Punishment as certain as Reward. 429 14, 13. Is.1,19. Parsons 24. 41. together, He saith, and if your sins be as purple, I will make Rom. them white as snow. What labour is there here? Tell thy sins, that thou mayest be justified. What hardship is there Job 33, in this? Redeem thy sins with alms. What toilsomeness 32. see is there in this? The Publican said, Be merciful to me Dan. 4, a sinner, and went down home justified. What labour is Luke18, it to imitate the Publican? And wilt thou not be persuaded 13. 14. even after this that there is punishment and vengeance? At that rate thou wilt deny that even the devil is punished. For Depart, He says, into the fire prepared for the devil Mat. 25, and his angels. Now if there be no hell, then neither is he punished. But if he is punished, it is plain that we shall also. For we also have disobeyed, even if it be not in the same way. And how comest thou not to be afraid to speak such daring things? For when thou sayest that God is merciful, and doth not punish, if He should punish He will be found in thy case to be no longer merciful. See then unto what language the devil leadeth you? And what? are the monks that have taken up with the mountains, and yield examples of such manifold self-denial', to go away without their crown? For if the wicked are not to be punished, and there is no recompense made to any one, some one else will say, perhaps, that neither are the good crowned. Nay, it will be said, For this is suitable with God, that there should be a kingdom only, and not a hell. Well then, the whoremonger, and the adulterer, and the man who hath done evils unnumbered, enjoy the same advantages with the man who has exhibited soberness and holiness, and Paul is to stand with Nero, or rather even the devil with Paul? For if there be no hell and yet a Resurrection be certain', then 1 Mar. the wicked will attain to the same good things with the of all. a Res. righteous! And who would say this? Who even of men that were quite crazed? or rather, which of the devils even would say this? For even they confess that there is a hell. Wherefore also they cried out and said, Art thou come hither Mat. 8, to torment us before the time? How then comest thou not Sav. that we also, [such as do his works, shall be punished,] Ms. omits the clause which he has put in brackets, and the sense runs better. r 29. 430 Danger of questioning after so many proofs. HOMIL. to fear and tremble, when even the devils confess what XXV. thyself art denying? Or how is it that thou dost not see who is the teacher of these evil doctrines? For he who deceived the first man, and under the pretext of greater hopes, threw them out even of the blessings they had in possession, he it is who now suggests the saying and fancying of these things. And for this reason he persuades some to suspect there is no hell, that he may thrust them into hell. As God on the other hand threateneth hell, and made hell ready, that by coming to know of it thou mightest so live as not to fall into hell. And yet if, when there is a hell, the devil persuades thee to these things, how came the devils to confess it, if it did not exist, whose aim and desire it is that we should not suspect any thing of the kind, that through fearlessness we might become the more listless, and so fall with them into that fire? How then (it will be said) came they to confess it? It was through their not bearing the compulsion laid upon them. Taking all these things into consideration then, let those who talk in this way leave off deceiving both themselves and others, since even for these words of theirs they will be punished 1 dizú for detracting' from those awful things, and undoing the awe' of many who are minded to be in earnest, and do not even do as much as the barbarian Ninevites, for they, though they were wholly ignorant of things, when they heard that the city was to be destroyed, were so far from disbelieving, that they even groaned, and girded themselves with sackcloth, and were confounded, and did not cease to use every means until they had allayed the wrath. But dost thou, who hast had so great experience of facts and of teaching, make light of what is told thee? The contrary then will be thy fate. For as they through fear of the words had not to undergo the vengeance in act, so thou who despisest the threatening by words, will have to undergo the punishment • This sentence may be read so as to avoid the fault in reasoning; he breaks off the supposition as too absurd, and after a pause gives the true account of the case, which he in fact assumes in the first clause. The whole passage is rhetorical, and the first mention of the devils is introduced with tremendous power, as almost any one must have felt in reading it. So mar. Ms. Bodl. ròv révy, the vigour,' which is also given in mar. and is the same in sense with Savile's text. Denial of hell a device of the devil. 14, 13. 19. 431 in very deed. And if now what thou art told seems a fable Roм. to thee, it will not, however, seem so when the very things convince thee.