in John 1, 14, it is said: "The Word was made flesh:" flesh, that is, man consisting of flesh and soul. Whence from this place the Fathers teach first, against Nestorius, that in Christ there were not two persons, but one, namely of the Word; second, against Eutyches, that in Christ there were two natures, namely the divine and the human, and these altogether unconfused and unmixed, distinct and divided, because one was impassible, the other passible. Thus the Council of Hispalis, chapter XIII; Theodoret, Dialogue chapter III; Irenaeus, book III, chapter xx; Gelasius, book On the Two Natures, and others. Note secondly, for "be armed with the same thought," St. Jerome, in book I Against Jovinian, reads, or rather explains, "be armed with the same conversation." In Greek it is tēn autēn ennoian hoplisasthe, that is, "be armed with the same thought," that is, as it were put on arms and arm yourselves with them. Oecumenius, Pagninus and the Zurich Bible, understanding kata, render it, "be armed according to the same thought." By "thought" understand first, consideration, estimation, reasoning, as if to say: Since Christ suffered so much for you, consider, estimate and conclude how much you ought to do and suffer for him, indeed for yourselves, namely for the flight of sin and the pursuit of virtue, which he has procured for you by his passion. This is what Paul admonishes: "Reconsider him who endured such contradiction from sinners against himself, that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin," Hebrews XII, 2. Secondly, "with the same thought," that is, with similar resolution, decree of mind, purpose, arm yourselves: thus Vatablus. So St. Paul, exhorting the Philippians, chapter II, verse 3, to humility and mutual love, uses the same incentive: "For this," he says, "think in yourselves, which also is in Christ Jesus," that is, put on this sense of mind, this purpose, which you see in Christ, "who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man." The sense is, as if to say: Since Christ so resolutely and generously suffered and was crucified for you, that he might crucify your sins and vices, do you likewise crucify them in yourselves with similar resolution of mind and efficacious purpose, even if this be done with passion and pain. Again, by the example of Christ, bear all adversities and hardships, which occur abundantly in this life, bravely and generously. So Paul says Romans vi, 6: "Our old man is crucified together (with Christ crucified), that the body of sin may be destroyed, and we may serve sin no longer." And Galatians II, 19: "For I through the law am dead to the law, that I may live to God. I am crucified with Christ. And I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me. And that I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself for me." Therefore St. Peter and Paul teach not only Religious, as Cassian beautifully shows, book IV of the Institutes, chapters xxxiv and xxxv; but all Christians ought to be crucified with the crucified Christ to the world and its pomps and vices, so that Christianity is the image of the cross, and the whole life of a true Christian bears that figure and appearance which Christ had when fixed to the cross. First indeed, just as he who is suspended on the cross cannot move his hands and limbs at will, but has them fixed to the wood: so a Christian cannot move himself and his limbs at will, but ought to conform them and as it were fix them to the law of God and Christ. Secondly, just as he fixed to the cross is continually tortured by his cross: so the law of Christ continually tortures the sense and flesh, inasmuch as it opposes its desires and concupiscences, and commands them to be mortified and cut off. Thirdly, just as he suspended does not care for passing men, spectacles, pomps, delights: so a Christian ought not to care for these, nor fix his heart on them. Fourthly, he suspended is not anxious about tomorrow, and is held by no desire for money or possessions: let the Christian do the same. Fifthly, he suspended, though breathing in body, is nevertheless dead in care and thought to all things, and thinks only of those things to which he hopes shortly to depart: so too a Christian ought to be dead not only to vices and concupiscences, but also to the very elements of the world and all things in affection, and turn his whole heart to God and heaven, to which he hopes to come at every moment: whence it will come to pass that, dead to the acts and desires of the world, he no longer lives himself, but Christ lives in him, who was crucified for him. Note thirdly: "Arm yourselves," first, can be taken generally for "clothe yourselves, equip yourselves": for thus indeed garments and any instruments whatsoever are sometimes called arms. Secondly, however, properly and more forcefully, take "arm yourselves" for "arm yourselves, equip yourselves with arms." This word suggests first, that the life of man, especially of a Christian, is nothing other than warfare, as Job says in chapter xiv, verse 1, in which one must continually struggle and contend against the demon, the flesh and the world. Secondly, that the panoply, that is, the full armor of Christ was His passion and cross: for by this He overcame sin, death, hell and the devil. Whence Thomas of England notes symbolically that Christ on the cross was like an armed knight: for the crown of thorns was to Him as a helmet, the flesh as a breastplate, the nails as a sword, the cross as a horse. Thirdly, that the panoply likewise of each Christian is the passion and cross of Christ, and his thought, memory, consideration, and invocation of it: for the Christian must use the same arms and fight with the same weapons which Christ used and fought with. Wherefore there is no more efficacious weapon or shield for resisting the temptation of the demon, the flesh and the world, than the thought of Christ crucified, as I taught in chapter II, verse 21, and chapter III, verse 18. See also the panoply of the Christian from head to heels, which I described from the Apostle in Ephesians vi, 13. As a symbol of this matter, in the sacrament of Confirmation we are signed on the forehead by the Bishop, and are thereby as it were authorized and strengthened as soldiers and fighters of Christ, to contend for the faith of Christ even unto death and martyrdom. Thus Constantine the Great, in his Edict referring to his own Confirmation, says: "Having risen," he says, "from the font, clothed in white garments, the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit applied the seal through the anointing of blessed Chrism, and traced the standard of the cross on my forehead;" and Prudentius in the Psychomachia: After the marks inscribed with oil on the forehead, through which the royal Ointment was given, and the perpetual chrism. Hence in the Roman Order on Holy Thursday, the form of the cross is called, "the sign of the forehead and the sacred title of the warrior, that we who are signed with holy Chrism may deserve to be standard-bearers of heaven." Wherefore the ancients anointed and signed not only the forehead, in which modesty resides, in Confirmation with the cross, to profess the faith and cross intrepidly, but also other members. This the Greeks still observe, who, as Jeremiah, Patriarch of Constantinople, says, in the Profession of faith, anoint the forehead, eyes and back in the form of a cross. The Ethiopians, however, as their Ritual or Order of baptism has it, anoint not only the eyes, forehead and back in the form of a cross, but also the nostrils, lips, breast, stomach, shins, knees and feet, so as to signify that all members, all senses, all actions of the Christian are to be sealed with the cross. Hence again the emblem and standard of Christian warfare is the cross. For Constantine the Great first changed the eagles, which the Romans bore on their standards, into the labarum of the cross, which was shown to him from heaven with this inscription: "In this sign thou shalt conquer"; and by it he obtained illustrious victories over Maxentius and other tyrants, as Eusebius relates in the Life of Constantine. This the Christians followed in holy war: for as many as gave their names to the militia for the recovery of the Holy Land were signed with the cross. See Gretser On the Cross. Because he that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sins. — Many understand by "he that hath suffered in the flesh" Christ; for he spoke of Christ a little before: "Christ therefore having suffered in the flesh," etc., and thus explain it, as if to say, Christ having suffered in the flesh through His passion weakened and abolished sins, while He makes us by His grace cease and desist from them: so that it is a Hebraism whereby Kal is put for Hiphil, namely "hath ceased" for "hath caused to cease." Or, as others say, "hath ceased to be a victim for sin," as the Greek has it, that is, hath ceased to be a victim for sin. "For by one oblation He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified," Hebrews chapter x, verse 14. But these seem violent or forced. Wherefore Oecumenius and others genuinely understand by "he that hath suffered in the flesh," namely "he that hath been crucified," the Christian; for he, as I have already said, in baptism was crucified together with, died together with and was buried together with Christ, as Paul says in Romans vi, 4. Again, he hath suffered in the flesh, because he afflicts, mortifies and crucifies his flesh together with its concupiscences. For those things which follow pertain to the Christian, not truly to Christ: "That now he may live, not according to the desires of men, but according to the will of God, the rest of his time in the flesh."
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The meaning therefore is, as if to say, a Christian who, in the manner of Christ crucified, is himself crucified, crucifying his flesh with its vices and concupiscences, has now ceased, taken leave of, and renounced sins, so that henceforth he may not live in the flesh for the flesh, but for God, just as if he were an angel in the flesh, subjecting it to the spirit, making it spiritual, and almost transforming it into spirit: wherefore let him not live "according to desires," that is, according to the desires of Gentile and carnal men in luxuries, drunkenness, revelries, as he presently explains; but "according to the will," that is, according to the will "of God," so that he may establish it in all things as his rule of living, and by it he may be acted upon and impelled to every good pleasing to God, which namely God himself commands or counsels. Whence St. Jerome, in book I Against Jovinian, reads: "Let him spend the remaining time in the flesh in the will of God." Piously and wisely St. Augustine in the Manual says: "He loses," he says, "what he lives, who does not love you, O God; he who cares to live not for your sake, O Lord, is nothing, and is as nothing: he who refuses to live for you is dead: he who does not savour of you, is foolish." And presently: "The soul which does not seek you nor love you loves the world, serves sins, and is subject to vices, never at rest, never secure. Let my soul always serve you, let my pilgrimage always sigh for you, let my heart burn in love of you, let it rest in you, my God, my soul; let it contemplate you in the ecstasy of mind, let it sing your praises in jubilation, and let this be my consolation in this exile of mine." St. Peter therefore signifies that Christians ought to redeem the time past badly spent on the flesh and on pleasure, so that from baptism they may consecrate their entire subsequent life to Christ, and may apply themselves to virtue all the more earnestly, as they once applied themselves to pleasure with greater abandon, as St. Paul also admonishes in Romans vi, 19. For if they return to their former desires, they will provoke God, and will be punished more severely by him. For, as St. Peter says in his second epistle, chapter II, verse 21: "It had been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than after the knowledge thereof to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. For it has happened to them according to the true proverb: The dog is returned to his vomit; and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire."
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St. Augustine, homily 20 among 50. Clearly Pagninus and the Zurich Bible: "For it is enough for us that in the time of our past life we have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, and drunkenness." From modesty, and so that the rebuke might be milder, St. Peter numbers himself among the Gentiles, although he himself was not a Gentile, much less lived as a Gentile. He explains "the rest in the flesh," that is to say, You have spent the greater and better part of your life in paganism in the flesh and vices: a small part of life remains for you; therefore that remainder of it, which is small, declining and growing old, give to God and to virtue. Therefore enough has been given to wine and belly; now live for Christ. Thus Udo, Archbishop of Magdeburg, living shamefully, was warned from heaven by this voice: "Udo, Udo, cease from play, you have played enough, Udo." But because he did not cease from playing, he was struck on the head by St. Maurice in the public temple of the city, where even now the traces of his blood are seen in the marble, as Nauclerus relates, vol. III, generation 43; Fulgosus, lib. IX, cap. XII, and others. Thus says Ezekiel, XLIV, 6: "Let all your wickedness suffice you, O house of Israel;" and cap. XLV, verse 9: "Let iniquity and rapines suffice you, O princes of Israel; cease from them, and do judgment and justice." This is what St. Paul admonishes the faithful, Rom. XIII, 11: "It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep, etc., the night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and emulation; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences." See how St. Paul, as it were, makes a string accord with a string and sings in harmony with St. Peter. Those who have walked, — rolling themselves from vice to vice: for there are three degrees of sins, the first to commit sin, the second to walk in it and stand, the third to sit in it and rest, and to give themselves wholly to it and attach themselves to it, which the Psalmist expressed at the beginning of the Psalms, saying: "Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence." The impious therefore walk from sin to sin. On the contrary, of the just it is said Psalm LXXXIII, 8: "They shall go from virtue to virtue, the God of gods shall be seen in Sion," which St. Furseus heard from the angels singing to him, as related by Bede, lib. III Hist., cap. xix. In lasciviousness. — The Greek aselgeia signifies lasciviousness, insolence, petulance, impudence, wantonness, both in immodest words, gestures, and touches; and in jeers, mockeries, and annoyances, by which the neighbour is vexed and troubled. Desires, — epithymiais, that is concupiscences. For the heart of the impious boils with these, and like a burning oven constantly ejects sparks, namely burning desires now of lust, now of gluttony, now of avarice, now of anger, now of vengeance, etc. For, as Seneca says: The desires of men are immense and always gape and demand. "One is born from the end of another: as we say there is a series of causes, from which fate is named, so we say there is a series of desires." Thus he himself in epistle 19. Truly the wise man says Eccli. xviii, 30: "If thou give thy soul her concupiscences, she will make thee a joy to thy enemies." Drunkenness. — Some read wrongly "willings": for in Greek it is oinophlygiais, that is, drunkenness, wine-drinking, debauchery, such as those of drunkards, who, full of wine, breathe and belch nothing but wine, and thus in wine they bury and entomb their body, senses, soul, mind and themselves entirely, more like the dead than the living; whence the Syriac translates, "in debauchery and drunkenness and wantonness and singing." In rioting. — I have spoken of these in my Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul, Rom. XIII, 13. Drinkings. — This word is distinguished from drunkenness, as cause from effect: for drinking causes drunkenness. Again, as genus from species: for drinking is done not only with wine, but also with mead, beer and other drinks. And in unlawful idolatries. — "Unlawful," that is abominable and accursed; it is a meiosis. Whence St. Augustine, homily 20 among 50, reads "nefarious idolatrous servitudes." For the Gentiles not only worshipped Ceres as a goddess giving fruits, and Bacchus as a god giving wine; but also to their other desires and concupiscences they set up gods, whom they invoked so that the things they desired might be granted to them, just as "Voluptas, which is named from pleasure, and Libentina, whose name is from lust," says St. Augustine, lib. IV De Civit., cap. viii. I pass over the goddess Virginensis, Prema, Partunda, Venus, Priapus and others more obscene, whom shame does not permit to be named, so much so that St. Augustine, relating them, lib. VI, cap. ix, blushes and shudders. From this it is clear that this epistle, although written primarily to the Jews, was also written secondarily to the Gentiles converted to Christ: for these in paganism were devoted to idolatry, lasciviousness and gluttony: but the Jews after their return from Babylon no longer worshipped idols.
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4. In which they wonder. — xenizontai, that is, they sojourn as strangers, that is, they seem to themselves to be strangers, and as if to be in another world, seeing a thing so unexpected, namely your life so holy and admirable, which as if a strange, new and unusual thing they wonder at and are astonished: assuredly it is a great miracle to see a Gentile made Christian suddenly change his ways to the contrary, so that he becomes a new man, from a drunkard sober, from unchaste chaste, from proud humble, from carnal spiritual. Such therefore is the power of the Gospel law and the grace of Christ, concerning which the Psalmist says in Psalm xviii, 8: "The law of the Lord," he says, "undefiled converting souls." And Isaiah, chapter viii, verse 18: "Behold I and my children, whom God hath given me for a sign and for a wonder." Whence Oecumenius: "They themselves," he says, "Gentiles wonder at you, because you do not concur with them in a like impiety of anachysis, that is, a pouring back, that is, a confusion," both because they wonder at your change, and because they wonder that they are abandoned by you, and because they wonder that you overcome lusts, to which they themselves indulging and enslaving themselves think it impossible to be able to lack. Note: For "confusion" in Greek is anachysis, which first signifies "a pouring back," namely by which to a shameful question or deed, a shameful answer or deed is poured back and rejected; secondly, "an overflowing." For lust indeed like the sea overflows and rages into all obscenities. Whence the Syriac translator renders it, "behold now they wonder, and they assail you with curses, because you do not itch with them in lust in that former gluttony." Thirdly, "softness and wantonness;" fourthly, "confusion," as Oecumenius translates it, and that twofold, namely first, shame and blushing; secondly, a mingling by which men or women shamefully, unspeakably and sometimes contrary to nature mingle with one another: for lust is monstrous and insatiable, whence it always devises new modes of turpitude. Blaspheming. — as if to say, So much do they wonder at your change, that at the same time they do not praise it, but blaspheme it, that is, revile it, mock it, curse it, as contrary to their own ways, and a silent reproof of the same: for by your virtues you truly condemn and damn their vices. Thus today we see Religious men blasphemed by the wicked, because the splendor of their virtue and religion pricks and stings the eyes of the wicked like those of owls, when they see their vices truly condemned and damned by them. Wherefore he who does this shows himself wicked, and it has often been discovered that some hidden lust or vice dominates such men, even if they try to hide it and cover it with external honesty of manners. Truly St. Prosper, in epigram 32: "The impious," he says, "part of the world is hostile to the part of the pious, Nor can it tolerate unlike minds, Mocking those unwilling to use present riches, And hoping that what is entrusted to them can be given to themselves."
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5. Who shall render account to him who is ready to judge both the living and the dead. — "Who is ready," first, is the same as "who is appointed judge." Secondly, who from zeal of justice and vengeance eagerly desires judgment, and anxiously awaits the day of judgment. Thirdly, who is about to judge shortly and soon, that is, who has at hand both the knowledge and witnesses, namely angels, demons themselves, and man's own conscience, by which he may convince and condemn the guilty; and also the virtue and power, by which he may thrust the condemned, even kings and princes, into the abyss of hell, so that no one can escape his eyes, mouth and hands. Wherefore then they shall late recognize their error and shall say in astonishment: "These are they whom we had sometime in derision, and for a comparison of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints." And concerning themselves wailing they shall lament: "Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice did not shine unto us, and the sun of understanding rose not upon us. We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and perdition, and we walked through hard ways; but the way of the Lord we knew not. What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that runneth on, and as a ship that passeth through the waves of the water, of which when it is passed, there is no trace to be found," etc. Wisdom v, 3 et seq. Wisely St. Augustine, Soliloquies, chapter XIV: "When I," he says, "consider this diligently, O Lord my God terrible and strong, I am confounded with fear and great shame alike, because great necessity is laid upon us of living justly and rightly, we who do all things before the eyes of a Judge who sees all things."
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6. For for this reason the Gospel was preached also to the dead: that they may be judged indeed according to men in the flesh, but may live according to God in the spirit. — He proves that Christ will judge both the living and the dead, from the fact that descending to the infernal regions He judged the dead in the flesh, but the living in the spirit. Indeed He alludes to what He said of the same in the preceding chapter, verse 18: "For Christ also died once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit: in which also coming He preached to those spirits that were in prison;" for St. Peter is accustomed to repeat and inculcate the same thing. Whence he repeats and inculcates so many times the passion of Christ, patience, the love of brotherhood and other Christian virtues. For this is the office of a good Pastor, teacher and preacher: for indeed the hearers do not immediately grasp or do the things that are said, but the same things must be repeated and impressed upon them again and again: for which reason St. Chrysostom, in his homilies to the people, often and almost to the point of nausea inveighs against the custom of swearing, which then flourished in Antioch, and openly professes that he will not cease from this repetition and rebuke, until the hearers correct it. Now various ones explain this passage variously. First, Pererius, lib. IX in Genesis, disp. xxx, num. 91, and Salmeron here by "the dead" understand "those about to die," that is to say, To men about to die while they live in this life, the future judgment after death is seriously and truly preached: therefore the dead are truly to be judged by Christ. Second, Arias understands "the dead" mystically, namely those dead to sin, that is to say, To those who in Christ are dead to the world and to sins, this Gospel, that is the joyful message, was brought, namely that although according to man and the flesh, that is as to external appearance, they are judged similar to other men, yet they live according to God in the spirit, that is in spirit, mind and life they reflect and represent Christ the Son of God and His glory. Thus also Dionysius explains it in nearly the same way, that is to say, Those dead in Christ are judged and condemned by the men of this age, yet they live before God in the spirit, as being endowed with the grace and charity of God. To this Alcazar adds in Apoc. xxi, 20, annot. 18, who understands the dead as those dead to sin and to self-love, that is to say, Christ is about to judge the living and the dead mystically. For thus the Gospel was preached by the Apostles to the dead, that is to the faithful, who are dead to sin and to the world, and this so that they might patiently bear themselves to be judged in the flesh, that is to be condemned, tortured and killed for Christ, knowing that in God's tribunal their cause will be adjudged to them; and that they are to be given the reward of spiritual, glorious and eternal life, so that namely before God they may live in an immortal, most joyful and most blessed spirit. Third, others say, that the dead in Christ judge, that is condemn the crimes which reside almost in the very flesh of man, and therefore they subject themselves to God to be cultivated and quickened in the spirit. But all these understand "the dead" not properly according to the letter, but mystically and spiritually, when it seems it should be understood properly as it sounds. For thus St. Peter understands it immediately before, when he says Christ will judge the living and the dead, and he endeavors to prove this here. Fourth therefore Oecumenius, understanding "the dead" properly, explains thus, that is to say, Christ descending to the infernal regions judged, that is condemned the dead dwelling there, namely those who while they lived among the living, lived shamefully in the flesh after the manner of carnal men: but He quickened and saved those who according to God in the spirit, that is piously and spiritually had lived their life. But here he places two orders, one of those to be saved, another of those to be condemned, and consequently makes some judged by the quickened, when St. Peter seems to make them the same. For this is what those particles "indeed" and "but" signify, which are accustomed to be opposed to each other in the same thing and in the same subject. Fifth, others explain thus, that is to say, Christ descending to the fathers dead detained in limbo, preached the Gospel to them and announced to them that they will be judged, in Greek krithōsi, in the future, that is they are to be judged indeed on the day of judgment, "according to men," that is insofar as men now revived will again exist "in the flesh:" for in it they will rise again and go to judgment; but likewise He announced to them that they are to be adjudged to heaven and quickened "in the spirit" of grace and eternal glory. But this exposition does not sufficiently explain the antithesis, which is in being judged in the flesh, and being quickened in the spirit; again, between "according to men" and "according to God"; but it subordinates and subjects men to God, flesh to spirit, and judgment to quickening. Sixth, others say: St. Peter proves, they say, that Christ will come to judge not only the living but also the dead, from the fact that, as he said in the preceding chapter, verse 19, Christ descended to the lower regions, so that to those who had died long before when he descended there, he might evangelize and preach, and this not in order to convert the dead in sin, but so that as a judge he might judge them, not only by striking down and condemning the demons and the reprobate already damned to hell, but also by judging the just who were once unbelievers when Noah threatened the flood, but afterwards believed and repented: for he judged these, and brought forth this sentence upon them, saying: I have condemned you on account of unbelief and sins "according to man," that is, outwardly "in the flesh," so that namely your outer man, namely your body and flesh, deserved and was submerged by the flood; or "according to men," that is, as is the manner of men, who can kill the body, not the soul, you are punished and die in the flesh; but because you repented before death, therefore according to God, that is, inwardly and secretly before God I adjudge your soul to life, so that namely through that death and redemption you may live with me in spirit, and therefore I communicate to your spirit a vision of my divinity, and by it I make you blessed and glorify you, and I will likewise cause that on the third day it rise with me in body to a full, glorious and eternal life. Thus Suarez, III part., tom. II, disp. XLII, sect. 3, and Gregory of Valencia, III part. II, Quaest. IV, puncto 2. You will say: For "they be judged" and "they live" in Greek are the futures krithōsi and zōsi. Therefore this judgment is still to come, but that judgment of Christ already spoken of was completed when he himself descended to the lower regions. Therefore St. Peter does not speak of it here. I answer first: These futures do not refer to the time present to us, but to Christ, namely to the time of Christ descending to the lower regions: for then it was still to come, not done, as if to say Christ descended to the lower regions to evangelize the dead, in order that he might judge them in the flesh, and vivify them in the spirit: for they had not yet been judged and vivified by him, but were still to be judged and vivified. Second, Christ then began that judgment, but will complete it at the end of the world. Then therefore he will accomplish that full and universal judgment, which is indeed still to come: for then that judgment accomplished in secret in limbo he will celebrate before the whole world, and will confirm and publish his sentence, so that it may last throughout all eternity, as if to say Christ descended to the lower regions in order to judge the dead fathers in the flesh, and vivify them in the spirit, and he did this in that descent in an inchoate manner, but fully and perfectly he will do the same thing on the day of judgment. Third, Christ judged the dead in limbo in the flesh, that is, he punished them in the future, because he imposed this penance upon them outwardly, so that they might undergo public shame and ignominy among men, so that namely men not only of the past but also of the future might judge, and esteem them as to the flesh drowned and suffocated by the flood justly on account of their unbelief and sins, nay might judge them as to the soul damned, although secretly before God they were vivified in the spirit. For thus even now learned men, as I said in the preceding chapter, verses 19 and 20, hold that all who were drowned by the flood were damned. Christ therefore by his judgment imposed this mark upon them among men, and willed that they should suffer this judgment of men on account of their guilt, because namely by their unbelief and sins, and by its just punishment and death by which they were drowned by the flood, they gave men just occasion for this suspicion; but because St. Peter says: "That they be judged according to men," not "man," hence it seems rather that he speaks of the judgment of men, than of the judgment of Christ, otherwise he would have said "that Christ might judge them," or "that they be judged by Christ." Rather therefore it seems he speaks of the dead, who in piety and mortification of the flesh are judged by carnal men to have lived a miserable, superstitious and foolish life, but not of the dead in sin, and drowned in the flood. Whence he says to these the gospel was preached, that is, the glad tidings of the reward and prize of blessed life was brought. Wherefore seventhly, this appears to be the genuine context and meaning of this whole passage; lest anyone wonder at what St. Peter said, that Christ will judge the dead, he proves this very thing, saying: "For for this cause was the gospel preached also to the dead." For he speaks against the Gentiles and Epicureans living in luxuries, drunkenness, revelries, saying: Eat, drink, play: after death no pleasure, as though all happiness consisted in these things and in this life; for they believed that the soul perishes with the body, and therefore it would be foolish to abstain from the pleasures of this life and to mortify the flesh in hope of a future life, as though it were nothing, and therefore there would be no judgment to be expected concerning the deeds of the present life, no reward and retribution: for the dead feel nothing, know nothing, suffer nothing, indeed are nothing at all. St. Peter refutes this by teaching that Christ will judge both the dead and the living, and will render to them rewards according to their merits; the dead therefore live as to the soul, and therefore Christians ought to renounce their former desires, abstain from the vices of the flesh, and conform themselves to Christ suffering and crucified, crucifying the appetites of the flesh: "That now," he says in verse 2, "they may live, not according to the desires of men, but according to the will of God, for the rest of the time that they live in the flesh," so that namely in the other life you may rise with Christ to glory. He proves all these things from the fact that Christ, in order to show that he would judge the dead equally as the living, descended to the dead fathers dwelling in limbo, who in this life lived piously, chastely, and holily according to the spirit, not according to the flesh, and preached the gospel to them, that is, brought them the glad tidings of blessedness, namely by adjudging them to heaven and to the blessed life, and bestowing it upon them as it were in reality as a judge, so that although they are judged and esteemed "according to men," that is by worldly men, to be dead (for "dead" here must plainly be repeated from the antithesis which follows: "But live," etc.), that is to have utterly perished "in the flesh," and therefore to have been wretched and superstitious or foolish, because, while they lived, they despised the pleasures of the flesh, and mortified and crucified it with its vices and concupiscences, so as to assimilate themselves to Christ who was afterwards to suffer and be crucified, yet these same "live according to God," that is, before God, and by the gift of God in the spirit of grace and of heavenly glory. For "although they are judged according to men" refers to what he said in verse 4: "Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them into the same confusion of luxury, blaspheming." For, as St. Paul says, I Corinthians xv, 19: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." This is what "for for this cause was the gospel preached also to the dead" signifies; for this judgment of Christ was a gospel, that is, a most joyful message, which brought to the fathers so often and so long mortified in the flesh the news of his death and redemption already accomplished, and therefore of their liberation, happiness and glory. Such dead were the Prophets, the Maccabees and the like, whom the Apostle enumerates, Hebrews xi, who led an austere life in the mortification of the flesh, and served God in a pure and holy spirit, and for this suffered hard things, and even death itself. Such also were many who were drowned in the flood, who at first, being unbelievers to Noah as he threatened, as he said in the preceding chapter, verse 20 (for he alludes to this), were devoted to luxuries, drinking bouts, revelries; but afterwards, terrified by the constancy of Noah's threats and the building of the ark, they repented, and gave themselves to abstinence, continence and penance. These carnal men judged to be utterly dead, and sunk in the flesh in the flood, yet through Christ they live in the spirit. The example of these he proposes to Christians that they may imitate them, and cast off the former allurements of the flesh, and live in the spirit of grace, so that soon they may deserve to rise with Christ, to be endowed with happiness, and to live and be blessed in the spirit of eternal glory. For this verse depends on verse 1 and the following. Moreover, from the glory and reward of these pious ones, St. Peter leaves it to be inferred what are the punishments and torments of the impious, namely what torments await those who, indulging in the pleasures of the flesh, have given themselves wholly to luxury and excess, so that the faithful may avoid these, and follow the pious living in the mortification of the flesh and the dead. Whence also he adds: "But the end of all things is at hand." Note first, "according to men" is the same as "by men," who judge human things, that is external and sensible things, who judge, love and follow only those things which they see, feel and understand "in the flesh," and in carnal pleasures, and therefore judge those who lived and live in the flesh abstaining and continent to be wretched, superstitious and foolish. To this is opposed "according to God," that is, before God, in the sight of God, from God, by the gift and reward of God, who is the Lord of spirits, who regards the pious mind and judges it secretly, inwardly and invisibly, conferring upon it the life of the spirit, namely spiritual life, heavenly, angelic, blessed and divine. Note secondly, St. Peter alludes to Christ, whom in the preceding chapter, verse 18, he said suffered for us, that he might offer us to God, mortified indeed in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit, as if to say: Just as Christ for our sins and those of our fathers underwent this judgment, that he might die in the flesh, but rising on the third day might be quickened in the spirit: so likewise he inflicted this same judgment upon the fathers who lived according to the spirit, not according to the flesh, pronouncing this sentence upon them: Because you have mortified the desires of the flesh, I give you the life of the spirit; and although you are judged by carnal men to be utterly dead, and therefore to have lived miserably in the flesh, yet before God you live happily in the spirit, namely immortal, blessed and glorious in soul, and in your time you shall rise with Christ who suffered and was crucified with you in an immortal, blessed and glorious body. Whence tropologically this judgment of Christ and the fathers must necessarily be undergone by every Christian, namely that he be judged and mortified in the flesh both by others and by himself, and thereby be quickened in the spirit both through grace and through glory. To this may be referred the moral rather than literal exposition of St. Augustine, epistle 99, who taking by "the dead" not the infernal regions, but the unfaithful and wicked, thus explains: "For this reason," he says, "in this life the gospel was preached also to the dead, that is, to the unfaithful and wicked, so that when they have believed, they are judged indeed according to men in the flesh, that is in various tribulations, and in the very death of the flesh: whence the same Apostle in another place says, it is time that judgment should begin at the house of the Lord, yet they live according to the spirit, because they too were mortified in him, when they were held by the death of infidelity and impiety." And thus Oecumenius: "They say," he says, "that those who are so dead to Christ, that they are conformed to the death of Christ, and dead to the world, that is, to worldly desires, and live to Christ alone, on account of their former slothful and negligent life condemn themselves in the flesh, and that this is nothing else than to live in the spirit, that is, according to the institution of Christ: for indeed the condemnation of the actions of their former life makes them more eager and prompt in performing those things which lie before them." Thus also Hugh, Vatablus and others.
