2 Sunday after Elevation

The command to the apostles to be witnesses to him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth was not addressed exclusively to those to whom it was immediately spoken. They alone would not be the only ones who would carry such an enormous task to completion. Similarly he seems to be speaking to the apostles very personally when he says: "Behold I am with you even to the end of the world," yet who does not know that he made this promise to the universal church which will last from now even to the consummation of the world by successive births and deaths?

And he said to them: Go into the entire world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Therefore, when you preach that whoever does not believe will be condemned, since he certainly does not believe what he has not seen, should not they themselves first be reproved, because they did not believe those to whom the Lord appeared before they had seen the Lord? But when he said to them, Go into the entire world, preach the Gospel to every creature, surely the holy Gospel was not meant to be preached to senseless things or brute animals, so that it would be said to the disciples, Preach to every creature? But under the name of every creature, every nation of the Gentiles can be designated. It had been previously said: Do not go into the way of the Gentiles; but now it is said, Preach to every creature, so that the preaching of the apostles, first repelled by Judea, would then assist us, since Judea had proudly repelled it to its own damnation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Perhaps each one says to himself: I have already believed, I will be saved. He says the truth if he holds faith by works. For true faith is that which does not contradict in behavior what it says in words. From this comes what Paul says about certain false believers: They confess to know God, but in works they deny him (Titus 1). Here John says: He who says he knows God and does not keep his commandments is a liar (1 John 2). But when it is said, He who does not believe will be condemned, what do we say about infants who cannot yet believe because of their age? For with regard to adults, there is no question. Therefore, in the Church, infants believe through others on behalf of the Savior, just as they have derived the sins from others, which are remitted to them in baptism.

I have some definite views about the de-Christianizing of the church. I believe that there are many accommodating preachers, and too many practitioners in the church who are not believers. Jesus Christ did not say, "Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right." The Gospel is something completely different. In fact, it is directly opposed to the world.

My brothers, was the holy Gospel to be preached to insensible things or to brute animals, that it is said to the disciples concerning it: "Preach to every creature"? But by the name of every creature, man is signified. For there are stones, but they neither live nor feel. There are plants and trees; they live indeed, but they do not feel. They live, I say, not through a soul, but through their verdure, because Paul also says: "Foolish one, what you sow is not brought to life unless it first dies." Therefore that lives which dies, so that it may be brought to life. Stones therefore exist, but they do not live. Trees exist and live, but they do not feel. Brute animals exist, live, and feel, but they do not discern. Angels exist, live, feel, and discern. But man has something of every creature. For he has existence in common with stones, life with trees, sensation with animals, understanding with angels. If therefore man has something in common with every creature, in a certain sense every creature is man. Therefore the Gospel is preached to every creature when it is preached to man alone, because he is taught for whose sake all things were created on earth, and from whom all things are not alien through a certain likeness.

By the name of every creature, every nation of the Gentiles can also be designated. For before it had been said: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles." But now it is said, "Preach to every creature," so that the preaching of the apostles, first rejected by Judea, might then become a help to us, when that proud people had rejected it as a testimony to their own condemnation.

But when Truth sends the disciples to preach, what else does He do in the world but scatter grains of seed? And He sends a few grains in the sowing, so that He may receive the fruits of many harvests from our faith. For so great a harvest of the faithful would never have arisen in the whole world, if those chosen grains of preachers had not come from the Lord's hand upon the rational earth.

(ubi sup.) After rebuking the hardness of their hearts, let us hear the words of advice which He speaks. For it goes on: Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. Every man must be understood by every creature; for man partakes something of every creature; he has existence as have stones, life as trees, feeling as animals, understanding as have Angels. For the Gospel is preached to every creature, because he is taught by it, for whose sake all are created, whom all things are in some way like, and from whom therefore they are not alien. By the name of every creature also every nation of the Gentiles may be meant. For it had been said before, Go not into the way of the Gentiles. (Matt. 10:5) But now it is said, Preach the Gospel to every creature, so that the preaching of the Apostles which was thrust aside by Judæa, might be an assistance to us, since Judæa had haughtily rejected it, thus witnessing to her own damnation.

For from Jerusalem there went out into the world, men, twelve in number, and these illiterate, of no ability in speaking: but by the power of God they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach to all the word of God.

He willed that the apostles as spiritual progenitors of the new humanity would be sent by his Son into the entire world, so that all human sufferers might come to the knowledge of their creator. Insofar as any choose to follow him, they have One whom they now address in their prayers as Father, instead of God. His providence has run and at present runs its course not only among individuals but also through whole cities and states, whose overthrow he predicted by the words of the prophets. His providence indeed runs its course through the whole cosmos itself.

Then in this same way the apostles went out to found churches in every city possible. It is from these apostolic churches that all the subsequent churches, one after the other, derived the rule of faith and the seeds of doctrine. Even to today they continue to derive from the apostles that which is necessary in order that they be churches. Indeed, it is for this reason only that they are able to deem themselves as apostolic, as being the offspring of apostolic churches. As in science, every genus reverts to its original for its classification, so with the apostolic church. However many or great these churches may be, they comprise but one primitive church, founded by the apostles, from which they all spring. In this way all are primitive. All are apostolic. They all are one, by means of their unbroken unity, peaceful communion, title of descent, and bond of hospitality. These are privileges that no other rule directs than the one tradition of the same mystery.

Again, in the Pslams, David says: "Bring to God, ye countries of the nations"-undoubtedly because "unto every land" the preaching of the apostles had to "go out" -"bring to God fame and honour; bring to God the sacrifices of His name: take up victims and enter into His courts.

Note the Lord's commandment: "preach to every creature." He did not say: preach only to the obedient, but to every creature, whether they will listen or not.

Or else; to every creature, that is, whether believing or unbelieving.

Nay, he that, out of contempt, will not be baptized, shall be condemned as an unbeliever, and shall be reproached as ungrateful and foolish. For the Lord says: "Except a man be baptized of water and of the Spirit, he shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven." And again: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." But he that says, When I am dying I will be baptized, lest I should sin and defile my baptism, is ignorant of God, and forgetful of his own nature. For "do not thou delay to turn unto the Lord, for thou knowest not what the next day will bring forth."

The ecumenically received faith is taught in the creed and committed to memory in a form of the utmost possible brevity, so as to frame an expression in few words of that which was intended to be explained at large afterwards to persons in a state of formation and advancement in knowledge of God.

We know that the dead who die in the Lord are blessed, and they have no concern with what they would have done if they had lived a longer time. We know that those who believe in the Lord from their own heart do this of their own will and free choice. We who now believe act rightly when we pray to God for those who refuse to believe, and pray that they themselves may in time freely will to believe.

(ubi sup.) What shall we say here about infants, who by reason of their age cannot yet believe; for as to older persons there is no question. In the Church then of our Saviour children believe by others, as also they drew from others the sins which are remitted to them in baptism. It goes on: And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents.

"He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned." Perhaps each one may say within himself: "I have already believed; I shall be saved." He speaks truly, if he holds faith by works. For true faith is that which does not contradict in conduct what it says in words. Hence it is that Paul says of certain false believers: "They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their deeds." Hence John says: "He who says he knows God and does not keep His commandments is a liar."

Since this is so, we ought to recognize the truth of our faith in the consideration of our life. For then we are truly faithful, if we fulfill in works what we promise in words. On the day of baptism indeed, we promised to renounce all the works of the ancient enemy and all his pomps. Therefore let each of you bring back the eyes of his mind to consideration of himself; and if he keeps after baptism what he pledged before baptism, let him rejoice, now certain that he is faithful.

But behold, if he has by no means kept what he promised, if he has slipped into practicing wicked works, into desiring the pomps of the world; let us see if he now knows how to lament that he has erred. For before the merciful Judge, not even he will be held a deceiver who returns to the truth, even after he has lied, because almighty God, when He willingly receives our repentance, Himself hides by His own judgment that in which we have erred.

(ubi sup.) But perhaps some one may say in himself, I have already believed, I shall be saved. He says what is true, if he keeps his faith by works; for that is a true faith, which does not contradict by its deeds what it says in words. There follows: But he that believeth not shall be damned.

"Whoever believes," and this alone is not enough, but also "is baptized," for whoever has believed but has not been baptized and still remains a catechumen, that one is not yet saved.

It goes on: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. For it is not enough to believe, for he who believeth and is not baptized, but is a catechumen, has not yet attained to perfect salvation.

See, God sent apostles, and sent prophets and teachers, gave the gift of healings, which as we have found are given by the Holy Spirit, and God gave many kinds of tongues. But yet all are not apostles, all are not prophets, all are not teachers. Not all, says he, have the gift of healings, nor do all, says he, speak with tongues. For the whole range of divine gifts cannot exist in each particular individual. Each, according to his capacity, receives that which he either desires or deserves.

As the Father gives the gift of healings, so too does the Son give; as the Father gives the gift of tongues, so too has the Son also granted it.

With good reason did he say to all of us together, when we became fully aware of those gifts that were given from him by the Spirit: "And these signs will accompany those who believe; in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." These gifts were first bestowed on us the apostles when we were about to preach the gospel to every creature. Later they of necessity were afforded to others who had by the apostles come to believe. These gifts were not given for the advantage of those who perform them, but for the conviction of the unbelievers, that those whom the word did not persuade, the power of signs might put to shame.

And these signs will follow those who believe: In my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Should it be said that because we do not perform these signs we do not believe at all? But these were necessary at the beginning of the Church. For as faith was to grow, it had to be nurtured by miracles. For when we plant young trees, we water them until they seem to have taken root in the ground. But if they have once fixed their roots, the watering will cease. Hence it is that Paul says: Tongues are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers (1 Cor. XIV). Do we not have of these signs and virtues what we should more subtly consider? The holy Church indeed daily spiritually performs what it did physically through the apostles. For when its priests lay hands on believers through the grace of exorcism, and deny the evil spirit dwelling in their minds, what else do they do but cast out demons? And faithful ones who have already renounced the secular words of the old life, but sound out the holy mysteries, and narrate, as far as they can, the praises and power of their Creator, what else do they do but speak in new tongues? When they remove malice from others' hearts by their good exhortations, they take up serpents. And when they hear pestilent suggestions but are not led into evil action, indeed it is deadly what they drink, but it will not harm them. Whenever they see their neighbors weakened in good work and run to help them with all their strength, and strengthen their life by the example of their actions, who waver in their own deeds, what else do they do but lay hands on the sick, that they may recover? These miracles are indeed all the greater as they are more spiritual. They are all the greater as by these not bodies, but souls are raised.

Vincentius of Thibaris said: We know that heretics are worse than Gentiles. If, therefore, being converted, they should wish to come to the Lord, we have assuredly the rule of truth which the Lord by His divine precept commanded to His apostles, saying, "Go ye, lay on hands in my name, expel demons." And in another place: "Go ye and teach the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Therefore first of all by imposition of hands in exorcism, secondly by the regeneration of baptism, they may then come to the promise of Christ. Otherwise I think it ought not to be done.

This same Macarius once went down from Scetis to a place named Terenuthis, and he climbed into an old pagan burial place to sleep. He put one of the bodies under his head as a pillow. The demons hated him when they saw his assurance and tried to frighten him by calling out, 'Lady, come with us to bathe.' Another demon answered from underneath Macarius, as though he were the dead woman, 'I have a pilgrim on top of me, and can't move.' Macarius was not frightened, but confidently thumped the body, saying, 'Get up and go if you can.' When the demons heard it, they cried out and said, 'You have defeated us,' and they fled in confusion.

What then, my brethren, because you do not these signs, do you not believe? But these things were necessary in the beginning of the Church. For that faith might grow, it needed to be nourished by miracles, because we also, when we plant shrubs, pour water on them only until we see that they have taken root in the ground; and once they have fixed their roots, we cease watering. Hence it is that Paul says: Tongues are for a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers. ... For by those outward signs, life cannot be obtained by those who work them. For those bodily miracles sometimes show holiness, but do not make it; but these spiritual ones, which are wrought in the mind, do not show but make the virtue of life.

We have concerning these signs and powers things that we ought yet more carefully to consider. For holy Church daily does spiritually what then she did corporally through the apostles. For when her priests lay hands upon believers through the grace of exorcism, and forbid evil spirits to dwell in their minds, what else do they do but cast out devils? And believers who now abandon the worldly words of their former life, and utter forth holy mysteries, and declare the praises and power of their Creator as much as they are able, what else do they do but speak with new tongues? They who by their good exhortations take away malice from the hearts of others, take up serpents. And when they hear pestilent persuasions, yet are not drawn thereby to evil works, they drink indeed what is deadly, but it shall not hurt them. They who, as often as they see their neighbors grow weak in good works, run to help them with all their strength, and by the example of their own deeds strengthen the lives of those who waver in their own actions; what else do they do but lay hands on the sick that they may recover? Which miracles are so much the greater as they are spiritual; so much the greater as by them not bodies but souls are raised to life. These signs therefore, dearest brethren, you can do by God's help if you will.

And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

What then, my brethren, because you do not these signs, do you not believe? But these things were necessary in the beginning of the Church. For that faith might grow, it needed to be nourished by miracles, because we also, when we plant shrubs, pour water on them only until we see that they have taken root in the ground; and once they have fixed their roots, we cease watering. Hence it is that Paul says: Tongues are for a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers.

We have concerning these signs and powers things that we ought yet more carefully to consider. For holy Church daily does spiritually what then she did corporally through the apostles. For when her priests lay hands upon believers through the grace of exorcism, and forbid evil spirits to dwell in their minds, what else do they do but cast out devils? And believers who now abandon the worldly words of their former life, and utter forth holy mysteries, and declare the praises and power of their Creator as much as they are able, what else do they do but speak with new tongues?

(ubi sup.) Are we then without faith because we cannot do these signs? Nay, but these things were necessary in the beginning of the Church, for the faith of believers was to be nourished by miracles, that it might increase. Thus we also, when we plant groves, pour water upon them, until we see that they have grown strong in the earth; but when once they have firmly fixed their roots, we leave off irrigating them. These signs and miracles have other things which we ought to consider more minutely. For Holy Church does every day in spirit what then the Apostles did in body; for when her Priests by the grace of exorcism lay their hands on believers, and forbid the evil spirits to dwell in their minds, what do they, but cast out devils? And the faithful who have left earthly words, and whose tongues sound forth the Holy Mysteries, speak a new language; they who by their good warnings take away evil from the hearts of others, take up serpents; and when they are hearing words of pestilent persuasion, without being at all drawn aside to evil doing, they drink a deadly thing, but it will never hurt them; whenever they see their neighbours growing weak in good works, and by their good example strengthen their life, they lay their hands on the sick, that they may recover. And all these miracles are greater in proportion as they are spiritual, and by them souls and not bodies are raised.

But the Lord, having suffered, and bestowing the knowledge of the Father, conferred on us salvation. For the Lord, through means of suffering, "ascending into the lofty place, led captivity captive, gave gifts to men," and conferred on those that believe in Him the power "to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy," that is, of the leader of apostasy. Our Lord also by His passion destroyed death, and dispersed error, and put an end to corruption, and destroyed ignorance, while He manifested life and revealed truth, and bestowed the gift of incorruption.

Believers, he says, will be accompanied by signs — the casting out of demons, speaking in new tongues.

For what else are hearing, reading and copiously depositing things in the memory, than several stages of drinking in thoughts? The Lord, however, foretold concerning his faithful followers, that even "if they should drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them." And thus it happens that they who read with judgment, and bestow their approval on whatever is commendable according to the rule of faith, and disapprove of things which ought to be repudiated, even if they commit to their memory heretical statements which are declared to be worthy of disapproval, they receive no harm from the poisonous and depraved nature of these sentences.

That this gift [spiritual healing] was promised to the Church is certain from Scripture. Whether any instance of it is a real instance, or change, or even (as might happen in this wicked world) fraud, is a question only to be decided by the evidence in that particular case. And unless one is a doctor one is not likely to be able to judge the evidence. Very often, I expect, one is not called upon to do so. Anything like a sudden furore about it in one district, especially if accompanied by a public campaign on modern commercial lines, would be to me suspect: but even then I might be wrong. On the whole, my attitude would be that any claim may be true, and that it is not my duty to decide whether it is.

There is, in fact, a fatal tendency in all human activities for the means to encroach upon the very ends which they were intended to serve. Thus money comes to hinder the exchange of commodities, and rules of art to hamper genius, and examinations to prevent young men from becoming learned. It does not, unfortunately, always follow that the encroaching means can be dispensed with. I think it probable that the collectivism of our life is necessary and will increase; and I think that our only safeguard against its deathly properties is in a Christian life; for we were promised that we could handle serpents and drink deadly things and yet live.

They who by their good exhortations take away malice from the hearts of others, take up serpents. And when they hear pestilent persuasions, yet are not drawn thereby to evil works, they drink indeed what is deadly, but it shall not hurt them. They who, as often as they see their neighbors grow weak in good works, run to help them with all their strength, and by the example of their own deeds strengthen the lives of those who waver in their own actions; what else do they do but lay hands on the sick that they may recover?

