Thursday of the 3rd week after Pentecost

(cont. Maximin. ii. 12.) For if He has aught less in His power than the Father has, then all that the Father has, are not His; for by begetting Him the Father gave power to the Son, as by begetting Him He gave all things which He has in His substance to Him whom He begot of His substance.

(De Trin. i. 8.) And because their substance is inseparable, it is enough sometimes to name the Father, sometimes the Son, nor is it possible to separate from either His Spirit, who is especially called the Spirit of truth.

(De Trin. vii. 3.) The Father is revealed by the Son, that is, by His Word. For if the temporal and transitory word which we utter both shows itself, and what we wish to convey, how much more the Word of God by which all things were made, which so shows the Father as He is Father, because itself is the same and in the same manner as the Father.

(Quæst. Ev. i. 1.) When He said, None knoweth the Son but the Father, He did not add, And he to whom the Father will reveal the Son. But when He said, None knoweth the Father but the Son, He added, And he to whom the Son will reveal him. But this must not be so understood as though the Son could be known by none but by the Father only; while the Father may be known not only by the Son, but also by those to whom the Son shall reveal Him. But it is rather expressed thus, that we may understand that both the Father and the Son Himself are revealed by the Son, inasmuch as He is the light of our mind; and what is afterwards added, And he to whom the Son will reveal, is to be understood as spoken of the Son as well as the Father, and to refer to the whole of what had been said. For the Father declares Himself by His Word, but the Word declares not only that which is intended to be declared by it, but in declaring this declares itself.

A beginning should be made from the center, that is, from Christ. For He Himself is the "Mediator between God and men," holding the central position in all things. Hence it is necessary to start from Him if a man wants to reach Christian wisdom, as it is proved in Matthew: for "no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and him to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him."

In this manner it is possible to find in the illumination of mechanical art, whose entire intention is directed toward the production of artifacts. In which we can perceive these three things, namely the generation and incarnation of the Word, the order of living, and the covenant of God and the soul. And this, if we consider the origin, the effect, and the fruit; or thus: the art of working, the quality of the artifact produced, and the usefulness of the fruit derived.

If we consider the origin, we shall see that the artificial product proceeds from the artisan by means of a likeness existing in his mind, through which the artisan conceives before he produces, and then produces as he has planned. Moreover, the artisan produces an exterior work conformed to the interior exemplar as closely as he can; and if he could produce such a product that would love and know him, he would certainly do so; and if that product were to know its maker, this would be by means of the likeness according to which it proceeded from the artisan; and if it had darkened eyes of knowledge, so that it could not raise itself above itself, it would be necessary, in order that it might be led to knowledge of its maker, that the likeness through which the product had been produced should condescend to that nature which could be grasped and known by it.

By this manner understand that from the supreme Artisan no creature proceeded except through the eternal Word, "in whom He disposed all things," and through whom He produced not only creatures having the nature of a vestige, but also of an image, so that they might be assimilated to Him through knowledge and love. And since through sin the rational creature had the eye of contemplation clouded over, it was most fitting that the eternal and invisible should become visible and assume flesh, in order to lead us back to the Father. And this is what is said in John fourteen: No one comes to the Father except through me; and Matthew eleven: No one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. And therefore it is said the Word was made flesh. Considering therefore the illumination of mechanical art with respect to the production of the work, we shall behold therein the Word begotten and incarnate, that is, the Divinity and the humanity and the integrity of the whole faith.

But "no one is good," except His Father. It is this same Father of His, then who being one is manifested by many powers. And this was the import of the utterance, "No man knew the Father," who was Himself everything before the coming of the Son. So that it is veritably clear that the God of all is only one good, just Creator, and the Son in the Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen.

The one who sees the Son, who has the image of the Father in himself, sees the Father himself.… These things are to be understood in a manner befitting to God. He said, "Everything has been handed down to me" so that he might not seem to be a member of a different species or inferior to the Father. Jesus added this in order to show that his nature is ineffable and inconceivable, like the Father's. For only the divine nature of the Trinity comprehends itself. Only the Father knows his own Son, the fruit of his own substance. Only the divine Son recognizes the One by whom he has been begotten. Only the Holy Spirit knows the deep things of God, the thought of the Father and the Son.

So that it might not be supposed that anything in him is less than what is in God, Jesus said that everything was entrusted to him by his Father, that he alone was known to his Father and that his Father was known to him alone or to one to whom he himself had wished to reveal his Father. By this revelation Jesus showed that the same essence of both Father and Son existed in their knowledge of each other. One who could know the Son would also know the Father in his Son, because everything was handed down to him from the Father. Moreover, nothing else was handed down than what was known to the Father in the Son alone, but the things that belonged to the Father were known to be revealed in the Son alone. Thus in this mystery of mutual knowledge it is understood that nothing else existed in the Son than what was known to be in the Father.

Or that we may not think that there is any thing less in Him than in God, therefore He says this.

And also in the mutual knowledge between the Father and the Son, He teaches us that there is nothing in the Son beyond what was in the Father, for it follows, And none knoweth the Son but the Father, nor does any man know the Father but the Son.

For this mutual knowledge proclaims that they are of one substance, since He that should know the Son, should know the Father also in the Son, since all things were delivered to Him by the Father.

The Father entrusts. The Son receives. What is entrusted? All things have been entrusted to the Son, but this does not mean cosmically heaven and earth and the elements and the rest of nature which God himself made and established. Rather, it refers personally to the people who have access to the Father through the Son and who were formerly rebellious but afterward began to know God.

(Verse 27.) Everything has been handed over to me by my Father. And understand mystically the One who hands over the Father and the One who receives the Son. Otherwise, if we want to feel according to our weakness, when the one receiving starts to have, the one giving will start to not have. However, everything that has been handed over to Him does not mean the heavens and the earth, and the elements, and the rest that He Himself made and created: but those who, through the Son, have access to the Father, and who previously were rebellious, began to feel God afterwards.

And no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal. Let Eunomius be ashamed of claiming to have such knowledge of the Father and the Son as they have of each other. But if he persists in this and consoles himself in his madness because it follows, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal. It is one thing to know by the equality of nature what you know, and another by the dignity of the revealer.

For if we conceive of this thing according to our weakness, when he who receives begins to have, he who gives begins to be without. Or when He says, All things are committed to him, He may mean, not the heaven and earth and the elements, and the rest of the things which He created and made, but those who through the Son have access to the Father.

Let the heretic Eunomius therefore blush hereat who claims to himself such a knowledge of the Father and the Son, as they have one of anothera. But if he argues from what follows, and props up his madness by that, And he to whom the Son will reveal him, it is one thing to know what you know by equality with God, another to know it by His vouchsafing to reveal it.

For since He had said, "I thank Thee, because Thou hast hid them, and hast revealed them unto babes;" to hinder thy supposing that as being Himself deprived of this power, and unable to effect it, so He offers thanks, He saith, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father." And to them that are rejoicing, because the devils obey them, "Nay, why marvel," saith He. "that devils yield to you? All things are mine; All things are delivered unto me."

But when thou hearest, "they are delivered," do not surmise anything human. For He uses this expression, to prevent thine imagining two unoriginate Gods. Since, that He was at the same time both begotten, and Lord of all, He declares in many ways, and in other places also.

Then He saith what is even greater than this, lifting up thy mind; "And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, but the Son." Which seems indeed to the ignorant unconnected with what went before, but hath full accordance therewith. As thus: having said, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father," He adds, "And what marvel," so He speaks, "if I be Lord of all? I who have also another greater privilege, the knowing the Father, and being of the same substance." Yea, for this too He covertly signifies by His being the only one who so knew Him. For this is His meaning, when He saith, "No man knoweth the Father but the Son."

And see at what time He saith this. When they by His works had received the certain proof of His might, not only seeing Him work miracles, but endowed also in His name with so great powers. Then, since He had said, "Thou hast revealed them unto babes," He signifies this also to pertain to Himself; for "neither knoweth any man the Father," saith He, "save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is willing to reveal Him;" not "to whomsoever He may be enjoined," "to whomsoever He may be commanded." But if He reveals Him, then Himself too. This however He let pass as acknowledged, but the other He hath set down. And everywhere He affirms this; as when He saith, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

And thereby he establishes another point also, His being in harmony and of one mind with Him. "Why," saith He, "I am so far from fighting and warring with Him, that no one can even come to Him but by me." For because this most offended them, His seeming to be a rival God, He by all means doth away with this; and interested Himself about this not less earnestly, but even more so, than about His miracles.

But when He saith, "Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son," He means not this, that all men were ignorant of Him, but that with the knowledge wherewith He knows Him, no man is acquainted with Him; which may be said of the Son too. For it was not of some God unknown, and revealed to no man, that He was so speaking, as Marcion saith; but it is the perfection of knowledge that He is here intimating, since neither do we know the Son as He should be known; and this very thing, to add no more, Paul was declaring, when he said, "We know in part, and we prophesy in part."

Since the Lord Jesus Christ sent the apostles to preach, (our rule is) that no others ought to be received as preachers than those whom Christ appointed; for "no man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Nor does the Son seem to have revealed Him to any other than the apostles, whom He sent forth to preach-that, of course, which He revealed to them.

With regard, however, to the Father, the very gospel which is common to us will testify that He was never visible, according to the word of Christ: "No man knoweth the Father, save the Son." For even in the Old Testament He had declared, "No man shall see me, and live.

With us, however, the Son alone knows the Father, and has Himself unfolded "the Father's bosom.

Wherefore? Because "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world" and, "I am the way: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me; " and, "No man can come to me, except the Father draw him; " and, "All things are delivered unto me by the Father; " and, "As the Father quickeneth (the dead), so also doth the Son; " and again, "If ye had known me, ye would have known the Father also.

He exults in spirit when He says to the Father, "I thank Thee, O Father, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent." He, moreover, affirms also that to no man is the Father known, but to His Son; and promises that, as the Son of the Father, He will confess those who confess Him, and deny those who deny Him, before His Father.

In His preceding words, He said to the Father, "Father, Thou hast revealed." Lest you think that He Himself does nothing and that everything is of the Father, He says, "All things have been given to Me and both the Father and I have the same authority." And when you hear "given" do not think that means given as to a servant or a subordinate, but rather as bestowed upon a son. It is because He was begotten of the Father that those things were given to Him. For if He were not begotten and yet were of the same essence as the Father, those things need not have been given to Him because He would have already possessed them. See what He says: all things have been given, not by a master, but by My Father. As, for example, when a handsome child is born of a handsome father, the child says, "I have been given, that is, I have inherited, my father's beauty." He says something great, "There is nothing marvelous in My being the Master of all things since I possess something even greater, that is, to know the Father, and knowing Him, to reveal Him to others." Consider, then: He said, above, that the Father has revealed the mysteries to babes, and here, that the Son reveals the Father. You see, then, the single power of the Father and the Son, since both the Father and the Son reveal.

All things have been delivered to me by my Father. He had given thanks to the Father, because he revealed his secrets to little ones. But someone might suppose that he himself could not reveal; hence he excludes this: first, he touches on the greatness of his own power; secondly, he invites people to himself, as though saying, "I am powerful" (v. 28).

First, he does two things: first, he states that he is equal to the Father; secondly, he applies it spiritually to what he said (v. 27b).

He says, therefore: Someone could ask whether he can do all things. He answers that all things have been delivered to me by my Father. But note the equality, although the origin is from the Father, which is against Sabellius. But what is meant by all things? This can be explained in three ways:

All things, i.e., above every creature, as below (28:18): "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Or all things, i.e., the elect and predestined, who have been given in a special way: "Yours they were and you have given them to me" (Jn 17:6). Likewise, all things, namely, intrinsic, i.e., every perfection of the godhead: "As the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself" (Jn 5:26). And we should not understand this in a bodily sense, because if he gave, he also kept it for himself. This explanation is Augustine's and Hilary's.