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7. Now the end of all things is at hand. — "Now" does not refer immediately to the preceding statements about the judgment of the dead, but to what he said above about abstaining from luxuries, revelries and former vices: for he gives the reason for this abstinence, namely that the end of pleasures equally as of all things draws near; but it properly refers to "is prepared to judge," as if to say: Christ the judge presses upon us, because the end of all things presses upon us: therefore it is fitting that we live soberly and chastely, and be conformed to Christ suffering, so that we may appear before him as judge secure and joyful, and be able to give an account of a holy life lived. This is what Christ admonishes, Luke xxi, 34: "Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly." Furthermore, "end" here can first be understood as the end of life, as if to say: Our life is brief, and already many have lived thirty, forty, fifty years of it: therefore little remains for them: therefore the end of life presses upon them, death and particular judgment. Secondly, and rather, "end" here is understood as the end of the world and age: for this is what "of all things" suggests, as if to say: The world has now stood for four thousand years, and tends toward old age and decline: the world has passed through six ages of its life, and now acts out the seventh and last; therefore its end draws near. For the first age of the world was from Adam to Noah and the flood. The second, from Noah to Abraham. The third, from Abraham to Moses. The fourth, from Moses to David. The fifth, from David to the Babylonian captivity. The sixth, from the Babylonian captivity to Christ. The seventh is now being acted out from Christ until the end of the world. Hence St. John in his first epistle, cap. ii, vers. 18, says: "Little children, it is the last hour;" and St. Paul, I Corinthians x, 11: "These things," he says, "were written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." Hence he says in the past tense "has drawn near," because the greater part and number of the ages has already passed. Mystically Oecumenius: "The end," he says, "of all things," namely of the Prophets, "is Christ, as if to say: Since the perfection of all things, which is Christ, has come, you also ought to be conformed to him, rendering yourselves complete and perfect in all things in temperance, in sobriety of prayers." Be ye therefore wise, and watch in prayers. — "Therefore" signifies that these things are drawn out and concluded from what has been said, as if to say: Because the end of all things draws near, it is fitting that you prepare yourselves for it, acting wisely in all things and watching in prayers, according to that common saying: Whatever you do, do it wisely, and consider the end. He alludes to, nay rather renews that saying of Christ: "Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come;" and Matthew xxv, 13: "Watch ye therefore, because ye know not the day nor the hour;" and cap. xxvi, vers. 41: "Watch ye and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." For "be ye wise" the Greek is sōphronēsate, which Oecumenius, Pagninus, Vatablus, Isidorus, Gagnaeus and others translate "be ye sober": "for," says Oecumenius, "it is the part of the sober to pray and pour forth prayers, that is, of those who watch, and not of those who are oppressed by drunkenness with worldly things." Hence sobriety is called sōphrosynē, because it sōzei tēn phronēsin, that is, preserves prudence and soundness of mind. The Syriac translates "be ye chaste": for chastity is the companion and daughter of sobriety. Our translator more generally and plainly renders "be ye prudent." For prudence is the guide and charioteer of all virtues, as St. Antony used to say, which orders and moderates each action of man, and thus composes and disposes man so that he may securely await the end of all things, and confidently present himself before the tribunal of Christ ready to give an account of his life. Note, regarding the etymology, "prudent is said as if seeing far ahead," says Isidore, book XX of the Etymologies, xv. "For he is discerning, and sees the chances of uncertain things." Prudence therefore is said as if "seeing far ahead," or "foresight." Its definition is handed down by St. Augustine, book I On Free Will, chapter XIII: "Prudence is knowledge of things to be desired and things to be avoided." By Aristotle, book VI of the Ethics, v: "Prudence is right reason concerning things to be done." By others it is defined plainly and fully thus: "Prudence is a virtue of the intellect, by which in any business that occurs we know what is honorable, what is shameful; what is to be done, what is to be avoided." The integral parts of prudence are handed down by some as six. The first is "foresight," which is consideration of future events that can follow from an action. The second is "reasoning," namely readiness in reasoning and drawing one thing from another. The third is "docility," or readiness to learn. The fourth is "sagacity," or shrewdness, which is the discovery of a means in the shortest time, as Aristotle says. The fifth is "circumspection," namely consideration of circumstances lest anything be lacking in the action. The sixth is "caution," namely care that dangers and inconveniences connected with the action be avoided. The principal duties and acts of prudence are four: "Deliberation," from good consideration; "judgment," so that the better thing and the more suitable means to the end be chosen; "constancy," in retaining what has been rightly judged; "diligence," in executing. To these four vices and acts of imprudence are opposed, namely "precipitation," which militates against deliberation; "inconsideration," against judgment; "inconstancy," against constancy and firmness of judgment; "negligence," against diligence and watchfulness of reason in executing. Prudence therefore is the measure and rule of all virtues which are in the will, from which the judgment of what is honorable and virtuous is derived and descends into each one. For that is the work of virtue which is conformable to the judgment and dictate of prudence. For the office of prudence is to prescribe the mode to virtues, namely what in each function is suited to reason, not deviating through excess or defect. Wherefore perfect prudence is found only in good men, who have their affections subdued: for in others affections often change and pervert the judgment of reason and prudence, says St. Thomas, II II, Question XLIX. Finally, prudence is concerned with particulars, so that individual things are done in the fitting place, time and manner. Learn morally here that prudence is the first and principal of all virtues. Excellently the Nazianzen in his Iambic On Fortune and Prudence: "I would prefer," he says, "a drop of prudence to a whole sea of greater fortune." St. Basil in the Monastic Constitutions, chapter xv: "In every," he says, "action that is undertaken, prudence ought to precede. For with prudence removed, there is nothing of any kind which, though it may appear good, does not fall into vice, if it is done either at an unsuitable time, or without the application of moderation." The same in oration 21 On Happiness and Prudence: "True," he says, "prudence is nothing other than knowledge of things to be done and things to be omitted, and whoever follows this will never at any time turn aside from the works of virtue, nor ever be pierced by the arrow of depravity." St. Augustine, sermon 1 on Psalm xxxvii: "Prudent," he says, "is said as seeing far ahead: if prudent, seeing far ahead, therefore he sees by faith." The same, in his letter to the Romans, proposition 49: "Prudence is spirit, when neither is our hope in temporal goods, nor our fear in evils." The same, book VI of Music: "Prudence is an affection of the soul or motion which understands that eternal things above are superior, and lower things are temporal," and therefore those are to be desired before these. The Gentiles felt the same way, who give these praises of prudence partly, and partly precepts. Socrates, being asked what prudence was: "The harmony of the soul," he said. Thus Stobaeus, sermon On Prudence. The same: "As a ship empty, he says, is to be equipped and fortified with suitable instruments, so life is to be equipped and fortified with the affections of prudence. And neither a horse without a bridle, nor riches without prudence can anyone use safely." The same taught his disciples three things: first, "that they have prudence in mind;" second, "silence on the tongue;" third, "shame on the face." Thus Maximus, sermon 41. Philo, book I of Allegories: "What," he says, "gold is among metals, that prudence is among virtues." Plutarch: "As a Cyclops without eyes," he says, "stretches out his hands in every direction, relying on no certain aim: so a great King who lacks prudence, whatever he undertakes, does so with great tumult of things, but with no judgment." He assigns these precepts of prudence. The first is that of Bias according to Laertius: "Consider; and then undertake the matter." Also: "Undertake slowly what is to be done, once undertaken act steadfastly." The second is that of Periander according to Laertius: "Do those things of which you will not repent." The same, when asked what in the smallest was greatest, replied: "The prudent thoughts of the soul in the human body." Third: "Perfect prudence admires nothing in human affairs." Thus Democritus according to Stobaeus, discourse 3. Fourth: "Prudence uses all the virtues, and shows their measure, order and occasion as a certain eye of the mind most bright on all sides, and therefore prudence makes its possessors like unto God." Thus Iamblichus according to Stobaeus, discourse On Prudence. Fifth: "A prudent man prepares for life as for a journey, not the most precious provisions, but what is more necessary." Thus Criton, ibid. Sixth: "There are three duties of prudence: first, to remember the past; second, to manage the present; third, to guard against the future." Thus Isocrates according to Stobaeus, discourse 1. Seventh: "In battle only wise soldiers are the cause of victory." Thus Agesilaus according to Plutarch in the Laconian Lives; whence concerning Scipio the Younger Cato said that saying of Homer concerning Tiresias, Odyssey II: He alone is wise, the others flit about like shadows. Thus Plutarch in the Apophthegms. Famous is that saying of Euripides: "One right counsel overcomes a great force of soldiers." In war therefore, as in other matters, prudence avails more than arms and strength. Eighth: "As a general leads an army, a helmsman steers ships, God the world, the mind the soul itself; so prudence itself tempers and governs the very happiness of the present life." Thus Archytas according to Stobaeus, discourse 11 On Virtue, which is first in order. Ninth: "Prudence teaches you to be always the same in all things, both in prosperity and in adversity, as the hand is the same whether it be extended into a palm or contracted into a fist." Thus the holy Author in a sermon to the Brethren in the desert, sermon On Prudence, vol. X of St. Augustine. Tenth: "As a scar warns that a wound should be avoided, so the memory of past evils makes us more cautious." Thus Plutarch. Eleventh: The beavers "of Pontus castrate themselves in hunting, because they understand that they are sought for these parts: thus it is the part of a prudent man to cast away the thing on account of which he is in danger." Thus Plutarch. So Christ commands that the eye be plucked out; the hand, the foot, if these are to him a stumbling block and ruin, Matthew xviii, 8. Prudence therefore teaches to set aside the goods of reputation for the sake of life, reputation for the sake of life, life for the sake of conscience: If you lose all things, remember to preserve your reputation. Twelfth: "Listen to him who has four ears," that is, hear him who through long experience of many things knows more than others, as are generally the old, who have long handled private and public affairs. Thirteenth: "In military difficulties it should be provided that rather something be lost in harming, than that harm be done with some loss of soldiers." Thus Caesar, book VI of the Gallic War. Fourteenth: "It is the part of wisdom to lay bare another's folly, and to observe quietly the enemy rushing forward in imprudence." Thus Tacitus, book II of the Histories. Fifteenth: "It is the part of the prudent and God-fearing to cut off at once the causes of budding war, especially with friends; but it is the part of the imprudent and those seeking God's wrath against themselves to stir up the occasion of tumult." Thus Procopius, book II of the Persian War. Sixteenth: "It is the part of the prudent to forgive enmities to friends; it is the part of the foolish and barbarous to destroy friends along with enemies." Thus Dionysius of Halicarnassus, book V. The same, book XI: "The prudent," he says, "esteem public advantages above private quarrels." Seventeenth: "From evils choose the least, from goods the greatest. What happens by divine will, bear necessarily; what comes from enemies, bear bravely." Thus Thucydides, book II. "Do not rashly believe anyone, nor become insolent because of the success of things: but await all things that can happen to men." Thus Polybius, book VIII. Eighteenth: "No good man is held by desire of power, nor does he wish for the care of grave affairs for himself; and in such a matter it is expedient to undertake an imposed duty considerately, so that it may be lawful to execute it safely." Thus Dionysius, book XXXVI. Therefore private life is a blessed life. Nineteenth: "The counsels of enemies should be prevented before they grow with damage." Thus Dionysius, book XXXVIII. Twentieth: "He who takes care of his own safety should observe two things: one, that he who is placed over a business remove its difficulty from himself; the other, that he preserve the name of a thing well done." Thus the same, book XLIX. Twenty-first: "Before you begin, take counsel; and when you have taken counsel in good time, then action is needed." Thus Sallust in the Catiline. Twenty-second: "It is better to use present goods than to seek fleeting ones." Thus Procopius, book I of the Persian War. So secure things are to be preferred to dangerous, certain to doubtful, perpetual to temporary, many to few, easy to difficult, public to private, divine to human, heavenly to earthly: for prudence dictates this. Twenty-third: "It greatly helps in the conduct of affairs to use the opportunity of time." Thus Procopius, book I of the Vandal War. Twenty-fourth: "It is a mark of notable prudence that what you cannot avoid doing, you do in such a way that you appear to have done it willingly." Thus Pachymeres, book IX. Twenty-fifth: "On difficult matters one must deliberate long, much, and seriously, so that we embrace what is most honorable and most just, but especially God must be entreated, that He may suggest to us what is best for us." Thus Commines, book II. Twenty-sixth: "It is better to protect one's own than to seek another's with danger." Again: It is the part of the prudent not to display their own, to conceal their counsels, not to be terrified by rumors, to look to the dangers of others as things to be avoided, according to that saying: Happy is he whom the dangers of others make cautious. Twenty-seventh: "Accommodate yourself to the time, and do not change yourself in some things, but rather adapt yourself," says Seneca, On the Four Virtues. Twenty-eighth: Aristotle to Alexander: "Examine," he says, "the annals of your fathers, from which you will be able to extract good examples, because past deeds give certain instruction about future ones." Twenty-ninth: "In prudence two vices are to be avoided: one, that we do not regard unknown things as known and rashly assent to them; the other, that we do not devote too great study and much effort to things obscure and difficult, and moreover not necessary." Thus Cicero, book I of the Duties. Thirtieth: "Prudence is the virtue of intelligence and reason, by which in deliberating a choice can be made of goods and evils, which pertain to happiness," says Aristotle, book I of the Rhetoric, IX. Thirty-first: "It is the part of prudence to guard against a future injury: but of insensibility not to avenge what has been done," says Democritus. Finally, these were the maxims and precepts of wisdom of the Seven Sages of Greece. Bias said: "Truth begets hatred." Chilon: "Know thyself." Cleobulus: "Nothing in excess." Thales: "Pledge, and ruin is at hand." Pittacus: "Use the opportunity." Periander: "Restrain anger." Solon: "No one is blessed before death." Watch in prayers. — Nēpsate signifies first, "be sober"; second, "watch"; for both wakefulness and sobriety are required for prayer. St. Peter remembered his fall from the fact that, while Christ was praying in the garden and warning: "Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation," he himself, overcome by sleep and sorrow, had slumbered and had not prayed: whence it came to pass that he denied Christ in temptation; taught therefore by his own misfortune, he warns others to avoid this reef upon which he himself had struck, and to be constant, keen and watchful in prayer both night and day. Namely, "the life of mortals, especially of the faithful, is a vigil," both because they themselves are surrounded by enemies on all sides, against whom they must keep watch continually; and because they await the day of the Lord with certainty, and know not when it shall come. Whence St. Hilary in chapter XXIV of St. Matthew: "It behooves us," he says, "to be prepared, because the ignorance of the day keeps the intent solicitude of suspended expectation in agitation." And St. Ambrose, book V On Faith, chapter VII, assigns this cause of watchfulness: "So that," he says, "while we know not the certain moments of the future judgment, always as if stationed in watches, and placed in a certain watchtower of virtue, we may decline the habit of sinning, lest the day of the Lord find us among vices." For more on watchfulness and its causes, see St. Chrysostom, homily 62 to the People, and St. Augustine on that verse of Psalm LXII: "O God, my God, to thee do I watch from the light." Moreover, St. Peter wishes us to be vigilant, that is, to be assiduous, keen and eager in prayers, both because prayers are the most efficacious weapons against all temptations and enemies; and because by praying it is fitting that we prepare ourselves for the day of the Lord, so that we may know, namely by thinking of Him assiduously, loving Him, praising Him, invoking Him, we may await Him. Whence St. Basil, in his homily on St. Juliet: "When you recline at table," he says, "pray: eating bread, render thanks to the giver. When you put on a tunic, give thanks to the kind giver. When you are clothed with a cloak, let interior charity toward God flourish in you, who has bestowed coverings." And indeed if to anyone conferring upon us some benefit, however small, we immediately give thanks, much more to God bestowing new gifts both upon our body and soul at every moment and every hour, we ought frequently and almost continually to give thanks, according to that saying of St. Augustine, Soliloquies, chapter 18: "Just as there is no hour or moment in all my life in which I do not use your benefit: so there ought to be no moment in which I do not have you before my eyes, in my memory, and do not love you with all my strength;" and a little before: "Therefore let all that I live be yours, and I offer myself wholly to you. Let my whole spirit, my whole heart, my whole body, my whole life live for you; my life is sweet, because you have wholly freed me, that you might wholly possess me." The same, epistle 77 to Aurelia: "What better thing," he says, "both should we bear in mind, and utter with our mouth, and express with our pen, than to give thanks to God? This can neither be said more briefly, nor heard more joyfully, nor understood more graciously, nor done more fruitfully."