Which miracles are so much the greater as they are spiritual; so much the greater as by them not bodies but souls are raised to life. These signs therefore, dearest brethren, you can do by God's help if you will. For by those outward signs, life cannot be obtained by those who work them. For those bodily miracles sometimes show holiness, but do not make it; but these spiritual ones, which are wrought in the mind, do not show but make the virtue of life. The evil can have those, but only the good can enjoy these.

Whence the Truth says of certain ones: Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name cast out devils, and in your name done many mighty works? And then I will confess to them: I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity. Do not therefore, dearest brethren, love signs which may be had in common with the reprobate; but love these miracles of charity and piety which we have spoken of, which are so much the safer as they are hidden, and for which the recompense with the Lord is so much the greater as the glory among men is less.

We have faith for a defence, if we are not smitten with distrust itself also, in immediately making the sign and adjuring, and besmearing the heel with the beast.

The taking up of serpents, that is, the destruction of serpents, both sensible and intelligible, as it is said in another place: "I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions," evidently, intelligible ones (Luke 10:19). However, the expression "they will take up serpents" can also be understood literally, since, for example, Paul took a serpent in his hand without any harm to himself (Acts 28:5). "And if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them." This happened many times, as we find in the narratives. For many, drinking poison, were preserved unharmed by the power of the sign of the cross.

That is, they shall scatter before them serpents, whether intellectual or sensible, as it is said, Ye shall tread upon serpents and scorpions, which is understood spiritually. But it may also mean sensible serpents, as when Paul received no hurt from the viper. There follows: And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. (Luke 10:19) We read of many such cases in history, for many persons have drank poison unhurt, by guarding themselves with the sign of Christ. It goes on: They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recorer.

How hard and painful does this appear! The Lord has required that "whoever will come after him must deny himself." But what he commands is neither hard nor painful when he himself helps us in such a way so that the very thing he requires may be accomplished.… For whatever seems hard in what is enjoined, love makes easy.

Turn, rather, to these teachings, my very dear friend: take up your cross and follow the Lord. For, when I noticed that you were being slowed down in your divine purpose by your preoccupation with domestic cares, I felt that you were being carried and dragged along by your cross rather than that you were carrying it. What else does the cross mean than the mortality of this flesh? This is our very own cross which the Lord commands us to carry that we may be as well armed as possible in following him. We suffer momentarily until death is swallowed up in victory. Then this cross itself will be crucified. The cross will be nailed to the fear of God. We would hardly be able to carry it now if it forever resisted us with free and unfettered limbs. There is no other way for you to follow the Lord except by carrying it, for how can you follow him if you are not his?

And having called the crowd with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone wishes to follow me, let him deny himself, etc." After showing his disciples the mystery of his passion and resurrection, he urges them together with the crowd to follow the example of his passion. And to all who suffer tribulation for his sake, he promises future salvation of their souls, but not to all, rather to the more perfect: how much he was to suffer, and that he would rise from the dead, he revealed. Here he established the form of teaching for the ministers of the word, so that, considering the capacity of their listeners, they might remember to instruct each one according to their ability, and not entrust deeper mysteries than they can comprehend to weak listeners. "If anyone wishes" (he says) "to follow me, let him deny himself." Now we deny ourselves when we avoid what we were through our former way of life and strive for that to which we are called through renewal. Let us consider how Paul had denied himself, who said, "And the life I now live, I live not by my own power" (Galatians 2). For that fierce persecutor had died and the pious preacher had begun to live. For if it were he, he would certainly not be pious. But let him who denies living by his own power, say whence it comes that he proclaims sacred words through the teaching of truth. Immediately he adds, "But Christ lives in me" (Ibid.). As if to say openly: Indeed, I am dead to myself, for I do not live carnally; yet I am not essentially dead, for I live spiritually in Christ. Let, therefore, Truth say, let it say, "If anyone wishes to follow me, let him deny himself." For unless someone withdraws from himself, he does not approach the one who is above him. Nor can he grasp what is beyond himself if he does not know how to mortify what is within him. But now, he who denies himself from vices must seek virtues in which he may grow. For when it is said, "If anyone wishes to follow me, let him deny himself," it immediately adds:

And let him take up his cross and follow me. For indeed, the cross is taken up in two ways: either through the affliction of the body by abstinence, or through the affliction of the soul by compassion for one's neighbor. Let us consider how Paul bore his cross in both ways, who said: "I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified" (I Cor. IX). Behold, in the affliction of the body we heard the cross of the flesh; now, in the compassion for one's neighbor, let us hear the cross of the mind. He says: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?" (II Cor. XI) Indeed, a perfect preacher, to give an example of abstinence, carried the cross in the body. And because he bore the sufferings of others in himself, he carried the cross in his heart.

After showing to His disciples the mystery of His passion and resurrection, He exhorts them, as well as the multitude, to follow the example of His passion. Wherefore it goes on; And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself.

(ubi sup.) For we deny ourselves, when we avoid what we were of old, and strive to reach that point, whither we are newly called. And the cross is taken up by us, when either our body is pained by abstinence, or our soul afflicted by fellow-feeling for our neighbour.

The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

[Responding to the question "Which of the religions of the world gives to its followers the greatest happiness?"]

While it lasts, the religion of worshiping oneself is the best. I have an elderly acquaintance of about eighty, who has lived a life of unbroken selfishness and self-admiration from the earliest years, and is, more or less, I regret to say, one of the happiest men I know. From the moral point of view it is very difficult! I am not approaching the question from that angle. As you perhaps know, I haven't always been a Christian. I didn't go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity. I am certain there must be a patent American article on the market which will suit you far better, but I can't give any advice on it.

Now, the self can be regarded in two ways. On the one hand, it is God's creature, an occasion of love and rejoicing; now, indeed, hateful in condition, but to be pitied and healed. On the other hand, it is that one self of all others which is called I and me, and which on that ground puts forward an irrational claim to preference. This claim is to be not only hated, but simply killed; "never," as George MacDonald says, "to be allowed a moment's respite from eternal death." The Christian must wage endless war against the clamor of the ego as ego: but he loves and approves selves as such, though not their sins. The very self-love which he has to reject is to him a specimen of how he ought to feel to all selves... The other kind of self-hatred, on the contrary, hates selves as such. It begins by accepting the special value of the particular self called me; then, wounded in its pride to find that such a darling object should be so disappointing, it seeks revenge, first upon that self, then on all. Deeply egoistic, but now with an inverted egoism... The wrong asceticism torments the self: the right kind kills the selfness. We must die daily: but it is better to love the self than to love nothing, and to pity the self than to pity no one.

It is impossible, in this context, not to inquire what our own civilization has been putting first for the last thirty years. And the answer is plain. It has been putting itself first. To preserve civilization has been the great aim; the collapse of civilization, the great bugbear. Peace, a high standard of life, hygiene, transport, science and amusement — all these, which are what we usually mean by civilization, have been our ends. It will be replied that our concern for civilization is very natural and very necessary at a time when civilization is so imperilled. But how if the shoe is on the other foot? — how if civilization has been imperilled precisely by the fact that we have all made civilization our summum bonum? Perhaps it can't be preserved in that way. Perhaps civilization will never be safe until we care for something else more than we care for it.

The hypothesis has certain facts to support it. As far as peace (which is one ingredient in our idea of civilization) is concerned, I think many would now agree that a foreign policy dominated by desire for peace is one of the many roads that lead to war. And was civilization ever seriously endangered until civilization became the exclusive aim of human activity?

The thing you long for summons you away from the self. Even the desire for the thing lives only if you abandon it. This is the ultimate law--the seed dies to live, the bread must be cast upon the waters, he that loses his soul will save it. But the life of the seed, the finding of the bread, the recovery of the soul, are as real as the preliminary sacrifice.

What he commands is not difficult, since he helps to effect what he commands.… Just as we are lost through loving ourselves, so we are found by denying ourselves. Love of self was the ruin of the first man. If he had not loved himself in the wrong order, he would have been willing to be subject to God, preferring God to self.

What does this mean, "take up a cross"? It means he will bear with whatever is troublesome, and in this very act he will be following me. When he has begun to follow me according to my teaching and precepts, he will find many people contradicting him and standing in his way, many who not only deride but even persecute him. Moreover, this is true, not only of pagans who are outside the church, but also of those who seem to be in it visibly, but are outside of it because of the perversity of their deeds. Although these glory in merely the title of Christian, they continually persecute faithful Christians. Such belong to the members of the church in the same way that bad blood is in the body. Therefore, if you wish to follow Christ, do not delay in carrying his cross; tolerate sinners, but do not yield to them. Do not let the false happiness of the wicked corrupt you. You do well to despise all things for the sake of Christ, in order that you may be fit for his companionship.

Because our Lord and Redeemer came into the world as a new man, he gave new precepts to the world. For he set the newness of himself in opposition to our old life nourished in vices. For what did the old, what did the carnal man know except to hold onto his own things, to seize what belongs to others if he could, or to covet them if he could not? But the heavenly physician applies remedies that counteract each and every vice. For just as in the art of medicine hot things are cured by cold and cold things by hot, so our Lord set forth teachings contrary to sins, so that he might command continence to the unchaste, generosity to the greedy, gentleness to the wrathful, and humility to the proud. Certainly when he set forth new commandments to those following him, he said: "Unless someone renounces all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple." As if he were saying openly: You who through your old life covet what belongs to others, through the pursuit of a new way of life give away even your own things. But let us hear what he says in this reading: "Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself." There it is said that we should deny our possessions; here it is said that we should deny ourselves. And perhaps it is not difficult for a person to leave behind his possessions, but it is very difficult to leave behind himself. For it is a lesser thing to deny what one has, but it is a very great thing to deny what one is.

To those coming to him, the Lord commanded that we renounce our possessions, because all of us who come to the contest of faith take up a struggle against evil spirits. But evil spirits possess nothing of their own in this world. Therefore we must wrestle naked against those who are naked. For if someone clothed wrestles with someone naked, he is thrown to the ground more quickly because he has something by which he can be seized. For what are all earthly things except certain garments of the body? Therefore, whoever hastens to the contest against the devil should cast off his garments lest he be overcome. Let him possess nothing in this world by loving it; let him seek no pleasures of passing things, lest where he is covered according to his wish, he be seized for his fall from that very thing. Yet it is not enough to leave behind our possessions unless we also leave behind ourselves. What is it that we are saying: "Let us also leave behind ourselves"? For if we leave ourselves behind, where shall we go outside of ourselves? Or who is it that goes if he has abandoned himself? But we are one thing having fallen through sin, another thing as created by nature; one thing is what we have made ourselves, another is what we were made. Let us leave behind ourselves as we made ourselves by sinning, and let us remain ourselves as we were made through grace. For behold, if someone who was proud, having been converted to Christ, has become humble, he has left himself behind. If any lustful person has changed his life to continence, he has certainly denied what he was. If any greedy person has now ceased to grasp at things and has learned to give away his own possessions who previously seized what belonged to others, without doubt he has left himself behind. He himself indeed remains by nature, but he is not himself by malice. For thus it is written: "Turn the wicked, and they shall not be." For the wicked when converted shall not be—not because they shall not exist at all in essence, but surely they shall not be in the guilt of wickedness. Therefore we leave ourselves behind, we deny ourselves, when we avoid what we were through oldness and strive toward that to which we are called through newness. Let us consider how Paul had denied himself, who said: "Yet I live, now not I." For that savage persecutor had been extinguished, and the devout preacher had begun to live. For if he himself were still that same person, he would certainly not be devout. But let him who denies that he lives say from where it is that he proclaims holy words through the teaching of truth. He immediately adds: "But Christ lives in me." As if he were saying openly: I indeed have been extinguished from myself because I do not live carnally; yet I have not died essentially because I live spiritually in Christ. Therefore let the Truth speak, let him say: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself." Because unless someone falls away from himself, he does not draw near to him who is above himself; nor is he able to grasp what is beyond himself if he does not know how to sacrifice what he is. So seedlings of vegetables are transplanted so that they may flourish, and, if I may say so, they are uprooted so that they may grow. So seeds of things perish when mixed with the earth, so that in the renewal of their kind they may rise up more abundantly. For from where they seem to have lost what they were, from there they receive the ability to appear as what they were not.

But he who now denies himself from vices must seek out the virtues in which he may grow. For when it was said: "Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself," it is immediately added: "And let him take up his cross, and follow me." For the cross is taken up in two ways: either when the body is afflicted through abstinence, or when the mind is troubled through compassion for one's neighbor. Let us consider how Paul had borne his cross in both ways, who said: "I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps while preaching to others I myself should become a castaway." Behold, in the affliction of the body we have heard of the cross of the flesh; let us now hear of the cross of the mind in compassion for one's neighbor. For he says: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?" Indeed the perfect preacher, in order to give an example of abstinence, carried the cross in his body. And because he drew upon himself the losses of another's weakness, he carried the cross in his heart.

But because certain vices lie close to these very virtues, we must explain which vice besieges abstinence of the flesh and which besieges compassion of the mind. For vainglory often besieges abstinence of the flesh from nearby, because when thinness in the body and pallor in the face are observed, the revealed virtue is praised; and it pours itself outward all the more quickly, the more it appears to human eyes through the display of pallor. And it often happens that what is believed to be done for God's sake is done solely for human approval. This is well signified by that Simon who, found on the road, carries the Lord's cross under compulsion. For burdens belonging to another are carried under compulsion when something is done through the pursuit of vanity. Who then are designated by Simon, if not the abstinent and arrogant? They indeed afflict the flesh through abstinence, but they do not seek the fruit of abstinence within. Therefore Simon carries the Lord's cross under compulsion, because when he is not led to a good work by good will, a sinner performs the deed of a just man without fruit. Hence the same Simon carries the cross but does not die, because the abstinent and arrogant indeed afflict the body through abstinence, but through the desire for glory they live to the world. False piety, however, often secretly besieges compassion of the soul, so that it sometimes drags it down even to condoning vices, whereas one ought not to exercise compassion toward faults, but zeal. For compassion is owed to the person, and rectitude to the vices, so that in one and the same person we both love the good that he was made and pursue the evils that he has done, lest while we carelessly remit faults, we seem not to have shown compassion through charity, but to have fallen through negligence.

(Hom. in Matt. 55) As if He would say to Peter, Thou indeed dost rebuke Me, who am willing to undergo My passion, but I tell thee, that not only is it wrong to prevent Me from suffering, but neither canst thou be saved unless thou thyself diest. Again He says, Whosoever wishes to come after me; as if He said, I call you to those good things which a man should wish for, I do not force you to evil and burdensome things; for he who does violence to his hearer, often stands in his way; but he who leaves him free, rather draws him to himself. And a man denies himself when he cares not for his body, so that whether it be scourged, or whatever of like nature it may suffer, he bears it patiently.

(ubi sup.) But He says not, a man should not spare himself, but what is more, that he should deny himself, as if he had nothing in common with himself, but face danger, and look upon such things as if another were suffering; and this is really to spare himself; for parents then most truly act kindly to their children, when they give them up to their masters, with an injunction not to spare them. Again, He shows the degree to which a man should deny himself, when He says, And take up his cross, by which He means, even to the most shameful death.

Or else, as a skilful pilot, foreseeing a storm in a calm, wishes his sailors to be prepared; so also the Lord says, If any one will follow me, &c.

"Your cross" means your own anxieties and your sufferings in your own body, which itself is shaped in a way already like a cross.

If you wish to be the Lord's disciple, it is necessary you "take your cross, and follow the Lord: " your cross; that is, your own straits and tortures, or your body only, which is after the manner of a cross.

Since Peter was opposing Christ, Who desired to give Himself over to Crucifixion, Christ calls the people and speaks aloud, directing His words primarily against Peter: You do not approve of My taking the Cross, but I say to you that neither you nor anyone else will be saved unless you die for virtue and truth. Note that the Lord did not say: let him die even if he does not wish to die, but "whoever wishes." I, He says, compel no one. I call not to evil but to good, and therefore whoever does not wish it is not worthy of it. What does it mean to deny oneself? We will understand this when we learn what it means to deny someone else. Whoever denies another person — whether father, brother, or any member of the household — even if he watches him being beaten or killed, pays no attention and feels no sympathy, having become estranged from him. In the same way the Lord commands us also to despise our own body for His sake and not to spare it, even if we are beaten or reviled. "Take up your cross," it says, that is, a shameful death, for the cross was then regarded as an instrument of shameful execution. And since many robbers were also crucified, He adds that along with crucifixion one must also have other virtues, for this is what the words "follow Me" mean.

For a man who denies another, be it brother or father, does not sympathize with him, nor grieve at his fate, though he be wounded and die; thus we ought to despise our body, so that if it should be wounded or hurt in any way, we should not mind its suffering.

For at that time the cross appeared shameful, because malefactors were fixed to it.

But because after the cross we must have a new strength, He adds, and follow me.

This precept by which we are enjoined to lose our life does not mean that a person should kill himself, which would be an unforgivable crime, but it does mean that one should kill that in oneself which is unduly attached to the earthly, which makes one take inordinate pleasure in this present life to the neglect of the life to come. This is the meaning of "shall hate his life" and "shall lose it." Embedded in the same admonition, he speaks most openly of the profit of gaining one's life when he says: "He that loses his life in this world shall find it unto life eternal."