But someone could ask: How did he give? Therefore, he tells how, when he says, from my Father. Hence he received this by generation. And no one knows the Son except the Father. Now he adapts his statement in a specific way to his proposition not only that he is equal to the Father but also consubstantial. From the substance of the Father exceeds all understanding, since the very essence of the Father is said to be unknowable, as is the essence of the Son. Hence there the equality is noted and Arius answered, who said that the Father is invisible but the Son visible. And no one knows the Son except the Father. But what is this? Did not the saints know? It must be said that they knew him by attaining their goal or by faith, but not by comprehending. But does not the Holy Spirit know? Yes. But it should be noted that limiting statements are sometimes added to the essential divine names and sometimes to the personal names. And when they are added to the personal names, they do not exclude that which is the same by nature; hence terms added to the Father do not exclude the Son. Hence where it says, "honor and glory to the immortal King, the invisible and only God" (1 Tim 1:17), the others of the same nature are not excluded. Similarly, when he says, no one knows..., the Holy Spirit is not excluded, for he is the same in nature. But when he says, no one knows, it means no man except the Son. And thus it is shown that the Father knows the Son. But this is contrary to Origen. For the Son knows by comprehension. Therefore, because he knows perfectly and is knowable, he has the power to reveal, as the Father has; hence he says, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. For manifestation is by means of a word: "Father, I have manifested your name to men..." (Jn 17:6) and (1:18): "No one has ever seen God." But he knew him; therefore, he could manifest him. Consequently, what he had said of the Father he attributed to himself. For he had said, You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to little ones. The Son also can do this, in as much as he has the same power.

Whence do we all thus labour, but that we are mortal men, bearing vessels of clay which cause us much difficulty. But if the vessels of flesh are straitened, the regions of love will be enlarged. To what end then does He say, Come unto me, all ye that labour, but that ye should not labour?

As to the other one, about the burden of our sins being intolerable, it might be clearer if we said 'unbearable', because that still has two meanings: you say 'I cannot bear it,' when you mean it gives you great pain, but you also say 'That bridge will not bear that truck' — not meaning 'That bridge will feel pain,' but 'If that truck goes on to it, it will break and not be a bridge any longer, but a mass of rubble.' I wonder if that is what the Prayer Book means; that, whether we feel miserable or not, and however we feel, there is on each of us a load which, if nothing is done about it, will in fact break us, will send us from this world to whatever happens afterwards, not as souls but as broken souls.

It would be a bold and silly creature that came before its Creator with the boast "I'm no beggar. I love you disinterestedly". Those who come nearest to a Gift-love for God will next moment, even at the very same moment, be beating their breasts with the publican and laying their indigence before the only real Giver. And God will have it so. He addresses our Need-love: "Come unto me all ye that travail and are heavy-laden," or, in the Old Testament, "Open your mouth wide and I will fill it."

Stand apart from the inclination to love sin and to love the flesh. Turn to deeds worthy of praise. Draw near to me, so that you may become sharers of the divine nature and partakers of the Holy Spirit. Jesus called everyone, not only the people of Israel. As the Maker and Lord of all, he spoke to the weary Jews who did not have the strength to bear the yoke of the law. He spoke to idolaters heavy laden and oppressed by the devil and weighed down by the multitude of their sins. To Jews he said, "Obtain the profit of my coming to you. Bow down to the truth. Acknowledge your Advocate and Lord. I set you free from bondage under the law, bondage in which you endured a great deal of toil and hardship, unable to accomplish it easily and accumulating for yourselves a very great burden of sins."

(Mor. xxx. 15.) For a cruel yoke and hard weight of servitude it is to be subject to the things of time, to be ambitious of the things of earth, to cling to falling things, to seek to stand in things that stand not, to desire things that pass away, but to be unwilling to pass away with them. For while all things fly away against our wish, those things which had first harassed the mind in desire of gaining them, now oppress it with fear of losing them.

He calls to Him those that were labouring under the hardships of the Law, and those who are burdened with the sins of this world.

(Verse 28, 29.) Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. The weight of sin is heavy, and the prophet Zacharias testifies, saying, iniquity sits upon a talent of lead (Zacch. 5). And the Psalmist laments: My iniquities have overwhelmed me (Psalm 38:4). Certainly, it invites those who were oppressed under the heavy yoke of the Law to the grace of the Gospel.

That the burden of sin is heavy the Prophet Zachariah bears witness, saying, that wickedness sitteth upon a talent of lead. (Zech. 5:7.) And the Psalmist fills it up, Thy iniquities are grown heavy upon me. (Ps. 38:4)

Next, having brought them by His words to an earnest desire, and having signified His unspeakable power, He after that invites them, saying. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Not this or that person, but all that are in anxiety, in sorrows, in sins. Come, not that I may call you to account, but that I may do away your sins; come, not that I want your honor, but that I want your salvation. "For I," saith He, "will give you rest." He said not, "I will save you," only; but what was much more, "I will place you in all security."

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Thus, "be not afraid," saith He, "hearing of a yoke, for it is easy: fear not, because I said, 'a burden,' for it is light."

And how said He before, "The gate is narrow and the way strait?" Whilst thou art careless, whilst thou art supine; whereas, if thou duly perform His words, the burden will be light; wherefore also He hath now called it so.

But how are they duly performed? If thou art become lowly, and meek, and gentle. For this virtue is the mother of all strictness of life. Wherefore also, when beginning those divine laws, with this He began. And here again He doeth the very same, and exceeding great is the reward He appoints. "For not to another only dost thou become serviceable; but thyself also above all thou refreshest," saith He. "For ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Even before the things to come, He gives thee here thy recompense, and bestows the prize already, making the saying acceptable, both hereby, and by setting Himself forward as an example. For, "Of what art thou afraid?" saith He, "lest thou shouldest be a loser by thy low estate? Look to me, and to all that is mine; learn of me, and then shalt thou know distinctly how great thy blessing." Seest thou how in all ways He is leading them to humility? By His own doings: "Learn of me, for I am meek." By what themselves are to gain; for, "Ye shall find," saith He, "rest unto your souls." By what He bestows on them; for, "I too will refresh you," saith He. By rendering it light; "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." So likewise doth Paul, saying, "For the present light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

And how, some one may say, is the burden light, when He saith, "Except one hate father and mother;" and, "Whosoever taketh not up his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me:" and, "Whosoever forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple:" when He commands even to give up our very life? Let Paul teach thee, saying, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" And that, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." Let those teach thee, who return from the council of the Jews after plenty of stripes, and "rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ." And if thou art still afraid and tremblest at hearing of the yoke and the burden, the fear comes not of the nature of the thing, but of thy remissness; since if thou art prepared, and in earnest, all will be easy to thee and light. Since for this cause Christ also, to signify that we too must needs labor ourselves, did not mention the gracious things only, and then hold His peace, nor the painful things only, but set down both. Thus He both spake of "a yoke," and called it "easy;" both named a burden, and added that it was "light;" that thou shouldest neither flee from them as toilsome, nor despise them as over easy.

But if even after all this, virtue seem to thee an irksome thing, consider that vice is more irksome. And this very thing He was intimating, in that He said not first, "Take my yoke upon you," but before that, "Come, ye that labor and are heavy laden;" implying that sin too hath labor, and a burden that is heavy and hard to bear. For He said not only, "Ye that labor," but also, "that are heavy laden." This the prophet too was speaking of, when in that description of her nature, "As an heavy burden they weighed heavy upon me." And Zacharias too, describing her, saith she is "A talent of lead."

And this moreover experience itself proves. For nothing so weighs upon the soul, and presses it down, as consciousness of sin; nothing so much gives it wings, and raises it on high, as the attainment of righteousness and virtue.

And mark it: what is more grievous, I pray thee, than to have no possessions? to turn the cheek, and when smitten not to smite again? to die by a violent death? Yet nevertheless, if we practise self-command, all these things are light and easy, and pleasurable.

But whatever I may say, my speech will present no such proof as the actual trial. Wherefore I would there were present here with us some one of those who have attained unto that summit of self-restraint, and then you would know assuredly the delight thereof; and that none of those that are enamored of voluntary poverty would accept wealth, though ten thousand were to offer it.

But would these, say you, ever consent to become poor, and to cast away the anxieties which they have? And what of that? This is but a proof of their madness and grievous disease, not of anything very pleasurable in the thing. And this even themselves would testify to us, who are daily lamenting over these their anxieties, and accounting their life to be not worth living. But not so those others; rather they laugh, leap for joy, and the wearers of the diadem do not so glory, as they do in their poverty.

Again, to turn the cheek is, to him that gives heed, a less grievous thing than to smite another; for from this the contest hath beginning, in that termination: and whereas by the former thou hast kindled the other's pile too, by the latter thou hast quenched even thine own flames. But that not to be burnt is a pleasanter thing than to be burnt, surely plain to every man. And if this hold in regard of bodies, much more in a soul.

And whether is lighter, to contend, or to be crowned? to fight, or to have the prize? and to endure waves, or to run into harbor? Therefore also, to die is better than to live. For the one withdraws us from waves and dangers, while the other adds unto them, and makes a man subject to numberless plots and distresses, which have made life not worth living in thine account.

And if thou disbelievest our sayings, hearken to them that have seen the countenances of the martyrs in the time of their conflicts, how when scourged and flayed, they were exceeding joyful and glad, and when exposed upon hot irons, rejoiced, and were glad of heart, more than such as lie upon a bed of roses. Wherefore Paul also said, when he was at the point of departing hence, and closing his life by a violent death, "joy, and rejoice with you all; for the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me." Seest thou with what exceeding strength of language he invites the whole world to partake in his gladness? So great a good did he know his departure hence to be, so desirable, and lovely, and worthy of prayer, that formidable thing, death.

But that virtue's yoke is sweet and light, is manifest many other ways also; but to conclude, if you please, let us look also at the burdens of sin. Let us then bring forward the covetous, the retailers and second-hand dealers in shameless bargains. What now could be a heavier burden than such transactions? how many sorrows, how many anxieties, how many disappointments, how many dangers, how many plots and wars, daily spring up from these gains? how many troubles and disturbances? For as one can never see the sea without waves, so neither such a soul without anxiety, and despondency, and fear, and disturbance; yea, the second overtakes the first, and again others come up, and when these are not yet ceased, others come to a head.

Or wouldest thou see the souls of the revilers, and of the passionate? Why, what is worse than this torture? what, than the wounds they have within? what, than the furnace that is continually burning, and the flame that is never quenched?

Or of the sensual, and of such as cleave unto this present life? Why, what more grievous than this bondage? They live the life of Cain, dwelling in continual trembling and fear at every death that happens; the kinsmen of the dead mourn not so much, as these do for their own end.

What again fuller of turmoil, and more frantic, than such as are puffed up with pride? "For learn," saith He, "of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Because long-suffering is the mother of all good things.

Fear thou not therefore, neither start away from the yoke that lightens thee of all these things, but put thyself under it with all forwardness, and then thou shalt know well the pleasure thereof. For it doth not at all bruise thy neck, but is put on thee for good order's sake only, and to persuade thee to walk seemly, and to lead thee unto the royal road, and to deliver thee from the precipices on either side, and to make thee walk with ease in the narrow way.

Since then so great are its benefits, so great its security, so great its gladness, let us with all our soul, with all our diligence, draw this yoke; that we may both here "find rest unto our souls," and attain unto the good things to come, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.