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8. Before all things, mutual in yourselves (in Greek eis heautous, that is, "in you, among you": thus Pagninus, Vatablus and others, namely "mutual" toward one another, as he said; for he treats of the charity of neighbor, not of God, as is evident from what follows) Charity continuous having. — In Greek ektenē, which first signifies extended, continuous, persevering; secondly, vehement and swift; thus Pagninus and Vatablus; thirdly, liberal, profuse; fourthly, cordial and flowing from the depths and whole heart: for ektenōs is the same as "earnestly, with all strength, vehemently, at length, liberally, with whole soul." For such charity did Christ have toward us and has, and from it poured out blood, spirit, and life for us, indeed gave himself to us as food. Whence St. Bernard: "We are," he says, "blood-relatives in the blood of Christ." See therefore how greatly we ought to love one another, namely so that blood and blood-relatives both our own and Christ's. Such charity had St. Paul, concerning whom St. Chrysostom, homily 13 on II Corinthians: "The heart of Paul," he says, "was enlarged by charity: nothing wider than the heart of Paul, which embraced the whole world." See the sayings at the beginning of Acts in the image of Paul, and I Corinthians xiii, and Colossians III, 14, where Paul, girding himself to St. Peter: "But above all these things," he says, "have charity, which is the bond of perfection." This is what is said in Canticles viii, 6: "Strong is love as death, hard as hell is emulation. Her lamps are lamps of fire and flames: many waters could not extinguish charity, nor shall rivers overwhelm it." Furthermore, the manner of mutual charity is prescribed by St. Basil, sermon On the Institution of Monks, namely that one ought to imitate God and the sun. "Just as therefore," he says, "God (and the sun) imparts light indiscriminately to all, so imitators of God ought to communicate the ray of their charity equally to all, because where charity suffers deficiency, in that place hatred altogether succeeds it." The same in the Shorter Rules, question 162, asks: "What kind of mutual charity ought we to have toward one another?" and answers, such as the Lord showed and taught when he said: "Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater charity than this, that one lay down his soul for his friends; but if the soul is to be laid down, who would not much more necessarily show readiness of spirit in those things which are of lesser worth? not for the sake of satisfying human duties, but for the purpose of pleasing God, and of consulting the utility of each one." The same, oration 1 On love toward God and neighbor: "It behooves us," he says, "to have among us such charity as a man, nature itself as guide, bears toward one of the members of his body, desiring health equal to the whole body, because also the pain of each member exhibits equal disturbance to the body." And a little before: "Let mutual love admonish you of bats, which, bound together by a certain long chain as it were, cohere among themselves, lest you ever think separation and solitary life to be preferable to society and communion." Because charity covers (kalypsei, that is, "will cover," that is, "is able to cover and is accustomed to cover") a multitude (that is, the whole number) of sins. — Thus Christ is said to have suffered for many, that is for all, Matthew xxvi, 30; and that many, that is all, shall rise again on the day of judgment, Daniel cap. xii, 2. You will ask first, what charity is here understood? I answer first, St. Bernard, sermon 25 in Canticles, understands the charity of God, which covers the sins of his predestined before death. "The purpose of God stands," he says, "the sentence of peace stands over those who fear him, their evils being dissimulated and their goods being rewarded: so that in a wonderful way not only good things, but also evil things work together for good for them." And soon after: "These therefore I observed as if they had never sinned, because even if they appear to have offended in time, they do not appear in eternity, because the charity of the Father covers a multitude of sins." Second, Clement of Alexandria, lib. II Strom., cap. vi, understands it of the charity of Christ: for this covers the sins of His elect, while applying His passion to them He imparts grace, which washes away all their sins. But each of these senses here is rather accommodated than genuine. For St. Peter speaks of mutual charity, namely that by which the faithful love one another, not of the charity of God or Christ. Whence third and genuinely, understand the charity of the faithful. Thus Tertullian, Ambrose, Augustine, Clement, Prosper, and others to be cited presently. Now since their charity is twofold, one by which they love God, another by which they love their neighbour, some understand here the charity by which they love God. For this covers, that is, conceals and abolishes sin, both through the act of contrition: for contrition is sorrow for sins flowing from love of God above all things, and therefore abolishes all mortal sins, according to that word of Christ concerning the Magdalene: "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven her, because she hath loved much," Luke VII, 48; and through the act of martyrdom, from which Tertullian takes this passage in Scorpiaco, cap. vi: "Thus," he says, "charity covers a multitude of offences, namely when one loving God with all his strength, by which he contends in martyrdom; with all his soul, which he lays down for God, produces a martyr." In like manner the act of love of God above all things casts out every mortal sin, and justifies the sinner, even if he does not elicit actual sorrow and contrition for them on account of forgetfulness, according to that of Prov. VIII, 17: "I love them that love me," as theologians teach everywhere; for an act of charity cannot consist with the state of sin: see Francis Suarez, III part., tom. IV, disp. IX, Quaest. I, concl. 2. But others more properly understand here not the charity of God, but of the neighbour, and fraternal charity, both because it alludes to, nay cites Prov. x, 12, where it is said: "Hatred stirreth up strifes, and charity covereth all offences," for which the Septuagint renders, "but all who do not contend shall be covered by friendship." Thus St. James extends the same, saying cap. v, vers. 20: "He who causeth a sinner to be converted, etc., shall cover a multitude of sins." Charity therefore covers and abolishes sins before God in three ways: first, dispositively, because the act of contrition is the ultimate disposition to grace and justice: for contrition is an act of charity; second, formally, because the habit of charity and grace formally justify man; third, meritoriously: for the justified by acts of contrition and charity merit the remission of venial sins. Furthermore, charity covers one's own sins, not only as to guilt, but also as to punishment, because it obtains their remission from God. And from this it seems this phrase arose, that when sin is forgiven, it is said to be covered, namely because before it is forgiven, it continually strikes the eyes of God and men, and provokes them to vengeance. But it seems properly to have arisen from homicide, which, because it is the greatest crime, is hence an example and mirror of others. Whence "blood," that is, the shedding of blood, in Scripture signifies every sin. For in homicide the blood shed strikes the eyes of kinsmen, friends and judges, especially of God, to its avenging: whence when it is forgiven, the blood is said to be covered; when it is not forgiven, it is said to appear and cry out for vengeance. This is what God says to Ezekiel. XXIV, 6, 7, 8: "Woe to the city of blood, etc. For her blood is in the midst of her, upon the smoothest stone she hath poured it: she hath not poured it upon the ground, that it might be covered with dust: that I might make my indignation to be heard, and execute vengeance, I have set her blood upon the smoothest stone, that it should not be covered. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Woe to the city of blood, whose great pile I will make," that Jerusalem be burned with great fire by the Chaldeans. On the contrary, Joel, cap. III, vers. 21, says: "I will cleanse their blood, which I had not cleansed," that is I will cover and forgive their sins through the merits of Christ. Thus Nehemiah speaking of Sanballat and the enemies of the Jews, prays to God: "Cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thy face;" but continually behold it, that thou mayest punish and avenge; and Psalm. LXXXIV, 3, David says: "Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; thou hast covered all their sins:" "thou hast covered," that is, thou hast forgiven; for the former verse in the usual manner explains the latter. Secondly, charity covers the sins of our neighbors, namely the injuries (for the Hebrew pescaim, that is, transgressions, signifies these, Proverbs x, 12) and offenses by which some offend others and provoke them to anger. These indeed charity covers, both in the mind of him who is offended, by obliterating the injuries, as there was a law of amnesty among the Athenians, that is, of forgetting injuries; and in the mind of him who offended, charity covers animosity, by inciting him to reciprocal love so that he may acknowledge his fault and reconcile himself with the one offended: for the charity of the offended attracts the charity of the offender, and vice versa: for love is a magnet of love. The genuine sense therefore of this passage is, as if to say, Cultivate mutual charity. For when this has occupied the mind, it covers mutual offenses, by which we frequently provoke and offend one another by words or deeds, and thus it brings forth peace and concord. That this is the sense is evident first from the preceding and following passages, which all regard mutual charity; secondly, from Proverbs cap. x, 12, which passage St. Peter cites here. For there hatred is said to stir up quarrels, but charity covers sins, that is, quarrels already stirred up or about to be stirred up; where the Scholiast clearly translates, "love covers all those who commit injury." Now from this general sense various particular meanings are drawn: for, as Clement of Alexandria says, II Strom.: "Charity is understood in many ways, through gentleness, through kindness, through patience, through freedom from envy and rivalry, through the removal of hatred, through the forgetting of injury." You will ask secondly, what sins and whose does charity cover, whether one's own or those of others? I answer, both, indeed all, as Solomon says, and from him St. Peter. First therefore the charity toward our neighbor covers one's own sins, and reconciles man with God, because charity toward our neighbor arises from charity toward God, which abolishes all sins and sanctifies man: for he loves his neighbor from the love of God, as a living image of Him (and "a participation," says Origen in the Prologue to the Canticle) created for His friendship, sonship, inheritance and glory. "Charity," says St. Augustine in Psalm. XXXIII, "has two feet: do not be lame. What are the two feet? The two precepts of the love of God and of neighbor: with these feet run to God." And thus that passage of Prov. x, 12, which St. Peter cites here, can be understood: "Hatred stirs up quarrels, and charity covers all sins," as if to say, Just as hatred stirs up the anger of men and of God: so charity of God and men brings about friendship, and covers and hides all sins; hatred offends God and men, charity reconciles you, who are hateful or offended to God and men and makes amends: for thus the antithesis between the first and second hemistich is established. Thus that charity covers one's own sins is taught by Tertullian in the Scorpiaco, cap. vi; St. Augustine, tract. 1 and 5 in the epistle of St. John; Clement, II Strom., cap. vi; Ambrose, On Flight from the World, cap. II; Ephrem, tract. On Penance; Prosper, to Demetrias, and many others, who understand charity here as both toward God and toward neighbor. For although Solomon in Prov. x, 12, seems rather to speak of charity toward our neighbor, nevertheless St. Peter extends his general statement to charity toward God, because it is connected with that, indeed it arises from that. Firstly, as if to say, If you have forgiven your neighbor his injuries, he, provoked by this love of yours, will likewise forgive you yours, and thus God will also forgive both of you your sins, according to that saying of Christ, Matt. vi, 14: "If you forgive men their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your offenses." Whence He also commands us to pray: "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." For he who forgives offenses to his neighbors, merits in a congruous manner, if he be a sinner, that mortal sins; and in a condign manner, if he be just, that venial sins be forgiven him by God. Second, hatred manifests faults through quarreling; but charity covers the same faults through silence or its prudence, that is, conceals or excuses them, except insofar as fraternal correction requires them to be reproved and corrected. Thus Oecumenius and Lyra here, and St. Chrysostom, homily 4 on Acts: "Charity," he says, "covers a multitude of sins: but enmities even suspect those things which are not." So also St. Bernard, epistle 17. Whence St. Augustine, explaining that passage of Matthew xviii, 13, "If thy brother shall offend against thee, go and rebuke him between thee and him alone": "Charity itself," he says, "demands that those things which are sinned more secretly be corrected in secret: where the evil happens, there let it die: for if thou alone knowest it, and wishest to reprove it before all, thou art not a corrector, but a betrayer." Charity therefore does not divulge the sin of one's neighbor, lest it exacerbate it, but covers it or corrects it privately, so as to heal it. Truly Abba Pastor in the Lives of the Fathers, book V, booklet 9, number 6: "At whatever hour," he says, "we cover the sin of our brother, God will also cover ours; and at whatever hour we betray the faults of the brethren, God will likewise betray ours." For with what measure you shall mete, it shall be measured to you: thus Constantine the Great at the Council of Nicaea, when libels were brought to him, by which Bishops accused one another of crimes, refused to read them, but cast them into the fire, saying that if he saw any crime of a Bishop, he would cover it with his cloak, lest it come before the eyes of the people; and by this means he settled all their disputes and complaints, as Theodoret relates, book I of History, chapter xi. Third, hatred, that is, correction proceeding from hatred, does not correct morals, but irritates, so that the sinner confirms himself in sin, and impudently defends and boasts of it: but charity, that is, correction made from charity and love, softens, quiets, and calms all sins, and all contentions and quarrels, according to that saying of St. Augustine, in chapter 1 to the Galatians: "Whatever is inflicted on a wounded soul is the impulse of one punishing, not the charity of one loving: love, and say whatever thou wilt." Fourth, if thou shalt bear the injuries of thy neighbor from charity silently and patiently, thou shalt cover them as water covers fire and extinguish it, and thou shalt overcome evil with good, and thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, by which thou shalt kindle him to love thee in return. Whence the Septuagint, Proverbs x, 12, translates, "But all who do not contend shall be covered by friendship." Fifth, if thou desirest to remove any enmities, disputes, injuries, scandals and faults whatsoever among thy neighbors, show charity toward them: for by charity thou shalt conquer them, bind them to thyself, and cover and abolish all things. Thou wilt ask thirdly, how charity covers sins. I answer first: Charity covers, that is, abolishes sins, as water covers fire, while it overwhelms and extinguishes it: thus God is said to cover sins, when He does not regard them to punish, but by forgiving removes them from His sight, and consequently from the nature of things (for whatever is in it is necessarily seen by God), takes away, removes and abolishes them, as I said on Romans IV, 7. Second, charity covers, that is, wraps up, palliates, and by softening and palliating excuses the injuries and sins of one's neighbor. For the Wise Man, Proverbs x, 11 and 12, opposes these two things: "The mouth of the wicked covereth iniquity," and: "Charity covereth all sins," as if to say, The wicked man and wickedness palliate, and cover their iniquity with the cloak of sanctity; but charity covers the offenses of neighbors with the cloak of love and conceals them. Thus Dionysius the Carthusian, in Proverbs, chapter x, verse 12. Charity therefore is as it were a golden cloak, which covers all blemishes and defects so that they are not seen. Thus St. Augustine praises his mother St. Monica, IX Confessions, IX: "In that among those at variance and discord, whatever souls she could, she showed herself so peaceful, that when she heard from both many most bitter things about one another, such as discord swollen and puffed up is wont to belch forth, when in the presence of a friendly woman about an absent hostile woman through bitter conversation the cruelty of hatreds is exhaled; yet she would reveal nothing of one to the other, except what might avail to reconcile them." St. Bernard teaches the manner of covering and excusing sins, sermon 40 in the Canticles: "Excuse," he says, "the intention if you cannot excuse the deed, suppose ignorance, suppose surprise, suppose accident. But if the certainty of the matter rejects all dissimulation whatsoever, nevertheless persuade yourself, and say: The temptation was excessively vehement: what would it have done to me, if it had received similar power in me." And Seneca, book II On Anger, chapter XXX: "We shall examine," he says, "nature and the will of those acting. Is he a boy? let it be pardoned to his age; he does not know whether he sins. Is he a father? either he has profited so much that injury to him is now his right, or perhaps this very thing is his merit by which we are offended. Is she a woman? she errs. Was he commanded? who except the unjust is angry at necessity? Was he injured? it is not injury to suffer what you did first. Is he a judge? believe his sentence more than your own. Is he a king? if he punishes the guilty, yield to justice: if the innocent, yield to fortune. Is it a mute animal, or like a mute? you imitate it if you grow angry. Is it disease, or calamity? it will pass more lightly over one who endures. Is it God? you lose as much when you grow angry at him as when you pray him angry at another. Is he a good man who did the injury? do not believe it. Is he bad? do not wonder. He will pay to another the penalties he owes you, and he has already paid them to himself who sinned." Solomon therefore teaches, and from him St. Peter, that the true way of reconciling and preserving charity among men is, if all displeasing words, gestures, and deeds, which can provide occasion for litigation, are covered as with a covering, palliated and obliterated. Thirdly and more aptly, charity covers injuries and sins, just as a plaster covers wounds and sores by healing them and curing them. To cover sins, therefore, is to wrap them, bind them, anoint them, apply poultices to heal them; whoever therefore loves is like a surgeon binding and healing with the plaster of love and the correction of the lover all offenses, quarrels and wounds of the soul. Thus Augustine teaches that God covers sins with a plaster as it were so that he may heal and cure them, in Psalm XXXI, discourse 2: "God," he says, "may cover your wounds: let the physician cover and cure; for he will cover with a plaster: under the covering of the physician the wound is healed." The same teaches Nazianzen, oration On Baptism. Fourthly, charity not only heals the wound and sore of the soul, for example quarrels and enmities, but also covers it entirely, so that it leaves no gap, bruise or scar afterward, namely no rancor, no pain, no memory, according to that precept of St. Clement, or rather of the Apostles, book II of the Constitutions, chapter XLV: "You as a merciful physician cure all sinners, using remedies suited to salvation, not only by burning, cutting, applying the knife, but also by binding, drying, applying gentle medicines producing a scar, softening with consolatory words." Tropologically sins are covered first, when we amend our life: then indeed we cover and veil former evil works with later good ones "assuming the covering of an honest life, so that the ugliness of past crimes may be hidden before the eyes of God," as Blessed Peter Damian says, sermon 3 On St. George. Thus also St. Ambrose, book II On Penance, chapter v, and St. Gregory, XXVII Morals, chapter II. Secondly, when we mortify and uproot their remnants, namely inclinations, thoughts and depraved habits. Thus St. Nazianzen, oration On Baptism. Anagogically the past sins of the just are covered, because although they must be publicly indicated and made manifest to the whole world on the day of judgment, as the Theologians teach against the Master, in IV, Distinction XLIII, letter D, throughout, nevertheless this will tend to the glory, not confusion, of the Saints: for it will be the glory of St. Mary Magdalene that she emerged from sins and attained to such great sanctity. Morally learn here how great is the power of charity. For it abolishes all offenses, not only past ones, as I have already said, but also present and future ones. Present ones, both because it abolishes present offenses, quarrels, disputes, enmities; and because it covers and excuses imperfections, imprudences, indiscretions, etc., which are committed in the work of charity, according to that saying: "Zeal purges the crime." Thus zeal purges the homicide of Moses, Phinehas, Mattathias from wickedness, because they committed it from ardent charity toward God and their own people, so that they might restrain it from idolatry and turn away God's wrath and vengeance from it. It also covers future sins, because it prevents them and brings it about that they are not committed. Thus St. Ambrose, in Psalm CXVIII, sermon 16, on that passage, "Therefore was I humbled for all thy commandments": "With good reason," he says, "was he humbled, because he loved. For charity covereth a multitude of sins. See how much it covers, how much it corrects. Charity is patient, is kind, envieth not, dealeth not perversely, is not puffed up, etc. Therefore if the law maketh immaculate, rightly doth charity cover a multitude of sins, because the fulness of the law is love." Thus charity, being wise and reconciling enmities and enemies, prevents their quarrels, brawls, fights and slaughters, which otherwise would certainly flow from them. And this is what Solomon signifies, saying Prov. x, 12: "Hatred stirreth up strifes, and charity covereth all offences," as if to say, Where there is hatred among men, from the slightest cause arise quarrels and disputes: where there is love, even great offences are covered, or rather are not known. For the candour of a friend interpreteth all things candourably, nay, concealeth the deeds of a friend, and holdeth not crime for crime. On the contrary, hatred draweth all things to the worse part, and forthwith feigns a crime where none is; or maketh great from small, making an elephant of a fly. For as through black glass all things appear black, but through white, bright and golden glass all things are seen white, bright and golden: so through hatred all the actions of him whom we hate are seen foul and hateful; but through charity, all the actions of him whom we love are seen bright, pleasing and golden, because love covereth their malice and vice, and in them seeth nothing but what is beautiful. Again, charity is honey sweetening all the gall of words and blows: it is itself the conqueror of injuries, because love is loving, nay, love is mad. Wherefore truly Clement of Alexandria, lib. IV Strom.: "This," he says, "is charity, to love God and neighbour, it exalteth a height which cannot be explained: charity covereth a multitude of sins, charity glueth us to God, maketh all things in concord: in charity are perfected all the elect of God. Without charity nothing is pleasing to God; the explanation of its perfection is not possible." And St. Augustine, in Psalm xxi, conc. 2: "The tunic," he says, "of Christ is seamless, charity and the unity of the Church, woven from above, that is from heaven by the Father and the Holy Ghost. In it the lot is cast, no one divideth it;" and lib. VI Against Julian: "Whosoever," he says, "shall hold truth and charity, shall be neither erring nor envious. For error is to be driven out by truth, and malice by charity." The same elsewhere asserteth that the joining together of the members of the Church and of Christ is charity. The same, serm. 7 On St. Stephen: "Charity," he says, "in Stephen overcame the cruelty of the Jews. Charity in Paul covered a multitude of sins. Charity is therefore the fountain and origin of all goods, an excellent protection and the way which leadeth to heaven. He who walketh in charity can neither err nor fear. It directeth and protecteth, and it itself leadeth through." Charity therefore is the cloak of all sins equally as of all virtues, "nay, charity is the cloak of God and of divine majesty," as one of the Saints wisely said, according to that of Isaiah, LIX, 17: "He is clothed as with a garment of zeal."
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9. Hospitable to one another without murmuring. — In Greek "without murmurings." He joins hospitality to charity as its companion, indeed as its daughter, and excludes murmuring from it. For hosts of a grasping and narrow mind are accustomed to complain about the multitude of guests, the expense, the length of stay, their gluttony, talkativeness, liberty and other vices. Such were the inhabitants of Pontus to whom St. Peter writes, namely harsh and inhospitable, as is evident from the words of Tertullian which I cited at the beginning of the epistle. Whence Pontus, from the savagery of its inhabitants, was called axenos, that is, inhospitable; but through the faithful disciples of St. Peter it became euxenos, euxinus, that is, hospitable. For Pontus, on account of its rigid cold, and air that is misty and cloudy, produces rigid and harsh men. "Pontus," says Pliny, "was formerly called Axenos from its inhospitable savagery." Ammianus, lib. II: "The Achaei," he says, "by prolonged license of cruelty, gave the sea an inhospitable name; and by contrast through mockery Pontus Euxinus is called." Ovid concerning Pontus: "Which the Euxine holds with its false name of Pontus." Wherefore St. Peter rightly commends to the Pontics now converted to Christ a bright hospitality "toward one another," namely toward Christians, especially Apostles and apostolic men, who for the sake of the Gospel, or on account of persecutions, then frequently changed their lodgings and regions, and therefore had need of the hospitality of many hosts. Among the Jews and many others, there is a right of hospitality for guests of their own nation for three days; when these are completed it expires, and they say that: Often after three days fish grows stale and the guest. How great was the hospitality of the early Christians is evident from Lucian in Peregrinus, and from the Life of St. Pachomius, who was converted to Christianity through it, and from the Life of St. Praxedes and St. Pudentiana, who received all Christians with hospitality: whence their house was called the Baths of Novatus; where afterwards St. Justin Martyr and other Christians lodged, so much so that this was a common and celebrated hospitality of theirs. St. Augustine speaks excellently, On the Words of the Lord according to Luke, sermon 32: "Recognize," he says, "hospitality, through which access to the Lord was gained. Receive a guest, whose companion you also are on the way, because we are all pilgrims. He is a Christian who knows himself to be a pilgrim both in his own house and in his own country. Our country is above, there we shall not be guests." The same, sermon 68 On the Seasons: "Abraham," he says, "offers hospitality to pilgrims, who had no roof;" hence he merited to receive three angels representing the Holy Trinity with hospitality. "Behold at a human table heavenly sublimity reclined, food is taken, eaten, and in familiar conversation between man and God intimate words are mingled. And because with God hospitality cannot be unfruitful, immediately he received the price of his reward. A son (Isaac) is given to an old man, posterity is given to one who despaired." And in sermon 70: "See, brethren, with what fervent spirit you ought to receive guests. Behold Abraham himself runs, his wife hastens, the boy hurries, there is no sluggard in the house of the wise;" and soon after: "Lot because he offered what he could with a benevolent spirit, merited to be freed from the destruction of Sodom. Attend, brethren, because even Lot, while he did not reject guests, merited to receive angels. Behold angels enter a hospitable house, the house closed to guests (of the Sodomites) is consumed with sulphurous flames." The same, lib. II On Questions about the Gospel, Question LI: "Hold to hospitality, if you wish to recognize the Savior: what infidelity had taken from the disciples, hospitality restored." The same, On the Visitation of the Sick, sermon 1: "You have God as a guest, make your hospitality acceptable to your guest, and then you can confidently say to your guest, that in going he may lead you, and in conducting may bring you, and in bringing may lodge you. I say to you, if you show him acceptable hospitality, he will show you his own acceptable and more acceptable. O how blessed you will be, if you have been a guest of God, if in that heavenly city, namely Jerusalem, you have received a dwelling, if God, giving you thanks for it, shall say: I was a guest, and you gathered me in, and as long as you did it to one of the least of mine, you did it to me. Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom. God does not promise you hospitality, he promises you a kingdom. You will reign with Christ, you will be an heir of God, and a co-heir with Christ." See St. Gregory, homily 23 on the Gospel, where he says: "Pilgrims are not only to be invited to hospitality, but also to be drawn to it;" and he confirms this with these words of St. Peter by the example of a man very hospitable, to whom Christ offered himself as it were a pilgrim.
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10. Let each one, as he hath received grace, minister the same one to another. — This is the second office of charity: the first indeed was hospitality. Understand by "grace" here not so much grace that makes pleasing, but grace freely given: for this is what the Greek charisma signifies, that is, a gift. He commands therefore that the gifts and talents given to us by God be expended for the utility of our neighbours: for God gave them to us for this purpose; for He made us their ministers, dispensers and stewards, as the Greek has it, not lords, and therefore He will exact from each one a strict account of this dispensation, saying: "Give an account of thy stewardship," Luke xvi, 2. Excellently Philo, in the book On the Cherubim: "I think," says he, "it is sufficiently clear that we can use the possessions of others, and we glory not in possessing, nor riches, nor honours, nor powers, nor anything else proper to body or soul, nay not even life itself; we have only the usufruct." Thus St. Urban the Pontiff and Martyr, teacher of St. Cecilia and her spouse St. Valerian, said that the goods of the Church are the vows of the faithful, the prices of sins and the patrimony of the poor, and therefore ought to be expended on them, not on relatives, and that he and the Pontiffs are only their dispensers. Thus his Life has it. St. Peter is supported by St. Paul, I Cor. xii, 7: "To each one," says he, "is given the manifestation of the spirit unto utility." And Rom. xii, 6, where he explains the manifold, or, as the Syrian translates it, divided and distinct, grace of Christ, saying: "Having therefore different gifts according to the grace that is given us, either prophecy to be used according to the rule of faith, or ministry in ministering, or he that teacheth in doctrine, he that exhorteth in exhorting, he that giveth in simplicity, he that ruleth in carefulness, he that sheweth mercy in cheerfulness." See the sayings there. Note: "As he hath received" signifies that these are to be expended freely, candidly, humbly, liberally for the advantage of others, not one's own (for thus he received them from God), thus St. Gregory, XXVIII Moral., cap. vi or xi: "Then," says he, "the manifold grace of God is well dispensed, when the gift received is believed to be his who hath not, when on account of him to whom it is given, it is thought to be given to oneself. Then charity frees us from the yoke of guilt, when in turn it subjects us to our service through love: when both we believe the goods of others to be ours, and offering our own to others as if they were theirs, we exhibit them." The same, hom. 7 in Ezech.: "Bestow good upon your neighbours humbly," says he, "because ye know that what ye have is not from yourselves, but from God."
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11. If anyone speaks (let him speak) as the words of God. — He explains here the manifold grace, and divides it generally into two generic species, which contain many others under themselves, namely into utterance, that is preaching and teaching; and ministry, such as distributing alms, serving the sick, receiving guests, etc. See what is said in Romans xii, 6, where St. Paul points out two species, prophecy and deaconry, which in reality are the same as teaching and ministry. He commands therefore that the teacher and preacher speak not his own words, but the words of God, that is, teach things true, holy and worthy of God, namely those things which Christ taught in the Gospel, and which God inspires in him, not those which the human or worldly spirit suggests. For in the primitive Church the Holy Spirit inspired in the assembly of the faithful one with exhortation, another with a hymn, another with prophecy, so that each might bring forth and speak these things for the edification of those present, as St. Paul teaches, I Corinthians xiv, 26. To this pertains that saying of Pindar in the Nemean Odes, ode 8: "Virtue grows exalted through the wise, as a tree made fruitful by dew." Secondly, that he speak them not proudly, but humbly: "For those who do not have from their own the words which they utter, why should they be puffed up as if from their own?" says St. Gregory, III part. Past., cap. xxv. Again, that he speak them not coldly, but ardently: for such are the words of God and the Holy Spirit, who therefore gave fiery tongues to the first teachers, namely the Apostles, at Pentecost, so that they might speak his words ardently with those same tongues, and might kindle the hearts of their hearers, according to that: "Thy word is exceedingly kindled," Psalm cxviii, verse 140. Excellently Climacus, step 26: "As, he says, he who bears spices, even if he wishes not, is betrayed by the odor: so also he who has the spirit of God is known by his words." Wherefore St. Augustine, book IV On Christian Doctrine, instructs the teacher and preacher, that before reading and preaching he pray to God ardently, so that he may suggest not only the things which are to be said, but also the manner and ardor with which they are to be said to strike the hearts of men, and thus God rather than the teacher may seem to speak through the mouth of the teacher. "That it be understood, he says, that it be heard willingly, that it be obeyed, let him not doubt that it is accomplished more by the piety of prayers than by the ability of speakers, so that by praying for himself and for those whom he is about to address, he may be a speaker before he is a teacher. At that very hour, about to say something, before he brings forth the speaking tongue, let him lift his soul thirsting to God, so that he may belch forth what he has drunk, or what he has filled, let him pour out." Thus St. Paul the first hermit, visited by St. Anthony, spoke with him nothing but the words of God; for thus St. Jerome writes of him: "When they mingled in mutual embraces, they greeted each other by their own names, giving thanks to the Lord in common. And after a holy kiss Paul began thus with Anthony: Behold him whom you have sought with such labor, whom unkempt old age covers with decaying limbs. Behold you see a man soon to be dust. But because charity sustains all things, tell me, I beseech you, how the human race fares: whether new buildings rise in the ancient cities; by what empire the world is ruled; whether there remain any who are seized by the error of demons." Soon the raven bringing bread: "Behold, said Paul, the Lord has sent us a meal, truly pious, truly merciful: for sixty years now I have received always a fragment of half a loaf; but on account of your coming Christ has doubled the ration for his soldiers, etc. Then they drank a little water from the spring with bowed mouth: and offering to God a sacrifice of praise they passed the night in vigils." When morning arose, St. Paul spoke thus to Anthony: "Long ago I knew that you dwelt in these regions: long ago God had promised you to me as my fellow servant. But because now the time of my sleep has come, and what I have always desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ, the race being finished there remains for me a crown of justice; you have been sent by the Lord, that you cover my little body with earth, nay that you return earth to earth. When Anthony heard these things weeping and groaning lest he desert him, and that he might receive him as a companion of such a journey, he prayed; and he said: You ought not, he said, to seek what is yours, but what is another's. It is indeed expedient for you to cast off the burden of flesh and follow the Lamb; but it is also expedient for the brethren without, that they may still be instructed by your example," etc. Let the discourses of religious be such, let the conversations of the servants of God be such, let the visits of the faithful be such. Thus St. Dominic continually spoke either with God or of God, and he inculcated the same in his followers: wherefore St. Thomas Aquinas did the same and taught others, saying: "A Religious man ought to speak of nothing save with God or of God." Thus David the Anchorite, deprived of speech, obtained from God that he might speak of divine things, as John Moschus has it in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter CXLIII. Such were our founders St. Ignatius, St. Xavier, Father Faber, Father Canisius, who in hospices, streets and the halls of princes spoke only of religious matters, everywhere pouring forth the honeyed streams of heavenly praises and divine things, and thus brought forth for God innumerable souls. This is what Malachi says, chapter II, verse 7: "The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts." Where St. Jerome notes that it does not say "shall utter," but "shall keep," namely that they speak opportunely and give to their fellow servants food in due season: so that the mouth of the priest is a certain ark of saving doctrine, whence all may draw forth what is necessary, which God has stored up there for the common utility and instruction. The Author of the Imperfect Work, homily 38: "As the stomach, he says, receiving food digests it, so also priests receive the knowledge of discourse through Scripture from God, and digest it in themselves, that is, treating and meditating upon it within themselves, they supply it to the whole people." And St. Ambrose, sermon 13, compares priests to bees. As bees, he says, from the little flowers of divine Scriptures make sweet honey, and whatever pertains to the medicine of souls, they compose by the art of their mouth. Moreover, it is not enough for a priest of God to speak the words of God with his voice, unless he also speaks them with his life: for life gives efficacy to the voice. For, as St. Ambrose says, epistle 6, "God separated priests from the people, He commanded Moses to ascend the mountain with the priests, but the people stood below. Do you see the divisions? nothing plebeian is required in priests, nothing popular, nothing common with the study, practice and customs of the uncouth multitude; sober gravity apart from the crowds, serious life, singular weight the dignity of the priesthood claims for itself. For how can it be observed by the people, he who has nothing secret from the people, and is not different from the multitude? What in you would they marvel at, if in you they recognize their own things? if they see nothing in you except what they find beyond themselves? Let us therefore transcend plebeian opinions, and the well-trodden paths of gregarious conversation." Hence God says in Leviticus x: "I shall be sanctified, he says, in those who draw near to me." Where some translate: "I shall be known as holy from the cleanliness and holiness of the ministers," namely of priests. Theodoret, Questions III on Leviticus, asks why the victim offered for the priest was wholly burned, and answers: to demonstrate the integrity of the priest, who dedicated not himself in part, but wholly and entirely to God. St. Basil, in the Moral Rules, Rule LXXX, chapter x, asks what kind of preachers of the Gospel ought to be? and answers first, they ought to be as Apostles; second, as heralds of heaven; third, as a rule of piety; fourth, as an eye in the body: which he proves severally from Scripture and the words of Christ. "As Apostles, he says, and ministers of Christ, and faithful stewards of the mysteries of God, fulfilling most completely in deed and word only those things which the Lord has commanded. Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Going teach all nations; thus let a man regard us as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. But as for what remains, it is sought among stewards that someone be found faithful. As heralds of the kingdom of heaven, for the destruction of him who has dominion over death in sin. Going therefore preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand. I testify before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by his coming preach the word of God. As a form or rule of piety, so that through them all who follow the Lord may be directed to all righteousness, and their perversity may be detected, those who in any matter resist his dominion. Forgetting those things that are behind, stretching myself to those things that are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the supernal calling of God in Christ Jesus. Whosoever therefore are perfect, let us be thus minded: and if you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal this to you. Nevertheless, to that which we have attained, let us go on in the same, let us mind the same thing, in the same rule remain. Be an example to the faithful in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in chastity. But take care to show yourself approved to God, a workman not to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." As an eye in the body, so that they may have discernment of both good and evil things, and that the members of Christ may direct themselves to their individual offices as suited to each. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome." St. Gregory Nazianzen, in Oration I Apology: "This is the sum," he says, "that they be such in virtue, that (to say it in one word) they be heavenly: and that they may be able to be purified first, then to purify; to be instructed in wisdom, and thus to make others wise; to become light, and to illuminate others; to draw near to God, and to lead others to him; to be sanctified, and to bring sanctity to others." Therefore let teachers and priests exhibit that integrity of morals which is the censure and discipline of others: which they will effect, "if they speak as oracles, live as gods." Let Religious do the same: for it is theirs to speak the words of God, so that their voice may be the voice of God, not of the world, so that they may imitate their Patriarch John the Baptist, who says: "I am the voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," Matt. III, 2 and 3. If any man minister, as from the virtue which God administers (chorēgei, that is, supplies, suggests, furnishes) — thus the Syriac. This is the second kind of charism, namely diaconia, or ministry, for instance the administration of the holy Sacraments, of alms and of any other things. He says therefore, that whoever has obtained some such ministry and office in the Church from God, let him administer and exercise it, not by his own, but by God's virtue, which God supplies and furnishes to him: by which he hints first, that they ought to perform their own office, not to invade another's; and that they can arrogate nothing to themselves, but ought to attribute all their virtue, faculty and efficacy to God, to whom it belongs to bestow it. Thus Oecumenius. Secondly, they ought to minister in virtue, that is, not only rightly and faithfully, not accepting persons; but also valiantly, strenuously, generously overcoming all difficulties, fearing no one's power or envy, knowing themselves to be God's ministers, to be acted upon, ruled and protected by him; for this is what the Greek ischys signifies, that is, virtue, strength, fortitude. Thus Christ in the power of the spirit returned into Galilee, Luke cap. IV, 14. Let Christians imitate the same, so that whatever they undertake and do, they undertake and do in the power of the spirit, so that they may be seen to be acted upon and impelled by the divine force of the Holy Spirit, as Samson was acted upon for his mighty and heroic works. Thirdly, in giving and distributing to be liberal, mindful that they give not their own, but God's, who in giving is most liberal, and wills that his ministers imitate this liberality of his, and therefore the more liberally they distribute, the more liberally he imparts to them. For, as the Author of the Imperfect says, homil. 43 in Matt.: "Where the master of the house is generous, the steward ought not to be stingy. If God is kind, why should his priest be austere? Dost thou wish to appear holy? be austere about thy own life, kind about another's." Fourthly, that they seek not their own gains, but the souls for God's glory: "That in all things," he says, "God may be honored (in Greek doxazētai, that is, glorified) through Jesus Christ," because through the merits of Christ the mediator God bestows these gifts upon his ministers. Wherefore truly St. Augustine, Soliloquies cap. xv: "He who seeks glory for himself from thy good, O Lord," he says, "and not for thee, this man is a thief and a robber, and is like the devil, who wished to steal thy glory." And St. Bernard, sermon Against Ingratitude: "Blessed is he," he says, "who for each gift of grace returns to him in whom is the fullness of all graces;"; and sermon 13 in Canticles: "To the place," he says, "from which they go forth, the rivers of graces return, so that they may flow again; let the heavenly outflow be sent back to its source, so that it may be poured forth more abundantly upon the earth." To whom (both to Christ and to God) be glory and dominion. — Syriac, glory and honor. Holy and heavenly men are wont to refer the beginning and end of all things and prayers to God, according to that saying: "From thee is the beginning, to thee it shall end;"; and therefore they break forth into his doxology like the blessed minds in heaven, whose life they themselves foretaste and begin. For the blessed in heaven continually sing to God: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come," Apoc. IV, 8. "To him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb, blessing and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever," Apoc. III, 13, and VII, 12. See the sayings there.