For whoever wants to save their soul will lose it. But whoever loses their soul for my sake and the gospel will save it. Thus it is said to the faithful: Whoever wants to save their soul will lose it. But whoever loses their soul for my sake and the gospel will save it. As if it were said to a farmer: If you save the grain, you lose it; if you sow it, you renew it. For who does not know that when grain is sown, it disappears from sight, perishing in the ground? But from where it rots in the dust, it springs forth in renewal. Because the holy Church has different times of persecution and peace, our Redeemer designated those times in his teachings. For in times of persecution, the soul is to be laid down. But in times of peace, earthly desires, which can dominate more, are to be broken. Hence now it is said:

(in Marc. 2, 36) Or else He says this, because in time of persecution, our life is to be laid aside, but in time of peace, our earthly desires are to be broken, which He implies when He says, For what shall it profit a man, &c.

When the Lord tells us in the Gospel that anyone who wants to be his follower must renounce himself, the injunction seems harsh; we think he is imposing a burden on us. But an order is no burden when it is given by one who helps in carrying it out. To what place are we to follow Christ if not where he has already gone? We know that he has risen and ascended into heaven; there, then, we must follow him. There is no cause for despair—by ourselves we can do nothing, but we have Christ's promise.…One who claims to abide in Christ ought to walk as he walked. Would you follow Christ? Then be humble as he was humble. Do not scorn his lowliness if you want to reach his exaltation. Human sin made the road rough. Christ's resurrection leveled it. By passing over it himself, he transformed the narrowest of tracks into a royal highway. Two feet are needed to run along this highway; they are humility and charity. Everyone wants to get to the top—well, the first step to take is humility. Why take strides that are too big for you—do you want to fall instead of going up? Begin with the first step, humility, and you will already be climbing.

Let us follow for a moment the clue of the martyr and the suicide; and take the case of courage. No quality has ever so much addled the brains and tangled the definitions of merely rational sages. Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. "He that will lose his life, the same shall save it," is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. This paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice. He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch of it. A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine. No philosopher, I fancy, has ever expressed this romantic riddle with adequate lucidity, and I certainly have not done so. But Christianity has done more: it has marked the limits of it in the awful graves of the suicide and the hero, showing the distance between him who dies for the sake of living and him who dies for the sake of dying. And it has held up ever since above the European lances the banner of the mystery of chivalry: the Christian courage, which is a disdain of death; not the Chinese courage, which is a disdain of life.

For he that will save his life shall lose it; and he that shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's shall save it. Thus it is said to the faithful: He that will save his life shall lose it; and he that shall lose his life for my sake shall save it. As if it were said to the farmer: If you keep your grain, you lose it; if you sow it, you renew it. For who does not know that when grain is cast as seed, it perishes from sight, it fails in the earth? But from where it rots in the dust, from there it springs up green in renewal. Because indeed the holy Church has one time of persecution and another of peace, our Redeemer distinguishes these very times in his precepts. For in time of persecution life must be laid down, but in time of peace those earthly desires that can more readily dominate must be broken.

(ubi sup.) And this He says, because it may happen that a man may suffer and yet not follow Christ, that is, when he does not suffer for Christ's sake; for he follows Christ, who walks after Him, and conforms himself to His death, despising those principalities and powers under whose power, before the coming of Christ, he committed sin. Then there follows, For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it. I give you these commands, as it were to spare you; for whosoever spares his son, brings him to destruction, but whosoever does not spare him, saves him. It is therefore right to be always prepared for death; for if in the battles of this world, he who is prepared for death fights better than others, though none can restore him to life after death, much more is this the case in spiritual battle, when so great a hope of resurrection is set before him, since he who gives up his soul unto death saves it.

And life is to be taken in this place for the present life, and not for the substance itself of the soul.

Since the command to give oneself over to death would seem harsh and cruel, the Lord says that on the contrary it is most merciful; for whoever loses his soul, but for My sake — and not as a robber being executed or a suicide (for in that case the death would not be for My sake) — he, He says, will find his soul, while the one who thinks to save his soul will lose it, if during the time of torment he does not stand firm.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? When persecution from adversaries is absent, the heart must be guarded much more vigilantly. For in times of peace, since it is allowed to live, it is also allowed to desire. Often, however, we overcome avarice, but there remains an obstacle because we guard the ways of righteousness with less custody, to perfection. For often we despise having everything, but yet we are still hindered by the use of human respect, so that we cannot yet express in voice the righteousness which we keep in mind. And we neglect the face of God for the defense of justice as much as we fear human faces against justice. But the fitting remedy is also added to this wound when the Lord says:

While there is much in the world to love, it is best loved in relation to the One who made it. The world is beautiful, but much fairer is the One who fashioned it. The world is glorious, but more delightful is the One by whom the world was established. Therefore, let us labor as much as we can, beloved, that love of the world as such may not overwhelm us, and that we may not love the creature more than the creator. God has given us earthly possessions in order that we may love him with our whole heart and soul. But sometimes we provoke God's displeasure against us when we love his gifts more than God himself. The same thing happens in human relationships. Suppose someone gives a special gift to his protégé. But the protégé then begins to despise the giver, and loves the gift more than the one who gave. Suppose he comes to think of the giver no longer as friend but enemy. Just so it is with our relationship with God. We love more those who love us for ourselves rather than our gifts. So God is known to love those who love him more than the earthly gifts he gives.

For so He says, "Fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee; and whose shall those things be which thou hast prepared?" And the commandment is expressed in these very words, "Take heed, therefore, of covetousness. For a man's life does not consist in the abundance of those things which he possesses. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" "Wherefore I say, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for your body, what ye shall put on. For your life is more than meat, and your body than raiment." And again, "For your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." "But seek first the kingdom of heaven, and its righteousness," for these are the great things, and the things which are small and appertain to this life "shall be added to you." Does He not plainly then exhort us to follow the gnostic life, and enjoin us to seek the truth in word and deed? Therefore Christ, who trains the soul, reckons one rich, not by his gifts, but by his choice.

Those who neglect good works may fail to grasp just how much the good work of God has benefited them. Hence they are less capable of praying fittingly so as to receive good things from God. And even if they receive them, they will likely be unaware of what has been given them. And even if they enjoy them, they will not enjoy worthily what they have not understood. For from their lack of knowledge they will not grasp how to use the good things given them. And from their impulsiveness they will remain ignorant of how to avail themselves of the divine gifts offered.

From some-ah, misery!-all these things have fallen away, and have passed from memory. They indeed did not wait to be apprehended ere they ascended, or to be interrogated ere they denied. Many were conquered before the battle, prostrated before the attack. Nor did they even leave it to be said for them, that they seemed to sacrifice to idols unwillingly. They ran to the market-place of their own accord; freely they hastened to death, as if they had formerly wished it, as if they would embrace an opportunity now given which they had always desired. How many were put off by the magistrates at that time, when evening was coming on; how many even asked that their destruction might not be delayed! What violence can such a one plead as an excuse? How can he purge his crime, when it was he himself who rather used force to bring about his own ruin? When they came voluntarily to the Capitol,-when they freely approached to the obedience of the terrible wickedness,-did not their tread falter? Did not their sight darken, their heart tremble, their arms fall helplessly down? Did not their senses fail, their tongue cleave to their mouth, their speech grow weak? Could the servant of God stand there, and speak and renounce Christ, when he had already renounced the devil and the world? Was not that altar, whither he drew near to perish, to him a funeral pile? Ought he not to shudder at and flee from the devil's altar, which he had seen to smoke, and to be redolent of a foul rector, as if it were the funeral and sepulchre of his life? Why bring with you, O wretched man, a sacrifice? why immolate a victim? You yourself have come to the altar an offering; you yourself have come a victim: there you have immolated your salvation, your hope; there you have burnt up your faith in those deadly fires.

On the outside of a book I saw written in large letters, "Get On or Get Out." The title of the book recalled to me with a sudden revolt and reaction all that does seem unquestionably new and nasty; it reminded me that there was in the world of to-day that utterly idiotic thing, a worship of success; a thing that only means surpassing anybody in anything; a thing that may mean being the most successful person in running away from a battle; a thing that may mean being the most successfully sleepy of the whole row of sleeping men.

Unfortunately, however, Midas could fail; he did. His path did not lead unerringly upward. He starved because whenever he touched a biscuit or a ham sandwich it turned to gold. That was the whole point of the story, though the writer has to suppress it delicately, writing so near to a portrait of Lord Rothschild. The old fables of mankind are, indeed, unfathomably wise; but we must not have them expurgated in the interests of Mr. Vanderbilt. We must not have King Midas represented as an example of success; he was a failure of an unusually painful kind.

Hence it is now said: For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul? When persecution from adversaries is absent, the heart must be guarded all the more vigilantly. For in time of peace, because it is permitted to live, it is also pleasing to pursue ambition. This greed is indeed well restrained if the very condition of the one pursuing is carefully considered. For why should he press on to gather, when the one who gathers cannot himself remain? Let each one therefore consider his course, and he will recognize that the little he has can suffice for him. But perhaps he fears that provisions will fail on this journey of life. The short way rebukes our long desires; much is carried in vain when the destination is near.

(ubi sup.) As therefore He had said, For who so ever will save his life shall lose it, lest any one should suppose this loss to be equivalent to that salvation, He adds, For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul, &c. As if He said, Think not that he has saved his soul, who has shunned the perils of the cross; for when a man, at the cost of his soul, that is, his life, gains the whole world, what has he besides, now that his soul is perishing? Has he another soul to give for his soul? For a man can give the price of his house in exchange for the house, but in losing his soul, he has not another soul to give. And it is with a purpose that He says, Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? for God, in exchange for our salvation, has given the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

This world talks of adultery and corruption and love of money and deceit, but that world says farewell to these things. We cannot, then, be friends equally of both, but we must say farewell to this to possess the other. We think that it is better to despise the things below, for they are small and passing and perishable, and to love the things which are truly there, things good and imperishable.

Do not tell Me that this latter person will preserve his life, for even if he were to gain the whole world, it is all useless. Salvation cannot be purchased with any wealth.

Otherwise, he who gained the whole world but lost his soul would give it all away when he is burning in the flames, and would thus ransom himself. But such a ransom is impossible there. Here the mouths of those who, following Origen, say that the condition of souls will change for the better after they have been punished in proportion to their sins are also stopped. Let them hear that there it is in no way possible to give a ransom for the soul, and to suffer only to the degree supposedly needed to make satisfaction for sins.

"For whoever confesses Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also confess him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." But behold now men say to themselves: "We no longer are ashamed of the Lord and His words, because we openly confess Him with our voice." To which I reply that in this Christian populace there are some who confess Christ because they observe that all are Christians. Therefore, the voice of profession is not sufficient proof of faith, which is defended from shame by the profession of generality. And yet, let each person examine himself, so that he may truly prove himself in the confession of Christ, if he does not already feel ashamed of His name, if he has fully subdued human shame to the virtue of the mind. Indeed, in times of persecution, the faithful could feel ashamed to be stripped of their possessions, to be deposed from their dignities, to be afflicted with scourges. But in times of peace, since these things are absent from our persecutions, there is another way to show ourselves. We often fear being despised by neighbors, we disdain to tolerate verbal injuries. If perhaps a quarrel happens with a neighbor, we feel ashamed to be the first to make amends. For the carnal heart, while seeking the glory of this life, rejects humility.

But we are often hindered by a habit of shamefacedness, from expressing with our voice the rectitude which we preserve in our hearts; and therefore it is added, For whosoever shall confess me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, him also shall the Son of man confess, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

But the discipline of all religion and truth is overturned, unless what is spiritually prescribed be faithfully observed; unless indeed any one should fear in the morning sacrifices, lest by the taste of wine he should be redolent of the blood of Christ. Therefore thus the brotherhood is beginning even to be kept back from the passion of Christ in persecutions, by learning in the offerings to be disturbed concerning His blood and His blood-shedding. Moreover, however, the Lord says in the Gospel, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed." And the apostle also speaks, saying, "If I pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." But how can we shed our blood for Christ, who blush to drink the blood of Christ?

Moreover, how much are they both greater in faith and better in their fear, who, although bound by no crime of sacrifice to idols or of certificate, yet, since they have even thought of such things, with grief and simplicity confess this very thing to God's priests, and make the conscientious avowal, put off from them the load of their minds, and seek out the salutary medicine even for slight and moderate wounds, knowing that it is written, "God is not mocked." God cannot be mocked, nor deceived, nor deluded by any deceptive cunning. Yea, he sins the more, who, thinking that God is like man, believes that he evades the penalty of his crime if he has not openly admitted his crime. Christ says in His precepts, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed." And does he think that he is a Christian, who is either ashamed or afraid to be a Christian? How can he be one with Christ, who either blushes or fears to belong to Christ? He will certainly have sinned less, by not seeing the idols, and not profaning the sanctity of the faith under the eyes of a people standing round and insulting, and not polluting his hands by the deadly sacrifices, nor defiling his lips with the wicked food. This is advantageous to this extent, that the fault is less, not that the conscience is guiltless. He can more easily attain to pardon of his crime, yet he is not free from crime; and let him not cease to carry out his repentance, and to entreat the Lord's mercy, lest what seems to be less in the quality of his fault, should be increased by his neglect of atonement.

He who as God was beyond suffering, suffered in his own flesh as a human being. When he became flesh, being God, he did not in any way cease to be God. Precisely as he entered into the created order, he remained above creation. He remained as giver of the law when he came to serve "under the law." He retained the inviolable divine dignity precisely when he took on "the form of a slave." It was precisely as only begotten Son that he became "the firstborn among many brothers," while still remaining the only begotten. So why should it seem so strange that he should suffer in the flesh according to his humanity, even while transcending suffering according to his divinity? Thus the ever astute Paul says that the Word himself who is "in the form of God" and equal to God the Father "became obedient even unto death, death of the cross."

The Son does not divide the glory with the Father, but receives the glory of the Father in its entirety, even as the Father receives all the glory of the Son.

Often moreover we overcome greed, but there still remains this obstacle: that we hold to the ways of righteousness with too little guardianship of perfection. For often we despise all things that are passing away, yet we are still hindered by the custom of human respect, so that we are not yet able to express in voice the righteousness we preserve in mind; and we neglect the face of God in defense of justice as much as we fear human faces against justice. But to this wound also an appropriate remedy is added when the Lord says: He who shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

But behold, now people say to themselves: We no longer are ashamed of the Lord and His words, because we profess Him with open voice. To these I respond that in this Christian people there are some who confess Christ for the reason that they see everyone else is Christian. For if the name of Christ were not in such great glory today, the holy Church would not have so many who profess Christ. Therefore the voice of profession is not sufficient as proof of faith, when the profession of the generality defends it from shame. Yet there is a way for each person to examine himself, to prove himself truly in the confession of Christ: whether he is no longer ashamed of His name, whether with full strength of mind he has subdued human shame. Certainly in a time of persecution the faithful could be ashamed of being stripped of their possessions, cast down from positions of dignity, afflicted with beatings. But in a time of peace, because these things are absent from our persecutions, there is another way in which we are shown to ourselves. We often fear being despised by our neighbors, we disdain to tolerate verbal injuries; if perhaps a quarrel arises with a neighbor, we are ashamed to make satisfaction first. For the carnal heart, while it seeks the glory of this life, rejects humility. And very often the very person who is angry desires to be reconciled with the one who disagrees with him, but is ashamed to go first to make satisfaction. Let us consider the deeds of the Truth, that we may see where the actions of our depravity lie. For if we are members of the supreme Head, we ought to imitate Him to whom we are joined. For what does Paul, that outstanding preacher, say as an example for our instruction? We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were exhorting through us; we beseech you for Christ's sake, be reconciled to God. Behold, by sinning we have created discord between ourselves and God, and yet God first sent His ambassadors to us, so that we ourselves who sinned might come to peace with God when asked. Therefore let human pride be ashamed, let anyone be confounded who does not first make satisfaction to his neighbor, when after our fault, so that we might be reconciled to Him, God Himself who was offended beseeches us through intervening ambassadors.

(Hom. 32. in Evang.) There are however some, who confess Christ, because they see that all men are Christians; for if the name of Christ were not at this day in such great glory, the Holy Church would not have so many professors. The voice of profession therefore is not sufficient for a trial of faith whilst the profession of the generality defends it from shame. In the time of peace therefore there is another way, by which we may be known to ourselves. We are ever fearful of being despised by our neighbours, we think it shame to bear injurious words; if perchance we have quarrelled with our neighbour, we blush to be the first to give satisfaction; for our carnal heart, in seeking the glory of this life, disdains humility.

(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) He then who has learned this, is bound zealously to confess Christ without shame. And this generation is called adulterous, because it has left God the true Bridegroom of the soul, and has refused to follow the doctrine of Christ, but has prostrated itself to the devil and taken up the seeds of impiety, for which reason also it is called sinful. Whosoever therefore amongst them has denied the kingdom of Christ, and the words of God revealed in the Gospel, shall receive a reward befitting His impiety, when He hears in the second advent, I know you not. (Matt. 7:23)

At all events, whether in the latter or the former way, you are guilty of being "ashamed of God." But "whosoever shall be ashamed of Me in the presence of men, of him will I too be ashamed," says He, "in the presence of my Father who is in the heavens."