Now poverty is a light thing to those who possess it, and if a man were to call the poverty which is for the sake of God "riches," he would call it rightly, and even as it is. Therefore our Lord also lifted a heavy yoke from His disciples in that He made them destitute of the riches of the world, saying, "Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and are laden with heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." And who are these, unless it be those who are wearied by the superfluities of riches, and who bear the heavy yoke of the cares and anxieties of the world? And what weariness is so oppressive as this? For when thou hast come to enjoy thyself, thou art the more tired. The care for human riches is a path which hath no ending in this life, for however far a man may travel along it, it lengtheneth out before his footsteps, and there is nothing which breaketh it except death. And when a man hath gathered together riches and mammon that he may enjoy himself, and live daintily and luxuriously, his enjoyment is weariness, and if the enjoyment of the world be weariness, what shall weariness itself be called? And if the enjoyments and luxuries are heavy labours, what shall labour itself be called? For the world is heavy in all its conversation, but because of the love thereof they who carry its burdens perceive them not, and they stumble therein like blind men, but discern it not, and though they carry heavy burdens, they are light unto them, and they weary and exert themselves painfully after the merchandise of loss, but know not that it is loss. And because our Lord saw them in this empty labour, He cried unto them, saying, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest, for in your weariness there is no rest. But your weariness begetteth weariness, and your labour bringeth forth labour, and your riches gather together poverty, and your rest is tribulation, and your enjoyment is affliction, and your refreshing is toil; for the path of the desire of riches which ye have trodden of your own freewill hath no end; but if ye will come to Me by My road it will come to an end."

(non occ.) I will not only take from you your burden, but will satisfy you with inward refreshment.

Come, He says, not with the feet, but with the life, not in the body, but in faith. For that is a spiritual approach by which any man approaches God; and therefore it follows, Take my yoke upon you.

We are naturally obliged to state our opinion clearly to such people, and to reply: O, you! Why do you reason to your own perdition rather than your salvation? And why do you pick out for yourselves the obscure passages of inspired Scripture and then tear them out of context and twist them in order to accomplish your own destruction? Do you not hear the Savior crying out every day: "As I live … I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live" [Ezekiel 33:11]? Do you not hear Him Who says: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" [Matthew 3:2]; and again: "Just so, I tell you, there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:7, adapted)? Did He ever say to some: "Do not repent for I will not accept you," while to others who were predestined: "But you, repent! because I knew you beforehand"? Of course not! Instead, throughout the world and in every church He shouts: "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Come, He says, all you who are burdened with many sins, to the One Who takes away the sin of the world; come all who thirst to the fountain which flows and never dies. - "Second Ethical Discourse"

He calls all mankind, not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles. By those "that labour" understand the Jews, who follow the strict observances of the law and labor in the occupation of fulfilling the commandments of the law. Those who are "heavy laden" are the Gentiles, who are oppressed by the burden of sins. To all these does Christ give rest. For to believe, to confess, and to be baptized, what labor is it? Is it not, rather, rest? For here in this life you are unburdened of the things which you did before your baptism, and there in the next life rest awaits you.

Come to me, all you... Come to my blessings. First, the invitation; secondly, the need for the invitation; thirdly, its utility. He says, therefore: Come to me. This is also the word of Wisdom: "Come to me, you who desire me, and eat your fill of my produce" (Sir 24:19). Hence, draw near to me, you untaught, because I want to communicate myself. But what is the need? Because without me men labor too much: all you who labor. In a special way this can be applied to the Jews, because they labored under the yoke of the Law and commandments, as it says in Acts (15:10): "This is a burden which neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear." Likewise, in general, to all who labor on account of human frailty: "I am poor and acquainted with labors from my youth" (Ps 88:15). And are heavy laden, namely, with sins: "My iniquities weigh like a burden too heavy for me" (Ps 38:4).

And what shall we get, if we come to you? I will give you rest [refresh you]. "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink" (Jn 7:37). Then he explains the invitation: first, he explains; secondly, he assigns the reason (v. 30). Having presented the invitation and its purpose, he now wants to explain what that invitation is, when he says, take my yoke upon you. But what is this? You say that you want to refresh us and lift our labor from us, and in the same breath you tell us to carry a yoke? We believed that it would not involve a yoke. Yes, without the yoke of sin: "For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken" (Is 9:4). Not that you are without God's law, but without the yoke of sin: "Let us cast off from us their yoke" (Ps 2:3); "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled, because of your iniquity" (Hos 14:1); "Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness" (Rom 6:18).

You are to "take my yoke upon you, and learn from me." You are not learning from me how to refashion the fabric of the world, nor to create all things visible and invisible, nor to work miracles and raise the dead. Rather, you are simply learning of me: "that I am meek and lowly in heart." If you wish to reach high, then begin at the lowest level. If you are trying to construct some mighty edifice in height, you will begin with the lowest foundation. This is humility. However great the mass of the building you may wish to design or erect, the taller the building is to be, the deeper you will dig the foundation. The building in the course of its erection rises up high, but he who digs its foundation must first go down very low. So then, you see even a building is low before it is high and the tower is raised only after humiliation.

Not to create a world, or to do miracles in that world; but that I am meek and lowly in heart. Wouldest thou be great? Begin with the least. Wouldest thou build up a mighty fabric of greatness? First think of the foundation of humility; for the mightier building any seeks to raise, the deeper let him dig for his foundation. Whither is the summit of our building to rise? To the sight of God.

When grace, justice, and wisdom have been perfectly attained, one ascends to the summit of evangelical perfection, which Christ Jesus taught by word and example, who specially professed himself the master of humility, in Matthew 11: Learn from me, etc. For humility is the gateway of wisdom, the foundation of justice, and the dwelling place of grace.

Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even His enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is 'humble and meek' and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.

He holds forth the inducements of a pleasant yoke, and a light burden, that to them that believe He may afford the knowledge of that good which He alone knoweth in the Father.

And what is more pleasant than that yoke, what lighter than that burden? To be made better, to abstain from wickedness, to choose the good, and refuse the evil, to love all men, to hate none, to gain eternal things, not to be taken with things present, to be unwilling to do that to another which yourself would be pained to suffer.

[Daniel 4:10] "'I saw, and behold there was a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was very great...'" It was not only of Nebuchadnezzar, King of the Chaldeans, but also of all impious men that the prophet says: "I beheld the impious man highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon" (Psalm 37:35). Such men are lifted up, not by the greatness of their virtues, but by their own pride; and for that reason they are cut down and fall into ruin. Therefore it is good to follow the teaching of our Lord in the Gospel: "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). But as for the fact that, according to Theodotion, he mentions his kutos or height - or else his kureia, as he himself later renders it, that is to say, his dominion (a word we have translated as "his appearance") - those same detractors of the historicity of this passage slanderously assert that Nebuchadnezzar's dominion never possessed the entire world. He did not rule over the Greeks or barbarians, or over all of the nations in the north and west, but only over the provinces of the East; that is to say, over Asia, not over Europe or Libya. Consequently all these slanders require to be understood as attributable to the devil, for actually we ourselves should accept all this as spoken by way of hyperbole, having in view the arrogance of the impious king, who in Isaiah (chap. 14) makes as great a boast as this, claiming that he possesses the very heaven itself, and the whole earth besides, as if it were a nest full of birds' eggs.

Such a spirit as this let us too acquire, and whatever we may suffer we shall bear it easily, and before the Kingdom, we shall reap here the gain accruing from lowliness of mind. Thus "learn," saith He, "of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Therefore in order that we may enjoy rest both here and hereafter, let us with great diligence implant in our souls the mother of all things that are good, I mean humility. For thus we shall be enabled both to pass over the sea of this life without waves, and to end our voyage in that calm harbor; by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might for ever and ever. Amen.

Seest thou how everywhere practice is required, and the proof by works? "For by their fruits," saith He, "ye shall know them." And what commends our own life? Is it indeed a display of miracles, or the perfection of an excellent conversation? Very evidently it is the second; but as to the miracles, they both have their origin from hence, and terminate herein. For both He that shows forth an excellent life, draws to Himself this gift, and he that receives the gift, receives it for this end, that he may amend other men's lives. Since even Christ for this end wrought those miracles, that having made Himself thereby credible, and drawn men unto Him, He might bring virtue into our life. Wherefore also He lays more stress of the two on this. For He is not at all satisfied with the signs only, but He also threatens hell, and promises a kingdom, and lays down those startling laws, and all things He orders to this end, that He may make us equal to the angels.

And why say I, that Christ doth all for this object? Why, even thou, should one give thee thy choice, to raise dead men by His name, or to die for His name; which I pray thee, of the two wouldest thou rather accept? Is it not quite plain, the latter? and yet the one is a miracle, the other but a work. And what, if one offered thee to make grass gold, or to be able to despise all wealth as grass, wouldest thou not rather accept this latter? and very reasonably. For mankind would be attracted by this more than any way. For if they saw the grass changed into gold, they would covet themselves also to acquire that power, as Simon did, and the love of money would be increased in them; but if they saw us all contemning and neglecting gold, as though it were grass, they would long ago have been delivered from this disease.

Seest thou that our practice has more power to do good? By practice I mean, not thy fasting, nor yet thy strewing sackcloth and ashes under thee, but if thou despise wealth, as it ought to be despised; if thou be kindly affectioned, if thou give thy bread to the hungry, if thou control anger, if thou cast out vainglory, if thou put away envy. So He Himself used to teach: for, "Learn of me," saith He, "for I am meek and lowly in heart." He did not say, "for I fasted," although surely He might have spoken of the forty days, yet He saith not this; but, "I am meek and lowly in heart." And again, when sending them out, He said not, "Fast," but, "Eat of all that is set before you." With regard to wealth, however, He required of them great strictness, saying, "Provide not gold, or silver, or brass, in your purses."

And all this I say, not to depreciate fasting, God forbid, but rather highly to commend it. But I grieve when other duties being neglected, ye think it enough for salvation, having but the last place in the choir of virtue. For the greatest thing is charity, and moderation, and almsgiving; which hits a higher mark even than virginity.

The yoke of Christ is Christ's Gospel, which joins and yokes together Jews and Gentiles in the unity of the faith. This we are commanded to take upon us, that is, to have in honour; lest perchance setting it beneath us, that is wrongly despising it, we should trample upon it with the miry feet of unholiness; wherefore He adds, Learn of me.

We must learn then from our Saviour to be meek in temper, and lowly in mind; let us hurt none, let us despise none, and the virtues which we have shown in deed let us retain in our heart.

The yoke of Christ is humility and meekness. For he who humbles himself before all men has rest and remains untroubled; but he who is vainglorious and arrogant is ever encompassed by troubles as he does not wish to be less than anyone but is always thinking how to be esteemed more highly and how to defeat his enemies. Therefore the yoke of Christ, which is humility, is light, for it is easier for our lowly nature to be humbled than to be exalted. But all the commandments of Christ are also called a yoke, and they are light because of the reward to come, even though for a time they appear heavy.

Take, therefore, my yoke, namely, the gospel lessons. And he says, yoke, because just as a yoke fastens and joins the necks of oxen, so the doctrine of the gospel fastens the people to its yoke. And what is that? Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. The whole Law consists in two things: meekness and humility. By meekness a man is rightly ordered to his neighbor; hence Psalm 132 (v. 1): "Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness." By humility he is rightly ordered to himself and to God: "Upon whom will my spirit rest except on the calm and meek" (Is 66:2)? Hence humility makes a man capable of God. He had also said, "and I will refresh you." What is this refreshment? You will find rest for your souls. For the body is not refreshed, as long as it is afflicted, and when it is not afflicted any more, it is said to be refreshed. And just as hunger is to the body, so desire is to the mind; hence the achievement of desires is refreshing: "Who satisfies your desire with good" (Ps 103:5). And this rest is a rest of the soul: "I have labored little and found for myself much rest" (Sir 51:27). The meek are not at rest this way in the world; hence they will find eternal rest, namely, the fulfillment of desires.