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12. Beloved. — "From the very name itself," says Oecumenius, "it signifies not that they are hated, but that they are very dear, namely to God, and are loved vehemently, so that afflictions befall them." Be not surprised. — He passes from charity to patience, which was especially necessary for the faithful at that time on account of persecutions: in Greek it is mē xenizesthe, that is, do not marvel and regard it as a strange thing, that many adversities befall and come upon you as servants of God. Do not, says Oecumenius, consider this foreign to the friends of God, since it is proper and glorious to them, that like gold they be proved, purified and made bright by the fire of tribulation, and that they be conformed to Christ suffering, so that they may be configured to him rising again. Whence Bede, Hugh and others explain it thus, as if to say: Do not regard yourselves as strangers to God and Christ, as if cast off by him, and therefore afflicted. But Lyra, as if to say: Do not on account of afflictions wander as strangers, that is, alienate yourselves from faith and love of Christ, or flee to foreign shores. But the first sense which I have given is the proper and genuine one. Wherefore foolish are the heretics, who either ignorantly or maliciously twist these words against pilgrimages to the thresholds of the Holy Apostles, to Compostela to St. James, to Jerusalem to the holy places, etc., as if St. Peter here forbade pilgrimage. For xenizesthai signifies nothing of the sort, but what I have said. Whence the Syriac version, St. Cyprian, epistle 56, and St. Jerome in chapter IV of Amos, translate, "do not marvel"; Tertullian in the Scorpiace, chapter XII, "do not be terrified at burning"; St. Fulgentius to Thrasius, "do not be terrified at the burning as if at something new." And thus immediately St. Peter explains it, saying: "As if something strange (in Greek xenou, that is, foreign) should befall you." Wherefore equally incongruous is the sense of Aureolus in the Complete Scripture, as if to say: Do not run about lightly carried away by some fervor of will, imagining you will find something new elsewhere. And that interpretation of Hugh, as if to say: Do not in the fervor of devotion vow or bind yourselves to impossibilities, or things too difficult, which afterwards you cannot or will not be able to perform; for xenizein is opposed to idiazein: whence just as idiazein signifies to be accustomed, and to do a customary thing in the customary manner, so on the contrary xenizein signifies to do a foreign thing, to marvel at a new and unusual thing, to be terrified and shaken by the strangeness and novelty of a thing. Thus St. Basil, epistle to Meletius: "I shall write," he says, "to Eccius tō xenizonti, that is, a thing unheard of to you, I knew that such an accusation would bring you into amazement on account of the novelty of the thing." Thus Constantine Caesar, book IX of Agriculture, chapter v, teaches that a plant ought to be inserted in soil congenial and connate to it, lest, he says, xenizētai, that is, on account of novelty it be alienated, and it turn away from soil foreign to it. Aptly therefore you translate here with Salvian in the place cited and others: Do not be moved, do not be troubled, do not be shaken in afflictions as if at a new, unusual and foreign thing. The same signification is taken by the Latins from the word peregrinus and peregrinor: for peregrinus is said of one who is not in his own city, but in a foreign one. Whence Cicero in the Pro Rabirio: "Are you," he says, "so ignorant of our discipline and custom, that you seem to wander as a stranger in a foreign city, not to hold office in your own?" And in book V of the Tusculan Disputations: "He," he says, "wandered through all weakness, so that he remained in no extremity." Thus ears and eyes are said to wander, when they hear, see and marvel at a foreign and new thing. Thus Horace, book I, epistle 12: "The mind," he says, "is abroad." Thus in Isaiah xxviii, 21, a work is said to be foreign and strange to God, to punish and afflict, because it is his proper work to have mercy, to spare and to do good. And perhaps St. Peter alludes to this passage of Isaiah. In the burning, — not of love and charity, but of affliction and temptation; for in Greek it is en pyrōsei, that is in burning, as Tertullian reads it, Scorpiace chapter XII; in ardor, as St. Cyprian, epistle 56; Pagninus, "do not marvel at your examination by fire"; Oecumenius and the Zurich Bible, "while you are proved and tested by fire"; for pyrōsis is a proving and testing by fire; some translate it less correctly as a blight, namely jaundice or rust, which dries up crops by burning like the royal disease, and is therefore called in Hebrew schiddaphon. He alludes to that passage in Ecclesiasticus xxvii, 6: "The furnace proveth the potter's vessels, and the trial of affliction proveth just men"; and to that: "We have passed through fire and water, and thou hast brought us out into a refreshment," Psalm lxv, verse 12. For affliction is as it were a burning furnace, burning and tormenting the afflicted. It is therefore this very burning, that is, fire, burning, digestion, but one in which, and from which, is made pyropus, that is, a gem shining and flashing like fire, according to that: "As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and as a holocaust victim hath he received them," Wisdom III, 6. Where St. Ephrem prudently notes, in his sermon On Patience, that just as a potter or goldsmith tempers the furnace to the clay vessel or gold which he is cooking, lest it burn it too much or too little: so also God accommodates the temptation to the strength of man, and to the grace which he gives him, nor does he suffer man to be tempted above his strength, as St. Paul says, I Corinthians X, 13. Again he accommodates it to the vices of man, which through this fire of tribulation he wishes and intends to cook away and burn out. The sense therefore is: Do not wonder at the burning, that is, do not marvel as at something strange, the burning, that is, the ardor, of temptation and affliction, which befalls you. It is a catachresis: for to wonder is put for "to marvel at something strange"; it is a Hebraism, "in the burning," that is, "the burning": for the Hebrews construct words of contact, whether real or mental, such as to marvel, with beth, that is, in. For some of the first Christians marveled (as now those who are converted from sins to God marvel) that immediately after their conversion to Christ, they were harassed on all sides by persecutions, temptations and afflictions. To these St. Peter responds that this is not to be marveled at, since it follows from the nature of the thing. For faith and piety excite the hatred of the unfaithful and impious against themselves, because it has declared war against them. Hear Salvian, book III On Providence: "What," he says, "is marvelous if we endure all evils, we who are enlisted to endure all things?" For this reason Christ crucified, after his resurrection, appeared to two disciples going to Emmaus as a stranger in Israel, to represent that they themselves are strangers. For he took upon himself their affection and condition, to teach them: because namely to new disciples, and to new Christians, it seemed new and strange that Christ, who was promised to be King of Israel and Savior of the world, should die and be crucified. But he himself corrected this error of theirs, showing from the law and the Prophets that Christ ought to suffer (and consequently every Christian) and thus enter into his glory, Luke XXIV, 26. Wherefore wisely St. Chrysostom, homily 8 on II Timothy: "It is unlawful," he says, "for a fighter of God to be idle in delights, it is not permitted to feast while wrestling. For all present things are wrestling, contest, war, stadium: another time is that of rest, this is appointed to hardships and labors. No one who has stripped himself for contest and been anointed seeks rest." And St. Leo, sermon 1 On Lent: "Let us understand," he says, "that the more zealously we have been for our salvation, the more vehemently we are to be attacked by the adversary." St. Hilary gives the reason in Matthew IV, saying: "In those sanctified, the temptations of the devil especially rage: victory is more desired by him from the saints." And St. Jerome, epistle to Eustochium, On the Guarding of Virginity: "The devil does not seek unfaithful men, he hastens to snatch from the Church of Christ: his food according to Habakkuk is chosen; he wishes to subvert Job, and having devoured Judas he seeks power to sift the Apostles." And St. Gregory on that passage of Job XL, "He shall swallow up the river": "Those," he says, "whom he sees already joined to heavenly contemplation, despising earthly pursuits, he strives mightily to seize." And Origen, homily 9 on I Judges: "You have come," he says, "to the water of baptism: this is the beginning of contest and spiritual warfare, hence there is born for you against the Devil the beginning of warfare." Wherefore just as Christ immediately after his baptism went into the desert, and there was tempted by the devil: so every faithful one regenerated, and aspiring to the height of virtue and heaven, should have this foremeditated, that he must struggle sharply with the enemy, nay, that he has actually provoked all demons and the whole of hell to duel and single combat. "My son," says Ecclesiasticus cap. II, 1, "coming to the service of God, stand in justice and fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation." This St. Anthony, as St. Athanasius testifies, having experienced, taught and warned others, saying that the devil most fiercely harasses and vexes Monks and virgins who have devoted themselves to God, both because their heroic virtue is a disgrace to the demon, who did not wish to aspire to it, and therefore it is a thorn in his eyes, constantly pricking and torturing him; and because he bears it ill that God, whom he holds as enemy and torturer, is thus worshipped and honored by them; and because he envies their virtue and glory. Which is made a trial to you. — Peirasmos alludes, that is temptation, to pyrōsis, that is fervor; for temptation is as it were a fire, fervor and ardor, which tries the soul of man, his virtue and constancy, that is explores, purges, perfects it, according to that of Daniel xi, 35: "And some of the learned shall fall, that they may be tried as by fire, and chosen, and made white." See the things said there. As if some new thing happened to you. — That is to say, It is not new and foreign for the faithful and pious to be tempted and afflicted, as you, O new Christians, think, but old and proper, indeed from the beginning of the world hitherto always practiced. For thus the pious Abel was persecuted by the impious Cain, the sons of God were persecuted by the sons of men and Nemrod, Abraham by the Chanaanites, Lot by the Sodomites, Joseph by his brothers, Jacob by Laban, Isaac by the Philistines, Moses by Pharao, the Hebrews by the Egyptians, David by Saul, Isaias by Manasses, Jeremias, Ezechiel, Amos and the other Prophets by the Jews, according to that of Hebrews xi, 37: "They were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted: of whom the world was not worthy: wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." Wherefore Christ often forewarned His own of this very thing, that they might prepare themselves for it: "In the world you shall have pressure," John xvi, 32. "Brother shall betray brother unto death, and the father his son: and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death, and you shall be hated by all men for my name's sake," Matthew cap. x, vers. 21.
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13. But rejoicing in the sufferings of Christ. — He brings forward two reasons why in affliction they ought not to be sad, but to rejoice: the first, that in tribulation they share in the passion of Christ. Whence St. Fulgentius, book III to Thrasimus, reads, but as sharing, which is the highest honor and glory, equally as advantage and merit: for those suffering through His passion are as it were grafted and inoculated into the passion of Christ, as a branch to a tree, and thus from Him they draw all the vigor and grace, the strength of enduring, meriting and persevering. The second, that with Christ having suffered they shall rise again to immense glory. The Greek texts have "alla katho koinōneite," that is, but in that which you share; or, as Tertullian, Scorpiace XII, "for indeed according as you share;" which reading signifies that one ought to rejoice only so much as in suffering we share in the passions of Christ, so that the more the passion increases, the more also the joy increases: and thus the measure of joy is the measure of tribulations, according to that II Corinthians I, 6: "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also by Christ doth our consolation abound;" and that Psalm xciii, 19: "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, thy comforts have given joy to my soul." Hence St. Cyprian, epistle 56, reads: "But whenever you share in the sufferings of Christ, rejoice." Hence those suffering are said, first, to suffer not so much their own cross as Christ's, according to that: "Let us go forth therefore to him without the camp, bearing his reproach," Hebrews xiii, 13. Thus "Moses, when he was grown great, denied himself to be the son of the daughter of Pharao, choosing rather to be afflicted with the people of God, than to have the pleasure of sin for a time, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of the Egyptians," Hebrews xi, 24. Thus Paul with his companions says: "Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies," II Corinthians iv, 10. "And if we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him," Romans viii, 17. "I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body," Galatians vi, 17. Secondly, Christ in turn is said to suffer in the faithful as the head in its members. Hence Christ says to Saul: "Why persecutest thou me?" Acts ix, 4; He does not say: "Why persecutest thou my faithful," but: "Why persecutest thou me?" because they themselves are my members, and with me they form one body of the mystical Church: therefore in persecuting them, thou persecutest me, because he who persecutes the members attacks and persecutes the head itself. Thus St. Paulinus, epistle to Aper: "From the beginning of ages," he says, "Christ suffers in all His own. For He is the beginning and the end, who is veiled in the law, revealed in the Gospel, always wonderful and suffering and triumphing in His Saints the Lord. In Abel slain by his brother, in Noah mocked by his son, in Abraham a sojourner, in Isaac offered, in Jacob enslaved, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed and fleeing, in the Prophets stoned and cut asunder, in the Apostles cast about on land and sea, and frequently slain in many and various torments of blessed Martyrs. He therefore now also bearing our infirmities and sickness, because He Himself is man always placed in the wound for us, and knowing how to bear infirmities, which we without Him can neither bear nor know. He, I say, now sustaining for us and in us the world, that by enduring He may destroy it, and perfect virtue in infirmity. He also suffers reproaches in thee, and this world hates Him in thee; but thanks to Him, because He conquers when He is judged, and triumphs in us." Thirdly, those suffering are said to be incorporated with Christ, and thus to become one and to be with Christ. For thus the Apostle calls us dead with Him, planted together, crucified with Christ, Romans vi, 5, and II Timothy ii, 11; whence the same says: "I am crucified with Christ; and I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me," Galatians ii, 20; and St. Ignatius, epistle to the Romans: "My love is crucified." Wherefore in the endurance of afflictions and in the love of persecutors consists the apex and sum of Christian life. Whence St. Basil, prescribing the formula of perfect life to religious men and anchorites in an admonition to the young, inculcates almost this alone. Rejoice. — St. Cyprian reads: rejoice in all things, according to that of St. James i, 2: "All joy be to you, my brethren, when you shall fall into divers temptations," where I have reviewed many causes of this joy. "The end of the sufferings of Christ is resurrection," says Origen in chapter I to Romans. Thus also the end of the suffering of Christians is resurrection and eternal glory: they ought therefore justly to rejoice in suffering. That you may also rejoice and exult in the revelation of his glory—agalliōmenoi, that is, leaping forth with joy. Whence St. Cyprian, epistle 56, reads, "rejoicing you exult." For to exult is to leap beyond measure, as Nonius says. For so great will be the magnitude of heavenly beatitude and glory, that the human heart cannot contain it, but leaps forth and beyond itself as it were, indeed it would burst and break asunder for joy, did not God hold and bind it with his almighty hand. Thus the Psalmist, still placed in this exile, from hope of future glory: "My heart, he says, and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God," Psalm lxxxiii, 3; and: "Rejoice in God, all the earth, sing, and exult, and make a psalm," Psalm xcvii, 4; and: "Going they went and wept, casting their seeds; but coming they shall come with exultation, bearing their sheaves," Psalm cxxv, 6; and Malachi, cap. iv, vers. 2: "The sun of justice shall arise upon you that fear my name, and health in his wings, and you shall go forth, and shall leap as calves of the herd": where I have said more of this salvation; and Sophonias, cap. iii, vers. 14: "Praise, daughter of Sion; rejoice, Israel; be glad and exult with all thy heart, daughter of Jerusalem." See Baruch, cap. v. Thus in the Life of St. Evergislus Archbishop of Cologne we read, that when he entered the temple of St. Gereon according to custom, in which the bodies of himself and his fellow Martyrs rest, and recited that psalm: "The Saints shall exult in glory," they themselves answered from the sepulchres: "They shall be joyful in their beds," Psalm cxlix, vers. 5.
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14. If you are reproached. — In Greek oneidizesthe, that is, as Tertullian, Scorpiace xii, reads it, "if you are disgraced"; St. Cyprian, epistle 56, "if it is reproached to you": For to the Gentiles indeed the name of Christ and Christian was a reproach and reproachful; whence they reproached the faithful with it as if it were infamous. In the name of Christ, — that is, on account of the name of Christ, namely because you are Christians, because you cultivate and invoke the name of Christ. The Syriac version, for the name of Christ, or because you belong to Christ, as if existing from the house, family and Church of Christ. Thus Nero, who was the first to persecute Christians, made "Christians" a reproach, when he brought this reproachful edict against them: "Whoever confesses himself to be a Christian, he, as convicted of being an enemy of the human race, shall be punished with death without further defense of himself." Acutely and cleverly Tertullian, Apology III, censures the Gentiles because they hated the name of Christ, when Christ in Greek is the same as "anointed"; or, as the Gentiles pronounced it, Chresti, when chrēstos is the same as mild, suitable, useful. "Therefore," he says, "the name is hated even in innocent people, an innocent name," nay a holy name, lovable, angelic, divine; for such is "Jesus Christ." Blessed shall you be. — In Greek makarioi, that is blessed, supply you shall be in heaven, and you are on earth, on account of the honor of the name of Christ, and on account of the sure hope of glory, as it were promised by him to those suffering for him. Because that which is of honor, glory and virtue of God, and which is his Spirit, rests upon you, — that is to say, The glory, virtue and spirit of God rests upon you, and moves you to every difficult thing, for instance to heroic patience. The Syriac version translates it, The glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. The Greek texts already have: hoti to tēs doxēs kai to tou Theou pneuma eph' hymas anapauetai, that is, because the spirit of glory and the spirit of God (that is the glorious spirit of God, it is a hendiadys) rests upon you. St. Cyprian, epistle 56, for pneuma reads onoma; for he translates it, because the majesty and virtue of the Lord's name rests in you; Tertullian, Scorpiace cap. xii, because the glory and spirit of God rests in you. In him therefore who suffers for Christ, there rests God's, first, honor; second, glory; third, virtue, in Greek dynamis, that is, power and strength; fourth, spirit, which is the author of all glory, honor, virtue in the one suffering, as in his temple and bridal chamber it rests with wonderful delight; because in the one suffering it signifies, says Dionysius, that God reckons invincible patience in adversities to be something honorable, glorious, virtuous, or triumphant. Thus the spirit of fortitude rested upon Christ, Isaiah XI, 2. By these words he signifies how great the dignity and honor is to suffer for Christ, namely that in him is situated all honor, glory, virtue and majesty of God, so that nothing more worthy, more honorable, more divine, more pleasing and glorious to God can be conceived, nay the very person and majesty of the Holy Spirit rests in him who suffers. For he himself as it were as a leader authorizes, animates, strengthens, protects, perfects him who suffers for Christ, as his soldier, so that he may conquer, and leads him to triumph and eternal crown. For the highest and most noble fortitude is to suffer for Christ, for orthodox faith, for true religion, for the worship of God and God himself: to suffer, I say, words and blows, calumnies, reproaches, torments, and even death itself. Whence St. Augustine, in the sermon On St. Victory: "There," he says, "is a more glorious crown, where Christ is weaker: because truly a manly spirit in women did something greater, when under such a weight the fragility of the female sex did not fail, etc. He appeared in them unconquered, who was made weak for them. He filled them with fortitude so that he might conquer them, he who emptied himself so that he might make them strong. He led them to these honors and praises, he who for them heard reproaches and accusations. He made women die manfully and bravely, he who for them deigned to be born mercifully from a woman." Again the same St. Augustine, sermon 78 On the Seasons, that passage Genesis XXV, "The greater shall serve the lesser," namely Esau Jacob, he thus expounds mystically: The impious shall serve the pious, persecutors the patient, torturers the Martyrs; because in torturing they do nothing other than fabricate for them the laurel of martyrdom. "How," he says, "do the wicked serve the good? not by obeying, but by persecuting: how do persecutors serve Martyrs, how do files or hammers serve gold, how do millstones serve wheat, how do furnaces serve bread being baked, so that those are baked, these are consumed; how in the furnace of the goldsmith does chaff serve gold, where without doubt the chaff is consumed, the gold is proved." The Greek codices add: "Which (Spirit) indeed is blasphemed by others, but is glorified by you," by which it signifies that these reproaches of the infidels against Christians recoil upon the Holy Spirit itself, and therefore the faithful, patient in suffering, have the Holy Spirit as their companion, who both receives and repels these reproaches, and animates, directs and strengthens the faithful in receiving and refuting them. Again, the Holy Spirit is honored and glorified by the suffering just as much as He is dishonored, despised and blasphemed by the persecutors. Wherefore Tertullian, to the Martyrs, chapter III: "You are about to enter," he says, "a good contest, in which the agonothetes is the living God, the xystarches is the Holy Spirit, the crown is eternity, the prize is the substance of angels, the polity is for ever and ever. Therefore your epistatae is Christ Jesus, who anointed you with the Spirit, and brought you to this arena." Furthermore, St. Peter insinuates here various reasons why suffering for Christ is the highest dignity. The first is, because this is the supreme act of Christian patience, fortitude, and charity. The second is, because sufferings are royal garments, namely purple, cloak, diadems, insignia, and, as the Apostle calls them, Galatians VI, 17, the stigmata of Christ. Wherefore Theodore of Studium, ordered by Leo the Armenian to be scourged for the defense of the holy images of Christ, immediately loosened his belt of his own accord, and having laid aside his garment offered his naked body to the blows: "For it is a pleasure to me," he said, "that this little body be scourged, and this is finally its supreme laying down, so that the sooner my naked soul may fly to Him whom I desire." Thus Michael of Studium, in his Life. Hence Theodore himself, writing to Naucratium exulting after the scourging: "Is it not," he says, "more wonderful than the glory of those wearing a diadem, to bear the stigmata of Christ, His life-giving sufferings as crowns?" The third is, because Christ elevated and as it were deified the cross and sufferings in His body; for just as by assuming humanity to the Word, He as it were deified it, uniting it to God, and thus making man to be the Word, so that truly and properly this man was God: so likewise receiving the cross and sufferings in His body and soul, He united them with His body and soul to the Word, and thus as it were deified them. Hence just as it is truly said that God was incarnate and made man, so also it is truly said that God suffered, was crucified, died: Christ therefore in Himself and in His humanity consecrated and sanctified sufferings and patience, equally as poverty, as St. Bernard says, humility, obedience, contempt of self and the world. The fourth is, that Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the whole Blessed Trinity are supremely honored by the suffering as by sacrifices and holocausts, not of brute beasts, but of human and rational creatures, as St. Peter says here. The fifth is, that to them is promised and prepared by God the highest reward and crown in heaven, namely the laurel of martyrdom, and that they may be supremely conformed to Christ glorified, who were conformed to the same Christ suffering and crucified. The sixth is, that the cross, sanctified by contact with the body of Christ, is adored, and not only that which touched the body of Christ, but any other, which is its representation and image, as we see publicly in the Church that it is adored on Good Friday, according to that saying of Lactantius: Bend the knee, and adore the venerable wood of the cross. Hence the Church sings of it then: O tree fair and shining, Adorned with the purple of the king, Chosen with worthy timber To touch such holy limbs. Blessed tree whose arms Bore the price of the world, Made a balance of the body, And took the spoil from hell. O cross, hail, our only hope: In this time of passion, Increase justice in the pious, And grant pardon to the guilty. Sufferings therefore unite and assimilate us to Christ and God, nay, make us companions of Christ and God crucified, and as it were transform us into Him. What is more noble than to be like and a companion of Christ? "By martyrdom as a companion of Christ you are adorned with His blood," says St. Cyprian in the Praise of Martyrs. The seventh is, that the sufferings of Martyrs wonderfully illuminate the Church: for there is no sect which has so many Martyrs, who for their faith, or rather for their perfidy, are willing to pour out not only riches, but also life, as the Christian religion has. Again, a martyr gives a splendid example of virtue to other faithful, so that they themselves may desire to suffer and die for God. Hence Tertullian in the Apology: "The blood of Martyrs," he says, "is the seed of Christians." And Prudentius in the Peristephanon: The number of Martyrs always grew under every storm. For this reason St. Gregory of Nazianzus, in oration 18, which is concerning St. Cyprian, gives to Martyrs these names and praises, namely that they are "holocausts endowed with reason, perfect victims, oblations pleasing and acceptable to God, proclamations of truth, proscriptions of falsehood, the fulfillment of the law understood in a spiritual manner, the suppression of error, the persecution of vice, a deluge of sin, a lustration of the world." Wherefore, O St. Cyprian Martyr, your "virtue affects me in the greatest degree, your memory refreshes me, and I am carried forth by joy almost as one bereft of reason, and in some manner I am present in your very martyrdom, and I am a companion and sharer in the struggle, and I pass over entirely into you." Thus far Gregory of Nazianzus, who also a little before asserts that he himself, despising all earthly things, yearns for heavenly things. "I am held," he says, "by a certain insatiable eagerness for this matter, nor can I ever be torn away from it. I delight in the honors of Martyrs, I exult in the blood of athletes, and while the contests and victories are those of others, yet the crowns are mine, to such a degree do I esteem this glory, and I reckon their noble deeds to be my own." St. Chrysostom, a noble martyr of prolonged martyrdom, expelled from Constantinople so that he might be worn down by the hardships of journeys and the cruelty of soldiers, as indeed he was worn down in reality, thus writes to Cyriacus, who was likewise in exile: "Indeed, when I was being driven from the city of Constantinople, I cared nothing for any of these things, but thus I spoke with myself: If the Empress wishes to proscribe me, let her proscribe: The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. If she wishes to saw me asunder, let her saw: I have Isaiah as an example. If she wishes to cast me into the sea, I shall remember Jonah. If she wishes to cast me into a furnace, I have those three youths who endured it. If she wishes to expose me to beasts, I shall remember Daniel cast into the den of lions. If she wishes to stone me, I have Stephen the protomartyr. If she wishes to take off my head, I have John the Baptist. But if she wishes to take away my substance, let her take it: naked I came forth from the womb of my mother, naked shall I return thither. The Apostle exhorts me: God does not regard the person of man. If I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ. And David himself arms me, saying: I spoke in the sight of kings, and I was not ashamed." Tertullian, in the book to Martyrs, chapter IV, proposes to them among other examples and glories of Gentile fortitude the scourging of the Lacedaemonians. "For what," he says, "is today among the Lacedaemonians the greatest solemnity, namely the diamastigōsis, that is, scourging, is not hidden. In which sacred rite before the altar the noblest youths are scourged, with their parents and kinsmen standing by and exhorting them to persevere. It will be reckoned an ornament and glory with a greater title indeed, if the soul rather yields (departs from the body and this life) than the body. Therefore, if so much earthly glory is permitted on account of the vigor of body and mind, that they despise the sword, fire, cross, beasts, torments under the reward of human praise, I can say: These sufferings are small compared to the attainment of heavenly glory and divine reward. How much is glass worth compared to a true pearl? Who therefore would not most willingly expend so much for what is true as others expend for what is false?" St. Cyprian, in the work On the Praise and Exhortation of Martyrdom, gives to martyrdom these titles or incentives: First, "it gives fearless minds to suffering." Second, "the mind grows in the struggle, though virtue is struck repeatedly, it adheres immovable, like a rock struck by waves." Third, "it condemns life by death, so that it may guard life by death." Fourth, "a soldier laden with triumphal spoils from the enemy rejoices in his wounds." Fifth, "nor should those fear whose hope is eternity and heavenly life, and whose salvation rejoices in the promised immortality." Sixth, "those whose mind despises this world, and whose face is estranged from the age, to whom this world is always in place of a prison: nor will you be able to love martyrdom unless you first hate the world."