Whatsoever is unworthy of God, is of gain to me. I am safe, if I am not ashamed of my Lord. "Whosoever," says He, "shall be ashamed of me, of him will I also be ashamed." Other matters for shame find I none which can prove me to be shameless in a good sense, and foolish in a happy one, by my own contempt of shame. The Son of God was crucified; I am not ashamed because men must needs be ashamed of it. And the Son of God died; it is by all means to be believed, because it is absurd. And He was buried, and rose again; the fact is certain, because it is impossible.

"Him who will confess Me, I also will confess before My Father." How will he confess, fleeing? How flee, confessing? "Of him who shall be ashamed of Me, will I also be ashamed before My Father." If I avoid suffering, I am ashamed to confess. "Happy they who suffer persecution for My name's sake." Unhappy, therefore, they who, by running away, will not suffer according to the divine command. "He who shall endure to the end shall be saved." How then, when you bid me flee, do you wish me to endure to the end?

It is not enough to have inner faith alone: a confession of the lips is also required. For since man is twofold, his sanctification must also be twofold, that is, the sanctification of the soul through faith and the sanctification of the body through confession. Therefore, whoever "is ashamed" to confess the Crucified One as his God, him He also "will be ashamed of," recognizing him as an unworthy servant of His, when He "comes" no longer in a humble appearance, not in the abasement in which He appeared here before and for which some are ashamed of Him, but "in glory" and with an Angelic host.

For that faith which only remains in the mind is not sufficient, but the Lord requires also the confession of the mouth; for when the soul is sanctified by faith, the body ought also to be sanctified by confession.

Him then who shall have confessed that his God was crucified, Christ Himself also shall confess, not here, where He is esteemed poor and wretched, but in His glory and with a multitude of Angels.

And he said to them: Truly I say to you, that there are some standing here who will not taste death until, etc. The Kingdom of God in this place is called the present Church. And because some of the disciples were going to live in the body to the extent that they would see the Church of God constructed and raised up against the glory of this world, it is now said as a comforting promise: There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God coming in power. But since the Lord was issuing commands about enduring the death so great, what was necessary that he suddenly came to this promise? If we attentively consider this, we shall recognize how great a dispensation of piety takes place. For something needed to be promised even to the unlearned disciples regarding the present life, so that they might be more strongly established for the future. Thus the Israelite people, being freed from the land of Egypt, are promised the land of promise, so that while they were to be called to heavenly gifts, they might be persuaded by earthly promises. Hence it is rightly said through the Psalmist: He gave them the regions of the Gentiles, and they possessed the labors of the peoples, so that they might keep his statutes and seek his law (Psalm 105). Thus, in this place, Truth speaking to the unlearned disciples promises that they will see the kingdom of God on earth, so that it might be more faithfully presumed by them in heaven. But if we wish to receive the Kingdom of God by this saying as the future beatitude in heaven, certain ones of those standing there saw it not many days later on the mountain. This indeed was done by pious foresight so that by the contemplation of the always enduring joy, even if grasped quickly and briefly, they might more strongly endure the present adversities of the passing world. With very fitting language, the saints are testified to taste death, for indeed the death of the body is tasted by them as if by sipping, while truly the life of the soul is possessed by holding.

(in Marc. 3. 36) Truly it was done with a loving foresight, in order that they, having tasted for a brief moment the contemplation of everlasting joy, might with the greater strength bear up under adversity.

(ubi sup.) Or else the present Church is called the kingdom of God; and some of the disciples were to live in the body until they should see the Church built up, and raised against the glory of the world; for it was right to make some promises concerning this life to the disciples who were uninstructed, that they might be built up with greater strength for the time to come.

And he said to them: "Amen I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God coming in power." The kingdom of God, dearest brothers, is not always called the coming kingdom in sacred Scripture, but sometimes the present Church is so called. Hence it is written: "The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of scandal." In that kingdom, indeed, there will be no scandals, where certainly the reprobate are not admitted. By this example it is understood that in this passage the kingdom of God refers to the present Church. And because some of the disciples were going to live in the body long enough to see the Church of God built and raised up against the glory of this world, it is now said as a consoling promise: "There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." But when the Lord was giving such great precepts about the death that must be undergone, what need was there to come suddenly to this promise? If we consider carefully, we recognize with what great dispensation of love this is done. For to the inexperienced disciples something had to be promised even about the present life, so that they could be strengthened more firmly for the future. Thus to the Israelite people, about to be freed from the land of Egypt, the promised land was promised, and when they were to be called to heavenly gifts, they were persuaded by earthly promises. Why was this? So that while there was something they could receive nearby, they might then more faithfully believe what they could hear about from afar. For a carnal people, if they did not receive small things, would not believe in great things. Therefore Almighty God, by granting earthly things, persuades toward heavenly things, so that by receiving what they could see, they might learn to hope for what they could not see at all; and they would become all the more firm regarding invisible things, inasmuch as visible promises supported them toward certainty of hope.

(Hom. in Matt. 56) And He did not declare the names of those who were about to go up, lest the other disciples should feel some touch of human frailty, and He tells it to them beforehand, that they might come with minds better prepared to be taught all that concerned that vision.

(Orig. in Matt. tom. xii. 33, 35) But in a mystical sense, Christ is life, and the devil is death, and he tastes of death, who dwells in sin; even now every one, according as he has good or evil doctrines, tastes the bread either of life or of death. And indeed, it is a less evil to see death, a greater to taste of it, still worse to follow it, worst of all to be subject to it.

On the other hand, he whose "heart" was habitually found "lifted up" rather than fattened up, who in forty days and as many nights maintained a fast above the power of human nature, while spiritual faith subministered strength (to his body), both saw with his eyes God's glory, and heard with his ears God's voice, and understood with his heart God's law: while He taught him even then (by experience) that man liveth not upon bread alone, but upon every word of God; in that the People, though fatter than he, could not constantly contemplate even Moses himself, fed as he had been upon God, nor his leanness, sated as it had been with His glory! Deservedly, therefore, even while in the flesh, did the Lord show Himself to him, the colleague of His own fasts, no less than to Elijah. For Elijah withal had, by this fact primarily, that he had imprecated a famine, already sufficiently devoted himself to fasts: "The Lord liveth," he said, "before whom I am standing in His sight, if there shall be dew in these years, and rain-shower.

Having spoken of His glory and wishing to teach that He does not mention it in vain, the Lord then says that "there are some of those standing here," that is, Peter, James, and John, who will not die until I show them in My Transfiguration that with which glory I shall appear at the time of My coming. For the Transfiguration is nothing other than a foreshadowing of the Second Coming. So shall He Himself shine at that time; so too shall the righteous shine.

But because He had spoken of His glory, in order to show that His promises were not vain, He subjoins, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here who shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. As if He said, Some, that is, Peter, James, and John, shall not taste of death, until I show them, in my transfiguration, with what glory I am to come in my second advent; for the transfiguration was nothing else, but an announcement of the second coming of Christ, in which also Christ Himself and the Saints will shine.

(de Cons. Ev. ii. 71.) This parable is related only by Matthew. Luke gives one like it, but it is not the same, as the order shows.

(Chapter 22—Verses 1, 2.) And Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a king who made a marriage for his son. The Pharisees, understanding that these parables were about them, sought to seize him and kill him. Knowing their intention, the Lord rebuked them, undeterred by their rage, and without fear, so as to convict the sinners. This king who made a marriage for his son is the almighty God. But it signifies the union of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Church, which is gathered from both Jews and Gentiles.

Seest thou both in the former parable and in this the difference between the Son and the servants? Seest thou at once the great affinity between both parables, and the great difference also? For this also indicates God's long-suffering, and His great providential care, and the Jews' ingratitude.

But this parable hath something also more than the other. For it proclaims beforehand both the casting out of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles; and it indicates together with this also the strictness of the life required, and how great the punishment appointed for the careless.

And well is this placed after the other. For since He had said, "It shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," He declares next to what kind of nation; and not this only, but He also again sets forth His providential care towards the Jews as past utterance. For there He appears before His crucifixion bidding them; but here even after He is slain, He still urges them, striving to win them over. And when they deserved to have suffered the most grievous punishment, then He both presses them to the marriage, and honors them with the highest honor. And see how both there He calls not the Gentiles first, but the Jews, and here again. But as there, when they would not receive Him, but even slew Him when He was come, then He gave away the vineyard; thus here too, when they were not willing to be present at the marriage, then He called others.

What then could be more ungrateful than they, when being bidden to a marriage they rush away? For who would not choose to come to a marriage, and that a King's marriage, and of a King making a marriage for a Son?

And wherefore is it called a marriage? one may say. That thou mightest learn God's tender care, His yearning towards us, the cheerfulness of the state of things, that there is nothing sorrowful there, nor sad, but all things are full of spiritual joy: Therefore also John calls Him a bridegroom, therefore Paul again saith, "For I have espoused you to one husband;" and, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church."

Why then is not the bride said to be espoused to Him, but to the Son? Because she that is espoused to the Son, is espoused to the Father. For it is indifferent in Scripture that the one or the other should be said, because of the identity of the substance.

Hereby He proclaimed the resurrection also. For since in what went before He had spoken of the death, He shows that even after the death, then is the marriage, then the bridegroom.

(Hom. lxix.) Forasmuch as He had said, And it shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, He now proceeds to show what nation that is.

This parable, too, like that of the vineyard, alludes to the disobedience of the Jews. But as that one indicates Christ's death, so this one indicates the nuptial joy, that is, the resurrection. But this parable also shows them to be worse transgressors than the men in the preceding parable. For the husbandmen of the vineyard slew those who demanded fruits of them. But these men vented their murderous rage upon those who had invited them to a wedding. God is likened to a human king, for He does not appear as He is, but as it is fitting for Him to appear to us. When we die as humans, subject to human failings, God appears to us in human form; but when we walk about as gods, then God stands in the congregation of gods. And when we live as wild beasts, then He, too, becomes for us a panther, and a bear, and a lion. He makes a wedding feast for His Son, joining Him to every soul that is beautiful. For the bridegroom is Christ and the bride is the Church and the soul. The servants that were sent out first are Moses and those with him, whom the Jews did not obey but provoked God in the wilderness for forty years and did not want to accept the word of God and spiritual joy. Then other servants, the prophets, were sent out; but of these, some they killed, as they did Isaiah; others they treated spitefully, as they did Jeremiah, throwing him into a pit of mire. Those who were less extreme merely declined the invitation: one went his way to his own field, that is, turned towards a life of pleasure and carnal pursuits, for one's "own field" is the body; another, to his merchandise, that is, to a life of acquisition and profit, for merchants are a type of men most greedy for profit. This parable shows that those who fail to attend the wedding feast and the fellowship and feasting with Christ, do so primarily on account of these two things - the pleasures of the flesh, or the passion of greed. In this parable the meal is called a "dinner," although elsewhere the same thing is called a "supper" (Lk. 14:16), and not unreasonably. For it is called a supper when this wedding feast appears in perfect form in the latter times, towards evening, that is, at the end of the ages. But it is called a dinner when even in former times the mystery was revealed, although more obscurely. The oxen and the fattened calves [in Greek, sitista, grain-fattened calves] are the Old and the New Testaments. For the Old Testament is symbolized by the oxen, for it contained animal sacrifice; the New Testament is symbolized by the grain-fattened calves, for now we offer loaves upon the altar, which could truly be called sitista [literally, "formed from wheat"], as the loaves consist of wheat, sitos. God therefore calls us to partake of the good things of both the Old Testament Scriptures and the New. But when you see someone clearly interpreting the divine words know that he is giving grain-fattened meat. For when he teaches clearly, it is as if he were feeding the unlearned with rich food. No doubt you will ask why He says here, "Call them that were called." If they were already invited, why are they going to invite them again? Learn, then, that each of us by nature has been called towards the good, for we are being called by the word of the innate teacher within us. But God also sends us external teachers to call us from without, we who were first called by the word in our nature. The king sent his armies, that is, the Roman legions, and destroyed the disobedient Jews and burnt up their city, Jerusalem, as even the truthful Josephus says.

The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain King who made a marriage feast for his son, having selected the highest of the good things of this life, and likened them to the good things of the future life.

I remember that I have often said that frequently in the holy Gospel the present Church is called the kingdom of heaven. For the congregation of the righteous is called the kingdom of heaven. Because the Lord says through the prophet: "Heaven is my throne"; and Solomon says: "The soul of the righteous is the seat of wisdom"; Paul also says: "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God"; we ought clearly to conclude that if God is wisdom, and the soul of the righteous is the seat of wisdom, since heaven is called the throne of God, therefore the soul of the righteous is heaven. Hence it is said through the Psalmist concerning the holy preachers: "The heavens declare the glory of God." Therefore the kingdom of heaven is the Church of the righteous, because while their hearts seek nothing on earth, through the fact that they sigh for things above, the Lord already reigns in them as if in heavenly places. Let it therefore be said: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was a king, who made a wedding feast for his son."

Now your charity understands who this king is, the father of the king's son: namely he to whom the Psalmist says: "O God, give your judgment to the king, and your justice to the king's son." He made a wedding for his son. For God the Father made a wedding for God his Son when he joined him to human nature in the womb of the Virgin, when he willed that God before all ages should become man at the end of the ages. But since this union is usually made from two persons, far be it from our understanding that we should believe the person of God and man, our Redeemer Jesus Christ, to be united from two persons. Indeed we say that he exists from two and in two natures; but we avoid as impious the belief that he is composed of two persons. Therefore it can be said more openly and safely that in this the Father made a wedding for his Son the king, by which through the mystery of the incarnation he joined the holy Church to him. Moreover, the womb of the Virgin mother was the bridal chamber of this bridegroom. Hence the Psalmist also says: "He has set his tabernacle in the sun, and he himself comes forth like a bridegroom from his chamber." For like a bridegroom he came forth from his chamber, because God incarnate went out from the uncorrupted womb of the Virgin to join the Church to himself.

(Hom. in Ev. xxxviii. 2.) Here, by the wedding-feast is denoted the present Church; there, by the supper, the last and eternal feast. For into this enter some who shall perish; into that whosoever has once entered in shall never be put forth. But if any should maintain that these are the same lessons, we may perhaps explain that that part concerning the guest who had come in without a wedding garment, which Luke has not mentioned, Matthew has related. That the one calls it supper, the other dinner, makes no difference; for with the ancients the dinner was at the ninth hour, and was therefore often called supper.

(ubi sup.) G marriage feast for God the Son, when He joined Him to human nature in the womb of the Virgin. But far be it from us to conclude, that because marriage takes place between two separate persons, that therefore the person of our Redeemer was made up of two separate persons. We say indeed that He exists of two natures, and in two natures, but we hold it unlawful to believe that He was compounded of two persons. It is safer therefore to say, that the marriage feast was made by the King the Father for the King the Son when He joined to Him the Holy Church in the mystery of His incarnation. The womb of the Virgin Mother was the bride-chamber of this Bridegroom.

Rightly has the Father already made this wedding, because this eternal union and espousal of the new body is already perfect in Christ.

The kingdom of heaven, in respect of Him who reigns there, is like a king; in respect of Him who shares the kingdom, it is like a king's son; in respect of those things which are in the kingdom, it is like servants and guests, and among them the king's armies. It is specified, A man that is a king, that what is spoken may be as by a man to men, and that a man may regulate men unwilling to be regulated by God. But the kingdom of heaven will then cease to be like a man, when zeal and contention and all other passions and sins having ceased, we shall cease to walk after men, and shall see Him as He is. For now we see Him not as He is, but as He has been made for us in our dispensation.

Or, by the marriage of Bridegroom with Bride, that is, of Christ with the soul, understand the Assumption of the Word, the produce whereof is good works.

Otherwise; When the resurrection of the saints shall be, then the life, which is Christ, shall revive man, swallowing up his mortality in its own immortality. For now we receive the Holy Spirit as a pledge of the future union, but then we shall have Christ Himself more fully in us.

The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king who made a marriage for his son. Here the parable of the wedding is presented, and a similar parable is presented in Luke 14:16. And according to Gregory, it does not seem to be the same, because there mention is made of a supper, here of a wedding. Likewise, no one was excluded from that supper, but here someone is excluded. Hence it is a different parable. By that one the heavenly banquet is understood; by this one the banquet that takes place on earth. And therefore that one is called a supper, because no one is excluded from it, but from this one someone is excluded. It can be said, according to some, that it is the same parable, because in ancient times dinner and supper were called the same thing, since men were not accustomed to eat except until the ninth hour. Or it can be said that Luke says what Matthew passed over. But I believe it is a different one. Concerning this parable, let us see who this king is. And it is said that he is God, and the person of the Father is understood, because he says for his son. But why does he say to a king? The reason, as Origen says, is that a king is so called from ruling. But we cannot, nor are we capable of receiving his kingdom as it is; rather he rules us according to our mode. Deuteronomy 32:11: as the eagle enticing her young to fly. And therefore he is called a king, because he rules us in a human manner. But when he shall be seen as he is, then he will be king, because then he will rule according to himself. Hence the Apostle, 1 Corinthians 13:12: we see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face. He says, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a king. For just as in a kingdom there are many things -- for there is a king, a kingdom, and those who serve -- so also in that kingdom; therefore it is likened to a king who made a marriage for his son. The son is Christ, of whom it is said in 1 John 5:20: that we may be in his true Son. He is the true God, and eternal life. What these nuptials are can be explained in four ways. First, through the union of human nature with the divine, so that human nature is the bride, and the bridal chamber was the womb of the Virgin. Psalm 18:6: he hath set his tabernacle in the sun: and he as a bridegroom coming out of his bride chamber. And this explanation has some difficulty, because it could be thought that the person of the Father is not other than the person of the Son. Hence it can be said that the bridegroom is the incarnate Word; the bride, the Church; hence the Apostle, Ephesians 5:32: this is a great sacrament: but I speak in Christ and in the Church. Likewise, of the Word itself to our soul. For the soul becomes a partaker of the glory of God through faith, and thus our nuptials are made. Hosea 2:20: I will espouse thee in faith. Likewise, the nuptials will take place at the general resurrection. But Christ is the way of this resurrection; John 14:6: I am the way. Then there will be nuptials, when our mortal nature shall be swallowed up by life, as is found in 2 Corinthians 5:4. But if we speak according to Gregory, we should explain it of present things, according as the Church is espoused to Christ, and our soul to God through faith.