If the yoke is easy and the burden light, why did he call "the way" "narrow"? It is narrow to the careless, for to the zealous the Lord's tasks are light. For even if they involve bodily suffering for a little while, yet the one who is now nourished with good hopes is the devout one who easily bears these pains.

So then they who with unfearing neck have submitted to the yoke of the Lord endure such hardships and dangers, that they seem to be called not from labour to rest, but from rest to labour. But the Holy Spirit was there who, as the outward man decayed, renewed the inward man day by day, and giving a foretaste of spiritual rest in the rich pleasures of God in the hope of blessedness to come, smoothed all that seemed rough, lightened all that was heavy. Men suffer amputations and burnings, that at the price of sharper pain they may be delivered from torments less but more lasting, as boils or swellings. What storms and dangers will not merchants undergo that they may acquire perishing riches? Even those who love not riches endure the same hardships; but those that love them endure the same, but to them they are not hardships. For love makes right easy, and almost nought all things however dreadful and monstrous. How much more easily then does love do that for true happiness, which avarice does for misery as far as it can?

Both harder and easier than what we are all trying to do. You have noticed, I expect, that Christ Himself sometimes describes the Christian way as very hard, sometimes as very easy. He says, 'Take up your Cross'—in other words, it is like going to be beaten to death in a concentration camp. Next minute he says, 'My yoke is easy and my burden light.' He means both. And one can just see why both are true.

Teachers will tell you that the laziest boy in the class is the one who works hardest in the end. They mean this. If you give two boys, say, a proposition in geometry to do, the one who is prepared to take trouble will try to understand it. The lazy boy will try to learn it by heart because, for the moment, that needs less effort. But six months later, when they are preparing for an exam, that lazy boy is doing hours and hours of miserable drudgery over things the other boy understands, and positively enjoys, in a few minutes. Laziness means more work in the long run. Or look at it this way. In a battle, or in mountain climbing, there is often one thing which it takes a lot of pluck to do; but it is also, in the long run, the safest thing to do. If you funk it, you will find yourself, hours later, in far worse danger. The cowardly thing is also the most dangerous thing.

It is like that here. The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self—all your wishes and precautions—to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead.

Joseph asked Poemen, 'How should we fast?' Poemen said, 'I suggest that everyone should eat a little less than he wants, every day.' Joseph said to him, 'When you were a young man, didn't you fast for two days on end?' He said to him, 'That's right, I used to fast three days on end, even for a week. But the great hermits have tested all these things, and they found that it is good to eat something every day, but on some days a little less. They have shown us that this is the king's highway, for it is easy and light.'

Therefore let everyone who wants life and desires to see good days put down the yoke of iniquity and malice. The prophet says, "Let us burst their bonds and thrust their yoke from us." For unless one throws behind the yoke of iniquity, that is, the spark of all vices, one cannot take up the agreeable and light yoke of Christ. But if the yoke of Christ is so agreeable and light, how is it that divine religion seems so harsh and bitter to some people? It is bitter to some because the heart that has been tainted by earthly desires cannot love heavenly things. It has not yet come to Christ, so that it can take up his yoke and learn that he is gentle and humble of heart. Hence we observe, my dearest friends, from the teaching of our Lord, that unless a person is gentle and humble of heart, he or she cannot bear the yoke of Christ.

(Mor. iv. 33.) What burden is it to put upon the neck of our mind that He bids us shun all desire that disturbs, and turn from the toilsome paths of this world?

(Verse 30.) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. How is the Gospel lighter than the Law, when in the Law murder is condemned, but in the Gospel anger is condemned? In what way is the grace of the Gospel easier, when in the Law adultery is punished, but in the Gospel lust is punished? In the Law there are many precepts, which the Apostle teaches cannot be fully fulfilled (Acts 15). In the Law, works are required, and whoever does them shall live. In the Gospel, the will is sought, and even if it does not have the desired effect, it does not lose the reward. The Gospel commands what we are able to do: that we do not desire, namely, this is within our power. When the law does not punish the will, it punishes the effect, so that you do not commit adultery. Imagine a virgin prostitute in persecution. This virgin is accepted according to the Gospel, since she does not sin by her own will, but she is rejected in the Law as if corrupted.

And how is the Gospel lighter than the Law, seeing in the Law murder and adultery, but under the Gospel anger and concupiscence also, are punished? Because by the Law many things are commanded which the Apostle fully teaches us cannot be fulfilled; by the Law works are required, by the Gospel the will is sought for, which even if it goes not into act, yet does not lose its reward. The Gospel commands what we can do, as that we lust not; this is in our own power; the Law punishes not the will but the act, as adultery. Suppose a virgin to have been violated in time of persecution; as here was not the will she is held as a virgin under the Gospel; under the Law she is cast out as defiled.

But how is Christ's yoke pleasant, seeing it was said above, Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life? (Mat. 7:14.) That which is entered upon by a narrow entrance is in process of time made broad by the unspeakable sweetness of love.

And so they upbraid the discipline of monogamy with being a heresy; nor is there any other cause whence they find themselves compelled to deny the Paraclete more than the fact that they esteem Him to be the institutor of a novel discipline, and a discipline which they find most harsh: so that this is already the first ground on which we must join issue in a general handling (of the subject), whether there is room for maintaining that the Paraclete has taught any such thing as can either be charged with novelty, in opposition to catholic tradition, or with burdensomeness, in opposition to the "light burden" of the Lord.

How is it then that he himself demands a high degree of strictness? He answers, "You have not yet had experience of things that are mine, and for this reason you think this way. But if you would take up my yoke and would believe in those things I give, you would find the greatest difference between the things that are from me and those that are from Moses. From me there is great, patient endurance and kindness. Seeing such a weight of sins—murders and self-love and things more unnamable than these—I am longsuffering and bear with those who do these things, not despising them but waiting for them to repent. If ever they should repent and change their ways, I immediately forgive them, not remembering their former acts. But the law of Moses is not like this. When you sin, it immediately punishes the sinner. It knows no repentance. It promises no remission. When I make demands about the covenant, I am not so much preoccupied with investigating the things that happened. For me, it is enough that a soul choose what is good with a genuine resolution. But the law goes overboard, both adding more punishments to the smaller ones and cursing the transgressors. Therefore my yoke is good on account of forgiveness, and my burden is light because it is not a collection of customs and various observances but decisions of the soul."

But do not wonder if I invite you to a yoke, because my yoke is not a burden. Why? For my yoke is easy and delightful: "How sweet are your words to my taste!" (Ps 119:103). And my burden is light. And these can be referred to two things: by the yoke the oxen are held, but the burden is carried; hence the yoke is referred to the negative precepts, the burden to the affirmative.

But this seems to be false, because the burden of the New Law seems very heavy, as was said above (5:21): "You have heard that it was said of old: You shall not kill. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to the judgment." So it seems that it is a heavier burden: "Narrow is the way, which leads to life." Likewise the Apostle in 2 Corinthians (11:23): "In many labors." Hence the yoke seems most burdensome. Therefore, three things must be considered: the effect of the teaching, the act and the circumstances. And in all three it is light.

The doctrine of Christ is light in its effect, because it changes the heart, in as much as it makes us love not temporal but spiritual things. For the person who loves temporal things finds it more a burden to lose a little than a person who loves spiritual things to lose much. The Old Law did not forbid those temporal things; therefore it was painful to lose them. But now, even though it is burdensome in the beginning, after a while it is light: "I will lead you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered" (Pr 4:11). Likewise, in regard to its act, the Law imposed a burden of external acts. But our law is solely in the will; hence Romans (14:17): "the kingdom of God is not food and drink." Again, the law of Christ brings joy; hence Romans (14:17): "Justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Likewise, in regard to circumstances there are many adversities; hence "All who desire to lead a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Tim 3:12). But they are not burdensome, because they are seasoned with the condiment of love; for when a person loves someone, it is not a burden to suffer anything for him. Hence love makes easy all difficult and impossible things. Therefore, if one loves Christ properly, nothing is difficult for him; consequently, the New Law does not impose a burden.

(cont. Faust. xxii. 36.) Not that the Saviour was unable to protect His disciples, does He here bid them fly, and Himself give them an example of it, but He instructed man's weakness, that he should not presume to tempt God, when he has any thing that he can do for himself, but should shun all evils.

(De Civ. Dei, i. 22.) He might have suffered them to lay violent hands upon themselves, that they might not fall into the hands of their persecutors. Therefore if He neither commanded nor allowed this mode of departure from this world to His own, for whom He Himself had promised that He would prepare an eternal mansion; whatever instances may be brought by the Gentiles who know not God, it is clear that this is not lawful for those who believe one true God.

(Ep. 228.) Let the servants of Christ then do as He commanded, or permitted them; as He fled into Egypt, let them fly from city to city, whenever any one of them is marked out for persecution; that the Church be not deserted, it will be filled by those who are not so sought after; and let these give sustenance to their fellow-servants whom they know cannot live by any other means. But when the threatening danger is common to all, Bishops, clergy, and laity, let not those who have need of aid be deserted by those whose aid they require. Either therefore let them all pass to some stronghold, or let those who are obliged to remain, not be deserted by those whose province it is to supply their ecclesiastical needs; that they may either all live, or all suffer whatever their Master will have them to suffer.

Jesus commands his disciples to flee from one town to the next, and from that one to another. In saying this he is not telling his disciples to be cowardly. He is telling them not to cast themselves into dangers and die at once, for that would be a loss to those who otherwise will benefit from the teaching.

He then tells them to flee out of one city into another. This means that his message would first go beyond the borders of Judea and pass into Greece. Then the messengers would be harassed and the various apostles would suffer among the cities of Greece. At last the message would be established among all the Gentiles. He also wished to indicate that the Gentiles would believe in the apostles' preaching but that Israel alone would not believe until his own return. For this reason he said, "You will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes," that is, after the conversion of all of the Gentiles. Israel will be left, and when he comes in splendor, it will fill out the number of the holy and be established in the church.

Otherwise; He exhorts to fly from place to place; for His preaching driven from Judæa, first passed into Greece; then, wearied with divers sufferings of the Apostles up and down the cities of Greece, it takes an abiding refuge in the rest of the Gentile world. But to show that the Gentiles would believe the preaching of the Apostles, but that the remnant of Israel should only believe at His second coming, He adds, Ye shall not have completed the cities of Israel; i. e. After the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, that which remains of Israel to fill up the number of the Saints shall be called into the Church in Christ's future coming to glory.

This should be read as referring to the time when the apostles were sent forth to preach. It was properly said to them: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans," because they should not fear persecution but should turn away from it. We see that this is what the believers did in the first days. When persecution began in Jerusalem, they scattered throughout all Judea. Their time of trial thus became a seedbed for the good news.On the spiritual level we propose this symbolic interpretation. When we are persecuted in one city—that is, in one book or passage in Scripture—we will flee to other cities, that is, to other books. No matter how menacing the persecutor may be, he must come before the judgment seat of the Savior. Victory is not to be granted to our opponents before we have done this.