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15. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, — but as a Christian, and therefore a Martyr of Christ. Wherefore what St. Cyprian, epistle 73, and St. Jerome, epistle 58, say, that Christ made the murderer's punishment (who was crucified on the right of Christ) into martyrdom, understand it as a testimony, namely a profession of faith in Christ, as if to say: Christ made it so that the thief, crucified for his crimes, believed in Christ on the very cross itself, and publicly professed his faith in Him, and thus became a martyr, that is a witness of Christ, and obtained the reward of glory due to such testimony, and by this means converted for him the punishment of murder into the triumph of this martyrdom. Or a thief, or a reviler (in Greek kakopoios, that is a doer of evil things: thus the Syriac; Tertullian, Scorpiace cap. XII, "as a malefactor"), or a coveter of others' goods. — For "the penalty does not make a martyr, but the cause," says St. Augustine, epistle 107 to Festus; nor does the scaffold make a martyr, but a wicked man. Whence St. Cyprian, book III of Testimonies, cap. XXXVII, citing these words of St. Peter: "Faith," he says, "ought not to be punished on account of other crimes, except on account of the name alone." Beautifully St. Augustine, sermon On the Ten Plagues: "No one," he says, "has unjust gain without just loss. He who steals acquires a garment, but loses faith: where there is gain, there is loss: gain in the chest, loss in the conscience." The same, On the Christian Life, painting the idea of a Christian: "He truly," he says, "is a Christian, who shows mercy to all, who is moved by no injury whatsoever, who feels another's pain as his own, whose table no poor man is ignorant of, who is held inglorious before men, that he may be glorified before God and the angels; who despises earthly things, that he may be able to have heavenly things; who does not permit the poor to be oppressed in his presence; who comes to the aid of the wretched; who is moved to tears by the tears of others." For "a coveter of others' goods," in Greek it is allotrioepiskopos, that is, a curious inspector of others' things, and consequently a coveter: for the appearance and sight of a desirable thing stirs up desire. Whence a curious inspector, having inspected things, yearns for them. Tertullian, "a spy of another's affairs"; St. Cyprian, book III to Quirinus, cap. XXXVII, "attending to others' cares." That saying of Plautus is well known: "No one is curious who is not malevolent." Excellently St. Gregory: "Grave," he says, "is the vice of curiosity, which while it leads anyone's mind to investigate the life of his neighbor outwardly, always hides its own inmost things from him, so that knowing others' affairs, he is ignorant of himself, and the curious mind, the more skilled it becomes in another's affairs, becomes so much more ignorant of its own." St. Bernard On the Manner of Living Well, cap. LIV: "Foolish men," he says, "while they wish to reprove the errors of others, demonstrate their own. So long as a man is ignorant of his own sins which he ought to have wept over, so long as he curiously investigates the vices of others: but when a man returns to himself, and considers himself well, he does not seek what he may reprove in others, because he finds in himself many things which he may mourn." Whence Blessed Gregory: "We ought so much the less reprove the hearts of others, as we know that our sight cannot illuminate the darkness of another's thoughts;" and soon after: "Curiosity is a pernicious skill, it provokes to heresy, it precipitates the mind into sacrilegious fables, it makes men bold in obscure matters, it makes men rash in things unknown."
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16. But if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed (as murderers are ashamed when they are punished for their crime, because Christianity is not a crime, but a religion and holiness), but let him glorify God in this name,—because the name of Christ is glorious, and consequently also that of Christian; for a Christian is called from Christ as it were a follower of Christ, a disciple, a worshipper, a son and heir. See the words in Acts XI, 26. Moreover, he suffers as a Christian not only who suffers for the faith, but also who suffers for some Christian virtue, such as chastity, justice, religion, etc.: for the faith of Christ dictates and teaches every virtue. Wherefore whoever is killed and dies for any Christian virtue is a martyr. For a martyr is one who dies for any truth pertaining to piety, nay, who dies for any truth in order to avoid falsehood; for such a one dies for the virtue of truthfulness, which is opposed to the vice of falsehood, as St. Thomas expressly teaches, II II, Question CXXIV, art. 5. It is otherwise with one who dies in defending some mathematical, physical, or logical truth. For he is not a martyr, because he does not die for a truth pertaining to piety, as St. Thomas asserts in the same place. Learn morally here how great a thing it is to suffer as a Christian, namely, how great a thing is martyrdom: but this is the highest honour and glory. "For what," say the noble Martyrs to St. Cyprian, lib. V, epist. 12, "could be more glorious, or what more blessed could befall any man from divine favour, than to confess the Lord God unafraid among the very executioners themselves? than among the various and exquisite torments of raging secular power, even with body torn and tortured and mangled, to confess Christ the Son of God, though the body may fail, yet with a free spirit? than to have left the world and sought heaven? than to stand among angels, forsaken by men? than to have broken through all worldly hindrances and to present oneself free before God? than to possess the heavenly kingdom without any hesitation? than to have become a partner of Christ's passion in the name of Christ? than to have been made a judge by the divine favour of one's judge? than to have brought back an unblemished conscience from the confession of the name? than not to have obeyed human and sacrilegious laws against the faith? than to have publicly attested the truth by word? than to have subdued death itself by dying, which is feared by all? than to have obtained immortality through that very death? than, mangled and tortured by all the instruments of cruelty, to have overcome the torments themselves by the torments? than to have resisted with strength of mind against all the pains of a torn body? than not to have shrunk from one's own blood flowing forth? than to have begun to love one's own sufferings after the faith? than not to have reckoned the loss of one's life as a loss?" Then they confirm all these things with the words of Christ, by which they sharpen their spirits. "For to this struggle, as it were with a certain trumpet of His Gospel, the Lord stirs us up, saying: He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and: He that loveth his life more than me, is not worthy of me; and: He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me; and again: Blessed are they that have suffered persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed shall you be when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you, their fathers; and again: But you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father the son; and you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved; and: To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me in my throne: as I also have overcome, and am sat down in the throne of my Father. But the Apostle also: Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword? As it is written: For thy sake we are put to death all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things we overcome, because of him that hath loved us. When we have read these and similar things collected in the Gospel, and feel as it were certain torches placed beneath us by the words of the Lord to inflame the faith, we no longer merely do not fear the enemies of truth, but we provoke them; and the enemies of God we have already conquered by the very fact that we have not ceased; and we have subdued the wicked laws against truth; and although we have not yet shed our blood, yet we are prepared to have shed it. Let no one judge this delay of ours, this clemency, as working against us, as making an impediment to glory, as deferring heaven, as hindering the glorious sight of God: for in such a contest, and in such a struggle where faith fights the battle, delay is not a postponement of martyrs, but true clemency." And in book IV, epistle 6 to Tibarit, on the Exhortation to Martyrdom: "Men are trained for the worldly contest, and prepared, and they count it great glory of their honor, if it should befall them, with the people watching and the Emperor present, to be crowned. Behold a sublime and great contest, and glorious with the reward of a heavenly crown, so that God may watch us contending, and opening his eyes upon those whom he has deigned to make his sons, may enjoy the spectacle of our struggle. God watches us fighting and contending in the struggle of faith, his angels watch, and Christ watches. What dignity of glory, what happiness to contend with God presiding, and to be crowned with Christ as judge! Let us arm ourselves, most beloved brethren, with all our strength, and let us prepare ourselves for the contest with uncorrupted mind, with unbroken faith, with devoted virtue. Let the camps of God proceed to the battle line which is appointed for us. Let the whole be armed, lest the whole lose what it recently stood for. Let the fallen also be armed, so that the fallen may receive what he lost. Let honor provoke the whole to battle, and sorrow the fallen." And further below, exclaiming, he says: "O what a day and how great will that day come, most beloved brethren, when the Lord shall begin to review his people, and by the examination of divine knowledge to recognize the merits of each one, to send the guilty into hell, and to condemn our persecutors to the perpetual burning of penal flame, but to us to pay the reward of faith and devotion! What will be the glory, and how great the joy to be admitted, so that you see God; to be honored, so that with Christ the Lord your God you may obtain the joy of eternal salvation and light! To greet Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Patriarchs, and the Prophets, and the Apostles, and the Martyrs; to rejoice with the just and the friends of God in the kingdom of heaven with the pleasure of immortality granted; to receive there what neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man!" St. Basil, homily 20 on the Forty Martyrs, says that they celebrated God with these words, and encouraged one another to undergo martyrdom in the frozen pool: "We give thanks to you, Lord, that with this garment we are able to put off sin at the same time, because we put it on on account of the serpent, but we put it off on account of Christ. What worthy thanks shall we render to the Lord, who was stripped for us! What is great for a servant, if he should undergo what the Lord suffered? The cold is indeed hard, but paradise is sweet. The afflicting ice, but a delightful rest. Lasting for a brief time, the bosom of Abraham will cherish us perpetually. We shall exchange one night for eternal ages. Let the foot be burned by cold, so that it may leap continually with the angels. Let the hand be numbed by cold, so that it may have the faculty of lifting itself up to God. For how many of our fellow soldiers have fallen serving faith to a mortal king! Shall we not cast away this life serving faith in the true God? When once we must die, let us die so that we may live. Let our sacrifice be made before you, Lord, and as living victims pleasing to you, offering ourselves in this cruel frost, may we be received by you." Whence at the end concerning them he exclaims: "O holy choir! O sacred order! O invincible wedge! O common guardians of the human race, best companions of cares, intercessors for one another in prayers and vows, most powerful legates before God, stars of the world, flowers of the Churches: the earth did not cover you, but heaven received you. The gates of paradise have been opened to you: a spectacle worthy indeed for the armies of angels, the Patriarchs, the Prophets and all the just, etc. In the very flower of life they despised this temporal life, so that they might receive God in their members; they raised up the sorrowful, they confirmed the doubtful in faith, they increased the desire of the pious; all erecting one trophy for piety, all were adorned with one crown of justice." St. Augustine, sermon 30 on Psalm 118: "The whole earth," he says, "has been purpled with the blood of Martyrs, heaven blooms with the crowns of Martyrs, the Churches are adorned with the memorials of Martyrs, the times are marked with the birthdays of Martyrs, healings increase through the merits of Martyrs." The same, sermon 11 on St. Cyprian: "To him," he says, "praise, to him glory, who deigned to predestine that Martyr among his saints before the ages, to create him among all at the opportune time, to call him erring, to cleanse him filthy, to form him believing, to teach him obedient, to guide him teaching, to help him fighting, to crown him conquering." Moreover, the Church celebrates Martyrs with these praises in the hymn of several Martyrs: Let us sing, companions, the renowned joys through the merits of the Saints, and their brave deeds; For the spirit grows eager to proclaim in songs The best race of the Victors, etc. These for you trampled the furies and ferocity Of men and cruel stripes; The claw that tears yielded to them bravely, Nor did it penetrate their inner parts. They are buried by swords in the manner of beasts. No murmur resounds, no complaint; But with silent heart the mind well-conscious Preserves patience. What voice, what tongue will be able to unfold What gifts you prepare for the Martyrs? For with red fluid blood they are enriched With bright laurels.
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17. Because it is time (in Greek kairos, that is, opportunity, occasion, a fitting and opportune time: such indeed is both the present life and Christianity and its new religion; such also the modern hatred of the Jews and infidels against it) that judgment should begin at the house of God. — For it is fitting that the judge should first examine his own house before that of another. "Judgment," say Oecumenius and Didymus here, does not signify condemnation, but examination and investigation; add also some punishment and correction, namely tribulation, which is not sent rashly, but with judgment and fitting measure by God to the sinner, and is therefore called judgment. For God examines his own house and family, namely the Church and his faithful household servants, through tribulations by the balance of just judgment, purges them from lighter sins, instructs and perfects them. For he leaves nothing unexamined, nothing unpunished. "It is natural," says St. Basil in Oecumenius, "that we should be indignant against those who are most familiar to us when they sin against us: but those most familiar to God are none other than the faithful, who fill and build the house of God, that is, the Church." Thus Isaiah says, chapter XXIX, verse 1: "Woe to Ariel!" Ariel, that is, woe to Jerusalem, to the temple and altar, which is Ariel, that is, as it were the lion of God. See the things said there, and Jeremiah, chapter XXXV, verse 18: "Thou hast chastised me, and I am learned, as an untamed heifer." And the Wise Man, Proverbs III, 11: "My son, reject not the discipline of the Lord, neither be weary when thou art reproved by him: for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and as a father in the son he pleaseth himself;" and Apocalypse III, 19: "Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise." St. Peter alludes to that passage in Ezekiel IX, 6: "Begin ye at my sanctuary" to strike and slay sinners. Wherefore Aureolus wrongly expounds "from the house," as if to say: The judgment of God upon men proceeds from the house and throne of God, namely from heaven. St. Augustine, in Psalm XCII, 20, reads: "It is time for the beginning of judgment from the house of the Lord;" and thus explains it: "It is time that now those who belong to the house of the Lord be judged." St. Justin, Question LXXIX to the Orthodox, gives the example of Josiah, king of Judah, who, although pious, was struck down in battle, that he might atone for his light sins. St. Peter proves that Christians ought to suffer from the fact that certain blemishes, sins and vices adhere to each one, which God wishes to punish and cut away through tribulation. Therefore it ought not to seem new and strange to them that they are exercised and afflicted before the infidels, because God wishes to purify his house thoroughly and make it most pure, and therefore begins his judgment from it; intending to extend it afterwards to the rest of mankind, whom he will examine more severely and punish, because he will adjudge them to hell. Whence wisely St. Chrysostom, homily On Lazarus: "Where," he says, "thou seest one living a wicked life and suffering nothing harsh here, do not think him blessed, but rather weep for and bewail him, as one who will suffer all sorrows there (in hell), as the rich man did. Again, where thou seest one devoted to virtue afflicted with countless troubles, esteem him blessed, as one who has washed away all his sins here and has great reward prepared for him there, as happened to Lazarus." Therefore it is an urgent benefit of God that he punishes his own in this life, "lest, when the day of judgment comes, he punish them in the fullness of their sins," II Maccabees, chapter VI, verse 13; and Amos, III, 2: "You only," he says, "have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities;" and Malachi III, 2: "For he shall be as a refiner's fire, and as the herb of fullers, and he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold." But if first from us, what shall be the end of them that believe not the Gospel of God? — as if to say: If God thus judges his own faithful and holy ones, that is, examines, investigates, exercises and afflicts them, what should the infidels expect from him, who are dissolute in vices and pleasures? what end awaits them? what punishment? what hell? This judgment of God upon the wicked the Wise Man depicts graphically, chapter V, verse 18: "He will take for an armour his zeal, and will arm the creature for the revenge of his enemies;" and what follows. Excellently Salvian, book IV to the Catholic Church: "If anyone wishes," he says, "to learn from sinners how gravely great crimes should be judged by God, let him learn how even light sins are punished in the saints themselves, being conscious already from God's own words of the future examination, and through the words of their Lord, even searching out the judgments, and therefore always placed in God's work, always in compunction, always on the cross: blessed are they who, while they have mercy on all, never wholly forgive themselves, sparing themselves in nothing, but wholly devoting themselves to God, and therefore in the future judgment worthy of reward, because here they are always in guilt before themselves."
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18. And if the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? — He cites Proverbs XI, 31: "If the just man in the earth shall receive, how much more the ungodly and the sinner?" where the Septuagint thus translates, as St. Peter here followed them in his custom, but both versions come to the same meaning. For "shall be saved" in Greek is sōthēsetai, that is, is saved, that is, attains to salvation, suffering many punishments as it were penances, and scarcely struggling out from the various waves of tribulations. The just man is scarcely saved, that is, is scarcely snatched from damnation, and attains eternal salvation: what therefore is to be expected for the sinner? surely not uncertain salvation, but certain damnation. Thus Didymus, Oecumenius, Bede and others, as St. Jerome says, dialogue II Against the Pelagians. You will say: The just man will certainly be saved: how therefore does he say "scarcely be saved?" I answer, for "scarcely" in Greek is molis, that is, with labour and difficulty, through many tribulations, afflictions, persecutions, penances for venial sins, and therefore scarcely, that is, with difficulty and hardship is the just man saved. Add also temptations, although St. Peter does not properly speak of these, and the Wise Man, Proverbs XI; for he says: "If the just man in the earth shall receive," namely, punishment and penalties for his offences, "how much more the ungodly and the sinner?" supply, shall receive merited punishments, not on earth, but in hell. Secondly, St. Jerome, book II Against the Pelagians, from this passage against the Pelagians proves that the just are liable to venial sins. "The just man, he says, in the day of judgment shall scarcely be saved; but he would be saved easily, if he had nothing of stain in himself: therefore the just man is in that he flourishes in many virtues, and is scarcely saved in that in certain things he has need of God's mercy;" and he adds, therefore the Church is said to be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. And soon giving another, namely a third, cause and explanation: "For although, he says, he be conscious of nothing perverse in himself, yet knowing that he is not justified in this, until the judge justify him, he is anxious and contends." Our translator however renders "shall be saved," namely, he says, on the day of judgment, not as if the just man who has departed in God's grace shall be doubtful and uncertain of salvation there, but because thus the whole life of man shall be recognized and reviewed, and its turnings and dangers, and from these it shall be demonstrated how scarcely he was saved. The exposition is slight and an anagram of Hugh: The just man, he says, is scarcely saved, because by the force of the cross which is expressed by the letter X, or through the five wounds, and through Jesus Christ, in that in the word scarcely the first letter V is the sign of five; the second I; of Jesus, the third X, of Christ: but another is the letter x, the last in scarcely, another is Greek chi, which is the first letter in the word Christos. "The ungodly," in Greek asebēs, that is, "alien from the worship of God," is the infidel; "the sinner" is the faithful, namely a Christian, but sinning against the law of God, says Oecumenius. The sense is, says Bede, as if he said: "If such is the fragility of human life, that not even the just themselves destined for the crown in heaven pass through without tribulations, on account of the innumerable stain of corrupted nature; how much more do those who are cut off from heavenly glory await the certain outcome of their damnation!" Again, for "shall be saved," in Hebrew it is ieschullam, that is, it shall be rendered to him; Cajetan, "shall be amended"; the Rabbis, "shall have peace": for salam signifies two things: first, to render; second, to be peaceful. Whence Solomon, that is, the peaceful one, in Chaldee ponno mitchasen, that is, "shall be strengthened," or rather, as others, "is patient, and endures vices"; for this agrees with the Hebrew, Greek and Latin interpreter, as shall presently appear. You ask how the just man shall scarcely be saved? For if he is just, and dies just, he will certainly be saved. Interpreters explain "shall be saved" in three ways. For there is a threefold salvation: first, of the body; second, of the soul, when it is converted from sin to justice and the grace of God; third, of the soul when it attains eternal salvation. First therefore some, from St. Ambrose, book II of the Apology of David, chapter III, thus explain: The just man shall scarcely be saved at last, that is, he is with difficulty snatched from the miseries and afflictions of this life, by which God punishes his lighter faults: what therefore shall the impious give as punishments for the gravest sins of sinners in eternity? This sense is favored by the Hebrew text and the Latin version, Proverbs XI, 11, and by what St. Peter says concerning the punishments by which God punishes and expiates the just here. Thus St. Augustine, book XX Against Faustus, chapter XIV: "For what is more just, he says, than the Only-begotten, whom nevertheless God did not spare, and what is more evident, that He does not spare even the just, correcting them by a variety of tribulations, since it has been openly said concerning this matter: And if the just man shall scarcely be saved." Second, the same St. Augustine, in Psalm VI, explains it of the second salvation, namely of the conversion of the sinner, who is converted with difficulty, because it is difficult to abandon pleasures and to do penance, as if to say: If the just man with great labor and anguish shall scarcely be saved, that is, comes to his senses and is converted, what sorrows, anguishes and torments await sinners on account of mortal sin, which shall never be blotted out? Third, others everywhere take it of the third salvation, as if to say: the flesh, unwilling though it desired, while striving to rise, is forced to endure unwillingly. Hence indeed it is punished, whence it was delighted: because from that place converted it has the labor of struggle, whence perverted it sought the joy of pleasure. He adds, chapter XVII, that the elect for this reason tremble the more, the nearer they approach the end, and that Christ expressed the image of this their fear in himself in the garden, when made near to death he sweated water and blood in agony. Whence chapter XVIII, he adds: "For we consider that we could in no way pass through the way of this present life without fault, and because neither is this without some guilt of ours, that we have lived praiseworthy, if piety be removed from the judgment. What therefore shall the tablets do, if the columns tremble? Or how shall the twigs stand immovable, if even the cedars are shaken by the whirlwind of this fear? Therefore, as the dissolution of the flesh approaches, sometimes even the soul of the just is troubled by the terror of vengeance." And soon after: "But because the souls of the just are purged from even light contaminations by the very fear of death itself, and perceive the joys of eternal retribution already from the very dissolution of the flesh, yet very often by a certain contemplation of eternal retribution, even before they are stripped of the flesh, they are gladdened, it is rightly said: He shall see his face in exultation." St. Augustine gives a seventh reason, IX Confessions, XIII, namely the deep and inscrutable abyss both of the human heart and of the judgments of God. For praying for the soul of his mother St. Monica: "Woe, he says, even to the praiseworthy life of men, if you examine it with mercy removed. But because you do not inquire into faults severely, we hope confidently to find some place of pardon with you." The example of the Doctor of Paris is well known, who cried out from the bier: "By the just judgment of God I am accused, judged, condemned;" and yet he seemed to have lived justly and holily: by which spectacle St. Bruno, moved, withdrew into the Charterhouse, and instituted his order. Indeed St. Paul also: "I chastise, he says, my body, etc., lest perhaps having preached to others, I myself should become a reprobate," 1 Corinthians IX, 27. Finally Thomas the Englishman gives seven causes why the just man shall scarcely be saved, not unlike those already mentioned. First, that the sufferings of this time are not condign to the future glory. Second, that the flesh lusts against the spirit. Third, that the flesh by its corruption burdens the soul. Fourth, that only the violent seize the kingdom of heaven. Fifth, that the way which leads to life is narrow, and that the works of virtues are steep and hard. Sixth, that it is uncertain whether we are just. Seventh, that the judgment of God is subtle and rigorous. The impious and the sinner where shall they appear? — where shall they appear? where shall they go? what place shall receive them? what lot? as if to say: The impious shall shudder to appear in judgment before the face of Christ, and shall say to the mountains: "Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us," Revelation VI, 16. Thence they shall go into hell, shall appear among the damned, Gehenna shall receive them, and eternal fires. Whence the Chaldean, in Proverbs XI, 13, translates, "the impious shall perish in the end." He alludes to Jeremiah XXV, 29: "Behold, in the city upon which my name is called, I will begin to strike, and shall you be as innocent and exempt? You shall not be exempt;" and chapter XLIX, 12: "Behold, those to whom it was not appointed to drink the cup (of the Lord's fury) shall drink it: and you shall be left as innocent? You shall not be innocent, but drinking you shall drink," that is to say, If God thus punishes His own for slight sins, how will He punish strangers for many and grievous crimes? St. Gregory, in the twenty-sixth book of the Morals, chapter XVIII, thinks there is an allusion to the natural motion of a body toward its center, which is swifter at the end than at the beginning, that is to say, If the justice and wrath of God, when first moved and stirred, inflicts such calamities upon the just, with what force and impetuosity shall it rush upon and rage against the impious at the end of its motion? "Sins, he says, shall by no means remain unavenged by divine severity, but the wrath of judgment begins from our (that is, of the just) correction here, so that in the damnation of the reprobate it may come to rest as in the end of its motion. Let the reprobate go forth therefore, and let them consume the many desires of their pleasures in iniquity, and inasmuch as they do not feel temporal scourges, eternal torments await them." St. Augustine, in Psalm XCIII, 20, thinks there is an allusion to a servant, who, while he sees his master's son being beaten severely by his father, trembles, and expects a far graver punishment. "If the sons are beaten, he says, what ought the most wicked servants to hope for? How therefore shall the wicked be with you, when you do not spare even your faithful, so as to exercise and instruct them?"