All the faithful know the story of the marriage of the king's son, and his feast. They know that the Lord's table is open to all who are willing correctly to receive it. But it is important that each one examines how he approaches, even when he is not forbidden to approach.The holy Scriptures teach us that there are two feasts of the Lord: one to which the good and evil come, the other to which the evil do not come. So then the feast of which we have just now heard when the gospel was being read has both good and evil guests. All who excused themselves from this feast are evil, but not all those who entered in are good. I now address you, therefore, who are the good guests at this feast. You are taking careful note of the words "For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself." It is to you I speak. I plead with you not to look vainly for the good apart from the church but to bear with the evil within it.

Therefore he sent his servants to invite friends to this wedding. He sent once, he sent again, because he made the preachers of the Lord's incarnation first prophets, and afterward apostles. Thus he sent servants twice to invite, because he both declared the incarnation of the Only-begotten as future through the prophets, and announced it as accomplished through the apostles. But since those who were first invited were unwilling to come to the wedding banquet, in the second invitation it is now said: "Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my bulls and fatted calves are slain, and all things are ready."

Or; The servants who were first sent to call them that were bidden, are the Apostles; they who, being before bidden, are now invited to come in, are the people of Israel, who had before been bidden through the Law to the glories of eternity. To the Apostles therefore it belonged to remind those whom the Prophets had invited. Those sent with the second injunction are the Apostolic men their successors.

(V. 3.) And he sent his servant to call the invited guests to the wedding, but they did not want to come. There is no doubt that it refers to Moses, through whom the Law was given to the invited guests. But if we read it in reference to the servants, as most copies have it, it should be understood as referring to the prophets, who were ignored by those invited through them.

He sent his servant, without doubt Moses, by whom He gave the Law, to those who had been invited. But if you read servants as most copies have, it must be referred to the Prophets, by whom they were invited, but neglected to come.

And He not suddenly, but a long time before. For, "Tell," He saith, "them that are bidden;" and again, "Call them that were bidden;" which circumstance makes the charge against them heavier. And when were they bidden? By all the prophets; by John again; for unto Christ he would pass all on, saying, "He must increase, I must decrease;" by the Son Himself again, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you;" and again, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."

But not by words only, but also by actions did He bid them, after His ascension by Peter, and those with him. "For He that wrought effectually in Peter," it is said, "to the apostleship of the circumcision, was mighty also in me towards the Gentiles."

For since on seeing the Son, they were wroth and slew Him, He bids them again by His servants. And unto what doth He bid them? Unto labors, and toils, and sweat? Nay but unto pleasure. For, "My oxen," He saith, "and my fatlings are killed." See how complete His banquet? how great His munificence.

Or; The servants who were first sent to call them that were bidden to the wedding, are to be taken as the Prophets converting the people by their prophecy to the festival of the restoration of the Church to Christ. They who would not come at the first message are they who refused to hear the words of the Prophets. The others who were sent a second time were another assembly of Prophets.

Or; The dinner which is prepared is the oracle of God; and so the more mighty of the oracles of God are the oxen; the sweet and pleasant are the fatlings. For if any one bring forward feeble words, without power, and not having strong force of reason, these are the lean things; the fatlings are when to the establishment of each proposition many examples are brought forward backed by reasonable proofs. For example, supposing one holding discourse of chastity, it might well be represented by the turtle-dove; but should he bring forward the same holy discourse full of reasonable proof out of Scripture, so as to delight and strengthen the mind of his hearer, then he brings the dove fatted.

When the servants were sent to call them, they must have been invited before. Men have been invited from the time of Abraham, to whom was promised Christ's incarnation.

whom He sent when He said unto them, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Mat. 10:5.)

There follows the calling of the Jews. And first a twofold calling is presented; secondly, the excuse, at but they neglected, etc. Concerning the first, he does two things according to the two callings. Hence he says, and he sent his servants to call those that were invited. And according to what Origen says there, the text is twofold, because one reading has he sent his servant, another his servants. If the reading is servant, then three things are to be considered. First, the invitation; secondly, the calling; and thirdly, another invitation. The Jews, then, were invited in the patriarchs; hence it was said to Abraham: in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Galatians 3:16: to Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed, etc. The first one sent was Moses. Numbers 12:7: my servant Moses is not so, who is most faithful in all my house. And there follows, why then were you not afraid? And they would not come. Deuteronomy 31:27: while I am yet living and going in with you, you have always been rebellious against the Lord. The second calling is through the prophets, of whom Amos 3:7 says: the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. Or the reading can be servants; and then by the first are signified the prophets, to whom the Jews were always rebellious; Acts 7:51: you always resist the Holy Spirit. By the second, the apostles, to whom it was said above at 10:5: go not into the way of the gentiles. Or by the first, the prophets and the first apostles; by the second, the successors of the apostles.

(interlin.) Or, All things are now ready, i. e. The entrance into the kingdom, which had been hitherto closed, is now ready through faith in My incarnation.

What do we understand by the bulls and fattened birds, dearest brothers, if not the fathers of the Old and New Testament? Because I speak to common people, I must also explain the very words of the Gospel reading. For we call "altilia" fattened birds; from the word "alere" (to nourish), we call them "altilia," as if "alitilia." Since it was written in the law: "You shall love your friend, and hate your enemy," the just had then received permission to suppress God's adversaries and their own with whatever strength they could, and to strike them by right of the sword. This is without doubt restrained in the New Testament, when Truth Himself preaches, saying: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." Who then are signified by the bulls if not the fathers of the Old Testament? For since they had received from the permission of the law the right to strike their adversaries with the repayment of hatred, so to speak, what else were they but bulls, who struck their enemies with the horn of bodily strength? And what is figured by the fattened birds if not the fathers of the New Testament, who, receiving the grace of inner richness, striving upward from earthly desires, are lifted to the heights of their contemplation on wings? Indeed, to place one's thought on lowly things—what else is this but a certain dryness of mind? But those who through understanding of heavenly things are already fed through holy desires with the food of inner delight from above grow fat, as it were, with more abundant nourishment. The Prophet had longed to be fattened with this richness when he said: "Let my soul be filled as with fat and richness."

Therefore, because the preachers of the Lord's incarnation who were sent endured persecution from unbelievers—first the prophets and afterward the holy apostles—it is said to those invited who refused to come: "My bulls and fattened birds have been slain, and all things are ready." As if it were said more openly: Look upon the deaths of the fathers who went before, and consider the remedies for your life. It should be noted that in the first invitation nothing is said about bulls and fattened birds, but in the second it is now mentioned that the bulls and fattened birds have been slaughtered, because almighty God, when we refuse to hear His words, adds examples, so that everything we believe impossible becomes easier for us to hope for, the more we hear that others have already passed through it.

(ubi sup.) But because these who were first invited would not come to the feast, the second summons says, Behold, I have prepared my dinner.

(ubi sup.) By the oxen are signified the Fathers of the Old Testament; who by sufferance of the Law gored their enemies with the horn of bodily strength. By fatlings are meant fatted animals, for from 'alere', comes 'altilia,' as it were 'alitilia' or 'alita.' By the fatlings are intended the Fathers of the New Testament; who while they receive sweet grace of inward fattening, are raised by the wing of contemplation from earthly desires to things above. He says therefore, My oxen and my fallings are killed; as much as to say, Look to the deaths of the Fathers who have been before you, and desire some amendment of your lives.

(ubi sup.) It is to be observed, that in the first invitation nothing was said of the oxen or fatlings, but in the second it is announced that they are already killed, because Almighty God when we will not hear His words gives examples, that what we suppose impossible may become easy to us to surmount, when we hear that others have passed through it before us.

Or otherwise; The oxen are the glorious army of Martyrs, offered, like choice victims, for the confession of God; the fatlings are spiritual men, as birds fed for flight upon heavenly food, that they may fill others with the abundance of the food they have eaten.

(Vers. 4, 5.) He sent other servants again, saying: Tell those who are invited: Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and fatted cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready: come to the wedding feast. But they disregarded him. The servants who were sent the second time are better understood as prophets than apostles, if the word 'servant' is written above. But if you read 'servants' in the same place, then the second servants should be understood as apostles. The prepared dinner, the oxen, and the slaughtered fatted cattle either describe the riches of the kingdom using a metaphor, so that the spiritual may be understood from the carnal, or certainly the greatness of doctrine and the richness of God's teaching can be perceived.

By the servants who were sent the second time, we may better understand the Prophets than the Apostles; that is to say, if servant is read in the first place; but if 'servants,' then by the second servants are to be understood the Apostles;

The dinner that is prepared, the oxen and the fatlings that are killed, is either a description of regal magnificence by the way of metaphor, that by carnal things spiritual may be understood; or the greatness of the doctrines, and the manifold teaching of God in His law, may be understood.

For since on seeing the Son, they were wroth and slew Him, He bids them again by His servants. And unto what doth He bid them? Unto labors, and toils, and sweat? Nay but unto pleasure. For, "My oxen," He saith, "and my fatlings are killed." See how complete His banquet? how great His munificence.

And not even this shamed them, but the more long-suffering He showed, so much the more were they hardened. For not for press of business, but from "making light of it" they did not come.

When therefore the Lord bade the Apostles, Go ye and preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand, it was the same message as is here given, I have prepared my dinner; i. e. I have set out the table of Scripture out of the Law and the Prophets.

Otherwise; He says oxen and fatlings, not as though the oxen were not fatted, but because all the oxen were not fat. Therefore the fatlings denote the Prophets who were filled with the Holy Spirit; the oxen those who were both Priests and Prophets, as Jeremiah and Ezekiel; for as the oxen are the leaders of the herd, so also the Priests are leaders of the people.

That He says, And all things are now ready, means, that all that is required to salvation is already filled up in the Scriptures; there the ignorant may find instruction; the self-willed may read of terrors; he who is in difficulty may there find promises to rouse him to activity.

Again he sent other servants. Here another invitation is presented. And an increase of benevolence on the part of the one inviting is presented, and an increase of malice on the part of those refusing. In the first calling he promised nothing; but in this one he promises, because he says, tell them that were invited: behold, I have prepared my dinner. This dinner is a spiritual refreshment; Proverbs 9:2: wisdom hath slain her victims, mingled her wine, and set forth her table; she hath sent her maids to invite to the tower. My beeves and fatlings are killed. And this saying can be explained according to Origen as the disposition of the wisdom of God. The beeves are called strong reasons; Isaiah 8:11: with his strong hand he instructed me. Fatlings are so called as if well nourished. Fatlings are properly fattened birds, which are nourished and fattened, and they signify subtle meanings, and they become fattened when they are multiplied with sacred meanings, by which the soul is fattened; Psalm 62:6: let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness. For whatever is necessary is found in sacred Scripture. Therefore all things are ready. Psalm 18:8: the law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls. This is the invitation of wisdom, Proverbs 9:5: come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you. Or, it signifies spiritual refreshment: by the beeves are signified the examples of the saints, which the Lord prepared as an example; James 5:10: take for an example of suffering evil, of labor and patience, the prophets. Hence he presents the tribulations of the saints as an example. According to Gregory, by the beeves are signified the fathers of the Old Testament, because a bull strikes with its horns, and in the time of the fathers vengeance was always sought, and it was commanded that an eye be given for an eye. By the fatlings, the fathers of the New Testament, who left all things for Christ and are fattened with the wisdom of God, slain for the sake of God; and both were slain. All things are ready; come to the marriage. Christ has suffered, he has opened the heavens, he has sent the apostles. Or by the beeves are understood the priests of the Old Testament, because the bull is a sacrificial animal; by the fatlings, the prophets who were fattened with the wisdom of God.

There follows: "But they neglected it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business." To go to a farm is to devote oneself immoderately to earthly labor; to go to business is to yearn for the profits of worldly activities. For when one person is intent on earthly labor and another is given over to the activities of this world, each refuses to consider the mystery of the Lord's incarnation and to live according to it—as if going off to a farm or to business, he declines to come to the king's wedding.

Whosoever then intent upon earthly business, or devoted to the actions of this world, feigns to be meditating upon the mystery of the Lord's Passion, and to be living accordingly, is he that refuses to come to the King's wedding on pretext of going to his farm or his merchandize.

For men are taken up with worldly ambition as with a farm; and many through covetousness are engrossed with trafficking.

But not even so do these become better men nor more gentle, than which what can be worse? For this again is a third accusation. The first that they killed the prophets; then the son; afterwards that even when they had slain Him, and were bidden unto the marriage of Him that was slain, by the Very one that was slain, they come not, but feign excuses, yokes of oxen, and pieces of ground, and wives. And yet the excuses seem to be reasonable; but hence we learn, though the things which hinder us be necessary, to set the things spiritual at a higher price than all.

"How then do some bring forward marriages, others yokes of oxen? these things surely are of want of leisure."

By no means, for when spiritual things call us, there is no press of business that has the power of necessity.

(non occ. sed vid. Gloss. ord.) Or He says, All things are now ready which belong to the mystery of the Lord's Passion, and our redemption. He says, Come to the marriage, not with your feet, but with faith, and good conduct. But they made light of it; why they did so He shows when He adds, And they went their way, one to his farm, another to his merchandize.

Or otherwise; When we work with the labour of our hands, for example, cultivating our field or our vineyard, or any manufacture of wood or iron, we seem to be occupied with our farm; any other mode of getting money unattended with manual labour is here called merchandize. O most miserable world! and miserable ye that follow it! The pursuits of this world have ever shut men out of life.

Or, by the business of a farm, He denotes the Jewish populace, whom the delights of this world separated from-Christ; by the excuse of merchandize, the Priests and other ministers of the Temple, who, coming to the service of the Law and the Temple through greediness of gain, have been shut out of the faith by covetousness. Of these He said not, 'They were filled with envy,' but They made light of it. For they who through hate and spite crucified Christ, are they who were filled with envy; but they who being entangled in business did not believe on Him, are not said to have been filled with envy, but to have made light of it. The Lord is silent respecting His own death, because He had spoken of it in the foregoing parable, but He shows forth the death of His disciples, whom after His ascension the Jews put to death, stoning Stephen and executing James the son of Alphæus, for which things Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. And it is to be observed, that anger is attributed to God figuratively and not properly; He is then said to be angry when He punishes.

But they, namely, those hardened in malice, neglected it. Some leave off through negligence, but others through malice, who persecute preachers; hence he says, but they neglected it. And what was the cause? Because they went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. They seemed to have a just cause outwardly, but the Lord does not accept it, because no temporal things should keep one from coming to God. According to Hilary, by what he says, to his farm, is signified the desire for human glory; John 12:43: they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God; Jeremiah 5:4: but I said: perhaps these are poor and foolish, not knowing the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God. By what he says, another to his merchandise, is signified the desire of avarice; Jeremiah 6:13: from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to covetousness. According to Chrysostom, some have the occupation of laboring with their own hands, others in merchandise, i.e., in their own business.

For when one person is intent on earthly labor and another is given over to the activities of this world, each refuses to consider the mystery of the Lord's incarnation and to live according to it—as if going off to a farm or to business, he declines to come to the king's wedding. And very often, what is more serious, some people not only reject the grace of him who calls but even persecute it. Hence it is added: "But the rest seized his servants, and after treating them with contempt, killed them."

Nay often, which is worse, some who are called not only reject the grace, but become persecutors, And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them despitefully, and slew them.

(Verse 6) And they went away, some to their own village, and others to their business. The rest held his servants, and treating them with contempt, they killed them. Among those who do not accept the truth of the Gospel, there is much diversity. For those who were occupied with other matters and did not want to come are guilty of a lesser crime than those who, despite the invitation of the host, turned their affection into cruelty and mistreated or killed the king's servants. In this parable, the silence of the wedding guests and the deaths of the servants illustrate the contempt for the wedding feast.

And to me they seem moreover to make use of these excuses, putting forward these things as cloke for their negligence. And not this only is the grievous thing, that they came not, but also that which is a far more violent and furious act, to have even beaten them that came, and to have used them despitefully, and to have slain them; this is worse than the former. For those others came, demanding produce and fruits, and were slain; but these, bidding them to the marriage of Him that had been slain by them, and these again are murdered.