(Verse 23, 24.) But when they persecute you in this city, flee to another. Amen I say to you, you will not have finished going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. This refers to that time when the apostles were sent for preaching, to whom it is specifically said: Do not go into the way of the gentiles, and do not enter the cities of the Samaritans (Above, same.), they should not fear persecution, but should avoid it. Indeed, we see (or rather, we saw) that in the beginning, believers did this: when the persecution of Jerusalem arose, they were scattered throughout all Judea, so that the occasion of tribulation would become the seedbed of the Gospel. However, we can say spiritually: when they persecuted us in one city, that is, in one book of Scripture or testimony, we fled to other cities, that is, to other volumes. Although the persecutor may be contentious, the Savior's protection will come before victory is granted to our adversaries.

This must be referred to the time when the Apostles were sent to preach, when it was said to them, Go not into the way of the Gentiles; they should not fear, but may shun persecution. This we see the believers did in the beginning, when on a persecution arising in Jerusalem they were scattered throughout all Judea, and thus the season of tribulation was made the seedtime of the Gospel.

Spiritually we may say; When they shall persecute you in one book or one passage of Scripture, let us flee to other volumes, for however contentious the adversary may be, protection will come from the Saviour before the victory is yielded to the enemy.

Having spoken of those fearful and horrible things, enough to melt very adamant, which after His cross, and resurrection, and assumption, were to befall them, He directs again His discourse to what was of more tranquil character, allowing those whom He is training to recover breath, and affording them full security. For He did not at all command them, when persecuted, to close with the enemy, but to fly. That is, it being so far but a beginning, and a prelude, He gave His discourse a very condescending turn. For not now of the ensuing persecutions is He speaking, but of those before the cross and the passion. And this He showed by saying, "Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man be come." That is, lest they should say, "What then, if when persecuted we flee, and there again they overtake us, and drive us out?" - to destroy this fear, He saith, "Ye shall not have gone round Palestine first, but I will straightway come upon you." And see how here again He doeth not away with the terrors, but stands by them in their perils. For He said not, "I will snatch you out, and will put an end to the persecutions;" but what? "Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man be come." Yea, for it sufficed for their consolation, simply to see Him.

But do thou observe, I pray thee, how He doth not on every occasion leave all to grace, but requires something also to be contributed on their part. "For if ye fear," saith He, "flee," for this He signified by saying, "flee ye," and "fear not." And He did not command them to flee at first, but when persecuted to withdraw; neither is it a great distance that He allows them, but so much as to go about the cities of Israel.

Or; He foretels that they shall not have brought all the cities of Israel to the faith by their preaching, before the Lord's resurrection be accomplished, and a commission given them to preach the Gospel throughout the world.

Be it known moreover, that as this precept respecting endurance under persecution specially belongs to the Apostles and their successors, men of fortitude, so the permission to fly is sufficiently proper for the weak in the faith, to whom the tender Master condescends, lest if they should offer themselves for martyrdom, under the pain they should deny the faith; and the sin of flight is lighter than that of denial. But though by their flight they showed that they had not the constancy of perfect faith, yet their desert was great, seeing they were ready to leave all for Christ. So that if He had not given them permission to fly, some would have said that they were aliens from the glory of the heavenly kingdom.

In fact, in that it is written, "To marry is better than to burn," what, pray, is the nature of this "good" which is (only) commended by comparison with "evil," so that the reason why" marrying" is more good is (merely) that "burning" is less? Nay, but how far better is it neither to marry nor to burn? Why, even in persecutions it is better to take advantage of the permission granted, and "flee from town to town," than, when apprehended and racked, to deny (the faith). And therefore more blessed are they who have strength to depart (this life) in blessed confession of their testimony.

For so a certain individual, but a fugitive likewise has chosen to maintain, and others have done the same who are unwilling to understand the meaning of that declaration of the Lord, that they may use it as a cloak for their cowardice, although it has had its persons as well as its times and reasons to which it specially applies. "When they begin," He says, "to persecute you, flee from city to city," We maintain that this belongs specially to the persons of the apostles, and to their times and circumstances, as the following sentences will show, which are suitable only to the apostles: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and into a city of the Samaritans do not enter: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Neither were they to flee to any city as if by stealth, but as if everywhere about to proclaim their message; and for this, everywhere about to undergo persecutions, until they should fulfil their teaching. Accordingly the Saviour says, "Ye will not go over all the cities of Israel." So the command to flee was restricted to the limits of Judea.

His coming is not described as a manifest one at the end of our life. His coming will appear as spiritual guidance and help for those who are persecuted from time to time for the sake of God.

"But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man be come." The fearful things spoken of above, such as "They will hand you over" and "You will be hated," concerned those things which would take place after the Ascension. What is spoken of now concerns that which would take place before the Cross. "You will not be persecuted through all the cities of Israel before I shall come to you." He commands them to flee from their persecutors. For it is of the devil for a man to throw himself into manifest danger and thus become the cause of condemnation to those who would slay him and the detriment of those whom he was about to benefit by his preaching. "Till the Son of Man be come" - do not understand by this the second coming, but rather, His drawing together with them and the comfort that He would give them yet before the Cross. For when they had been sent out and had preached, they again returned to Christ and were together with Him.

When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. In the beginning of this section he mentioned the dangers, when he said, behold, I send you... Here he teaches how they should behave. This is divided into two parts: first, he teaches them to beware of evils and dangers as to prudence; secondly, to maintain equanimity in dangers (v. 26).

In regard to the first: first, he teaches them to avoid bodily danger; secondly, spiritual (v. 24).

He says, therefore: I have said that he who perseveres to the end will be saved, but that is no reason to expose yourselves to danger; rather, when they persecute you in one town, flee to another. This is expedient for the weak, lest they fail by exposing themselves carelessly: "A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool throws off restraint and is careless" (Pr 14:16). Likewise, it is for the perfect; and if not for their sake, then for the salvation of others, as it says in Philippians (1:24): "But to remain in the flesh is necessary for your sake." The Lord showed this when he fled into Egypt on account of Herod, as is recorded above (2:14). The apostles also did this, as in Acts (8:1). But John (10:12) seems not to agree with this: "The hireling flees and leaves the sheep." Therefore, it seems that this refers not to them but to hirelings. Augustine says that persecution threatens either one person, and then he should depart and leave others through whom salvation can be achieved; or it threatens the whole Church and then it is necessary for the entire Church to flee to safer places, as has already happened, or some should flee and others hold their ground, or the shepherd remain with his flock. He continues: I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes.

Then he answers a tacit objection, for they could say: You are sending us to Judea; if they chase us out, where shall we go? I say, granting that they expel you from one city, flee to another, and you will not be able to traverse the cities of Judea, before the Son of man comes, i.e., until he rises from the dead, and then he will send you to the gentiles, as it says below (28:19): "Go, teach all nations." Hilary explains it another way, namely, that he is speaking of the second mission, when he says, when they persecute you..., i.e., flee from the Jews to the gentiles, as it says in Acts (13:46): "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy, behold we turn to the gentiles." Mystically in this way: When the heretics persecute you with their texts, refute them with texts; for they will not be finished, until the truth is manifested.

Our Lord in Gethsemane made a petitionary prayer (and did not get what He asked for). You'll remind me that He asked with a reservation—"nevertheless, not my will but thine." This makes an enormous difference. But the difference which it precisely does not make is that of removing the prayer's petitionary character...

The servant is not greater, and must not be more high-minded than the master. Whatever the theoretical difficulties are, we must continue to make requests of God. And on this point we can get no help from those who keep on reminding us that this is the lowest and least essential kind of prayer. They may be right; but so what? Diamonds are more precious than cairngorms, but the cairngorms still exist and must be taken into account like anything else.

(ord.) As much as to say, Be not indignant that ye suffer things, which I also suffer, because I am your lord, who do what I will, and your master, who teach you what I know to be profitable for you.

For the Lord, the Light eternal, the Captain of the faithful, the Parent of immortality, set before His disciples this solace of the sufferings that should come upon them, that we should embrace it as our glory when we are made like to our Lord in suffering; whence He says, The disciple is not above his master, nor the slave above his lord.

Spiritually we may say; When they shall persecute you in one book or one passage of Scripture, let us flee to other volumes, for however contentious the adversary may be, protection will come from the Saviour before the victory is yielded to the enemy.

Beelzebub is the idol of Accaron who is called in the book of Kings, the God of flies; 'Bel,' signifying idol; (2 Kings 1:3.) 'zebub,' a fly. The Prince of the dæmons He calls by the name of the foulest of idols, which is so called because of the uncleanness of the fly, which destroys the sweetness of ointment.

But since withal it was likely that they should also bring upon themselves an evil report, which to many seems harder to bear than all; see whence He comforts them even in this case, deriving the encouragement from Himself, and from all that had been said touching Himself; to which nothing else was equal. For as He said in that other place, "Ye shall be hated of all men," and added, "for my name's sake," so also here.

And in another way He mitigates it, joining a fresh topic to that former. What kind of one then is it?

"The disciple," saith He, "is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household? Fear them not therefore."

See how He discovers Himself to be the Lord and God and Creator of all things. What then? Is there not any disciple above his Master, or servant above his Lord? So long as he is a disciple, and a servant, he is not, by the nature of that honor. For tell me not here of the rare instances, but take the principle from the majority. And He saith not, "How much more His servants," but "them of His household," to show how very near He felt them to be to Him. And elsewhere too He said, "Henceforth I call you not servants; ye are my friends." And He said not, If they have insulted the Master of the houses and calumniated Him; but states also the very form of the insult, that they "called Him Beelzebub."

He calls Himself master and lord; by disciple and servant He denotes His Apostles.

And because this sentence seemed not to agree with the foregoing words, He shows what they mean by adding, If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more they of his household?

As much as to say, Ye therefore will not seek worldly honours and human glory, while you see me pursuing the redemption of mankind through mocking and contumely.

With the same law of His being He fully complied, by remaining in Hades in the form and condition of a dead man; nor did He ascend into the heights of heaven before descending into the lower parts of the earth, that He might there make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of Himself. (This being the case), you must suppose Hades to be a subterranean region, and keep at arm's length those who are too proud to believe that the souls of the faithful deserve a place in the lower regions. These persons, who are "servants above their Lord, and disciples above their Master," would no doubt spurn to receive the comfort of the resurrection, if they must expect it in Abraham's bosom. But it was for this purpose, say they, that Christ descended into hell, that we might not ourselves have to descend thither. Well, then, what difference is there between heathens and Christians, if the same prison awaits them all when dead? How, indeed, shall the soul mount up to heaven, where Christ is already sitting at the Father's right hand, when as yet the archangel's trumpet has not been heard by the command of God,-when as yet those whom the coming of the Lord is to find on the earth, have not been caught up into the air to meet Him at His coming, in company with the dead in Christ, who shall be the first to arise? To no one is heaven opened; the earth is still safe for him, I would not say it is shut against him. When the world, indeed, shall pass away, then the kingdom of heaven shall be opened.

But for all that, heresy, which is for ever mending the Gospels, and corrupting them in the act, is an affair of man's audacity, not of God's authority; and if Marcion be even a disciple, he is yet not "above his master; " if Marcion be an apostle, still as Paul says, "Whether it be I or they, so we preach; " if Marcion be a prophet, even "the spirits of the prophets will be subject to the prophets," for they are not the authors of confusion, but of peace; or if Marcion be actually an angel, he must rather be designated "as anathema than as a preacher of the gospel," because it is a strange gospel which he has preached. So that, whilst he amends, he only confirms both positions: both that our Gospel is the prior one, for he amends that which he has previously fallen in with; and that that is the later one, which, by putting it together out of the emendations of ours, he has made his own Gospel, and a novel one too.