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19. Therefore also those who suffer. — This is the conclusion of what has been said, that is to say, Since the just man is scarcely saved, and only through many tribulations, it is fitting that those who suffer should commend themselves to God, both that He may supply them with strength for suffering, and that they may undergo the final and narrow struggle of life without peril to their salvation, and reach securely the palm of future life; and therefore they should multiply prayers with good works, so as to make their election and salvation certain; by good works understand good deeds, both of patience and fortitude, and of almsgiving, and of charity, especially toward persecutors and torturers, whom the Martyrs of old were wont to convert by their charity, and to bring over to Christ. According to the will of God, — because it is the will of God that we suffer for Christ, for faith and justice, not for sins and crimes; and that, conforming ourselves to this will of God, we bear bravely and willingly whatever adversities come, as if sent by Him, or permitted by Him for our good and honor. By this thought the afflicted console themselves, that nothing evil shall befall them except what God has individually foreseen and provided for, He who has fixed and tempered every kind, manner, and duration of evil, so that I can suffer nothing more, nor longer, nor otherwise than what God has ordained, namely, than my strength can bear, and than is expedient for my purification, perfection, and salvation. God therefore uses the evil will of the impious and enemies to punish and exercise His faithful, but He restrains, represses, and governs it, as a rider governs a horse, so that it may not inflict as much harm as it would wish, nor harm otherwise or in another way than God permits. Moreover, God wills us to suffer, yet He wills us to be prudent, and not to give occasion for suffering, but rather to flee and avoid it, as Christ commanded the Apostles in Matthew X, 23, to flee in persecution from one city to another. It was therefore foolish doctrine of Luther that the Turk should not be resisted, because he is the scourge of God, and God wills to use him to chastise us. Thus concerning the Emperor Aurelian, captured in the sixth year of his reign by Sapor, king of the Persians, in the year of the Lord 278, Eusebius writes, in book VII of the History, chapter XXV, that, when he was meditating persecution against the Churches of God, "when letters and writings had been dictated, and only the signature remained, the divine right hand intervening cast down the signature of the accursed right hand. He is condemned by sudden death, he who was thinking of the death of the pious: so that God might show that we are not tortured when the tyrant wills, but corrected when He Himself approves." Let the afflicted therefore say with St. Job: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so it is done: blessed be the name of the Lord," Job 1, 21. Let them say with Judas Maccabeus: "As it is the will in heaven, so let it be done," 1 Maccabees III, 60. Let them say with Christ in agony: "Thy will be done," Matthew XXVI, because, "this voice of the head, says St. Leo, sermon 7 On the Passion, is the salvation of the whole body; this voice instructed all the faithful, inflamed all the Confessors, crowned all the Martyrs. For who could overcome the hatred of the world, who could overcome the storms of temptations, who could overcome the terrors of persecutors, unless Christ, suffering in all things, said to the Father: Thy will be done?" To a faithful Creator commend themselves,—or to Christ, as St. Hilarius wishes, XII On the Trinity, and St. Cyril, IX Treasury, cap. 1; or more simply to God, as is common to the whole Holy Trinity; for He is the creator. A twofold reason is given here why the afflicted ought to commend themselves to God. First, because God is the creator, who loves His creatures, especially rational souls. Second, because He is also faithful, who accepts those hoping in Him and commending themselves to Him, hears them, assists them faithfully, so that He never abandons them, but is present, strengthens, frees, guards and protects them, either that they may escape suffering, or that they may endure it bravely and lay down their lives, as the Martyrs have done and do: wherefore also the dying are accustomed to commend their souls (whence the Syriac renders, "commend," in the indicative), to God saying with the Psalmist and Christ dying: "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," Luke XXIII, 46; and with St. Stephen: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," Acts VII, 58; and with St. Paul: "I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that He is able to keep my deposit," 1 Timothy I, 12; and with St. Agatha: "Lord, who hast kept me from infancy, who hast taken from me the love of the world, who hast made me superior to the torments of executioners, receive my soul;"; and with St. Agnes: "Almighty, adorable, venerable, terrible Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I bless Thee, because through Thy only-begotten Son I have escaped the hands of wicked men, and have passed through the filthiness of the devil by an undefiled path. Behold now what I believed I see, what I hoped for I now hold, what I desired I embrace. Thee I confess with lips and heart, Thee I desire with all my inmost being. Behold I come to Thee, the living and true God, who with our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, and with the Holy Spirit livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen." Thus St. Ambrose, lib. IV epist. 34. Finally, all the Martyrs in martyrdom, distrusting their own strength, commended themselves to God, and thus obtained strength to suffer and to die securely: but those who, relying on their own strength, neglected to pray, were humbled and fell and denied the faith, and thus paid the penalty of their pride and injury, and were set before us as an example. Their souls.—Each one has a single spiritual and immortal soul, let them therefore guard it like a little lamb, that it may be happy and blessed for eternity: let them therefore commend and offer it to God to be blessed. For, as God says in Ezekiel XVIII, 4: "All souls are Mine;"; and the Wise Man, cap. XI, vers. 27: "But Thou sparest all things, because they are Thine, O Lord, who lovest souls;"; in Greek more significantly, despota philopsyche, that is, Lord who lovest souls and mankind. Moreover, since the soul is the chief thing, all other things must be commended to God. Whence Tertullian, lib. On Patience, concerning injuries to be borne for God's sake: "If thou hast deposited an injury with God," he says, "He Himself is the avenger; if a loss, He is the restorer; if pain, He is the physician; if death, He is the raiser of the dead." He names "souls," because the soul of the sufferer and martyr, at the very instant when he departs and goes from earth and sea, goes to heaven; and while it is unborn to fleeting light, it is born again to the light of eternal glory. Death therefore to him is the death of death, and the rising of life; martyrdom is to him the setting of punishments, and the rising of palms. Whence the Church calls the day of the death of Martyrs a birthday, because that day is to them the birthday of a better and blessed life. Happy death, which is the entrance and gate of life. "That is not an exit, but a passage," says St. Cyprian, On Mortality. "The Kingdom of God has begun to be at hand, the reward of life, and the joy of eternal salvation, and perpetual gladness, and the possession of paradise, etc. now heavenly things succeed to earthly, and great things to small, and eternal things to fleeting." In good deeds,—in Greek agathopoiia; the Syriac version, in good works; Pagninus and the Zurich Bible, "in beneficence," namely that we should do good even to persecutors and torturers: for this in turn will provoke the beneficence of God toward us, that He may protect the soul committed to Him, receive it, and bless it with eternal goods. Thus St. James, the brother of St. John, led to death, embraced his betrayer, and greeting him with a kiss, made him a Christian and a Martyr, as Eusebius relates, book II of the History, chapter VIII. Thus St. Polycarp ordered a table to be set for those who came to capture him, and then prayed that they would eat food abundantly and plentifully; and he requested one hour in which he might freely devote himself to prayer," writes Eusebius, book IV, chapter XIV. St. Cyprian ordered twenty-five gold coins to be given to the executioner who was about to cut off his head, as Pontius testifies in his Life. This is what Christ commands: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and calumniate you," Matthew V, 44. And He adds the reason: "That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven." For, as St. Leo says, in the sermon On All Saints: "Mercy wishes you to be merciful, justice wishes you to be just, that in His creature the Creator may appear, and in the mirror of the human heart through the lines of imitation the image of God may shine forth." Again, for "good deeds" take, with the Syriac version, any good works and exercises of virtues. Whence Oecumenius understands humility. "In what manner," he says, "ought anyone to commend himself to God? Namely in doing good, that is, in humility, so that he may not boast and exalt himself on account of what he suffers, but the greater the sufferings he seems to endure, the more useless does he consider himself, and always let him add and say: Thou art just in all things that Thou hast done to us." St. Peter therefore teaches that a Christian ought to do good, not only in life, but also in death, so that the whole life of a Christian even unto death inclusive may be a continuous action and exercise of good works, so that he may work well as long as he hopes and breathes. The Emperor Vespasian, standing as he died, said: "It befits an Emperor to die standing;" but it befits a Christian to die patient and laboring, namely the soldiers of Christ do not finish their stipend before life: when they have completed it, then they begin; only death gives them discharge: heaven alone is the seat of the retired. Again, it is not enough for a Christian to suffer in tribulation and exercise patience, but he ought to adorn and heap it up with beneficence and other virtues, so that from the thorns of tribulations and roses of good works alternating he may weave his crown, and weave for himself a heavenly garment from the silver of patience and the gold of charity, and imitate Christ, who crucified and dying gave His garments to His torturers, the thief to paradise, John to His mother, the souls of the fathers to heaven, all men to God. The whole life of Christ was therefore a continuous passion of evils and action of goods. Let that of Christians be the same. He said: "It is Roman to do mighty deeds;" but "It is Christian to do mighty deeds both and to suffer." Moreover, just as roses flourish and bloom among thorns, but separated from thorns and gathered together they wither: so the faithful flourishes and blooms in good works among crosses, but separated from crosses and free he withers, grows sluggish, dies. Thus St. Peter after Christ, the leader of the Christian army, in the Mamertine prison, near death, converted St. Processus and Martinian with forty-five others to Christ and baptized them. Thus St. Stephen did not cease to preach and convince the Jews, until his sacred and angelic mouth was stopped with stones. Thus St. Paul led to martyrdom converted his soldiers and torturers; and in prison he did not cease to propagate the faith of Christ by voice, and by hand writing epistles, until his head was cut off. Thus St. Andrew fixed to a cross, and hanging alive upon it for two days, never ceased to preach the faith of Christ, until he departed to Him, whose likeness in death he had desired, as the presbyters of Achaia, eyewitnesses in his Acts, relate. Thus St. Cyprian, already seized by the magistrate and near to death, was wholly occupied in the exhortation, instruction, and strengthening of his people, and indeed he gave to each individual his own lessons for life, and this even unto his last breath. "Namely," says Pontius in his Life, "so great was his desire for discourse, that he would wish the vows of his passion to be granted to him, so that, while he speaks of God, he might be slain in the very work of his discourse, and these were his daily acts destined as a sacrifice pleasing to God." And St. Augustine, in his sermon On St. Cyprian: "With death of the body drawing near," he says, "the vigilance of pastoral care did not die in the mind of the pastor, and the care of tending the flock was held in his sober mind even unto the last day of this life. Nor did the diligence of a most faithful steward shake from his mind the hand now near to the bloody executioner. Thus did he think himself about to be a Martyr, that he did not forget to be a Bishop. For he loved him who said to Peter: Lovest thou me? feed my sheep. And he fed his sheep, for whom, imitating him who shed his blood, he hastened. He commanded that the maidens be guarded, knowing that he had not only a simple master, but also a many-sided adversary. Therefore against the lion openly roaring in confession he armed his manly breast; against the wolf lying in wait for the flock, he fortified the female sex. Would that the same God might grant me the same!" Thus St. Ambrose is immortalized in his commentary on Psalm XLIII. Hear Paulinus in his Life, which he wrote to St. Augustine: "A few days before he was confined to bed, when he was dictating the forty-third psalm, with me receiving and observing, suddenly in the manner of a short shield, fire (the sign of the Holy Spirit) covered his head, and gradually through his mouth as if entering into a dwelling it went: and his face became as snow, but afterwards it returned to its former appearance. When this happened, struck with amazement I grew rigid, nor could I write what was being said by him, except after the vision had passed. For he made an end of writing or dictating on that day, since he was not able to complete that very psalm." Thus St. Jerome, although he was tried in various ways by illnesses and pains, nevertheless overcame the discomforts of the body by pious labors and perpetual reading and writing. Thus the Venerable Bede did not cease from teaching and writing even in sickness, but rather in his final infirmity he labored on the Gospel of St. John, and being almost at the point of death, in order to complete it, having summoned a scribe: "Take," he said, "the pen, and write hastily." And finally: "Well," he said, "it is finished," and singing a swan-song, "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," he gave up and resigned his spirit to God, and died in the labor of faith, blessed by the vision of God, in the year of the Lord 731. The crosses and labors of the faithful, therefore, do not end except with life. For they keep in mind that passage from Ecclesiastes IX, 10: "Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: because neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening." Keeping this in mind, St. Thomas Aquinas, lying ill with a mortal disease, explained the Song of Songs to the Cistercians of Fossa Nova, and thus, like a swan singing a swan-song, he gave up his spirit to God, teaching as he died, and dying as he taught. Similarly I have known religious men who asked God that they might not die in bed, but in labor, and they obtained it; for they died preaching: truly the faithful with the Nazianzen live and lay up treasure for eternity, and the more so the more they approach it, and thus when they give up the ghost, they commend and resign their souls to the faithful Creator with good deeds. For there is no greater commendation of the soul before God than that which is made by doing good and exercising the works of virtue. Therefore let this counsel be given to the dying, that they frequently elicit effective and intense acts of faith, hope, penance, charity, and religion, that they distribute abundant alms, that they establish pious legacies, that they provide for the afflicted, the ignorant, the needy, that they exhort their household, especially their children, to concord and to the fear and obedience of God, that if they have injured anyone, they seek pardon, if they have been injured by anyone, they forgive, and remit every injury, that they assign to the Church and its ministers a portion for sustenance, and that they establish annual or monthly and weekly prayers, sacred rites and psalmody for themselves, etc.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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1. Christo igitur passo in carne, et vos eadem cogitatione armamini. Post aliquantam digressionem, qua egit de praedicatione spiritibus facta, deque mysteriis arcae, diluvii et baptismi, revertitur nunc ad mentionem passionis Christi, colligens inde materiam exhortandi ad sanctam vitae conversationem. Graeca sic habent: Christo igitur passo pro nobis carne, etc. Ad quem modum etiam Hieronymus legit lib. 1. contra Jovinianum. Sed et Syrus codex addit: pro nobis. Passus carncy vel in carne, Christus dicitur, hoc est, secundum carnem; id vero est, secundum naturam humanam, quia, qua Deus est, mori non potuit. Sensus: Christo secundum carnem passo et mortuo vos conformate; simili cogitatione vos armate, id est eam, velut arma quaedam, induite. Sicut ille carne passus est et mortuus, ita vos quoque existimate mortuos esse debere carni, id est carnali concupiscentiae ac desideriis ejus, sicut infra declaratur. Nam (quod notandum est) Christi crucifixio, passio, mors, praeterquam quod redemptio nostra fuit, etiam nostram tjpice significavit peccatorum et affectuum mortificationem. In qua tropologia, id est mysteriorum nostrae redemptionis ad mores accommodatione, frequens est Paulus, ut Rom. 6., Col. 2. et 3. et alibi. Utitur Petrus armandi vocabulo, quia talis cogitatio nos armat ac munit contra peccatum.
Quia, qui passus est carne, desiit a peccatis. Graece: a peccato. Sic et Hieronymus: quievit a peccato j tametsi Syrus peraphrastice reddidit: ab omnibus peccatis. Caeterum oxi, quia, non causam hic denotat, sed expositive sumitur. Exponit enim Petrus cogitationem illam, qua praecipit nos armari. Quocirca male vertit Erasmus: qui patiebatur, ad Christum hoc referens; quamvis et alii quidam de Christo partem hanc interpretati sint, sed prorsus repugnante eo, quod sequitur: ut nonjam desideriis hominum etc. Deinde nec illi mentem Apostoli sunt assecuti, qui interpretantur (quemadmodum Beda) de martyre passo pro Christo. Nam sensus est: Hac, inquam, cogitatione vos armate, hoc apud vos reputate, quod, qui conforraatus similitudini passionis etmortis Cbrlsti, quam in carne sustinuit, ipse quoque carne mortificatus est, jam destitit a peccatis, velut actionibus vitae carnalis. Mors enim actiones vitae excludit ejus, cui quis mortuus est. Ita Paulus Rom. 6.: Qui mortuus est, justificatus est a peccato. Sentit autem uterque Apostolus, ex quo mortui sumus carne, nihil amplius cum ea nobis esse negotii. Notandum, carnem hic non eodem modo sumi, quo in parte praecedenti; nam illic substantiam carnis significari, hic carnalem concupiscentiam. Verum in eo consistit conformatio, ad quam hortatur Apostolus, ut, sicut in Christo patiente caro mortua fuit, ita in nobis vitia carnis mortificentur.
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2. Ut jam non desideriis hominum, sed voluntati Dei, quod reliquum est in carne vivat temporis. Modum explicat desistendi a peccatis; ut scilicet omne tempus, quod nobis in carne hac mortali reliquum est (nam caro rursus hic pro substantia carnis accipitur, non pro vitio), vivamus, transigaraus, impendamus, non iraplendis aut sectandis cupiditatibus hominum, id est, quas homineB sectari solent; sed implendae voluntati Dei, quae praeceptis declaratur. Notanda antithesis inter desideria hominum, et voluntatem Dei. Nam homo sine Deo totus carnalis est, et non Dei, sed carnis voluntatem exsequitur, de qua Joan. 1.: Neque ex voluntate carnis etc.
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3. Sufficit enim praeteritum tempus ad voluntatem gentium consummandam. Graeca sic habent: Sufficit enim nobis, praeteritum tempus vitae voluntatem gentium operatos sive exsecutos fuisse. Sensus est, quem reddit Erasmi versio: Sat enim est nobis, quod anteacto vitae tempore voluntatem gentium patraverimus. Quamquam magis placet, quod in aliis codicibus, norainatira Regio, legitur: u|jlTv^ vobis. Nam ut Petrus sub prima persona, velut ex humilitate, se conjungat iis, qui aliquando, gentium voluntatem secuti, ambulaverunt in luxuriis et caeteris, quae deinceps enumerantur, ratio non permittit. Adde, quod infra secundae personae pronomen exprimit: non concwrentibus vobisetc. Porro gentium voluntatem vocat, quae prius desideria seu cupiditates hominum, id est, quas sectantur et amant homines a Deo alieni, cujusmodi erant gentiles. Jara in eo, quod dicit: sufficit enim, asteismus quidam est, seu liptoten malis, qua mitigat exprobrationem anteactae vitae; quum omnino nullum tempus fuerit dandum consummandae voluntati gentium, et quidquid ei datur, non satis, sed nimium sit. Ita Dominus loquitur apud Ezechielem, cap. 44.: Sufficiant vobis omnia scelei^a vestra, domus Israel. Porro ex eo, quod dicit: ad voluntatem gentium consummandam, intelligitur, Petrum haec ad Judaeos scribere, quibus exprobrat, quod gentilium voluntati ae moribus sese accommodassent, iisque similes se fecissent, a quibus eos Deus segregaverat. Aliter vero Paulus, ad gentiles scribens: Scitis, inquit, quoniam, cum gentes essetis, ad simulacra muta etc., 1 Cor. 12.
His, qui ambulaverunt itt luxuriis, desideriis, vitiolentiis, comessationibus, potationibus. His, qui ambulaverunt, in Graeco participiam est: 7:£7iop£U]i£VOU(;_, euntes, incedentes, accusandi casu, qui construitur cum praecedenti verbo: xax- £pYao«o^ai^ operatos fuisse. Resolvitur autem in verbum vel tertiae, vel primae, vel secundae personae, juxta vanam lectionem ejus, quod praecessit: sufficit enim, etc. Noster interpres, qui pronomen non addidit, recte tertiam elegit personam: qui ambulaverunt. Qui vero pronomen illic ex Graeco legunt, aut primae. aut secundae personae, etiam verbum illi respondens hic reddere debent: qui incessimus, ambulavimus, aut: qui incessistis, ambulavistis, id est versati fuistis. Exponit Apostolus, quam dixii voluntatem gentium, enumeratione aliquot ejus partium, id est vitiorum, quae ab ea procedunt. In luxuriis, Graece: £v aoBXyeiaKZ, in lasciviis. Interpres alibi fere impudicitias vertit. Eo nomine comprehensum vult Apostolus omne genus obscoenitatis ac libidinis. Subjungit autem desideria sen concupiscentias, ut significet, etiam interna peccandi desideria (de voluntariis sermo est), licet in opus externum non exeant, ad voluntatem et vitam gentium pertinere. Nec vero minus peccati reus est coram Deo, qui voluit, et non fecit, quia non potuit, quam si illud opere perpetrasset. Omnis enim, ait Dominus, qui viderit mulierem ad concupiscendam eam, jam moechatus est eam in corde suo, Matth. 5. Sequuntur vitia gulae, quibus velut fomentis quibusdam excitari et nutriri solent lasciviae, et lasciviendi motus ac desideria. Primum vinolentiae (nam male vinolentiis iu quibusdam codicibus legites ex vino; sub quo omnis potus inebriativus comprehenditur. Deinde comessationes, Graece xdi/iot, id est convivia, quae non ad honestam recreationem, sed ad luxum, voluptatem et petulantiam instituuntur; cujusmodi post coenam, vel alias extra tempora pastui destinata, ab bominibuB ventri deditis agitari solent. De quibus et Paulus Rom. 13.: Non in comessationibus et ebrietatibus. Sequuntur potationes, seu compotationes, ut alii vertunt, Graece Tioxot, quum potando certatur, et ad numerum bibitur. Haec vitia seu peccata non adduceret B. Petrus pro exemplis in catalogo gentilium vitiorum, si non ea suo genere gravia ac morte digna judicaret. Multi codices addunt: ebrietatibus; sed non est in Graeco, nec in Latinis melioribus, et satis in vinolentiis et potationibus continetur.
Et illicitis idolorum cultibus. Oritur hoc peccatum ex praecedentibus, velut olim in populo Hebraeorum, de quo scriptum est: Sedit populus manducare et bibere; et surrexerunt ludere, Exod. 32. et 1 Cor. 10. Illicitis, Graece: d^£|Ju- 'CQKZ, nefariis, ut vertit Erasmus. Sed cum ad Judaeos haec scribat B. Petrus, quaeritur, quomodo superioribus annumeret £i5(i)XoXaTp£iaq (hoc enim vocabulum in Graeco est), a quo crimine Judaei, ubicumque terrarum agerent, studiose servabant sese immunes. Quidam hoc argumentum satis esse putant ad probandum, quod haec Epistola ad gentiles scripta sit. Qui vero scriptam ad Judaeos et gentiles promiscue opinantur, membrum hoc pertinere volunt ad gentilium admonitionem, non autem Judaeorum. Rursus alii dicunt, Petrum idololatrias apellare, quasi superstitiones, quarum tunc pleni erant Judaei. Sed verior est solutio, Judaeos per orbem dispersos iu illicitis idolorum cultibus ambulasse, etiamsi idola non adorarent; quod, cum exsules et plerique inopes essent, a gentilibas invitati, conviviis eorum, in quibus immolatitiae carnes apponebantur, sese miscerent, ac forte etiam sacris interessent. Haec enim ad idololatriam imputari, nobis insinuant illa Apostolorum praecepta, Pauli 1 Cor. 10.: Neque idololatrae efficiamini, et iterum: Carissimi, fugite ab idolorum cultura; et Joamiis, in fine primae Epistolae, quae itidem ad Judaeos scripta fuit: Filioli, custodite vos a simulacris, Hinc rurijum Paulus 1 Cor. 5. ita scribit: Si iSf qui frater nominatur, est fornicator, aut avarus, aut idolis serviens etc. Nam quomodo frater et idolis serviens, nisi eo modo, quo dixi? Quae responsio colligitur etiam ex sequentibus:
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4. In quo admirantur non concurrentibus vobis in eandem luxuriae confusionem, blasphemantes. Admirantur, Graece: ^sviCovtat, id est peregrinantur, ut quidam habont codices, quemadmodum et infra vertit eandem vocem noster interpres: Nolite peregrinari. Sed qui vertit: admirantur, sensum reddidit; Graecis enim ^zvi(^so^cui dicuntur, qui ob rem aliquam novam, insolentem aut peregrinam cum admirationo turbantur. Augustinus Epist. 99. legit: stupescunt. Multi etiam Latini codices hujuB Epistolae, sed ex alia versione, legunt: In quibus nunc obstupescunt, Et eam lectionem enarrat Thomas Anglicus. Syius quoque sic habet: Et ecce nunc admirantur, sive obstupescunt. Recentiores sic interpretantur: Atque id novum, insolens, absurdum illis videtur. Sed et vulgaribus linguis rem, quae novitate admirationem excitat, extraneam et peregrinam vocare solemus. In quo, id est de quo, admirantur. Spectat autem sequentia: non concurrentibus etc. Similis Hebraismus Joan. 9.: In hoc mirabile est etc, id est de ea re subit mirari. Pro luxuria in Graeco non est doeXYSia, quod superius; sed docoTia, quod proprie luxuriam seu luxum, id est profusionem, quae fit ad voluptatem, significat. Nec in Graeco est odyy^DGiv, confusionem; sed dvax^<3^v, refnsionem, pro qua alii profusionem transtulerunt. Quamquam hoc sensum non variat, qui quidem hujusmodi est: Gentiles, quorum voluntati et studiis aliquando fuistis obsecuti, nunc, ob hanc repentinam in vobis vitae mutationem, obstupescunt et rei novitate turbantur, videntes, vos non una cum ipsis solito more currere ad epulas et symposia luxu ccnfusa; nec id sine probris et maledictis, quae jactant in vos, tamquam homines a communi humanitate alienos, ac velut monstra quaedam inter homines. Hoc est, quod addit: pXag^YJiiouvTec, id est maledicentes, exsecrantes; licet etiam ad blasphemiam, qua Deo ac religioni Christianorum maledicerent, extendi possit. Haec per quandam occupationem a Petro dicuntur, qua admonet, ne frangantur animo, dum talia audiunt, sed cum patientia causam suam Deo juste judicaturo committant. Id enim vult pars sequens:
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5. Qui reddent rationem ei, qui pa^ ratus est judicare vivos et mortuos. Ei, qui paratus est, Giaece: toJ lTOt^(og SXOVTI, id est, Ei, qui in promptu habet, cui promptissimum est, qui expeditus est ad judicandum vivos et mortuos. De Christo dictum videtur, qui in hoc mor^ tuus est et resurrexit, ut et vivorum, et mortuorum dominetur, Rom. 14.; et qui, juxta fidei nostrae confessionem, sedet ad dexteram Patris, venturus judicare vivos et mortuos. Reddituri autem dicuntur Deo seu Christo ratiO" nem operum suorum etiam mali et infideles, quia, velint, nolint, Dei judicio sietendi sunt, et pro meritis operum suorum judicandi. Metaphora sumpta ab iis, qui dominis suis rationem reddere coguntur suae dispensationis. Sic ad Rom. ibidem: Unusquisque nostrum pro se rationem reddet Deo. Vivos autem et mortuos quos dicat Scriptura, quoties Deum testatur judicaturum vivos et mortuos, variant quidem sententiae; sed illa maxime probabilis, vivos inteWigi, quos judex adveniens vivos reperiet, mortuos autem, quicumquejam antemortui fuerint, morte videlicet corporis. Quam expositionem caeteris esse praeferendam, ostendimus ad illud 2 Tim. 4.: Testificor coram Deo et Jesu Christo, qui judicaturus est vivos et mortuos. Cui etiam probe consonat, quod sequitur:
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6. Propter hoc enim et mortuis evangelizatum est. Propter hoc, Graece non est: 5td TOUTO, sed: bIq touto, inhoc, sive ad hoc, ut causalitas ea voce significata non ad partem praecedentem referatur, sed ad sequentem; uti postea declarabitur. Similisfiermo est Joan. 18.: Ego in hoc natus [sum, et ad hoc. veni in mundum, ut testimonium perhibeam veritati. Verbum surjYysXia&T]^ evangelizatum est, ponitur impereonaliter pro 60, quod dicas: Evangelii praedicatio facta est. Jam secundo meminit Apostolus hujusmodi praedicationis, ut non videatur dubitandum, quin eundem sensum utrobique spectet, ut uterque locus ex altero sit illustrandus. Quod igitur superiori capite dixit, Christum praedicasse spiritibuSj qui in carcere erant, idem est cum eo, quod hic dicit, evangelizatum esse mortuis; nisi quod banc partem ad plures extendi posse, quidam existiment, scilicet ad omnes mortuos, qui fructus Evangelii sibi praedicati capaces essent: sive illi jam in Abrahae sinum recepti fuissent, plene purgati, sive poenis ad- Luc purgatoriis subjecti; cum in sententia priore de solis iis spiritibus, qui in carcere erant, expressa mentio facta fuerit. Nam quod ad damnatos ac reprobos mortuorum spiritus attinet, nihilo magis illis, quam daemonibus, quorum consortes facti fuerant, Evangelium a Christo ad inferos profecto praedicandum fuit. Verum magis arbitror esse ex mente Apostoli, de iis tantum hic agi, de quibus ante egerat, id est de spiritibus in carcere purgatorio constitutis, qui in diebus Noe increduli fuerant, deque aliis, quorum similis erat causa, cur eo carcere detinerentnr. De varietate expositionum utriupque loci, multa diximus cap. superiori, quae non opus est hic repetere. Tantum addo, Joannem Hesselium huc adferre singularem quendam ccmmentarium, quo mortuos interpretatur morituros; tamquam ex eo doceat Petrus, Christum judicaturum mortuos, quia per pios viros, inquit, evangelizatur quotidie, etiam iis, qui propter scelera sua adjudicati sunt morti; hocfine videlicet, ut, etsi apud homines condemnentur, ut secundum carnem moriantur, vivant tamen apud Deum in anima, propter fidem et conversationem, quam in extremis habuerunf. Numquam autem evangelizaretur hujusmodi hominibus, nisiChristus mortuorum curam haberet. Sic ille, suam hanc expositionem confirmans potissimum ex loco Pauli 1 Cor. 15., ubi is sinim argumento, hoc est, ex morientium baptismo, mortuorum ar^ guit resurrectionem, ita scribens: Alioquin, quid facient, qui baptizantur pro mortuis, si omnino mortui non resurgent? Quae doctissimi viri commentatio, etsi colorem probabilitatis habeat, non tamen germana videtur; tum quia non convenit cum Joco praecedentis capitis, ne quidem secundum ipsius expositionem; tum quia non dicit Apostolus: Mortuis evangelizatur, velut de re quotidiana, sed mortuis evangelizatum est, tamquam de re semel facta, scilicet aChristo, quod in priori loco fuit expressum. Ut omittam, nimis improprie mortuos per morituros exponi, praesertim cum in eo, quod proxime praecedit, ii, qui proprie mortui sunt, intelligantur. Minus placet, quod alius quidam, ad solos spiritus damnatos hanc partem referens, quibus suam damnationem dicit a Christo declaratam et ingestam fuisse, verbum: evangelizatum est, exponit: praedicatum est. Quod certe nimis est violentum; nec ullo vel exemplo, vel auctoritate probari potest ea catachresis, qua evangelizari capiatur in malam partem. Ut igitur, quod hic dicit Apostolus, cum eo, quod dixit cap. super., conveniat, videtur exponendum hoc modo: Cogentur impii illi et maledici rationem reddere Christo Domino, qui veniet judicaturus vivos et mortuos. Nam ut intelligatis, non solum vivos, sed et mortuos judicaturum: non vivis tantum ab eo praedicatum est Evangelium, sed etiam mortuis; tunc nimirum, quando mortuus ad mortuorum loca descendit. Quodnam Evangelium mortuis praedicaverit, si quaeras, respondemus, in genere quidem praedicasse idem, quod vivis, nempe, se Messiam esse, et Filium Dei, qui sua passione et morte genus humanum redemerit; speciatim vero, se ad ea loca descendisse, ut, tamqaam mortis et inferni victor, ipsos e carcere, quo tenebantur, eriperet, atque una secum ad coelos subveherot, captivam ducturus captivitatem. Sic enim et priorem locum nuper exposuimus.