What is equal to this madness? This Paul also was laying to their charge, when he said, "Who both killed the Lord, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us."

Moreover, that they may not say, "He is an adversary of God, and therefore we do not come," hear what they say who are bidding them; that it is the father who is making the marriage, and that it is He who is bidding them.

There follows, and the rest laid hands on his servants, i.e., the apostles, and having treated them contumeliously, put them to death, because they killed many from both the Old and New Testaments. Hence below, 23:34: I send to you wise men and scribes, and some of them you will kill, etc. And he makes no mention here of his own death, but only of that of his disciples, because he had already made sufficient mention above.

"But when the king learned of this, he sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city." He destroys the murderers because he slays the persecutors. He burns their city with fire because not only their souls but also the flesh in which they had dwelt is tormented by the eternal flame of hell. It is said that he destroyed the murderers by sending armies because all judgment among humans is carried out through angels. For what are those hosts of angels if not the armies of our King? Hence the same king is called "Lord Sabaoth." For Sabaoth is translated as "of armies." Therefore he sends an army to destroy his adversaries because the Lord indeed executes vengeance through angels. The power of this vengeance our fathers once only heard about, but we now see it. For where are those proud persecutors of the martyrs? Where are those who raised the neck of their heart against their Creator and swelled with deadly pride over the glory of this world? Behold, the death of the martyrs now flourishes in the faith of the living, and those who gloried in their cruelty against them do not come into our memory even among the number of the dead. Thus we recognize in actual events what we hear in parables.

(ubi sup.) Or, The armies of our King are the legions of His Angels. He is said therefore to have sent His armies, and to have destroyed those murderers, because all judgment is executed upon men by the Angels. He destroys those murderers, when He cuts off persecutors; and burns up their city, because not only their souls, but the body of flesh they had tenanted, is tormented in the everlasting fire of hell.

(Verse 7) But when the king heard this, he was angry. Regarding what was said above: The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast and showed acts of mercy. The man's name was given, but now when it comes to vengeance, the man is silent and only the king is mentioned.

And having sent his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. The armies, or avenging angels, of whom it is written in the Psalms: He sent upon them a destroying angel (Psalm 77:49); or we may understand the Romans, under the leadership of Vespasian and Titus, who, having killed the Jewish people, burned the rebellious city.

When He was doing works of mercy, and bidding to His marriage-feast, He was called a man; (homini regi) now when He comes to vengeance, the man is dropped, and He is called only a King.

By His armies we understand the Romans under Vespasian and Titus, who having slaughtered the inhabitants of Judæa, laid in ashes the faithless city.

What then did He after these things? Since they were not willing to come, yea and also slew those that came unto them; He burns up their cities, and sent His armies and slew them.

And these things He saith, declaring beforehand the things that took place under Vespasian and Titus, and that they provoked the father also, by not believing in Him; it is the father at any rate who was avenging.

And for this reason let me add, not straightway after Christ was slain did the capture take place, but after forty years, that He might show His long suffering, when they had slain Stephen, when they had put James to death, when they had spitefully entreated the apostles.

Seest thou the truth of the event, and its quickness? For while John was yet living, and many other of them that were with Christ, these things came to pass, and they that had heard these words were witnesses of the events.

See then care utterable. He had planted a vineyard; He had done all things, and finished; when His servants had been put to death, He sent other servants; when those had been slain, He sent the son; and when He was put to death, He bids them to the marriage. They would not come. After this He sends other servants, and they slew these also.

Then upon this He slays them, as being incurably diseased. For that they were incurably diseased, was proved not by their acts only, but by the fact, that even when harlots and publicans had believed, they did these things. So that, not by their own crimes alone, but also from what others were able to do aright, these men are condemned.

Let those who sin against the God of the Law, and the Prophets, and the whole creation, declare whether He who is here called man, and is said to be angry, is indeed the Father Himself. If they allow this, they will be forced to own that many things are said of Him applicable to the passible nature of man; not for that He has passions, but because He is represented to us after the manner of passible human nature. In this way we take God's anger, repentance, and the other things of the like sort in the Prophets.

Or, the city of those wicked men is in each doctrine the assembly of those who meet in the wisdom of the rulers of this world; which the King sets fire to and destroys, as consisting of evil buildings.

The Roman army is called God's army; because The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; (Ps. 24:1.) nor would the Romans have come to Jerusalem, had not the Lord stirred them thither.

Then follows their punishment: but when the king had heard of it, he was angry, etc. Above he presented the spiritual penalty; here he presents the temporal one; hence above it was said a king, but here it says the king, because the name of man seems to pertain to mercy, but that of king to punishment; therefore here only king is said; Wisdom 14:17: those whom men could not honor in presence, because they dwelt far off, they made an evident image of the king whom they had a mind to honor, that by their earnestness they might worship him that was far off as though he were present. But the king was angry. It should be noted that when anger is attributed to God, it does not signify a disturbance but vengeance: for those who are angry are accustomed to punish, hence anger is called punishment. This should be noted against the heretics, because they are accustomed to object that the God of the Old Testament is not good, because he commanded punishments, etc. Hence, having sent his armies, he destroyed those murderers. The armies are angelic spirits, or Roman citizens who under Titus and Vespasian killed many; Psalm 23:1: the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. And burnt their city, because they were burned; Isaiah 1:7: your cities shall be burnt with fire. Or it can be understood mystically, namely, their bodies, or the congregations of heretics.

But someone will object, This is strange. What great matter is it that one man among this large crowd does not have a wedding garment? Why rivet attention on this one man? So what if he creeps in unperceived by the servants of the householder? How could it be said that because of just that one, "they invited in both good and bad together"? Attend therefore, beloved, and understand. This man represents a whole class of persons of whom there are many.

But he who sees that those invited despise him will not allow his son's wedding to remain empty. He sends to others, because even if the word of God labors among some, nevertheless at some point it will find a place where it may rest. Hence it is added: "Then he said to his servants: The wedding indeed is prepared, but those who were invited were not worthy."

(ubi sup.) But when He sees that His invitation is spurned at, He will not have His Son's marriage-feast empty; the word of God will find where it may stay itself.

But if any one should say, that not then were they out of the Gentiles called, I mean, when the apostles had been beaten and had suffered ten thousand things, but straightway after the resurrection (for then He said to them, "Go ye and make disciples of all nations.") We would say, that both before the crucifixion, and after the crucifixion, they addressed themselves to them first. For both before the crucifixion, He saith to them, "Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;" and after the crucifixion, so far from forbidding, He even commanded them to address themselves to the Jews. For though He said, "Make disciples of all nations," yet when on the point of ascending into Heaven, He declared that unto those first they were to address themselves; For, "ye shall receive power," saith He, "after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and unto the uttermost part of the earth;" and Paul again, "He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, was mighty in me also toward the Gentiles." Therefore the apostles also went first unto the Jews, and when they had tarried a long time in Jerusalem, and then had been driven away by them, in this way they were scattered abroad unto the Gentiles.

And see thou even herein His bounty; "As many as ye shall find," saith He, "bid to the marriage." For before this, as I said, they addressed themselves both to Jews and Greeks, tarrying for the most part in Judaea; but since they continued to lay plots against them, hear Paul interpreting this parable, and saying thus, "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, but since ye judge yourselves unworthy, lo, we turn to the Gentiles."

Therefore Christ also saith, "The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy."

He knew this indeed even before, but that He might leave them no pretext of a shameless sort of contradiction, although He knew it, to them first He both came and sent, both stopping their mouths, and teaching us to fulfill all our parts, though no one should derive any profit.

Since then they were not worthy, go ye, saith He, into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid; both the common sort, and the outcasts. For because He had said in every way, "The harlots and publicans shall inherit heaven;" and, "The first shall be last, and the last first;" He shows that justly do these things come to pass; which more than anything stung the Jews, and goaded them far more grievously than their overthrow, to see those from the Gentiles brought into their privileges, and into far greater than theirs.

He saith to His servants, that is, to the Apostles; or to the Angels, who were set over the calling of the Gentiles, The wedding is ready.

Or otherwise; I suppose this first bidding to the wedding to have been a bidding of some of the more noble minds. For God would have those before all come to the feast of the divine oracles who are of the more ready wit to understand them; and forasmuch as they who are such are loth to come to that kind of summons, other servants are sent to move them to come, and to promise that they shall find the dinner prepared. For as in the things of the body, one is the bride, others the inviters to the feast, and they that are bidden are others again; so God knows the various ranks of souls, and their powers, and the reasons why these are taken into the condition of the Bride, others in the rank of the servants that call, and others among the number of those that are bidden as guests. But they who had been thus especially invited contemned the first inviters as poor in understanding, and went their way, following their own devices, as more delighting in them than in those things which the King by his servants promised. Yet are these more venial than they who ill-treat and put to death the servants sent unto them; those, that is, who daringly assail with weapons of contentious words the servants sent, who are unequal to solve their subtle difficulties, and those are illtreated or put to death by them. The servants going forth are either Christ's Apostles going from Judæa and Jerusalem, or the Holy Angels from the inner worlds, and going to the various ways of various manners, gathered together whomsoever they found, not caring whether before their calling they had been good or bad. By the good here we may understand simply the more humble and upright of those who come to the worship of God, to whom agreed what the Apostle says, When the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law, they are a law unto themselves. (Rom. 2:14.)

That is, the whole sacrament of the human dispensation is completed and closed. But they which, were bidden, (Rom. 10:3.) that is, the Jews, were not worthy, because, ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. The Jewish nation then being rejected, the Gentile people were taken in to the marriage-feast; whence it follows, Go ye out into the crossings of the streets, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the wedding.

Since the previous servants, Moses and those with him, and the prophets, did not persuade them, He sends out other servants, the apostles, and they call the Gentiles who do not walk in the true way but are divided, some here, some there, separated into many ways and doctrines. Indeed, they are to be found along the lanes off from the highways, that is, in great error, delusion, and deviation. They were even at odds among themselves, and were not in the true way, but along the exits, which are the evil doctrines that they taught. For they were not all content with the same doctrines, but some with these and some with those. But perhaps an even better explanation is this: the highway is the life and the manner in which each person lives; the lanes exiting from the highway are doctrines. The pagan Greeks, then, travel along evil highways, that is, they lead reprehensible lives, and from these evil lives they have turned off into godless doctrines, setting up shameful gods as patrons of their own passions. So as the apostles went forth from Jerusalem to the Gentiles, they gathered all together, both evil and good, that is, those filled with every wickedness and also those less wicked whom He calls good by comparison to the others.

There follows the calling of the gentiles, and the examination is presented. And he does three things. First, the command is presented; secondly, the execution; thirdly, the effect. The second is at and his servants going forth, etc.; the third at and the wedding was furnished with guests. Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he assigns the reason for the command; secondly, he presents the command. He says, therefore, then he said to his servants: the wedding indeed is ready, but they that were invited were not worthy. The wedding indeed is prepared, i.e., the Son has become incarnate, according to that saying of Isaiah 5:4: what is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard? But they that were invited were unworthy, i.e., they rendered themselves unworthy. And how? As it is said in Romans 10:3: for they, not knowing the justice of God, and seeking to establish their own, have not submitted themselves to the justice of God; and Acts 13:46: but because you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the gentiles. Hence through the sin of the Jews, salvation was made for the gentiles; Apocalypse 3:11: hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

This wedding pictures the marriage of the church to the Word. The donation of the gifts of the wealthy provides for the wedding's preparation and is compared with bulls and fattened calves prepared for lavish feasting. For Paul says that "in every way" we have been "enriched" in Christ, in our "speaking and knowledge." The first and second are called servants. The first are those who run ahead in light of the coming of the Lord, fellow laborers and successors of the apostles. But a failure to watch carefully prevents those who are invited from attending. For they "who live their lives according to the flesh" do not follow the divine call which is according to Christ. In the case of the rest, with the calling of the nations there is no longer a separation of a people nor a special honor accorded to Israel. But grace is even [given] to the rejected and outcasts, "to the wise and to the foolish," as Paul says, to the evil and to the good, as the parable teaches … if it is that they really obey the calling to do good, "having clothed themselves with the new humanity." If this proves not to be true, though they were called, they were not chosen. Rather, their calling is even overturned.

"Go therefore to the crossroads, and whomever you find, call to the wedding." If in Sacred Scripture we understand ways as actions, we understand the crossroads as the failures of actions, because those whom no prosperity accompanies in earthly activities usually come easily to God.

(ubi sup.) Or otherwise; In holy Scripture, way is taken to mean actions; so that the crossings of the ways we understand as failure in action, for they usually come to God readily, who have had little prosperity in worldly actions.

By the street also is to be understood the time of this world, and they are therefore bid to go to the crossings of the streets, because the past is remitted to all.

(Verse 8 and following) Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore, go to the street corners and invite to the wedding feast whoever you find.' So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad and the good alike, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. There were no Gentiles on the streets, but at the exits of the streets. However, it is questioned how among those who were outside, some bad and good ones were found. The Apostle to the Romans discusses this place more fully ((al. added, saying)) (Rom. 2:14): that the Gentiles, who naturally do the things that are of the law, condemn the Jews who have not made the written law. Among the ethnic groups themselves, there is infinite diversity; since we know that some are prone to vices and inclined to evil, while others are dedicated to the virtues of honorable customs.

For the Gentile nation was not in the streets, but in the crossings of the streets.

Or; The streets are all the professions of this world, as philosophy, soldiery, and the like. And therefore He says, Go out into the crossings of the streets, that they may call to the faith men of every condition. Moreover, as chastity is the way that leads to God, so fornication is the way that leads to the Devil; and so it is in the other virtues and vices. Thus He bids them invite to the faith men of every profession or condition.

There follows the command: go therefore into the highways, etc. By the ways are understood diverse teachings, because these are certain ways that lead us to the truth. The gentiles are at the exits of the teachings. Hence, go to the highways, i.e., to those who cling to erroneous teachings. Or otherwise. Isaiah 9:2: the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. Hence by ways are understood good actions, of which Proverbs 4:27 says: the ways that are on the right hand, the Lord knoweth; by exits, whatever things can contribute to actions. And whosoever you shall find, call to the marriage. Hence below at 28:19: go, teach all nations, etc.

It follows: "And his servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was filled with guests."

Behold, now by the very quality of those dining together it is openly shown that through these royal nuptials the present Church is designated, in which both good and evil come together. For it is mixed with a diversity of children, because although it begets all unto faith, yet it does not lead all through a change of life to the liberty of spiritual grace, their faults preventing it. For as long as we live here, it is necessary that we proceed on the way of the present age in a mixed state. But then we are separated when we arrive. For the good alone are nowhere except in heaven; and the evil alone are nowhere except in hell. But this life which is situated between heaven and hell, just as it subsists in the middle, so it receives the citizens of both parts in common; whom nevertheless holy Church both now receives without distinction and afterward separates at their departure.

If therefore you are good, as long as you subsist in this life, bear with the evil patiently. For whoever does not tolerate the evil, he himself is a witness to himself through his intolerance that he is not good. For he refuses to be Abel whom the malice of Cain does not exercise. Thus on the threshing floor the grains are pressed under the chaff; thus flowers arise among thorns, and the rose which gives fragrance grows with the thorn which pricks. Indeed the first man had two sons; but one of them was chosen, the other was reprobate. The ark of Noah contained three sons; but two of them were chosen, and one was reprobate. Abraham had two sons; but one was chosen, the other was reprobate. Isaac had two sons; but one was chosen, the other was rejected. Jacob had twelve sons; but of these one was sold through innocence, while the others through malice were sellers of their brother. Twelve apostles were chosen; but one was mixed among them who would test, eleven who would be tested. Seven deacons were ordained by the apostles; but while six remained in the right faith, one became the author of error.

In this Church therefore neither can the evil be without the good, nor the good without the evil. Therefore, dearest brothers, bring back to mind the times past, and strengthen yourselves for the toleration of the evil. For if we are children of the elect, it necessarily remains that we walk by their examples. For he was not good who refused to tolerate the evil. For hence it is that blessed Job asserts of himself, saying: "I was a brother of dragons, and a companion of ostriches." Hence through Solomon it is said in the voice of the bridegroom to holy Church: "As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters." Hence the Lord says to Ezekiel: "Son of man, unbelievers and subverters are with you, and you dwell among scorpions." Hence Peter glorifies the life of blessed Lot, saying: "And he rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the injury of the wicked in their conduct; for in sight and hearing he was righteous, dwelling among those who from day to day tormented his righteous soul with their lawless deeds." Hence Paul both praises and strengthens the life of his disciples, saying: "In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life." Hence John testifies to the Church of Pergamos, saying: "I know where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is, and you hold my name, and you have not denied my faith." Behold, dearest brothers, running through almost all things we recognize that he was not good whom the depravity of the evil did not test. For if I may speak thus, the iron of our soul is by no means brought to the sharpness of a fine edge unless the file of another's depravity has worn it down.