His successor was Ebion, not agreeing with Cerinthus in every point; in that he affirms the world to have been made by God, not by angels; and because it is written, "No disciple above his master, nor servant above his lord, " sets forth likewise the law as binding, of course for the purpose of excluding the gospel and vindicating Judaism

It is truly said that a disciple is not above his teacher according to his nature. For he who is made like his teacher by adoption can never go beyond his nature, but to be made like his teacher is the highest end he can reach. It is also for this reason that Jesus says there is only one teacher, and that teacher is himself. For the teachers among humans are more like routinely stamped images of teachers than like true ones, as each of them teaches what he himself takes for granted. One will make more progress if one is reconciled to the good that has already been given.

"The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his teacher, and the servant as his lord." Here He teaches them to endure insults. For if I, your Teacher and Master, have endured them, how much more so should you, My disciples and servants. You may ask, "Why does He say, The disciple is not above his teacher, when we see many disciples who are greater than their teachers?" Learn, then, that while they are disciples they are less than their teachers; if they become greater, they are no longer disciples. In the same way, a servant, while he is a servant, is not above his lord.

A disciple is not above his teacher [master]. Here he urges them not to lose courage: first, by an example; secondly, by a favor (v. 26); thirdly, in view of the divine judgment (v. 28).

First, by an example he exhorts them not to lose courage; secondly, he applies it to his instruction.

First, he makes a comparison; secondly, what suffices for perfection (v. 25).

He says, therefore, a disciple is not above his master. For they could say: You say that we will be hated by all men; how can we endure so many hatreds. The Lord had given them great wisdom and great power; hence honor is owed to wisdom and reverence to power. Therefore, the Lord gives himself as an example of both. The disciple, as disciple, is not above his master; hence if they have not rendered me the honor due a master, then not to you. Again, a servant is not above his lord, and this is in regard to his dominion. Hence John (13:13): "You call me master and lord, and you say well, for so I am."

Knowledge of things to come is very edifying for acquiring tolerance, especially if our own will to endure has been molded by another's example. Our Lord, who is eternal light and the leader of all believers and the founder of immortality, sent consolations in advance to his disciples for the sufferings they would endure. This was so that no disciple would think himself above his teacher or above the Lord, when in reality he is a servant. For some call the master of the house by a demon's name out of their ill will. If we were indeed equal to our Lord or to the circumstances of his sufferings, how much more would they commit every sort of injury and insult on those of his household who have more fully entered the realm of glory?

(Verse 25) If they called the head of the household Beelzebub, how much more his household members! Therefore, do not fear them. Beelzebub is an idol of Accaron, which is called the idol of flies in the book of Kings (2 Kings 1). Beel is the same as Baal: Zebub means fly. Thus, they called the prince of demons by the filthy name of the most impure idol, which means fly, because of the filth that destroys the sweetness of oil (Ecclesiastes 10).

Beelzebub is the idol of Accaron who is called in the book of Kings, the God of flies; 'Bel,' signifying idol; (2 Kings 1:3.) 'zebub,' a fly. The Prince of the dæmons He calls by the name of the foulest of idols, which is so called because of the uncleanness of the fly, which destroys the sweetness of ointment.

And if these things are not sufficient for thee, consider that even thy Lord was evil reported of both by Satan and by men, and that to those most loved by Him; and His Only-Begotten the same again. Wherefore He said, "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, much more shall they call them of His household."

And that wicked demon did not only slander Him, but was also believed, and slandered Him not in ordinary matters, but with the greatest reproaches and accusations. For he affirmed Him to be possessed, and to be a deceiver, and an adversary of God.

"If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed, and hid, that shall not be known." Take comfort, He says, in My example. For if they have called Me the chief of demons, is it such a fearful thing that they should slander you who are members of My household? He calls them "household members" and not "slaves," thus showing His intimacy with them. So take courage; the truth will not be hidden, but time will reveal your virtue as well as the wickedness of those who slander you, for nothing is hidden which shall not be known. They may slander you now, but later they will make you renowned.

But one deserves glory, if he is as his master or lord; therefore, he adds, it is enough for the disciple to be like his master. For as in nature a thing is perfect, when it can produce another like itself, so one is a perfect disciple, when he is most like his master; similarly, for a servant. Therefore, it should not be burdensome to you, if you are as I am; hence it says in 1 Peter (2:21): "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example to follow in his footsteps."

Then he calls them members of his household: If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household? He calls them members of the household for greater intimacy; hence it is a great gift to suffer for Christ, as it says in James (1:2): "Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces patience," and in Acts (5:41): "Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus." Hence it is not extraordinary for a member of a household to suffer for a friend: "You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Eph 2:19). Hence if they call the master of the house Beelzebub, it is not strange, if they say insulting things to you. What is Beelzebub? It should be noted that Ninus is named the son of Bel; hence he made the image of his father be honored and called it Bel. Later it was translated into another language and called Beelzebub. Zebub means fly; for the sacrifice to him involved much blood where many flies gathered.

This refers to the day of judgment, which will make known the hidden conscience of our will and reveal to public knowledge those things that now seem obscure. Jesus is admonishing us, therefore, that we are not to fear our persecutors' threats or stratagems or power, because the day of judgment will reveal that these all were nothing and empty.

Therefore neither threatening, nor evil speaking, nor power of their enemies should move them, seeing the judgment-day will disclose how empty, how nought all these were.

(Verse 26) For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing secret that will not be known. And how in the present age the vices of many are not known? But about the future time it is written, when God will judge the secrets of men, and will illuminate the hiding places of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of hearts. And the meaning is: Do not fear the cruelty of persecutors, and the rage of blasphemers, for the day of judgment will come, in which both your virtue and their wickedness will be demonstrated.

How is it then that in the present world, the sins of so many are unknown? It is of the time to come that this is said; the time when God shall judge the hidden things of men, shall enlighten the hidden places of darkness, and shall make manifest the secrets of hearts. The sense is, Fear not the cruelty of the persecutor, or the rage of the blasphemer, for there shall come a day of judgment in which your virtue and their wickedness will be made known.

"There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; nor hid, that shall not be known." Now what He saith is like this. It is indeed sufficient for your encouragement, that I also shared with you in the same reproach; I who am your Master and Lord. But if it still grieve you to hear these words, consider this other thing too, that even from this suspicion ye will soon be released. For why do ye grieve? At their calling you sorcerers and deceivers? But wait a little, and all men will address you as saviors, and benefactors of the world. Yea, for time discovers all things that are concealed, it will both refute their false accusation, and make manifest your virtue. For when the event shows you saviors, and benefactors, and examples of all virtue, men will not give heed to their words, but to the real state of the case; and they will appear false accusers, and liars, and slanderers, but ye brighter than the sun, length of time revealing and proclaiming you, and uttering a voice clearer than a trumpet, and making all men witnesses of your virtue. Let not therefore what is now said humble you, but let the hope of the good things to come raise you up. For it cannot be, that what relates to you should be hid.

To the foregoing consolation He adds another no less, saying, Fear ye not them, namely, the persecutors. And why they were not to fear, He adds, For there is nothing hid which shall not be revealed, nothing secret which shall not be known.

Some indeed think that these words convey a promise from our Lord to His disciples, that through them all hidden mysteries should be revealed, which lay beneath the veil of the letter of the Law; whence the Apostle speaks, When they have turned to Christ, then the veil shall be taken away. (2 Cor 3:16.) So the sense would be, Ought you to fear your persecutors, when you are thought worthy that by you the hidden mysteries of the Law and the Prophets should be made manifest?

If an uncovered head is a recognised mark of virginity, (then) if any virgin falls from the grace of virginity, she remains permanently with head uncovered for fear of discovery, and walks about in a garb which then indeed is another's. Conscious of a now undoubted womanhood, they have the audacity to draw near to God with head bare. But the "jealous God and Lord," who has said, "Nothing covered which shall not be revealed," brings such in general before the public gaze; for confess they will not, unless betrayed by the cries of their infants themselves. But, in so far as they are "more numerous," will you not just have them suspected of the more crimes? I will say (albeit I would rather not) it is a difficult thing for one to turn woman once for all who fears to do so, and who, when already so turned (in secret), has the power of (still) falsely pretending to be a virgin under the eye of God

So have no fear of them... Here he exhorts them not to give in to tribulations. First, he strengthens them; secondly, he mentions a comparison; thirdly, he applies it to his purpose. He says, therefore, "they will persecute you," but have no fear, because you should fear evil only; but it is a great good to bear what the Lord has borne. Hence Paul to the Galatians (6:17): "I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." Nothing is covered that will not be revealed. This can be referred to the preceding or to what follows. To the preceding thus: they will call you Beelzebub; but you should not worry, because in the end their malice will be revealed. Therefore, have no fear, because nothing is covered that will not be revealed, as it says in 1 Corinthians (4:5): "Therefore, do not judge before the time, until the Lord comes, who will reveal the hidden things of darkness and will manifest the counsels of hearts." And hidden, which differs from covered. For the hidden is something not manifest, as what one has in his heart, according to what was said above (9:4): "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" Something covered, however, is that which, although manifest, is concealed by something else. Or it can be explained thus: have no fear, because if your truth is not evident at once, it will be clear later.

But someone may ask, "If it is good to speak in the light, why did he himself speak in darkness? And if it is good to preach from the housetops, why did he himself quietly speak into their ears?" He keeps quiet because it is timely, but he instructs the disciples to proclaim and preach his words. He is not afraid—it is, rather, for ignorant people to fear the Lord Jesus. He is carefully managing his speech, much like a steward manages money. At times he keeps silent and at other appropriate times he speaks openly.

(ord.) Otherwise; What I say unto you while you are yet held under carnal fear, that speak ye in the confidence of truth, after ye shall be enlightened by the Holy Spirit; what you have only heard, that preach by doing the same, being raised above your bodies, which are the dwellings of your souls.

We do not take this to mean that the Lord was accustomed to preach at night and to transmit his teaching in the dark. Rather, to those who are carnal, everything he said is darkness, and to unbelievers his word is night.… Therefore Jesus commands that those things which were said in the darkness should be preached in the light. In this way the things he secretly whispered into their ears will be heard from the housetops, from on high, through those who speak as heralds.

Therefore they ought to inculcate constantly the knowledge of God, and the profound secret of evangelic doctrine, to be revealed by the light of preaching.

(Verse 27.) What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. What you have heard in secret, declare openly; what you have learned in private, speak publicly: what I have taught you in the small place of Judea, proclaim boldly in all cities and throughout the world.

We do not read that the Lord was wont to discourse to them by night, or to deliver his doctrine in the dark; but He said this because all His discourse is dark to the carnal, and His word night to the unbelieving. What had been spoken by Him they were to deliver again with the confidence of faith and confession.

Otherwise; What you hear in mystery, that teach in plainness of speech; what I have taught you in a corner of Judæa, that proclaim boldly in all quarters of the world.

Then, having rid them of all distress, and fears, and anxiety, and set them above men's reproaches, then, and not till then, He seasonably discourses to them also of boldness in their preaching.

For, "What I tell you," saith He, "in darkness, that speak ye in light; and what ye have heard in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops."

Yet it was not at all darkness, when He was saying these things; neither was He discoursing unto them in the ear; but He used a strong figure, thus speaking. That is, because He was conversing with them alone, and in a small corner of Palestine, therefore He said, "in darkness," and "in the ear;" contrasting the boldness of speech, which He was hereafter to confer on them, with the tone of the conversation which was then going on. "For not to one, or two, or three cities, but to the whole world ye shall preach," saith He, "traversing land and sea, the inhabited country, and the desert; to princes alike and tribes, to philosophers and orators, saying all with open face, and with all boldness of speech." Therefore, He said, "On the house tops," and, "In the light," without any shrinking, and with all freedom.