Vt judicentur quidem secundum homines in carne; vivant autem secundum Deum in Spiritu. In carne, Graece: oapxi, carne^ absque praepusitione. Similiter: m Spiritu, uvsufxaTt, spiritu, quod et in Latinis nonnuUis legitur. Ad hanc partem referendum est illudcausale: propter hoc, sive in hoc, ut oratio sic ordinetur: Nam et mortuis evangelizatumestj idque inhoc, id est in hunc finem, ut judicentur etc, Verum et haec pars varie exponitur; nam judicium et in bonam partem accipi potest, et in malam. Deinde vel praesens judicium potest intelligi, vel praeteritum, vel futurum; denique vita, vel animae solius, vel totius hominis, quam praestabit resurrectio. Nos, quod maxime probabile putamus, ct supradictis consentaneum, breviter hoc sensu complectimur. Ad hoc, inquit B. Petrus, etiam mortuis evangelizavit Christus, ut, quamvis judicati fuerint, id est puniti, carne seu corpore, quando eos aquae diluvii suffocarunt, et id secundum homines, hoc est, publice et in hominum notitia (fuit enim illa punitio omnibus hominibus manifesta, nec disccrnebat electos a reprobis), vivant tamen feliciter et beate per Christi redemptionem spiritu, id est anima, quam Christus, annuntiato ipsis Evangelio, gloriae suae participem fecit, etsi camo adhuc corruptionem patiente; et id secundum Deum, id est coram Deo, licet mundus eos apud Deum vivere nesciat, aut non credat. Hunc sensum de judicio seu punitione jam olim facta confirmat verbum Graecum: xpt^diat, quod non futuri temporis (ut quidam putant), sed praeteriti potius habet significationem. Est enim aoristus, ita proprie reddendus. Unde nec prius hoc membrum: ut judicentur secundum homines in carne, ponitur tamquam causa praedicati Evangelii; sed supponitur exponendum per adversativam conjunctionem, uti fecimus. Sic enim et Paulus loquitur Rom. 6.: Gratias Deo, quod fuistis servi peccati, id est, quod, cum fueritis servi peccati, nunc obedistis ex corde in eam formam etc.; et Jesaias cap. 12.: Confitebor tibi, Domine, quoniam iratus es mihi, id est quod, postquam iratus mihi fuisti, conversus est furor tuus, et consolatus es me. Haec interpretatio utriusque loci nobis omnium maxime probatur, quod et a consueto sensu verborum quam minimum recedat, et ad stabiliendum Catholicum dogma, quo credimus, animas eorum, qui cum pietate dormitionem acceperunt, haud prorsus puri culparum, poenis purgatoriis in altera vita expiari, non exiguum habeat momentum.
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7. Omnium autem finis appropinquavit. Male quidam codices: appropinquabit. Nam in Graeco et optimis quibusque Latinis praeteritum est: ^yyixs. Syra quidem versio tempus habet praesens: appropinquat, instat, sed eodem cum Graecis sensu; significatur enim sic appropinquasse, ut jam vicinus sit atque immiaeat. Finem omnium Oecumenius interpretatur, in quo omnium prophetarum vaticinia complentur, et de quo Paulus Rom. 10.: Finis legis Christus. Rectius alii simpliciter dictum accipiunt, rerum omnium finem, id est mundi consummationem, esse in propinquo. Qua nunc ratione suadet Apostolus, patientiam esse servandam in adversis, quod ea cum mundi fine jam instante finem sint acceptura. Sic Paulus 1 Cor. 7.: Praeterit figura hujus mundi. Quae admonitio est non tam ad singulos fideles (nam singulis suae adversitates finiuntur in morte), quam ad totam Ecclesiam, velut unam personam, quae non prius desinet affligi ab impiis, quam saeculum hoc finiatur. Quaeri tamen potest, quomodo verum scripseiit B. Petrus, omnium finem appropinquasse et instare, quum ab eo tempore, quo id scripsit, usque nunc eifluxerint anni plus mille quingenti, nec adhuc finem conspiciamus? Respondeo, recte id dictum a Petro, quia jam tum incipiebat mundi senectus, id est aetas ejus ultima, quam Joannes 1 Epist. 2. novissimam horam vocat, post quam non aliud, quam consummatio, velut mors quaedam mundi, sit exspectanda, cui coelum novum et terra nova succedant, Apoc. 21. Quamquam et generalis responsio est ex ipso Petro Apostolo in 2 Epist. cap. 3.: Quoniam, inquit, unus dies apud Dominum j sicut mille anni, et mille anni, sicut dies unus; quasi dicat, non debere longum videri quantumcumque tempus, quo finis mundi difi^er tur, quum aeternitatis comparatione breve sit omne tempus, quod aliquando finitur. Vide, quae diximus ad illud Jac. 5.: Quoniam adventus Domini appropinquavit.
Estote itaque prudentes. Graece: 2)u)cppovT^oaTe ouv. Erasmus: Sitis igitur sobrii y pro quo alii temperantes. Nam ococppovsTv proprie et usitatissimo dicitur, qui temperanter ac moderate se gerit, tam animo, quam corpore. Paulus ad animum retulit, Rom. 12., praecipiens ocjcppoveTv^ id est sapere ad sobrietatem. Alias ad corpus refertur, estque verbum commune sobriis et castis; ut hoc loco. Unde et ex Sjriaco alius vertit: estote casti. alius: estote sobrii.
Et vigilate in orationibus. Graece: et vigilate ad orationes. Nisi quod pro vigilate Graece est: VT^^j^axe, quod etiam, ac magis proprie, significat: Sobrii estote; quemadmodum id vulgatus interpres ac caeteri reddiderunt in capite sequenti. Quo etiam loco, quod sequitur: vigilate, Graece est: "{ priy opri<zaT e, verbum in ea significatione passim obvium. Sed et 1 Tim. 3. vr^cpaXeov, quod nomen est ab illo verbo derivatum, noster interpres vertit: sobrium, licet Erasmus et alii quidam: vigilantem. Vide nostrum eo loco commentarium. Veruntamen constat, utrumque eo verbo significari, et sobrium esse, et vigilare, quod ad vigilias apti non sint, nisi sobrii. Quam ob causam Paulus conjunxit utrumque 1 Thess. 5.: Yp73Yopd)|lev xal vigcpwfiev, vigilemus et sobrii simus. Convenit tamen huic loco vigilandi significatum, quia praecessit de sobrietate praeceptum; quemadmodum sequenti capite convenit sobrietatis significatio, quia de vigilando praeceptum illic sequitur. Sensus est, sobrietatem colendam esse, ut vigiles et apti simus ad frequenter orandum, etiam horis nocturnis. Est enim oratio exercitium homini Christiano maxime necessarium, ideoque frequentandum. Porro significat Apostolus, considerationem finis mundi appropinquantis non solum valere ad retinendam in adversis patientiam; sed etiam excitare in nobis debere studium sobrietatis et orationis, ut paratos nos Domini adventus inveniat.
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8. Ante omnia autem mutuam in vobismet ipsis caritatem continuam ha^ bentes. Legendum potius (ita tamen ut sit reciprocatio diminuta): mutuam in vosmet ipsos; ut habent codices emendatiores. Nam Graece est: ttjv etg eauTOix; dyaTiTjv, id est eam, quae erga vos riutue est j caritatem. Cui et Syra versio consonat. Augustinus lib. de gratia et lib. arb. cap. 17. legit: inter vos, quomodo vertit etiam Erasmus. Quod si noster interpres scripsit: in vobismet ipsis, id ita exponendum est: inter vos ipsos; non autem: intra vos, in cordibus vestris, ut quidam minus scite exposuerunt. Con~ tinuam, Graece: exTev^, Erasmus vehementem vertit; atque ex Syriaco alius vehementem, alius promptam. Habetur eadem vox Act. 12., ubi nos legimus: Oratio fiebat sine intermissione etc. Quo loco nec Erasmus aliter vertendum putavit, nec aliter interpretes ex Syriaco. Nam uterquo vertit: assidua; estque ea propria Graecae vocis significatio, quam attendit Oecumenius, dum sic interpretatur: perseverantem ac durantem, et i/i longum protensam. Ideoque et interpres ejus extensam vertit. Nec discrepat, quod Augustinus legit: perpetuo, id est continuo; tametsi non negamus, IxtsvIc etiam pro vehementi usurpari. Hortatur ergo Petrus ad caritatis mutuae continuationem et perseverantiam; quemadmodum Paulus Hebr. 13.: Caritas fratarnitatis j inquit, maneat in vobis. Itaque sensus est: Ante omnia caritatem, quam mutuam inter voe habetis, habete continuam; fovete eam et conservate; cavete, ne dissidiis ullis interrumpatur. Dicit: ante omnia, quia nec abstinentiae, nec vigiliae, nec orationes, nec alia, quae putantur pietatis opera, sine caritate placent, et ut placeant, a caritate habent. Congiuit illud Pauli Col. 3.: Super omnia caritatem habete, quod est vinculum perfectionis. Et quidem haec ab Apostolis dicuntur non tantum de caritate Dei, sed et proximorum, quae tamen in Dei caritate fundata sit. Quae res plauius liquet ex iis, quae de caritate disserit Paulus 1 Cor. 13.
Quia caritas operit multitudinem peccatorum. Operit, Graece: xaX6(J;£t_, operiet, quomodo legitur in fine Epistolae B. Jacobi, juxta castigationem Romanam. Quamquam hoc loco in aliquot codicibus Graecis a Roberto Stephano annotatis legitur praesentis temporis verbum: xaXuTTTSt, operit. Sed ea diversitas parum aut nihil ad sensum. Sumpta est sententia ex Prov. 10., ubi ex Hebraeo sic legimus: Odium suscitat rixas, et universa delicta operit caritas. Nam LXX. multo aliter habent. Caritatem significari fraternam, id est eam, qua proximus diligitur, ex parte praecedenti constat; nec minus ex antithesi, quam facit Sapiens inter odium et caritatem. Non enim odium ad homines, caritatem ad Deum refert; sed ad homines utrumque. Ostendit eadem Sapientis sententia, sermonem esse de delictis proximorum, non autem ejus, cujus caritas commendatur. Nam quod Sapiens dicit, tale est: Sicut odium suscitat rixas et dissidia cum aliis, quos odio quis habet, ita caritas e diverso non solum rixas et dissidia non serit aut suscitat, sed etiam suscitata componit ac sedat; et delicta atque offensiones, quae rixarum causae esse solent, tolerando ac dissimulando, atque excusando operit; denique, quidquid in se peccatum est, condonat, et ut Deus condonet, intercedit et impetrat. Hinc illa caritatis epitheta 1 Cor. 13.: Caritas pa^ tiens est, benigna est; omnia suffert, omnia sustinet. Jam vero collige: Si caritas, id est homo p3r caritatem, operit aliena delicta ad eum modum, quem dixi; quanto magis per eandem caritatem inpetrabit ac merebitur apud Deum, ut sua ipsius peccata operiat et condonet? Idque juxta pactum orationis Dominicae. Non igitur hac sententia proprie significatur, caritatem operire peccata ejus, in quo est; quomodo passim intelligi solet; sed peccata proximorum.; tametsi ex ea consequens est, etiam propria per eandem caritatem remitti. Porro non est div^sum, quod Sapiens dicit: universa delicta, ab eo, quod Petrus: multitudinem peccatorum. Nam sensus est, caritatem operire omnia fratris peccata, quantumvis multa sint, Ita namque Dominus interroganti Petro: Quoties dimittam? usque septies? respondit: Non dico tibi: Usque septies; sed usque septuagies septies, Matth. 18. Qaod totum tamen intellige, salvajustitiae disciplina, quam caritas non impedit, sed dirigit. Vide etiam, quae diximus ad extrema verba Epistolae B. Jacobi.
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9. Hospitales invicem sine murmuratione. Caritatis opus est inter caetera, peregrinos egentes tecto recipere, reficere, atquo fovere; quod est hospitalitatis in Scriptura sacra multum commendatae, tam praeceptis, quam sanctorum exemplis; ut Genes. 18. et 19., Jes. 58., Matth. 25., Rom. 12., Hebr. 1. et in Epist. Joan. 3. Dicit: invicem, eig aXXVjXouq^ id est alii erga alios, divites erga pauperes. Non enim requirit vicissitudinem beneficii, quam praestave non possunt pauperes, et qua divites non egent; quibus tamen ipsis retribuetur in resurrectione justorum, Luc. 14. Addit: sine murmuratione, eicut et Gregorius legit homil. 7. super Ezech. Id, inquam, addit eadem ratione, qua Paulus opera misericordiae vult exerceri in hilaritate, ut Rom. 12. et 2 Cor. 9. Nam qui non libenter, sed inviti, et, ut Paulus loquitur, ex tristitiaj aut ex necessitate, hospitium praebent, aut eleemosynam tribuunt, facile quiritantur vel de sumptu, quem faciunt, vel de moribus eorum, quibus impendunt; quod hic est murmurare.
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10. Unusquisque, sicut accepit gratiam, in alterutrum illam administrantes. Nunc generali sententia admonet, ut quisque juxta donum et facultatem sibi datam a Deo proximos adjuvet, tamquam unius corporis membra, conferens id, quod habet, in usum communem; quemadmodum id pluribus verbis docet Paulus Rom. 12. et 1 Cor. 11. Gratiam, Graece j^apiojia^ donum, ut alibi vertit interpres. Quo Graeco nomine, tametsi generali, gratiae, quas Theologi gratis datas appellant, appropriate significari solent. Sensus: Prout quisque praeditus est aliqua facultate, qua utilis esse possit aliis (quam utique non habet, nisi donatam a illam administret, seu ministrando expendat. Est enim Graece: dtaxovouvTsg, ministrantes. Quo verbo innuitur, non solum prompte, sed et cum humilitate ac modestia, donis hujusmodi, quibus alii adjuventur, utendum esse. Simul indicat Apostolus duas rationes, cur proximis ea dona debeamus impendere: tum quia Dei dona sunt, ideoque etiam aliis liberaliter communicanda; tum quia non domini illorum sumus, sed ad ea utenda Dei ministri ac dispensatores, quae proinde ad ejus arbitrium sunt eroganda. Posteriorem hanc rationem amplius declarat id, quod sequitur:
Sicut boni dispensatores multiformis gratiae Dei. Multiformis, significantius Graece dicitur: tioixiXtjc:^ id est variae, inquit Hieronymus lib. 1. contra Jovin. cap. 4. Et hoc loco gratiae, non yapiafiaxoc Graece, sicut prius, sed xaptxoc:; promiscua tamen significatione. Sentit Apostolus, hac lege Deum sua dona, quae varia sunt et multiplicia, distribuisse per singulos, ut quisque, quod accepit, non sibi vendicet, nec in terram talentum abscondat, nec in sudario repositum ser- -VQtj more servi illius inutilis ac pigri, de quo in parabolis evangelicis Matth. 25. et Luc. 19., sed, tamquam Dei dispensator, in alios, qui non habent et indigent, utiliter expendat. Eam Dei legem continent dictae parabolae de talentis in servos a domino distributis ad hoc, ut lucrum ex eis domino referrent. Poenam vero legis non observatae, probat inutilis servi condemnatio et ejectio in tenebras exteriores, ubi fletus et stridor dentium. De ea re sic Augustinus tract. 10. in Joannem ad illud capitis secundi: Zelus domus tuae comedit me. Si fueris, inquit, frigidus, marcidus, ad te solum spectans, et quasi tibi sufficiens, et di' cens in corde tuo: Quid mihi est, curare aliena peccata? sufficit mihi anima mea} ipsam integram servem Deo. Eia, non tibi venit in mentem servus ille, qui abscondit talentum, et noluit erogare? Numquid enim accusatus est, quia perdidit, et non, quia sine lucro servavit? Haec ille. Notanda quoque Gregorii verba: Qui, scientia et virtute praediti, secessum speculationis appetunt, tot animarum rei sunt, quot animabus in publicum prodeundo prodesse potuerunt. Recitat haec inter alia ex Gregorio Guilielmus Peraldus in Summa vitiorum, disserens de avaritia scientiae, deque iis, qui talentum abscondunt.
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11. Si quis loquitur, quasi sermones Dei. Ad species donorum descendit, non quidem omnes eas autmultas particulatim commemorans, ut a Paulo factum est; sed duo velut genera proferens, sub quibus multa dona specialia comprehendantur. Ea genera sunt: alterum sermonis, alterum ministerii sive actionis. Sermones, Graece: Aoyta, quod alii vertunt: eloquia. Sic enim etiam vulgatus interpres alibi, et quidem assidue in Psalm. 118. Legitur item Rom. 3.: Credita 8unt illis eloquia Dei. Porro sermones sive eloquia Dei varie exponunt. Vel Dei, ut materiae et objecti, id est, ut sermones sint de Deo ac rebus divinis, non de negotiis terrenis. Sic Beda. Vel Dei, ut auctoris ac donantis iptjos sermones; juxta illud Psalm. 67.: Dominus dabit verbum eoangelizantihus virtute multa, Sic Prosper intellexit in Epist. ad Demetriadem. Et confirmari videtur hic intellectus ex parte sequenti: Si quis ministrat, tamquam ex virtute, quam administrat Deus. YoiDei, ut loquentis, id est sermones, quos Deus loquitur, aut locutus est. Sic eloquia Dei passim accipiuntur in ScripturiH, ut Rom. 3., et in Psalmis. Ilorum trium sensuum primus supponitur in dono sermonis. Nam illud non aliud hic intelligitur, quam quod de Deo est aut rebus divinis. Secundus sensus aedificat quidem; verum tertius videtur proprie spectatus a B. Betro, et explicatur ad hunc modum: Si quis accepit a Deo gratiam elocutionis sive sermonis (quo referenda sunt, quaePaulusenumerat Rom. 12. et 1 Cor. 12.: sermo sapientiae et scientiae, donum Prophetiae, doctrinae f exhortationis, interpretationis), et ad hujusmodi munus aliquis in Ecclesia vocatur: is loquatur (id enim supplendum, quemadmodum supplet Syra paraphrasis) tamquam Dei sermones, cujus in ea functione minister est et vicarius; nihil proferat, quod verbo Dei, vel scripto, vel tradito, non sit consentaneum. Non hominum commenta doceat, non falsa miracula referat, non inutiles tractet quaestiones; sed Dei voluntatem ex eloquiis divinis annuntiet. Ita convenit hoc praeceptum Petri cum illo Paulino Rom. 12.: Sive Prophetiam, secundum rationem fidei. Nonnulli sic exponunt: Loquatur tamquam Dei sermones, id est, reverenter et sancte tractet eloquia Dei, reputans, non suum es&e verbum, sed Dei, quod dispensat. Ubi nihilominus sermones Dei tertio modo supradicto accipiuntur.
Si quis ministrat, tamquam ex virtute, quam administrat Deus. Administrat, Graece: X^pi^T^^^ suppeditat, subministrat, verbum diversum ab eo, quod paulo ante vertit: administrantes. Oecumenius hanc partem interpretatur de alimentis, aliisque subsidiis, in fratres pauperes erogandis pro modo facultatum, quas Deus dedit. Beda generalem adhibet commentarium hujusmodi: Tanto humilius impendat quisque proximo omne bonum, quod potest, quando certissime novit, quod a semet ipso non potest habere, quod impendat. Verum quia de peculiaribus donis et officiis agit hoc loco B. Petrus, quemadmodum et Paulus locis ante citatis: melius accipitur haec pars proprie de ministeriis, quae in Ecclesia geruntur, et ad ecclesiasticam pertinent hierarchiam, cujuscumque ea sint gradus et ordinis; ut Episcoporum, presbyterorum, ministrorum, qui vel diaconi, vel hypodiaeoni sunt, vel ordinis ac functionis cujuslibet inferioris. Hunc intellectum exigit locus iste collatus cum aliis duobus apud Paulum, altero Rom. 12.: Sive ministerium in ministrando; altero Rom. 12.: Divisiones ministrationum sunt, idem autem Dominus. Itaque sensus est: Si cui ministerium aliquod publicum in Ecclesia commissum est, exsequatur illud tamquam ex virtute seu robore (nam id Graeca vox loypoc, significat), quod Deus suppeditat, hoc est, ita sancte, sincere et fideliter exerceat opus sibi injunctum, ut appareat, Deum in suo ministro potenter operari, et fiat, quod sequitur:
Ut in omnibus honorificetur Deus per Jesum Christum. Honorificetur, Graece: do^dQyjTOLi, glorificetur. In omnibus, intellige: iis, quae agitis. Est enim generale praeceptum 1 Cor. 10.: Sive manducatis, sive hihitis, sive aliud quid facitis: omnia in gloriam Dei facite. Nam qui totum, quod sumus, possumus et agimus, a Deo habemus, utique ad ejus gloriam eadem omnia referre debemus. Honorificatur ergo Deus in actibus nostris, ait Beda, cum omne, quidquid hene et secundum voluntatem ejus facimus, non hoc nostris meritis, sed gratiae tribuimus; contra autem mala, quae gerimus, nostrae solum malitiae vel ignorantiae deputamus. Addit Apostolus: Per Jesum Christum, quia per Christi meritum non solum habemus, ut bona agamus, verum etiam, ut bona, quae agimus, ad Dei gloriam dirigamus. Cui est gloria et imperium in saecula saeculorum; Amen. In hujusmodi clausulis, quae multae sunt in Epistolis Apostolicis, nusquam alibi additur verbum: Est; sed interpretes fere subaudiunt aut Bupplent verbum: sit. Intelligunt enim, esse optationes. Hic autem peculiariter addidit B. Petrus verbum: est, quia praemiserat optationem. Nam optando dixit: Vt in omnibus honorificetur etc. Proinde sensus est; Cui debetur gloria; vei: Qui obtinet, gloriam et imperium (Graece: xpctTOC, id est principatum, imperandi potestatem) in omne aevum. Nec refert ad veritatem hujus doxologiae, utrum Deum j an Jesum Christum repetnt articulus: to, cui. Nam Christo adscribunt haec eadem Apoc. 1.: Ipsi, inquit, gloria et imperium in saecula saeculorum; Amen. Verum hujus loci contextus postulat, ut ad Deum potius referatur; id enim praecessit, Deum in omnibus esse glorificandum.