-Then! Have you never noticed what He did even in this world? How when He met with two thieves, he counted them not worthy of the same estate, but one He led into the Kingdom, and the other He sent away into Hell? And why speak I of a robber and murderer ? For even an Apostle He did not spare, when he had become a traitor, but even when He saw him rushing to the halter, and hanging, and bursting asunder in the midst, (for he did burst asunder, and all his bowels gushed out,) still when Acts 1, He foresaw all these things, He let him suffer all of the same, giving thee from the present a proof of all that is in the other world also. Do not then cheat yourselves, through being persuaded of the devil. These devices are his. For if both judges, and masters, and teachers, and savages, respect the good, and punish the evil, with what reason is the contrary to be the case with God, while the good man and he who is not so are deemed worthy of the same estate? And when will there be any release from wickedness? For they who now are expecting punishment, and are amongst so many terrors, those from the judges, those from the laws, and yet do not depart from iniquity; when on their departing this life they are to lay aside even this fear, and are not only not to be cast into hell, but are even to obtain a kingdom; when will they leave doing wickedly? Is this then mercy, pray? to add to wickedness, to set up rewards. for iniquity, to count the sober and the unchastened, the faithful and the irreligious, Paul and the devil, to have the same deserts? But how long am I to be trifling? Wherefore I exhort you to get you free from this madness, and having grown to be your own masters, persuade your souls to fear and to tremble, that they may at once be saved from the hell to come, and may, after passing the life in this world soberly, attain unto the good things to come, by the grace and love towards man, &c. HOMILY XXVI. XXVI. ROM. xiv. 14. HOMIL. I know, and am persuaded by1 the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 1 Gr. in τῶν οὗ And then to saying, And thou art no AFTER first rebuking the person who judgeth his brother, and moving him to leave off this reproaching, he then explains himself further upon the doctrinal part, and instructs in a dispassionate tone the weaker sort, displaying in this case too a great deal of gentleness. For he does not say he shall be punished, nor any thing of the sort, but merely disburdens him of his fears in the matter, and that with a view to his being more easily persuaded with what he tells him; and he says, I know, and am persuaded. be- prevent any of those who did not trust him what is it to us if thou art persuaded? for trustworthy evidence to set in competition with so great a law, and with oracles brought down from above, he proceeds, in the Lord. That is, as having learned from Him, as having my confidence from Him. The judgment then is not one of the mind of man. What is it that thou art persuaded of and knowest? Tell us. That there is nothing unclean of itself. By nature, he says, nothing is unclean, but it becomes so by the spirit in which a man uses it. Therefore it becomes so to himself only, and not to all. For to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is The weak to be treated gently for Christ's sake. 433 14, 15. unclean. What then? Why not correct thy brother, that he ROM. may think it not unclean? Why not with full authority call him away from this habit of mind and conception of things, that he may never make it common? My reason is, he says, I am afraid to grieve him. Wherefore he proceeds, Ver. 15. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. You see how far he goes in affection for him, shewing that he makes so great account of him, that with a view not to grieve him he does not venture even to enjoin things of great urgency, but by yieldingness would rather draw him to himself, and by charity. For even when he has freed him of his fears, he does not drag him and force him, but leaves him his own master. For keeping a person from meats is no such matter as overwhelming him with grief". You see how much he insists upon charity. And this is because he is aware that it can do every thing. And on this ground he makes somewhat larger demand upon them. For so far he says from its being proper for them to distress you at all, they ought even, if need be, not to hesitate at condescending to you. Whence he proceeds to say, Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Or dost thou not value thy brother enough even to purchase his salvation at the price of abstinence from meats? And yet Christ refused not to become a slave, nor yet to die for him? but thou dost not despise even food for him', that thou mayest save him.' Ms. And yet it was not all that Christ was to gain, yet still He him died for all; so fulfilling His own part. But art thou aware that by meat thou art overthrowing him in more important matters, and yet makest a disputing? And him who is the object of such care unto Christ, dost thou consider so contemptible, and dishonour one whom He loveth? Yet He died not for the weak only, but even for an enemy. And wilt not thou refrain from meats even, for him that is weak? Yet Christ did what was greatest even, but thou not even the less. And He was Master, thou a brother. These words then were enough to tongue-tie him. For they shew him to be of a little spirit, and after having the benefit of great things from God, not to give in return even little ones. i. e. better deprive the strong of his meats, than deeply grieve the weak.' F f adds for |