But it should not frighten you that in the Church there are both many who are evil and few who are good, because the ark amid the waters of the flood, which bore the type of this Church, was both wide in its lower parts and narrow in its upper parts, and at its very summit it grew to the measure of a single cubit. In its lower part it is to be believed it contained quadrupeds and reptiles, but in its upper part birds and human beings. It was wide where it held beasts; it was narrow where it preserved human beings, because indeed the holy Church is spacious in carnal matters but narrow in spiritual ones. For where it tolerates the bestial behavior of people, there it relaxes its fold more widely. But where it has those who are supported by spiritual reason, there indeed it is led to the summit, yet because they are few, it is narrowed. For "wide is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who go by it; and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it." Moreover, the ark is narrowed at the top to such an extent that it is brought to the measure of a single cubit, because in the holy Church the holier any persons are, the fewer they are. At its summit it is brought to him who alone among human beings was born holy, without comparison to any other. Who, according to the voice of the Psalmist, was made "like a solitary sparrow on a rooftop." Therefore the evil are to be tolerated all the more, the more abundantly they abound, because even on the threshing floor there are few grains that are stored in granaries, and great heaps of chaff that are burned with fire.

(ubi sup.) Or; He means that in this present Church there cannot be bad without good, nor good without bad. He is not good who refuses to endure the bad.

For there is an infinite difference among the Gentiles themselves; some are more prone to vice, others are endowed with more incorrupt and virtuous manners.

Since then they were not worthy, go ye, saith He, into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid; both the common sort, and the outcasts. For because He had said in every way, "The harlots and publicans shall inherit heaven;" and, "The first shall be last, and the last first;" He shows that justly do these things come to pass; which more than anything stung the Jews, and goaded them far more grievously than their overthrow, to see those from the Gentiles brought into their privileges, and into far greater than theirs.

Then in order that not even these should put confidence in their faith alone, He discourses unto them also concerning the judgment to be passed upon wicked actions; to them that have not yet believed, of coming unto Him by faith, and to them that have believed, of care with respect to their life. For the garment is life and practice.

These are the errors of the Gentiles.

There follows the execution: and his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all; Mark 16:20: but they going forth preached everywhere, the Lord working withal. But what does he mean when he says good and bad? It can be said, those who were first bad, and afterward good. Or it can be said, when he says good and bad, that he speaks comparatively, since among them some are good according to civil virtues. Or good and bad, because after they were gathered together, good and bad are mixed together. And the wedding was furnished with guests, i.e., with the faithful. Above at 13:48 a similar thing is presented: which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good into vessels, but the bad they cast forth.

But since you have now entered the house of the wedding, that is, the holy Church, by the Lord's generosity, carefully observe, brothers, lest the king upon entering find fault with something in the attire of your mind. For with great fear of heart we must consider what is immediately added: "The king entered to see those reclining at table, and he saw there a man not clothed in a wedding garment." What, dearest brothers, do we think is expressed by the wedding garment? For if we say the wedding garment is baptism or faith, who entered this wedding without baptism and faith? For by that very fact he is outside, because he has not yet believed. What then should we understand the wedding garment to be, except charity? For he enters the wedding, but does not enter with a wedding garment, who standing in the holy Church has faith but does not have charity. For rightly is charity called the wedding garment, because our Creator had this in himself when he came to the wedding of uniting the Church to himself. For it was accomplished solely by the love of God that his only-begotten Son united the minds of chosen people to himself. Hence John also says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son for us." He therefore who came to humanity through charity made known that same charity to be the wedding garment. Therefore everyone among you who, being placed in the Church, has believed in God has already entered the wedding; but he does not come with a wedding garment if he does not preserve the grace of charity. And certainly, brothers, if anyone were invited to a carnal wedding, he would change his garment, he would show by the very beauty of his attire that he rejoices with the bridegroom and bride, and he would be ashamed to appear in despised garments among those rejoicing and celebrating the feast. We come to the wedding of God, and we neglect to change the garment of our heart. The angels rejoice together when the elect are taken up to heaven. With what mind, then, do we behold these spiritual festivities, we who do not have the wedding garment, that is, charity, which alone presents us as beautiful?

It should be known that just as a garment is woven on two beams, namely the upper and the lower, so charity is held in two commandments, that is, in the love of God and of neighbor. For it is written: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength; and your neighbor as yourself." In this matter it should be noted that in the love of neighbor a measure of love is established, when it is said: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself"; but the love of God is constrained by no measure, when it is said: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." For one is not commanded how much to love, but from how much, when it is said: "With all," because he truly loves God who leaves nothing of himself for himself.

Therefore whoever takes care to have a wedding garment at the wedding must keep these two commandments of charity. For this is why, in the prophet Ezekiel, the vestibule of the gate of that city situated on the mountain is measured at two cubits, because surely the entrance to the heavenly city is not opened to us if in this Church, which is called a vestibule because it is still outside, the love of God and neighbor is not maintained. This is why scarlet twice-dyed is commanded to be woven into the curtains of the tabernacle. You are, brothers, you are the curtains of the tabernacle, who veil heavenly secrets in your hearts through faith. But twice-dyed scarlet must be in the curtains of the tabernacle. For scarlet has the appearance of fire. And what is charity, if not fire? But this charity must be twice-dyed, so that it may be dyed through the love of God, and dyed through the love of neighbor. For he who so loves God that through contemplation of Him he neglects his neighbor, is indeed scarlet, but not twice-dyed. Again, he who so loves his neighbor that nevertheless he abandons the contemplation of God through love of him, is scarlet, but not twice-dyed. Therefore, that your charity may be able to be twice-dyed scarlet, let it kindle itself both to the love of God and to the love of neighbor, so that it neither abandons the contemplation of God out of compassion for neighbor, nor, clinging to the contemplation of God more than it ought, casts aside compassion for neighbor. And so let every person living among people so yearn for Him whom he desires, that nevertheless he does not abandon the one with whom he was running; and let him so bring help to this one, that he in no way grows sluggish toward Him to whom he was hastening.

It must also be known that this love of neighbor is subdivided into two precepts, as a certain wise man says: "See that you do not do to another what you hate to have done to you." And Truth Himself preaches through Himself, saying: "What you wish men to do to you, do the same to them." For if we both give to others what we rightly wish to be rendered to us, and we ourselves avoid doing to others what we do not wish done to us, we preserve the laws of charity unharmed.

But let no one, when he loves someone, think that he immediately has charity, unless he first examines the very strength of his love. For if anyone loves someone, but does not love him for the sake of God, he does not have charity, but thinks he has it. True charity, however, is when a friend is loved in God, and an enemy is loved for the sake of God. For he loves those whom he loves for the sake of God, who already knows how to love even those by whom he is not loved. For charity is usually proven only through the adversity of hatred. Hence the Lord Himself says: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." Therefore, he loves securely who loves for the sake of God the one by whom he understands he is not loved. These things are great, these things are lofty, and difficult for many to practice, but nevertheless this is the wedding garment.

Whoever does not have this garment while reclining at the wedding feast, let him now anxiously fear when the king enters, lest he be cast outside. For behold it is said: "The king entered the wedding feast to see those reclining at table, and he saw there a man not clothed with a wedding garment." We are the ones, dearest brothers, who recline at the wedding feast of the Word, who already have faith in the Church, who are fed by the banquets of Sacred Scripture, who rejoice that the Church is joined to God. Consider, I ask, whether you have come to this wedding feast with a wedding garment; examine your thoughts with anxious inquiry. Weigh your hearts concerning each matter: whether you now hold hatred against no one, whether you are not inflamed by any torch of envy against another's good fortune, whether you do not hasten to harm anyone through hidden malice.

(ubi sup.) What ought we to understand by the wedding garment, but charity? For this the Lord had upon Him, when He came to espouse the Church to Himself. He then enters in to the wedding feast, but without the wedding garment, who has faith in the Church, but not charity.

Or; The wedding garment is the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the purity of that heavenly temper, which taken up on the confession of a good enquiry is to be preserved pure and unspotted for the company of the kingdom of heaven.

(Verse 11, 12.) But the king entered to see the guests, and he saw there a man who was not wearing a wedding garment. And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' But he was speechless. Those who were invited to the wedding feast had filled it up from the hedges and corners and streets and various places. But later, when the king came in to see the guests at his feast (that is, those who were resting in his trust, so that on the day of judgment he could visit the guests and discern the merits of each one), he found one who was not wearing a wedding garment. This one, all those who are associated with wickedness are understood. But the wedding garment, the commandments of the Lord, and the works that are fulfilled from the law and the Gospel, make the clothing of the new man. Therefore, if anyone is found at the time of judgment not having the wedding garment, that is, the garment of the heavenly ((Al. celestial)) man; but having a polluted garment, that is, the old man's rags, he is immediately seized and it is said to him: Friend, how did you enter here? He calls his friend because he was invited to a wedding: he accuses him of impudence because he has stained the wedding with his dirty clothes. But he remained silent. For in that moment there will be no place for repentance, nor the opportunity to deny, when all the angels and the world itself are witnesses of sins.

Or; The marriage garment is the commandments of the Lord, and the works which are done under the Law and the Gospel, and form the clothing of the new man. Whoso among the Christian body shall be found in the day of judgment not to have these, is straightway condemned. He saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? He calls him friend, because he was invited to the wedding as being a friend by faith; but He charges him with want of manners in polluting by his filthy dress the elegance of the wedding entertainment.

For in that day there will be no room for blustering manner, nor power of denial, when all the Angels and the world itself are witnesses against the sinner.

Then in order that not even these should put confidence in their faith alone, He discourses unto them also concerning the judgment to be passed upon wicked actions; to them that have not yet believed, of coming unto Him by faith, and to them that have believed, of care with respect to their life. For the garment is life and practice.

And yet the calling was of grace; wherefore then doth He take a strict account? Because although to be called and to be cleansed was of grace, yet, when called and clothed in clean garments, to continue keeping them so, this is of the diligence of them that are called.

The being called was not of merit, but of grace. It was fit therefore to make a return for the grace, and not to show forth such great wickedness after the honor. "But I have not enjoyed," one may say, "so much advantage as the Jews." Nay, but thou hast enjoyed far greater benefits. For what things were being prepared for them throughout all their time, these thou hast received at once, not being worthy. Wherefore Paul also saith, "And that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy." For what things were due to them, these thou hast received.

Wherefore also great is the punishment appointed for them that have been remiss. For as they did despite by not coming, so also thou by thus sitting down with a corrupt life. For to come in with filthy garments is this namely, to depart hence having one's life impure; wherefore also he was speechless.

Seest thou how, although the fact was so manifest, He doth not punish at once, until he himself, who has sinned, has passed the sentence? For by having nothing to reply he condemned himself, and so is taken away to the unutterable torments.

The marriage-feast of Christ and the Church is filled, when they who were found by the Apostles, being restored to God, sat down to the feast. But since it behoved that both bad and good should be called, not that the bad should continue bad, but that they should put off the garments unmeet for the wedding, and should put on the marriage garments, to wit, bowels of mercy and kindness, for this cause the King goes out, that He may see them set down before the supper is set before them, that they may be detained who have the wedding garment in which He is delighted, and that he may condemn the opposite.

But when He was come in, He found there one who had not put off his old behaviour; He saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. He speaks of one only, because all, who after faith continue to serve that wickedness which they had before the faith, are but of one kind.

The King came in to see the guests; not as though there was any place where He is not; but where He will look to give judgment, there He is said to be present; where He will not, there He seems to be absent. The day of His coming to behold is the day of judgment, when He will visit Christians seated at the board of the Scriptures.

Or otherwise; Whenever God will try His Church, He enters into it that He may see the guests; and if He finds any one not having on the wedding garment, He enquires of him, How then were you made a Christian, if you neglect these works? Such a one Christ gives over to His ministers, that is, to seducing leaders, who bind his hands, that is, his works, and his feet, that is, the motions of his mind, and cast him into darkness, that is, into the errors of the Gentiles or the Jews, or into heresy. The nigher darkness is that of the Gentiles, for they have never heard the truth which they despise; the outer darkness is that of the Jews, who have heard but do not believe; the outermost is that of the heretics, who have heard and have learned.

" Therefore they shall be "clothed in white raiment," that is, in the bright beauty of the unwedded flesh. In the gospel even, "the wedding garment" may be regarded as the sanctity of the flesh. And so, when Isaiah tells us what sort of "fast the Lord hath chosen," and subjoins a statement about the reward of good works, he says: "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy garments, shall speedily arise; " where he has no thought of cloaks or stuff gowns, but means the rising of the flesh, which he declared the resurrection of, after its fall in death.

Therefore the apostate withal will recover his former "garment," the robe of the Holy Spirit; and a renewal of the "ring," the sign and seal of baptism; and Christ will again be "slaughtered; " and he will recline on that couch from which such as are unworthily clad are wont to be lifted by the torturers, and cast away into darkness, -much more such as have been stripped.

The entry into the wedding takes place without distinction of persons, for by grace alone we have all been called, good and bad alike; but the life thereafter of those who enter shall not be without examination, for indeed the king makes an exceedingly careful examination of those found to be sullied after entering into the faith. Let us tremble, then, when we understand that if one does not lead a pure life, faith alone benefits him not at all. For not only is he cast out of the wedding feast, but he is sent away into the fire. Who is he that is wearing filthy garments? It is he who is not clothed with compassion, goodness, and brotherly love. For there are many who deceive themselves with vain hopes, thinking that they shall attain the kingdom of heaven, and they include themselves among the assembly of the dinner guests, thinking great things of themselves. Being justified in regard to that unworthy man, the Lord demonstrates these two things to us; first, that He loves mankind, and secondly, that we ought not to pass judgement on anyone, even if they sin openly, unless they have been reproved for their sin.

And the king went in, etc. Here the examination of those gathered is presented. And first the examiner is presented; secondly, the examination; thirdly, the condemnation. The examiner entered. For he enters when he exercises judgment upon them; Genesis 18:21: I will go down and see: and this at the final judgment; likewise at death; likewise when tribulations threaten the Church. But who was examined? He saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. What is this garment? Christ. We who are Christ's, let us put on Christ. The Apostle, Romans 13:14: put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. For some put on Christ through the sacrament; Galatians 3:27: as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. Some are in Christ through charity and love; Colossians 3:14-15: but above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body. Likewise, through the remembrance of death. Likewise, through conformity of works; Romans 13:14: put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. To have a wedding garment, therefore, is to put on Christ through good works, through holy conversation, through true charity; and if one of these is lacking, it is evil.

Note that "the master of the house came in to look at the guests." See, my beloved, the servants' business was only to invite and bring in the good and bad. It is not said that the servants took notice of the guests, found among them a man who had no wedding garment and spoke to him. This is not written. The master of the house came in, the master saw him, the master of the house inspected, the master of the house hauled him off and threw him out. It is not fitting to pass over this quickly. But I have undertaken to establish another point, how that one man stands for many. "But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless." For the one who questioned him was one to whom he could give no deceptive reply.

(cont. Faust. xxii. 19.) Or, he goes to the feast without a garment, who goes seeking his own, and not the Bridegroom's honour.

Consider, I ask, whether you have come to this wedding feast with a wedding garment; examine your thoughts with anxious inquiry. Weigh your hearts concerning each matter: whether you now hold hatred against no one, whether you are not inflamed by any torch of envy against another's good fortune, whether you do not hasten to harm anyone through hidden malice. Behold, the king enters the wedding and contemplates the condition of our heart, and to him whom he does not find clothed in charity, he immediately says in anger: "Friend, how did you enter here not having a wedding garment?" It is greatly to be wondered at, dearest brothers, that he both calls him friend and rejects him, as if he were saying to him more openly: "Friend and not friend; friend by faith, but not friend by works." But he was struck silent, because—what cannot be said without groaning—in that strictness of the final rebuke, every argument of excuse ceases, since he who rebukes outwardly is the one who, as witness of conscience, accuses the soul within. But amid these things it must be known that whoever has this garment of virtue, but does not yet have it perfectly, ought not to despair of pardon at the entrance of the merciful king, because he himself also, granting us hope through the Psalmist, says: "Your eyes saw my imperfection, and in your book all shall be written."

And forasmuch as he who is in sin, and puts not on the Lord Jesus Christ, has no excuse, it follows, But he was speechless.

Then follows the examination. Then he says how he fell short. He says therefore, friend. He calls him friend on account of faith, or because he himself loved him. Or it can be said that wherever he calls someone friend, he says it by way of reproach: hence he reproaches the love with which he loved him. How camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? But someone could say: on what occasion did he punish that man, since he called good and bad? But he did not wish that the bad should come unless they prepared themselves and disposed themselves to be good. Then follows how he fell short. Hence there follows, but he was silent, because a sinner cannot have a sufficient reason why he despised the wedding garment; Job 9:3: if he will contend with him, he cannot answer him.

The binding of their feet and hands puts a check on all their activity.… The outer darkness speaks of those things far removed from divine virtue and glory.

The garment that is required is in the heart, not on the body, for if it had been put on externally, it could not have been concealed even from the servants. But what is the wedding garment that must be put on? We learn it from these words, "May your priests be clothed with righteousness." It is of that garment of righteousness that the apostle speaks when he says, "Because when we are clothed, we are not found naked." In this way the unprepared man was discovered by the Lord of the feast, interrogated, bound and thrown out, one from among the many.

(de Trin. xi. 6.) The bonds of wicked and depraved desires are the chains which bind him who deserves to be cast out into outer darkness.