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12. Carissimi, nolite peregrinari in fervore, qui ad tentationem vobis fit, quasi 7%ovi aliquid vobis contingat. Redit ad exhortationem patientiae, perducitque eam usque ad finem capitis; quod sciret, eam virtutem fidelibus, praesertim Judaeis (qui partim gentis, partim religionis nomine multis erant exosi), cum primis esse necessariam. Pro verbo: peregrinari, quod Graece est: ^sviC^oOf, supra versu 4. scripsit interpres: admirantur. Beda quoque legit hoc loco: mirari, addens tamen, in quibusdam codicibuspere^Wnariscriptum esse. Rursus mirari legunt Cyprianus lib. de exhort. mart. cap. 9. et Epist. 56., et Hieronymus in comm. super Amos. 4. Alii legunt: expavescere; ut Tertullianus in Scbrpiaco, cap. 12., et Fulgentius ad Trasimundum, cap. 30. Porro Syriacam vocem alius mirari, alius obstupescere vertit. Quae omnia explicant verbi Graeci significationem, quam supra dedimus; quae tamen etiam satis exponitur per hoc, quod addit Petrus: quasi novi aliquid vobis contingat, quamquam et ibi Graece est: ^svov, peregrinum, id est novum, insolitum. Pro fervore Tertullianus ustionem, Cyprianus et Hieronymus ardorem legunt. Erasmus hunc locum ita vertit: Ne miremini, dum per ignem exploramini. Atqui Graeca sic habent: ttq iv ujjiTv Ttupwost, id est oh ustionem,, quae in vobis est. Explorationem autem significat pars sequens: Qui ad tentationem vobis fit. Erasmus: Quae res ad experimentum vestri fit. Non igitur ustio significat tentationem sive explorationem; sed gravem afllictionem, qualis est ustio in carne hominis. Constat enim, in Scripturis ignem transferri passim ad significandum graviores cujuscumque generis afflictiones, ut Psalm. 16.: Igne me examinasti, et 65.: Transivimus per ignem et aquam. Ea vero pars: qui (vel quae) ad tentationem vobis fit, additur a B. Potro ad mitigandum UGtionis dolorem consideratione salutiferi fructus inde consequentis. Non enim ad interitum est ea ustio, sed ad probationem et purgationem; quomodo per ignem aurum probatur ac purgatur. Sensus igitur est: Ne commoveamiui velut ob rem novam, peregrinam et horridam, quod interdum excitetur adversus vos incendium persecutionis ab adversariis Christianae religionis; id enim fit, Deo sic ordinante, tentandi ac probandi vestri causa. Nam ea res illustriorem reddit vestram patientiam, ac Deo vos amplius commendat. Praeter hunc sensum istius loci sunt et alii a diversis au2toribus huc illati; quos sex numero recenset Lorinus, a quo repetat, qui volet. Nobis satis sit, verum ac genuinum, etiam Lorini judicio, sensum attulisse; quem non solum tradiderunt commentatores Beda, Oecumenius, Cajetanus, Gaignaens, Hesselius et alii; verum etiam volunt in suis citationibus scriptores ante dicti, Tertullianus, Cyprianus, Hieronymus ei Fulgentius. Denique vult etiam, quod sequitur:
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13. Sed communicantes Christi passionibus, gaudete. Graece: Sed secundum quod (vel: in quantum, xa^o) communicatis Christi passionibus, gaudete. Id est: Quin potius cogitate, materiam gaudii vobis oblatam esse ex eo, quod crucem ferendo consortes efficiamini crucis et passionum Christi, capitis vestri, cui estis per baptismum incorporati. Haec enim res non solum consolationem, sed et gaudium parere vobis debet; maxime propter id, quod sequitur:
Ut et in revelatione gloriae ejus gaudeatis exsultantes. Revelationem gloriae Christi intelligit illam gloriae ejus manifestationem, quae futura est in fine saeculi, quando veniet in gloria Patris sui cum angelis suis, mundum judicaturuSy ut dicitur Matth. 16. Cujus revelationis etiam supra meminit Petrus cap. 1. Excitat igitur ad patientiam, proposita spe ingentis praemii, quod est, participem esse gloriae Christi aliquando manifestandae, et de ea participatione laetari gaudio ineffabili; quod significare voluit addendo: exsultantes. Nam gaudium, quo nunc interim afficimur, de quo dixit: Communicantes Christi passionibuSj gaudete, multum habet doJoris et tristitiae permixtum. Illud vero gaudium, quod nobis promittitur in regno Christi, quando animus perfecte conquiescet in vero suo bono, purum erit omnis tristitiae, ideoque nomine exsultationis significatur. Quamvis et in hac vita exsultant sancti, sed imperfecte; ut passim in Psalmis et Matth. 5. Similes exhortationes sunt apud Paulum; utRora. 8.: Si tamen compatimur, ut et con^ glorificemur, et 2 Tira. 2.: Si commortui sumus, et convivemus. Si sustinebimus, et conregnabimus.
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14. Si exprobr^ammi in nomine Christi, beati eritis, Interpres de suo adscripsit: eritis, alii: estis. Quoniam probra et convitia, de quibus supra dixit; blasphemantes, plus saepe commovent animos honestos, quam direptio possessionum aut cruciatus corporis: idcirco et huic malo consolationem adhibet. Si, inquit, maledictis et probris afficimini propter nomen Christi, id est ea causa, quia Christi nomen profitemini, aut quia Christiani estis, ut infra loquitur: pro ejusmodi probris coelestem beatitudinem lecipietis. Vel potius: beati estis ob spera certissiraara mercedis in coelo vobis repositae. Videtur enim respicere ad illud, quod ex ore magistri sui audierat: Beati estis, cum maledixerint vobis (Graece: ovsi^iacDatv, idem verbum, quod hoc loco, id est exprobraverint, probra jecerint in vos) et dixerint omne malum adversum vos, mentientes, propter me; gaudete et exsultate, quoniam merces vestra copiosa est in coelis, Matth. 5.
Quoniam, quod est honoris, gloriae et virtutis Dei, et qui est ejus Spiritus, super vos requiescit. Hic locus varie legitur. Primum, quod in quibusdam legitur futurum: requiescet, in nuUis est Graecis, quae sic habent: Quoniam, quod est gloriae, et qui est Dei Spiritus, super vos requiescit; vel secundum quaedam exemplaria: requievit; tametsi quod etiam qui verti potest, ut referatur ad Spiritum. Unde quidam ita breviter transtulit: Quoniam Spiritus gloriae et Dei super vos quiescit. Nonnulli quoque Graeci codices addunt: xai duvafxsiog, et virtutis. Graecae lectioni prope accedunt quaedam manuscripta Latina, paucissima tamen; quorum alia legunt: Quoniam gloria Dei Spiritus; alia: Quoniam gloriae et Dei Spiritus in vobis requiescit. Itera Tertullianus in Scorpiaco: Quoniam gloriae et Dei Spiritus requiescet in vobis. Denique Syriaca versio: Quoniam Spiritus gloriae Dei requiescit super vos. Cyprianus vero in Epist. 56. sic habet: Quia majestatis (id est gloriae) et virtutis Domini nomen in vobis requiescit. Sed qui sic vertit, non 7iv£(5|ia, sed ovo/jia legit in Graeco. Quod autem in nostris est: honoris, quoniam alibi nonlegitur, adjectitium videtur. Porro causam reddit Apostolus his verbis, cur beatos dixerit eos, qui probus afficiuntur propter nomen Christi: quoniam, inquit, gloria Dei, imo et Spiritus ejus super vos, qui talia patimini, requiescit. Vel melius: Quoniam spiritus gloriae, qui idem est Spiritus Dei, super vos talia patientes requiescit. Nam pati pro Christo, certum est signum Spiritus sancti requiescentis, id est habitantis in homine. Non potest autem non esse beatus, in quo requiescit et inhabitat Spiritus sanctus, qui spiritus gloriae dicitur, id est spiritus gloriosus, Hebraeo more, quo casus obliquas epitheti loco ponitur; quomodo Christus a Paulo vocatur Dominus gloriae, 1 Cor. 2. Et id voluisse videtur interpres Syrus, quando sustulit conjunctionem, ac si diceret: Spiritus gloriosus Dei, vel: Spiritus gloriae, quod sit auctor gloriae seu glorificationis nostrae. Jam in eo, quod dicit, spiritum Dei requiescere super eos, allusio quaedam est ad locum Jes. 11., ubi de Christo dicitur: Et requiescet super eum Spiritvs Domini. Per hoc enim innuere vult, cos, qui spiritus Christi fuerint participes in passionibus, in gloria quoque per eundem epiritum cum Christo communicaturos. In Graeco proxime sequuntur haec verba: Secundum eos quidem blasphematur ', secundum vos autem glorificatur. Quae nec in Syriaco leguntur, nec in ullis exstant Latinis exemplaribus; nec quidem apud Tertullianum, qui in Scorpiaco totum hunc lccum adducit. Unus Cyprianus legit et citat ia hunc modum: Quod quidem secundum illos blasphematur, secundum nos autem honoratur. Ut ad tiomen referatur, quod apud eum praecedit, nt supra dlxinius. Alioqui rectius Oecumenius relativum supplet, quod ad spiritum pertineat. Ut sit sensus, inquit: Qui spiritus Dei apud impios quidem videtur blasphemari, apud V08 autem glorificatur, quia, dum illi falso vos accusant, in illos quidem refunditur confusio, vobis autem yloria. Sic illc.
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15. Nemo autem vestrum patiatur ut homicida, aut fur, aut maledicus, aut alienorum appetitor. Graece: jitj ydp -ig ujiaiv^ ne quis enim vestrum patiatur, etc. Pro quoTertullianus legit: Dum ne quis vestrum patiatur. Et eodem sensu Syrus: Tantummodo ne quis ex vobis etc. Maledicus, Graece: xaxo- 7:&i6c maleficus, id est facinorosus, et (ut in Syriaco) patrator malorum. Et sic arbitror interpretem nostrum vertisse: moleficus. Sicut et apud Tertullianum legitur, nec non apud Cyprianum lib. 3. testim. cap. 57. Qucd facile per oscitantiam scriptoris in maledicum mutari potuit. Vocat autem Apostolus maleficum, qui per injuriam nocet proximo, praesertim in corporis integritate et valetudine. Quod sequitur: alienorum appetitor, Graece est: ^XXoTpiosTiioxoTCOc;, id est alienorum inspector, Tertullianus: alieni speculator. Cyprianus, ubi supra, et Augustinus in exposit. Epist. ad Rom. inchoata, legit: aut curas alienas agens, Erasmus vertit: alienarum rerum cuiHosus. Sed cum sola curiositas alienarum rerum non sit inter crimina, quae publicis legibus castigari soleant (nam de his loquitur Apostolus), bene, et ad mentem Apostoli respiciens, interpres vulgatus transtulit: aJienorum appetitor, scilicet cum effectu, id est cupide rebus alienis inhians, et tollens, ubi potest. Nam rapaces homines limis oculis, ut aitHoratius, in res alienas inquirunt; contemptor autem pecuniae (ut idem alibi loquitur) auri ingentes oculo irretorto spectat acervos. Differt autem hoc crimen a furto, quod secundo loco posuit, quia non simplex est furtum, sed furtum vel rapacitas cum fraudulentia conjuncta. Monetigitar Apostolus fiJeles, ne quid committant legibus puniendum, ex quo fiat, ut non solum gloriam non reportent, sed etiam ignominiam atque infamiam sibi ac Christiano nomini comparent. Posset tamen simpliciter intelligi curiositas rerum alienarum, quae reddit hominem odiosum; ut B. Petrus non tantum ea enumeret, quae plectuntur legibus; sed etiam, quibus irritantur hominum animi ad nocendum.
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16. Si autem ut Christianus, non erubescat. Quod si quis, inquit, vestrum patitur, affligitur, vel a potestate publica, vel etiam privatim a quopiam, ut Christianus, id est, quia Christianus est, et Christi discipulum se profitetur, eaque agat, quae Christiani sunt hominis, non erubescat, non id reputet sibi pudori; nec supplicium ejus rei causa irrogatum, quamvis apud homines ignominiosum, pro ignominia ducat. Quo tempore et loco fideles, qui prius discipuli vocabantur, cognominari coeperint Christiani, refert S. Lucas Act. 11, Nec tamen alibi in Scriptura sacra legitur hoc nomen, nisi Act. 26. verbis Agrippae regis, et hoc loco apud Petrum. Siquidem magis ab externis impositum videtur, quam a fidelibus ipsis assumptum, qui sese mutuo ]^a,Bs'im fratres consalutabant, quamquam ab his postea amantissime susceptum. Significat autem eum, qui profitetur et colit religionem a Christo traditam. Quo nomine indignos esse haereticos, docent antiqui scriptores, TertuUianus lib. de praescript. haeret. cap. 16. et de carne Christi, cap. 1.; Cyprianus lib. de unit. Eccl. et in Epist. 52.; Athanasius orat. 2. contra Arianos, et Augustinus Enchir. cap. 5.
Glorificet autem Deum in isto nomine. Graece: In parte hac; tametsi Syrus quoque vertit: in hoc nomine. Nam sensus idem est. Non solum, inquit, non erubescat; imo nec solum gaudeat, sicut supra dixit: Communicantes Christi passionibus, gaudete; verum insuper et gloriosum ducat, et Deum glorificet hac parte, hoc nomine, quod ut Christianus patiatur. Id est, agnoscat et laudet Deum hujus patientiae suae auctorem, et totam gloriam ei adscribat, a quo datum sibi sit hoc tantum bonum: Vobis enim donatum est, ait Paulus Phil. 1., pro Christo, non solum ut in eum credatis, sed etiam ut pro illo patiamini.
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17. Quoniam tempus est, ut incipiat judicium a domo Dei. Graece: Quia et tempus est, etc, ut insinuetur nova ratio et a priori diversa, cur patienter ferre debeant afflictiones sibi illatas. A domo Dei, id est ab Ecclesia, quam et Paulus domum Dei vocat 1 Tim. 3. Kespicit autem Petrus ad scripturam Ezech. 9., ubi praecipit Dominus angelis percussoribus, dicens: A sanctuario meo incipite. Nam per sanctuarium mystice significabatur Ecclesia sanctorum, hoc est, fidelium. Porro juc?icu nomine justam punitionem et vindictam significare solet Scriptura. Sensus est: Ac ne quis obmurmuret etqueratur, se injustepati et immeritas luere poenas, cogitet judicium Dei, et sciat, Deum illud exercere, quamvis per malos et injustos homines, etiam in bonos ac domesticos et amicos suos, cujusmodi vos estis. Et quidem tempus nunc esse, ut judicium hoc a sanctuario, a domo Dei, id est a nobis Christianis et sanctis, inchoetur, quod aliquando in malis et reprobis complebitur. Praedictum fuit hoc tempus a Christo, Lue. 21., ubi, cum de futuris impiorum afflictionibus loqueretur ita subjecit: Sed ante haec omnia injicient vobis manus suas, et persequentur, tradentes in Synagogas et custodias, trahentes ad reges et praesides, propter nomen meum. Sentit autem B. Petrus, postquam mundo coeptum est praedicari judicium venturum (quae praedicatio per Apostolos facta est), Deum voluisse quodammodo judicium hoc auspicari a sua ipsius domo et familia, affligendo sanctos suos et electos; ut intelligeretur, quam grave et durum impiis exspectandum esset a Deo judicium, quando nec suis parceret. Sic enim ipse Petrus explicat in sequentibus, quod et Paulus in 2. ad Thess. Epist. cap. 1. significavit, cum de persecutionibus ettribulationibus piorum agens, subjunxit: Quas sustinetis in exemplum justi judicii Dei. Hunc enim Pauli locum cum isto Petri comparat Augustinus, et utrumque in eum sensura, quem dixi, interpretatur in exposit. Epist. ad Rom. inchoata et lib. 22. contra Faustum, cap. 20. Ex quibus perspicitur, ad justum Dei judicium perticere etiam justorum afflictiones temporales, ipsasque pro Christi nomine passiones. De his enim agere Petrum, constat ex verbis proxime praecedentibus. Atque eam rem liquido probant confessiones Sanctorum, ut Tobiae senioris, Tob. 3., trium puerorum, Dan. 3., et martyrumMachabaeorum 2 Machab. 7. Quibus accedit Pauli testimonium, Heb. 12., his verbis: Quem diligit Dominus, castigat; flagellat autemomnem filiumj quem recipit. Quis enim flliuSj quem non corripit pater? Vide, quae in eum locum, et in alterum 2 Thess. 1. commentati sumus, et quae in hujus loci commentario scribit Joannes Hesselius.
Si autem primum a nobis, quis finis eorum, qui non credunt Dei Evangelio? Eorum, qui non credunt, Graece: Tojv aTict^ouvTCOv, id est eorum, qui increduli sunt, qui credere nolunt. Est enim sermo de iis, qui Evangelium sibi praedicatum respuunt. Quod si, inquit, primum a nobis, id est fidelibus, qui sumus domus Dei (exponit enim, quod dixit: a dojtio Dei), incipere debet judicium: quis erit finis eorum, qui Dei Evangelio non acquiescunt? ac si dicat: Si Deus primum filios et domesticos suos flagellat, utique ad emendationem; quid tandem futurum est alienis incredulis et inimicis, quorum justam punitionem interim ditfert, ut in fine totam super eos iram suam effundat? Significatio est terribilis judicii Dei in impios ct Evangelii contempores. Quod quidem Paulus 2 Thess. 1. describit futurum: in flamma ignis dantis vindictam, etc. Petrus autem interrogando et admirando magis exaggerat. Et bene finem dicit eorum, quia filii, flagellis eruditi et correcti, paternam in fine percipient haereditatem; impiorum vero finis et veluti haereditas est in ipsis tormentis numquam finiendis. Cum isto loco B. Petri consentit, quod ait Dominus per Jeremiam Prophetam, cap. 25.: Ecce in civitate, in qua invocatum est nomen meum, ego incipiam affligere; et vos quasi innocentes et immunes eritis? Non eritis immunes. Et cap. 49.: Ecce, quibus non erat judicium, ut biberent calicem, bibentes bibent; et tu quasi innocens relinqueris? Non eris innocens, sed bibsns bibes.
4:18
18. Et si justus vix salvabitur, impius et peccator ubi parebunt? Salvabitur, Graece: owCstai, salvatur, annuente Syro. Quod etiam in nonnullid est Latinis, et apud Salomonem juxta LXX. legitur Prov. 11., ex quo desumsit haec verba B. Petrus. Augustinus in enarr. Psalm. 6. legit: Et si justus quidem vix salvus fit; alibi: salvus erit. Caeterum parebunt, dixit interpres pro: comparebunt vel apparebunt, pro quo Graece est: ^avsTTai, singulare, comparebit; ut intelligas, eundem intelligi impium et peccatorem, id est hominem per sua peccata a Deo aversum; quemadmodum et Paulus eadem vocabula pro synonymis accepit Rom. 5. et alibi. Hac sententia paene idem dicitur, quod superiore; nisi quod impius et peccator latius patet, quam non, credens Dei Evangelio. Nam quibus illud non est praedicatum, peccatores quidem sunt et impii, non tamen incredulitatis rei. Sumpta sententia est ex Proverbiis Salomonis, ut dixi, cap. 11. juxta versionem LXX. Quamquam Hebraea sensu non differunt. Sic enim habent, interprete Hieronymo: Sijustus in terra recipit; quanto magis impius et peccator? Nam quod Chaldaeus paraphrastes et Rabbini quidam in priori membro receptionem intelligunt retributionem bonorum, utpote justo pro operibus justitiae debitam, satis ex eo refellitur, quod argumentatio, quam a minori facit Sapiens, parum efficax foret. Non enim minus videtur aequum, justo reddi mercedem justitiae, quam impio mercedem injustitiae. Qua ratione Jansenius illam Rabbinorum interpretationem rejicit. Certe de malorum receptione LXX., Petro comprobante, intellexerunt utrumque membrum; ut hic sit sensus: Si justus et electus Dei vix, id est non nisi per severum Dei judicium, castigantis ejus peccata, ad salutem pervenit: impius et peccator iibi compare^ bit? id est, quomodo stare ac subsistere poterit in Dei judicio, ut non condemneturet aeternis addicatursuppliciis? Phrasis accepta ab iis, qui, male sibi conscii, verentur in judicio comparere, et si possunt, subterfugiunt, certi, se condemnandos. Non igitur sensus est, quem tradunt nonnulli, periculum esse justo propter hujus vitae fragilitatem et tentationes multiplices, ne non salvetur; quamvis id verum sit, quamdiu justus agit hanc vitam mortalem. Nam de pressuris piorum sermo est, non de tentationum periculis. Minus autem recte quidam alii, qr.i difficultatem hanc salutis justorum referunt ad diem extremi judicii, tamquam illic justi, vel omnes, vel aliqui periclitaturi sint de salute, contra illud Sapientiae quinto: Tunc stabunt justi in magna constantia adversus eos, qui se angustiaverunt etc. Et ilhid Apoc. 2.:.Esto fidelis usque ad mortem, et dabo tibi coronam vitae. Igitur particula: vix, exponenda, sicut dixi, id est: per multas difficultates, per afflictiones, molestias, persecutiones, et, ut Paulus loquitur Act. 14., per multas tribulationes, velut flagella a justo judice Deo ad corrigendos et purgandos suos electos immissa. Quare autem justus vix salvatur? nisi, quia vix est justus? id est, quia imperfectam habet justitiam; cum delinquat in multis, et ipsa justitiae opera, quae facit, plerumque sordium aliquid habeant admixtum, vel ex intentione non pura, vel ex alia circumstantia. Quae tota impuritas igne tribulationis excoquenda est. Hinc igitur etiam statui potest purgatoria poena post hanc vitam. Nam si justus non salvatur, nisi per severum judicium Dei punientis et purgantis ejus peccata: consequens est, iis, qui minus purgati fuerint in hac vita, judicium illud restare subeundum post mortem, quo satisfiat justitiae divinae.
4:19
19. Itaque et hi, qui patiuntur secundum voluntatem Dei, fideli Creatori commendent animas suas in benefactis. Epilogo conchidit totam superiorem admonitionem, factam ad eos, quibus pro nomine Christi ferendae erant afflictiones. Graeca sic habent: Itaque et, qui patiuntur, sive affliguntur, secundum voluntatem Dei, tamquam fideli Creatori, id est apud fidelem Creatorem, deponant animas suas beneficentia. Sensus: Proinde exhortor et moneo vos in dispersione positos, ut non solum bona reddatis probonis; sed etii, quibus afflictiones, etiamusqueadmortem, a malis hominibus Dei voluntate contingit inferri, deponant animas suas apud Deum earum creatorem, tamquam fidelem custodem, id est, earum tutehim et custodiam illi commendent, idque cum beneficentia, qua prosequantur etiam persecutores suos, reddendo eis bona pro malis. Pars illa: secundum voluntatem Dei, male a quibusdam annectitur sequentibus. Refertur enim ad passiones, estque sententia similis cum illa capitis superioris: Melius est, benefacientes, si voluntas Dei velit, pati, quam male facientes. Simul innuitur, omnes afflictiones, quaecumque nobis obveniunt, a Dei voluntate procedere. Quidam animas interpretantur vitam nostram ac nos ipsos. Alii melius animas a corporibus superstites, juxta dictum Salvatoris: Nolite timere eos, qui occidunt corpus, animam autem non possunt occidere, Matth. 10. Quasi dicat Apostohis: Qui creavit animas, idem erit earum custos, etiam exstinctis morte corporibus; et hoc depositum sibi commendatum fideliter servabit, ne pereat. Videtur enim esse in his verbis allusio quaedam ad vocem Christi in cruce morientis: Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum, Luc. 23. Ubi siuiiliter est Graece: Ttapa^iijao/xat, id est deponam, commendabo. Nam et Christus id fecit cum beneficentia, patiens pro snls crucifixoribus, et orans pro eis. Quamquam potest per ayaOoTtottav in genere intelligi studium bonorum operum; sicut accepisse videtur interpres noster, dum vertit: in benefactis, id est m operibus bonis, sicut habet editio Syriaca. Nam hoc animarum depositum non a peccatoribus recipit Deus, sed ajnstis, qui se ipsos prius per bona opera Deo commendaverint. Neque enim injustorum, sed justorum animae in manu Dei sunt, Sap. 3.
4:1
… sacrifice rather than pleasure, in order to be able to demonstrate thus more effectively one's love for God, who for love of man chose the Cross (Heb. 12:2). "Since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind," says St. Peter (1 Pet. 4:1). Mortification must always be performed with a great spirit, that is, generous, and regulated by prudence.
4:5
… 51:7; etc., in opposition to those in Hades (ἀν' ἁδί)" and "those in the netherworld" over whom he has all power (Phil. 2:10; for "the heavenly" cf. I Cor. 5:3): the formula of apostolic catechesis "the living and the dead" (Acts 10:42; II Tim. 4:1; I Pt. 4:5), which entered the Creed, must be understood in relation to the one who recites it (St. Thomas, Suárez), since it is obvious that, after the universal resurrection, all will be alive. …
4:7
economy, has ceased (II Cor. 5:17; Heb. 8:13); we are near the "end of all things" of the world (Heb. 10:25, 37; Jas. 5:8; I Pet. 4:7; I John 2:18). When the Apostles proclaim "the Lord is near" (Phil. 4:5; Rom. 13:11; Jas. 5:8; Rev. 3:20), it is a matter of a spatial-spiritual nearness rather than a temporal one; …
4:8
Similar public examples were highly moralizing and in harmony with the doctrine of early Christianity (1 Pt. 4, 8).
… It is further demonstrated by those texts of Sacred Scripture, both of the Old and of the New Testament (Prov. 8:17; Lk. 10:27-28; Jn. 14:21-23; 1 Pt. 4:8; 1 Jn. 4:7) in which it is said that to the love of God, from which precisely contrition proceeds, is joined the friendship of the Lord, the remission of sins with all the other goods that follow.
Heroic Act of Charity (also improperly called Heroic Vow)
… Ind., 20 Feb. 1907: Acta Sanctae Sedis, 40 [1907], p. 370 ff.); and in this it is essentially distinguished from a vow. But whoever makes the heroic act must not fear remaining a long time in purgatory, because he can justly trust in divine mercy (cf. Mt. 25, 40; Lk. 6, 38; 1 Pt. 4, 8). Moreover, the least increase of merit is a greater good than liberation from the greatest punishment of purgatory: the latter is temporal, the former eternal, with an increase of glory.
… new life (Rom. 6:3-11; 7:24). Mere non-imputation is not reconcilable with the fullness of the meaning of these texts, and in vain have Protestants invoked others, where there is talk of non-imputation (Ps. 32:1; II Cor. 5:19), of the covering of sins (I Pt. 4:8). The sentiment of Tradition is in perfect harmony with Scripture when it observes, for example with St. Augustine, that God no longer imputes sins to the guilty, because they have …
4:9
… letter, that they receive her "in the Lord as is fitting for the saints" and assist her "in whatever she may need, for she too has assisted many and myself as well" (16, 1-2). "Be freely hospitable to one another without grumbling," insisted St. Peter (I Pt. 4, 9). St. John praised the Christian Gaius for the hospitality he gave to pilgrims and concluded: "We therefore ought to welcome such men, to cooperate with the truth" (III Io. 5-8). …
4:11
… In the New Testament it indicates the revelations made by God to Moses (Acts 7, 38), the revelations contained in the Old Testament, especially the Messianic prophecies (Rom. 3, 2), the Christian Revelation (Heb. 5, 12), the sayings of the charismatics (Rom. 12, 6 ff.; I Cor. 12, 8 ff.; I Pt. 4, 11). St. Polycarp (7, 1) calls the sayings of Jesus "l. of the Lord."
addressed to God, that is, to the Father, interposing the mediation of Christ (I Pt. 4, 11; I Clem., 61; Tertullian, Adv. Marcion., IV, 9). The Council of Hippo, in 393, specifies that "cum altari assistitur, semper ad Patrem dirigatur oratio". …
4:12
… punishments it calls down, the Creator's love for his creatures (Rom. 5:8-11; 8:32-39), the fitness of accepting, as a just recompense, the harassment and persecutions from which his most faithful servants cannot escape (John 15:18-21; Rom. 8:35-39; 1 Pet. 4:12-19, etc.).
4:13
… are the terms: "day [of the Lord or Christ]" (17 times in St. Paul: Acts 2:20; I Pt. 3:10, 12; Apoc. 16:14), "manifestation" (ἐπιφάνεια: 5 times in the pastoral epistles), "revelation" (ἀποκάλυψις: I Cor. 1:7; II Thess. 1:7; I Pt. 1:7, 13; 4:13). It is also called "visitation" (ἐπισκοπή: Lk. 19:44; cf. 1:68, 78; 7:16; I Pt. 2:12 [cf. 5:6]) according to the prophetic expression (pēquddāh: Is. 10:3; Hos. 9:7; Num. …
4:14
… In the New Testament similar beatitudes occur: Mt. 11:6; 13:16; 16:17; 24:46; Lk. 11:28; 12:37 f., 43; 14:15; Jn. 20:29; Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 3:14; 4:14; Rev. 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14. To this day the Christians of the East call the beatitudes "macarisms." The Arabic Diatessaron interprets the initial adjective "blessed" …
4:16
… For them the followers of Jesus must then have been called universally by other names ("Nazoreans," "Galileans," "poor"); the name "C." would appear only with 1 Pt. 4:16, more than fifty years later.
… The Apostles, while recommending subjection to the public powers, however unfaithful (Rom. 13, 1 ff.; Tit. 3, 1; I Pet. 2, 13), in the case of a higher right declare resistance to be a duty (Act. 4, 19; 5, 29; Phil. 1, 13; I Pet. 4, 16) and seal this principle with their blood, followed by the martyrs.
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.