And wherefore said He not only, "Preach on the housetops," and "Speak in the light," but added also, "What I tell you in darkness," and "What ye hear in the ear"? It was to raise up their spirits. As therefore when He said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do;" even so here too, to signify that He will do it all by them, and more than by Himself, He inserted this. For "the beginning indeed," saith He, "I have given, and the prelude; but the greater part it is my will to effect through you." Now this is the language of one not commanding only, but also declaring beforehand what was to be, and encouraging them with His sayings, and implying that they should prevail over all, and quietly also removing again their distress at the evil report. For as this doctrine, after lying hid for a while, shall overspread all things, so also the evil suspicion of the Jews shall quickly perish.

And what He says, Preach ye upon the housetops, is spoken after the manner of the province of Palestine, where they use to sit upon the roofs of the houses, which are not pointed but flat. That then may be said to be preached upon the housetops which is spoken in the hearing of all men.

The meaning therefore is, What I say to you in darkness, that is, among the unbelieving Jews, that speak ye in the light, that is, preach it to the believing; what ye hear in the ear, that is, what I say unto you secretly, that preach ye upon the housetops, that is, openly before all men. It is a common phrase, To speak in one's ear, that is, to speak to him privately.

He had Himself commanded that, "whatsoever they had heard in darkness" and in secret, they should "declare in the light and on the house-tops." He had Himself fore-shown, by means of a parable, that they should not keep back in secret, fruitless of interest, a single pound, that is, one word of His.

"What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops." Those things, He says, which I have spoken to you alone and in one place, for that is what is meant by "in the ear" and "in darkness" you must teach with boldness in a strong voice so that all may hear you. But since dangers are also a consequence of boldness, He adds:

Then the Lord instructs them as an advocate is instructed, because he is first taught how to present proof, before making it known to others. Thus, the Lord had chosen disciples to spread his word to all people; therefore, he chose to teach them first in secret, saying, what I tell you in the darkness, utter in the light. There are two senses involved in a disciple's learning, namely, hearing and sight. What is said in the darkness is hidden; in like manner, what is heard by the ear. What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light, because in the light all things are made manifest. Again, that is hidden which is heard by the ear; therefore, he says, what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. But opposed to this is something in John (18:20): "I have spoken nothing in secret." But this must be understood in the following way: in secret I have spoken nothing that could not have been spoken publicly. Or in this way: what I tell you in the dark, i.e., among the Jews, who are darkness: "At one time you were darkness" (Eph 5:8). Or, what I say to you, who are darkness, utter in the light: "He will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart" (1 Cor 4:5). And what you hear whispered, preach upon the housetops: "Wise men hide their knowledge" (Pr 10:14); "What has been heard, explore with the mind" (Jb 5:27). On the rooftops, because in some regions the roofs were flat, so that even there manifestation can be made to all. Mystically, one preaches on the rooftops, when, subjecting the flesh to himself, he preaches to others.

The gospel is life. Impiety and infidelity are the death of the soul. So then, if the soul can die, how then is it yet immortal? Because there is always a dimension of life in the soul that can never be extinguished. And how does it die? Not in ceasing to be life but by losing its proper life. For the soul is both life to something else, and it has it own proper life. Consider the order of the creatures. The soul is the life of the body. God is the life of the soul. As the life that is the soul is present with the body, that the body may not die, so the life of the soul (God) ought to be with the soul that it may not die.How does the body die? By the departure of the soul. I say, by the departure of the soul the body dies, and it lies there as a mere carcass, what was a little before a lively, not a contemptible, object. There are in it still its several members, the eyes and ears. But these are merely the windows of the house; its inhabitant is gone. Those who bewail the dead cry in vain at the windows of the house. There is no one there within it to hear.… Why is the body dead? Because the soul, its life, is gone. But at what point is the soul itself dead? When God, its life, has forsaken it.… This then we can know and hold for certain: the body is dead without the soul, and the soul is dead without God. Every one without God has a dead soul. You who bewail the dead rather should bewail sin. Bewail ungodliness. Bewail disbelief.

(De Civ. Dei, xiii. 2.) This cannot be before the soul is so joined to the body, that nothing may sever them. Yet it is rightly called the death of the soul, because it does not live of God; and the death of the body, because though man does not cease to feel, yet because this his feeling has neither pleasure, nor health, but is a pain and a punishment, it is better named death than life.

Servile fear is, to be sure, the lowest form of religion. But a god such that there could never be occasion for even servile fear, a safe god, a tame god, soon proclaims himself to any sound mind as a fantasy. I have met no people who fully disbelieved in Hell and also had a living and life-giving belief in Heaven.

There is, I know, a belief in both, which is of no religious significance. It makes these spiritual things, or some travesty of them, objects of purely carnal, prudential, self-centred fear and hope. The deeper levels, those things which only immortal spirit can desire or dread, are not concerned at all. Such belief is fortunately very brittle. The old divines exhausted their eloquence especially in arousing such fear: but, as they themselves rather naïvely complain, the effect did not last for more than a few hours after the sermon.

The soul that has once been waked, or stung, or uplifted by the desire of God, will inevitably (I think) awake to the fear of losing Him.

Destruction, we should naturally assume, means the unmaking, or cessation, of the destroyed. And people often talk as if the "annihilation" of a soul were intrinsically possible. In all our experience, however, the destruction of one thing means the emergence of something else. Burn a log, and you have gases, heat and ash. To have been a log means now being those three things. If soul can be destroyed, must there not be a state of having been a human soul? And is not that, perhaps, the state which is equally well described as torment, destruction, and privation? You will remember that in the parable, the saved go to a place prepared for them, while the damned go to a place never made for men at all. To enter heaven is to become more human than you ever succeeded in being in earth; to enter hell, is to be banished from humanity. What is cast (or casts itself) into hell is not a man: it is "remains". To be a complete man means to have the passions obedient to the will and the will offered to God: to have been a man--to be an ex-man or "damned ghost"--would presumably mean to consist of a will utterly centred in its self and passions utterly uncontrolled by the will.

Having no fear of those who have power only over the body, but cannot reach the soul; Fear not those that kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.

(Verse 28) And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Truly, the soul is invisible and incorporeal, according to the denser substance of our body. And it will certainly be punished and feel torments when it receives its original body, so that it may be punished with the one with whom it sinned.

But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. The name Gehenna is not found in the old books, but is first mentioned by the Savior. Let us therefore inquire what is the occasion of this statement. We have read more than once that there was an idol of Baal near Jerusalem, at the roots of Mount Moriah, where the Siloam flows. This valley and plain of small fields was irrigated and wooded, full of delights, and a grove consecrated to the idol. But the people of Israel had fallen into such great madness, that they sacrificed in the desolate vicinity of the temple, surpassing the strictness of religion with their delights, and they burned or initiated their sons into demons. And that place was called Gehenna, that is, the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom. This is written in the Book of Kings (2 Kings 23), Chronicles (2 Chronicles 28), and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7, 19, and 32) in great detail. And God threatens that He will fill the place itself with the bodies of the dead, so that it may never be called Topheth and Baal, but may be called Polyandrium, that is, a burial mound of the dead. Therefore, the future punishments and eternal torments by which sinners are tormented are denoted by the name of this place. Moreover, we read in the book of Job (Job 24) that there are two hells, one of excessive heat and one of cold.

This word is not found in the Old Scriptures, but it is first used by the Saviour. Let us enquire then into its origin. We read in more than one place that the idol Baal was near Jerusalem, at the foot of Mount Moriah, by which the brook Siloc flows. This valley and a small level plain was watered and woody, a delightful spot, and a grove in it was consecrated to the idol. To so great folly and madness had the people of Israel come, that, forsaking the neighbourhood of the Temple, they offered their sacrifices there, and concealing an austere ritual under a voluptuous life, they burned their sons in honour of a dæmon. This place was called Gehennom, that is, The valley of the children of Hinnom. These things are fully described in Kings and Chronicles, and the Prophet Jeremiah. (2 Kings 23:10. 2 Chron. 28:3. Jer. 7:32; 32:35.) God threatens that He will fill the place with the carcases of the dead, that it be no more called Tophet and Baal, but Polyandrion, i. e. The tomb of the dead. Hence the torments and eternal pains with which sinners shall be punished are signified by this word.

Then, because He had lifted them up on high, He again gives warning of the perils also, adding wings to their mind, and exalting them high above all. For what saith He? "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." Seest thou how He set them far above all things, persuading them to despise not anxiety only and calumny, dangers and plots, but even that which is esteemed of all things most terrible, death? And not death alone, but by violence too? And He said not, "ye shall be slain," but with the dignity that became Him, He set this before them, saying, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell;" bringing round the argument, as He ever doth, to its opposite. For what? is your fear, saith He, of death? and are ye therefore slow to preach? Nay for this very cause I bid you preach, that ye fear death: for this shall deliver you from that which is really death. What though they shall slay you? yet over the better part they shall not prevail, though they strive ten thousand ways. Therefore He said not, "Who do not kill the soul," but, who "are not able to kill." For wish it as they may, they shall not prevail. Wherefore, if thou fear punishment, fear that, the more grievous by far.

Seest thou how again He doth not promise them deliverance from death, but permits them to die, granting them more than if He had not allowed them to suffer it? Because deliverance from death is not near so great as persuading men to despise death. You see now, He doth not push them into dangers, but sets them above dangers, and in a short sentence fixes in their mind the doctrines that relate to the immortality of the soul, and having in two or three words implanted a saving doctrine, He comforts them also by other considerations.

But now the contrary takes place: Him, namely, who is able to destroy the soul, that is, to punish it, we fear not, but those who slay the body, we shudder at. Yet surely while He together with the soul punishes the body also, they cannot even chasten the body, much less the soul: and though they chasten it ever so severely, yet in that way they rather make it more glorious.

Seest thou how He signifies the conflicts to be easy? Because in truth, death did exceedingly agitate their souls, inspiring terror for a time, for that it had not as yet been made easy to overcome, neither had they that were to despise it partaken of the grace of the Spirit.

For the Judge Who can torment the soul is God Himself only, because He Who is more subtle of nature than the soul is alone able to be the Judge thereof; but the children of men may be judges of the body, and they are able even to kill it, although in their judgment they have no power over the soul, even according to the testimony of the word of Christ which saith, "Fear not those which kill the body, but who are not able to kill the soul;" for the dominion of judges extendeth over the body only, and it can they judge, and torment, and slay. But as for the soul, its nature is exalted above the injury of those who can slay [it], and it cannot burn in their fire, and their stripes cannot fall upon its spiritual nature, and it cannot be cut in pieces by their swords, and its person cannot be lacerated by their tools of torture; for he that judgeth is of the body, and the sentence which he passeth on evil doers he uttereth with the tongue of the body, although the soul moveth inwardly the deliberation of the penalty. And all the members which are ready [to receive] the sufferings are of the body, and through bodily sufferings the body alone receiveth injury; but the nature of the soul, because of its spirituality, is exalted and raised above these things. And however deeply the sufferings may penetrate, they sink into the body only, and however far in and deep they may pierce, the soul is situated more deeply within, and the death of these members hath no power over its life. Now judges are not able to kill the soul, and therefore it is not meet for men to be afraid of their judgment; "but fear Him that is able to destroy both the body and the soul in Gehenna." The Lord Himself alone is the Judge of the soul, and He that made it a living thing is Himself able to bring death upon its life, and to torment its spiritual nature by a spiritual sentence of judgment; and because the soul perceiveth that the Lord alone is its Judge it is afraid of Him naturally. And as with those who are alive in the body and are dead in their souls the remembrance of the judgment of [the] world restraineth them from their evil actions, so also doth the remembrance of the judgment of God check the man who is alive in his soul from his wickedness, and as long as he remembereth His judgment he keepeth himself from sin.