We know much more about heaven than hell, for heaven is the home of humanity and therefore contains all that is implied in a glorified human life: but hell was not made for men. It is in no sense parallel to heaven: it is "the darkness outside", the outer rim where being fades away into nonentity.

But since we have said these few things for the consolation of one who has it but is weak, let us now turn our words to him who does not have it at all. It follows: "Then the king said to the servants: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Then the feet and hands are bound by the strictness of the sentence, which now refused to be bound from wicked works through amendment of life. Or certainly, punishment then binds those whom guilt now bound from good works. For the feet that neglect to visit the sick, the hands that give nothing to the needy, are already bound from good work by their own will. Therefore, those who now are willingly bound in vice will then be unwillingly bound in punishment.

Moreover, it is well said that he is cast into the outer darkness. For we call the inner darkness the blindness of the heart, but the outer darkness the eternal night of damnation. Therefore, every condemned person is sent not into the inner but into the outer darkness, because he who here willingly fell into blindness of heart is there unwillingly cast into the night of damnation. Where there is said to be weeping and gnashing of teeth, so that there the teeth may gnash which here rejoiced in gluttony; there the eyes may weep which here were occupied with unlawful desires; so that each and every member may be subjected to punishment which here served in subjection to each and every vice.

(ubi sup.) The hands and feet are then bound by a severe sentence of judgment, which before refused to be bound from wicked actions by amendment of life. Or punishment binds them, whom sin had before bound from good works.

(ubi sup.) By inward darkness we express blindness, of heart; outer darkness signifies the everlasting night of damnation.

(ubi sup.) There shall gnash those teeth which here delighted in gluttony; there shall weep those eyes which here roamed in illicit desire; every member shall there have its peculiar punishment, which here was a slave to its peculiar vice.

(Verse 13) Then the king said to the servants: Bind his hands and feet and send him into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The hands and feet being bound, the weeping of the eyes, and the gnashing of teeth, signify the truth of the resurrection being tested. Or certainly, the hands and feet are bound so that they may not do evil and run to shed blood. In the weeping of the eyes and the gnashing of teeth, the intensity of the torments is shown metaphorically through the limbs of the body.

By a metaphor taken from the body, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, is shown the greatness of the torments. The binding of the hands and feet also, and the weeping of eyes, and the gnashing of teeth, understand as proving the truth of the resurrection of the body.

Seest thou how, although the fact was so manifest, He doth not punish at once, until he himself, who has sinned, has passed the sentence? For by having nothing to reply he condemned himself, and so is taken away to the unutterable torments.

For do not now, on hearing of darkness, suppose he is punished by this, by sending into a place where there is no light only, but where there is also weeping and gnashing of teeth. And this He saith, indicating the intolerable pains.

Hear ye, as many as having partaken of the mysteries, and having been present at the marriage, clothe your souls with filthy deeds. Hear whence ye were called.

From the highway. Being what? Lame and halt in soul, which is a much more grievous thing than the mutilation of the body. Reverence the love of Him, who called you, and let no one continue to have filthy garments, but let each of you busy himself about the clothing of your soul.

Hear, ye women; hear, ye men; we need not these garments that are bespangled with gold, that adorn our outward parts, but those others, that adorn the inward. Whilst we have these former, it is difficult to put on those latter. It is not possible at the same time to deck both soul and body. It is not possible at the same time both to serve mammon, and to obey Christ as we ought.

Let us put off us therefore this grievous tyranny. For neither if any one were to adorn thy house by hanging it with golden curtains, and were to make thee sit there in rags, naked, wouldest thou endure it with meekness. But lo, now thou doest this to thyself, decking the house of thy soul, I mean the body, with curtains beyond number, but leaving the soul itself to sit in rags. Knowest thou not that the king ought to be adorned more than the city? so therefore while for the city hangings are prepared of linen, for the king there is a purple robe and a diadem. Even so do thou wrap the body with a much meaner dress, but the mind do thou clothe in purple, and put a crown on it, and set it on a high and conspicuous chariot. For now thou art doing the opposite, decking the city in various ways, but suffering the king, the mind, to be dragged bound after the brute passions.

Rememberest thou not, that thou art bidden to a marriage, and to God's marriage? Considerest thou not how the soul that is bidden ought to enter into those chambers, clad, and decked with fringes of gold.

He who has thus insulted the marriage feast is not only cast out therefrom, but besides by the King's officers, who are set over his prisons, is chained up from that power of walking which he employed not to walk to any good thing, and that power of reaching forth his hand, wherewith he had fulfilled no work for any good; and is sentenced to a place whence all light is banished, which is called outer darkness.

Or, it points to the difference of punishment inflicted on sinners. Outer darkness being the deepest, inward darkness the lesser, as it were the outskirts of the place.

He affirms, lastly, that "the very hairs of our head are all numbered," and in the affirmation He of course includes the promise of their safety; for if they were to be lost, where would be the use of having taken such a numerical care of them? Surely the only use lies (in this truth): "That of all which the Father hath given to me, I should lose none," -not even a hair, as also not an eye nor a tooth. And yet whence shall come that "weeping and gnashing of teeth," if not from eyes and teeth?-even at that time when the body shall be slain in hell, and thrust out into that outer darkness which shall be the suitable torment of the eyes.

The Lord then says to His servants, the angels of punishment, "Bind his hands and feet," that is, the soul's powers of action. For in this present age is the time to act and to do, but in the age to come all of the soul's powers of action are bound, and a man cannot then do any good thing to outweigh his sins. Gnashing of teeth is the meaningless repentance that will then take place.

And the parable concludes with the sentence. A twofold punishment is presented: the punishment of loss and the punishment of sense. For in this world a man is perfected in three ways: through the intellect by thinking, through the affections by tending toward the highest good, and likewise through action; therefore he is punished in three ways. Hence, the king said to the waiters: bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness. By the feet are understood the affections. The wicked in this world have feet, but they are not bound, because they can become good; but afterward they will be bound, because afterward they will not be able to return; Ecclesiastes 9:10: whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly, for neither work, nor reason, nor knowledge, nor wisdom shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening. Likewise, now a man can advance in thinking truths, but then he cannot; therefore it is said, cast him into the exterior darkness. For now some sinners are not in darkness as to exterior knowledge, although they are as to interior knowledge; but then they will have exterior darkness. Or, literally, because not only as to the soul but as to the body, because they will be separated from the society of the saints. Then follows the punishment of sense: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Weeping proceeds from sorrow, gnashing from anger. In Acts 7:54: they gnashed with their teeth at him. Some weep for their sins and are humbled and are cleansed. There, there will be sorrow, but not unto humility; rather it will turn to anger. Likewise, gnashing because of impatience, because the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually, Psalm 73:23. Or it can be said in the resurrection, because they will be punished not only in soul but also in body; or because they will suffer heat and cold; Job 24:19: let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat.

What is that wedding garment, then? This is the wedding garment: "The goal of this command is charity," says the apostle, "which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." This is the wedding garment. Not charity of any kind whatever—for very often they who are partakers together of an evil conscience seem to love one another. Those who commit robberies together, who love the destructive arts of witchcraft, and who go to the coliseum together and join together in the shout of the chariot race or the wild beast fight—these too in some sense very often may be said to love one another.But in these is no charity from a pure heart, a good conscience and a faith unfeigned. The wedding garment is charity such as this: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I have become like a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." Suppose someone who speaks in tongues comes in and is asked, "How did you get in here without a wedding garment?" Suppose he answers, "But I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains." But if he has no charity, he has nothing. Such may be the clothing of those who in fact lack the wedding garment. "Though," he says, "I have all these and have not Christ, I am nothing." Is then "the gift of prophecy" nothing? Is then "the knowledge of mysteries" nothing? It is not that these are nothing. But "I, if I have them, and have not charity, am nothing."

But when one has been rejected, in whom clearly the whole body of the wicked is represented, a general judgment is immediately added, in which it is said: "For many are called, but few are chosen." What we have heard is greatly to be feared, dearest brothers. Behold, we who have all now been called through faith come to the wedding feast of the heavenly king, we both believe and confess the mystery of his incarnation, we receive the banquet of the divine Word, but on the future day of judgment the king will enter. That we are called, we know; whether we are chosen, we do not know. Therefore it is necessary that each one of us humble himself in humility all the more because he does not know whether he is chosen. For some do not even begin good works, while others do not persist at all in the good works they have begun. One person is seen to lead nearly his whole life in wickedness, but near the end of his life he is called back from his wickedness through the lamentations of severe penance; another seems to lead a chosen life, and yet it happens that near the end of his life he turns aside to the wickedness of error. One begins good well and finishes better; another casts himself down in evil deeds from his earliest age, and in the same works is always finished worse than himself. Therefore let each one anxiously fear for himself all the more because he does not know what remains, for, what must often be said and retained without forgetfulness: "Many are called, but few are chosen."

But because sometimes the examples of the faithful convert the minds of hearers more than the words of teachers, I wish to tell you something from nearby, which your hearts may hear with all the more fear, since it sounds to them from close at hand. For we are not speaking of things done long ago, but we recall those of which witnesses exist, and who report that they were present. My father had three sisters, who were all three sacred virgins: one was called Tharsilla, another Gordiana, another Aemiliana. All were converted with one ardor, consecrated at one and the same time, living under regular discipline, they led a common life in their own home. And when they had been for a long time in the same manner of life, Tharsilla and Aemiliana began to grow daily with increasing love for their Creator, and though they were here only in body, daily they passed in spirit to eternal things. But on the contrary, Gordiana's spirit began to grow lukewarm from the warmth of inner love through daily losses, and little by little to return to the love of this world. Often Tharsilla used to say to her sister Aemiliana with great sighing: "I see that our sister Gordiana is not of our lot; for I perceive that she flows outward, and does not keep her heart to what she has professed." They took care to correct her with gentle daily reproof, and to reform her from levity of manners to the gravity of her state. She would indeed suddenly assume an expression of gravity amid the words of correction, but when the hour of that correction had passed, the assumed gravity of respectability immediately passed as well, and she soon returned to frivolous words. She rejoiced in the company of lay girls, and any person who was not devoted to this world was very burdensome to her.

But one night to this Tharsilla, my aunt, who among her sisters had excelled in the honor and height of sanctity by virtue of continuous prayer, zealous mortification, singular abstinence, and gravity of life, as she herself related, my great-great-grandfather Felix, bishop of this Roman Church, appeared in a vision, and showed her a mansion of perpetual brightness, saying: "Come, for I receive you into this mansion of light." She was immediately seized by a fever the following day and came to her final day. And just as when noble women and men are dying many gather to console their relatives, at the very hour of her departure many men and women stood around her bed, among whom my mother also was present; when suddenly she looked upward and saw Jesus coming, and with great earnestness began to cry out to those standing around, saying: "Depart, depart, Jesus comes." And as she gazed upon him whom she saw, that holy soul was released from the flesh; and suddenly such a fragrance of wondrous odor was spread about that the sweetness itself showed to all that the author of sweetness had come there. And when her body was stripped to be washed as is the custom for the dead, it was found that hardened skin had grown on her elbows and knees, in the manner of camels, from long practice of prayer, and her dead flesh testified to what her living spirit had always done.

These things occurred before the day of the Lord's Nativity. When that had passed, she soon appeared to her sister Aemiliana in a vision of the night, saying: "Come, so that since I spent the Lord's Nativity without you, I may now spend the holy day of Theophany with you." She, immediately anxious about the salvation of their sister Gordiana, replied: "And if I come alone, to whom do I leave our sister Gordiana?" To her, as she reported, Tharsilla said again with sad countenance: "Come, for our sister Gordiana has been reckoned among the laywomen." This vision was soon followed by bodily illness, and just as had been said, before the day of the Lord's appearing, with that illness growing worse, she died. But Gordiana, as soon as she found herself left alone, her wickedness increased, and what had previously lain hidden in the desire of thought, she afterward carried out in the effect of wicked action. For forgetful of the fear of the Lord, forgetful of modesty and reverence, forgetful of her consecration, she afterward took the steward of her fields as a husband. Behold, all three were first converted with one ardor, but they did not remain in one and the same devotion, because according to the Lord's voice, "Many are called, but few are chosen."

I have said these things therefore, lest anyone already established in good work attribute to himself the strength of good work, lest anyone trust in his own action, because even if he knows today what he is like, he still does not know what he will be tomorrow. Let no one therefore rejoice securely in his own works, since while still in the uncertainty of this life he does not know what end will follow.

But because I have related a matter which terrified you from divine severity, I also relate another thing from nearby which may console your terrified hearts from divine mercy; which however I remember that I already said in another sermon, but you were by no means present. Two years ago, a certain brother came to my monastery, which is situated near the Church of the blessed martyrs John and Paul, for the purpose of conversion. After being tested according to the rule for a long time, he was eventually admitted. His brother followed him to the monastery not out of zeal for conversion but out of carnal affection. Now the one who had come for conversion was very pleasing to the brothers; but his brother, on the contrary, was far different from his life and character. He lived in the monastery more from necessity than from choice. And though he was perverse in all his actions, he was patiently tolerated by everyone for the sake of his brother. For he was frivolous in speech, wicked in action, refined in clothing, unrefined in character; and he could not bear it if anyone spoke to him about adopting the religious life. Indeed, his way of life had become burdensome for all the brothers to witness, yet, as was said, he was tolerable to all for the sake of his brother. He greatly despised it if anyone spoke to him about correcting his depravity. He could not only not do good things, but could not even hear about them. He kept declaring, with oaths, anger, and mockery, that he would never embrace the religious life.

But in that plague which recently consumed a great part of the population of this city, he was struck in the groin and brought to the point of death. When he was breathing his last, the brothers gathered to protect his departure with their prayers. His body was already dead from the extremities, and vital warmth still lingered only in his chest. All the brothers began to pray more earnestly for him as they saw him departing so quickly. Suddenly, with the brothers standing by, he began to cry out with whatever effort he could and to interrupt their prayers, saying: "Withdraw, withdraw! Behold, I have been given to a dragon to be devoured, and because of your presence he cannot devour me. He has already swallowed my head in his mouth; give him room so that he may torment me no longer but do what he is going to do. If I have been given to him to be devoured, why do I suffer this delay because of you?" Then the brothers began to say to him: "What are you saying, brother? Make the sign of the holy cross upon yourself." He answered as best he could, saying: "I want to sign myself, but I cannot, because I am pressed down by the dragon." When the brothers heard this, they prostrated themselves on the ground and with tears began to pray more intensely for his deliverance. And behold, suddenly the sick man began to improve and to rejoice with whatever voice he had, saying: "Thanks be to God! Behold, the dragon who had taken me to devour me has fled; driven out by your prayers, he could not remain. Now intercede for my sins, because I am ready to be converted and to abandon the worldly life entirely." Therefore this man, who, as was already said, had been dead from the extremities of his body, was preserved for life and was converted to God with his whole heart. He was disciplined by long and continuous afflictions in that same conversion, and died a few days ago when his bodily illness increased. As he was dying, he did not see the dragon, because he had conquered it through the transformation of his heart.

Behold, my brothers, Gordiana, whom I mentioned above, fell from the height of the religious habit to punishment, and this brother, about whom I have told these things, returned from the very moment of death to eternal life. Therefore no one knows what is being done concerning himself in the hidden judgments of God; for "many are called, but few are chosen." Since, therefore, no one is certain about himself that he is chosen, it remains that all should tremble, all should fear concerning their conduct, all should rejoice only in divine mercy, and no one should presume upon his own strength.

(ubi sup.) For some never begin a good course, and some never continue in that good course which they have begun. Let each one's care about himself be in proportion to his ignorance of what is yet to come.

For to invite all without exception is a courtesy of public benevolence; but out of the invited or called, the election will be of worth, by distinction of merit.

(Verse 14) For many are called, but few are chosen. This parable encompasses in a brief sentence: that in the work of the vineyard, in the building of the house, and in the wedding feast, the focus should be on the end rather than the beginning.

And because in the marriage and supper the chief thing is the end and not the beginning, therefore He adds, For many are called, but few chosen.

What then? Shall we not go over unto blessedness so great? Shall we not come unto these angels; shall we not receive clean garments, and join in the ceremonies of this wedding feast; but shall we continue begging, in no respect in a better condition than the poor in the streets, or rather in a state far worse and more wretched? For much worse than these are they that are rich in evil ways, and it is better to beg than to spoil, for the one hath excuse, but the other brings punishment; and the beggar in no degree offends God, but this other both men and God; and undergoes the labors of rapine, but all the enjoyment thereof other men often reap.

Knowing then these things, let us lay aside all covetousness, and covet the things above, with great earnestness "taking the kingdom by force." For it cannot be, it cannot be that any one who is remiss should enter therein.

But God grant that we all having become earnest, and watchful may attain thereto, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might, world without end. Amen.

"And therefore many are called, but few chosen." It is not asked who is ready to follow the broad way, but who the narrow.

"Many are called" for God calls many, indeed, all, "but few are chosen." For few are saved and found worthy to be chosen by God. For it is God's part to call, but to become one of the chosen or not, is our part. He shows, then, that this parable was spoken for the Jews who were called but were not chosen, as they did not listen.

Then he concludes: many are called, but few are chosen, because some refuse to come, and others do not have the wedding garment. Hence above at 7:14: narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it.