Our Lord abrogated one fear, and established another; He lifted from us the fear of the death which belongeth to time, and He laid upon us the fear of the death which is for eternity. "Fear ye not the death [which is of time]", but fear the death [which is for eternity]. "Let not those who kill the body terrify you, but fear ye Him Who can destroy the soul and the body." Those who kill [the body] are not to be feared, for Another quickeneth, but He is to be feared Who is able to put to death so that there is none who can quicken, and when He hath killed, there is none who can bring to life. For that which is transitory the fear thereof also is transitory, but the fear of Him Who neither passeth away nor changeth cometh not to an end.

But He also teaches us, that "He is rather to be feared, who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell," that is, the Lord alone; "not those which kill the body, but are not able to hurt the soul," that is to say, all bureau powers. Here, then, we have a recognition of the natural immortality of the soul, which cannot be killed by men; and of the mortality of the body, which may be killed: whence we learn that the resurrection of the dead is a resurrection of the flesh; for unless it were raised again, it would be impossible for the flesh to be "killed in hell." But as a question may be here captiously raised about the meaning of "the body" (or "the flesh"), I will at once state that I understand by the human body nothing else than that fabric of the flesh which, whatever be the kind of material of which it is constructed and modified, is seen and handled, and sometimes indeed killed, by men. In like manner, I should not admit that anything but cement and stones and bricks form the body of a wall. If any one imports into our argument some body of a subtle, secret nature, he must show, disclose, and prove to me that identical body is the very one which was slain by human violence, and then (I will grant) that it is of such a body that (our scripture) speaks. If, again, the body or corporeal nature of the soul is cast in my teeth, it will only be an idle subterfuge! For since both substances are set before us (in this passage, which affirms) that "body and soul" are destroyed in hell, a distinction is obviously made between the two; and we are left to understand the body to be that which is tangible to us, that is, the flesh, which, as it will be destroyed in hell-since it did not "rather fear" being destroyed by God-so also will it be restored to life eternal, since it preferred to be killed by human hands. If, therefore, any one shall violently suppose that the destruction of the soul and the flesh in hell amounts to a final annihilation of the two substances, and not to their penal treatment (as if they were to be consumed, not punished), let him recollect that the fire of hell is eternal-expressly announced as an everlasting penalty; and let him then admit that it is from this circumstance that this never-ending "killing" is more formidable than a merely human murder, which is only temporal. He will then come to the conclusion that substances must be eternal, when their penal "killing" is an eternal one.

For "a fire shall proceed before His face, and shall utterly burn His enemies; " striking down not the body only, but the souls too, into hell. Besides, the Lord Himself demonstrates the manner in which He threatens such as judge: "For with what judgment ye judge, judgment shall be given on you." Thus He has not prohibited judging, but taught (how to do it).

Whereas in fact He does not cherish, but ever rejects the weak, teaching first, not that we are to fly from our persecutors, but rather that we are not to fear them. "Fear not them who are able to kill the body, but are unable to do ought against the soul; but fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell." And then what does He allot to the fearful? "He who will value his life more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he who takes not up his cross and follows Me, cannot be My disciple." Last of all, in the Revelation, He does not propose flight to the "fearful," but a miserable portion among the rest of the outcast, in the lake of brimstone and fire, which is the second death.

When Jesus says "hell," he is emphasizing that punishment there is eternal. By "hell" he means the condemnation awaiting those who receive recompense according to their life.His choice of words shows that there is a great difference between the two things. He first says "kill" but next says "destroy," and from destruction there is no longer any salvation.

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him Who is able to destroy both soul and body in gehenna." He teaches them to despise even death, for punishment in gehenna is yet more fearful, He says. Those who slay accomplish the destruction of only the body, while they are perhaps the benefactors of the soul. But God punishes both the soul and the body of those whom He casts into gehenna. He says "in gehenna," indicating the perpetual nature of the punishment, for gehenna is never ending.

And do not fear those who kill the body. Above he showed that they should not depart from confessing the truth both by reason of an example and by reason of the reward. Here he shows that they should not depart by reason of God's judgment, because deeds are subject to divine justice. Or it can be connected in another way. He taught how persecutions are to be avoided; here he teaches that they should not cease performing their office on some account. But three things could prevent them: dishonor, fear of death and personal affection.

Therefore, he taught that they should not cease because of dishonor; here, not because of the fear of death; finally, not because of personal affection (v. 34).

Hence according to this he first teaches them not to fear those who kill the body, lest the preaching of the truth be forsaken; secondly, they are not to be feared, because they can do little harm; thirdly, he shows who should be feared, because he can do much.

First, therefore, he says, do not fear those who kill the body. And why? Because the body is destined to die; therefore, he is not doing anything that will not happen anyhow: "If Christ is in you, your body is indeed dead on account of sin" (Rom 7:10). Also because the killing of the body for the sake of glory is desirable: "Who will free me from the body of this death?" (Rom 7:24). Again, because it is brief and momentary: "For we who are living are always being delivered up to death" (2 Cor 4:11). And so, do not fear: "Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who withers like grass?" (Is 51:12).

But cannot kill the soul. Here he shows that they can do little, because they cannot kill the soul; hence the spirit always lives: "Before a man are life and death, and whichever he chooses will be given to him" (Sir 15:17). For as the body lives in virtue of the soul, so the soul in virtue of God; and so God is the life of the soul. Therefore, they are not to be feared, for they can do little. So do not fear them; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna]. If you say that those should be feared who kill the body, he is more to be feared who can even destroy the soul. Note that the word gehenna, as Jerome says, is not found in the Old Testament, but it is taken by the Savior from Jeremiah (14:6) where it says: "The days are coming when this place shall no more be called the valley of the sons of Ennon but the valley of slaughter." Hence Ennon is the valley at the foot of the mountain in Jerusalem. It was very fertile and called the valley of Ennon [Hinnom]. But it happened that the place was consecrated to an idol; and so, because the inhabitants turned to pleasures, the Lord threatened to kill them and the place would not be called Ennon but corander, i.e., the tomb of the dead.

Hence he says, Do not fear those only who kill the body; rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in gehenna, because God is not to be served through fear of punishment but through love of justice, as it says in Romans (8:15): "You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into sin, but you received the spirit of sonship." And note that he excludes two errors. For some said that when the body dies, the soul perishes; he rejects this when he says, who can destroy [send] the soul into gehenna. Hence it is clear that it continues after the body. It was also the opinion of some that there would not be a resurrection, as it says in 1 Corinthians (15:12). He excludes this, because if both body and soul are sent into gehenna, it is obvious that there will be a resurrection; and this is obtained from Revelation (20:9): "In the resurrection they will be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone."

However, you must know that the story of the sparrows is figurative, since foresight in matters like these makes no difference at all to God. As the apostle said, "Is it for oxen that God is concerned?" It is for the sake of humanity that he has foresight of sparrows, which he gives to us for our use. The "penny" is symbolic of something seemingly worthless.

I will not believe in the Managerial God and his general laws. If there is Providence at all, everything is providential and every providence is a special providence. The God of the New Testament who takes into account the death of every sparrow is not more, but far less, anthropomorphic than Pope's.

What is sold is the body and soul. It is a sin to sell them to anyone, because Christ redeems from sin and is the Redeemer of body and soul. So when persons sell themselves for the sake of an insignificant sin, it is like two sparrows being sold for a penny. They were born for flying and to be carried to heaven on spiritual wings, but they are overtaken by the price of their immediate pleasures, and by such actions they trade away all their eternal treasures for the sake of temporal luxury.

Figuratively; That which is sold is our soul and body, and that to which it is sold, is sin. They then who sell two sparrows for a farthing, are they who sell themselves for the smallest sin, born for flight, and for reaching heaven with spiritual wings. (vid. Ps. 124:7.) Caught by the bait of present pleasures, and sold to the enjoyment of the world, they barter away their whole selves in such a market. It is of the will of God that one of them rather soar aloft; but the law proceeding according to God's appointment decrees that one of them should fall. In like manner as, if they soared aloft they would become one spiritual body; so, when sold under sin, the soul gathers earthly matter from the pollution of vice, and there is made of them one body which is committed to earth.

(Verse 29 onwards) Are not two sparrows sold for an assarion? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. The Lord's discourse is attached to itself, and the following depend on the preceding. Wise reader, always beware of a superstitious understanding; so that you do not conform the Scriptures to your own senses, but join your senses to the Scriptures, and understand what follows. Above he had said: 'Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul'; now he speaks consequently, 'Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father.' And the meaning is this: If small and worthless animals do not perish without God as their author, and if there is providence in all things, and those things which are destined to perish do not perish without the will of God, then you who are eternal should not fear living without the providence of God. This meaning I have stated above: Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they? And afterwards: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, and so on. But if the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, God clothes it, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith! Some forcefully interpret the two sparrows as representing the soul and the body. Even five sparrows, according to Luke (Luke XII), which are sold for two pennies, are referred to the senses. But how that understanding is adapted to the whole body of the Gospel message is not of little difficulty.

If these little creations fall not without God's superintendence and providence, and if things made to perish, perish not without God's will, you who are immortal ought not to fear that you live without His providence.

Thus, lest they should think, when killed and butchered, that as men forsaken they suffered this, He introduces again the argument of God's providence, saying on this wise: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall into a snare without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." "For what is viler than they?" saith He; "nevertheless, not even these shall be taken without God's knowledge." For He means not this, "by His operation they fall," for this were unworthy of God; but, "nothing that is done is hid from Him." If then He is not ignorant of anything that befalls us, and loves us more truly than a father, and so loves us, as to have numbered our very hairs; we ought not to be afraid. And this He said, not that God numbers our hairs, but that He might indicate His perfect knowledge, and His great providence over them. If therefore He both knows all the things that are done, and is able to save you, and willing; whatever ye may have to suffer, think not that as persons forsaken ye suffer. For neither is it His will to deliver you from the terrors, but to persuade you to despise them, since this is, more than anything, deliverance from the terrors.

Having set aside fear of death, that the Apostles should not think that if they were put to death they were deserted by God, He passes to discourse of God's providence, saying, Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them does not fall to the ground without your Father?

In this passage, Jesus demonstrates his foresight in all things. The word without refers not to will but to foreknowledge. Some things happen because of his direct will, but some happen merely with his approval and consent. And so on the literal level, he is showing the subtlety of his foresight and his previous knowledge of events.On the spiritual level, however, a sparrow falls to the ground when it looks at what is below it and falls to earth, ensnared by the vices of the flesh, given up "to dishonorable passions." It loses its freedom together with its honor. For a sparrow is either borne always upward, or else it comes to rest by alighting on mountains or hills (the hills are metaphors for Scripture). And such a person is one who has been raised aloft by the Word but has his mind on earthly concerns.

Else it would be most absurd if the flesh should be raised up and destined to "the killing in hell," in order to be put an end to, when it might suffer such an annihilation (more directly) if not raised again at all. A pretty paradox, to be sure, that an essence must be refitted with life, in order that it may receive that annihilation which has already in fact accrued to it! But Christ, whilst confirming us in the selfsame hope, adds the example of "the sparrows"-how that "not one of them falls to the ground without the will of God." He says this, that you may believe that the flesh which has been consigned to the ground, is able in like manner to rise again by the will of the same God. For although this is not allowed to the sparrows, yet "we are of more value than many sparrows," for the very reason that, when fallen, we rise again.

The first virginity is (the virginity) of happiness, (and consists in) total ignorance of that from which you will afterwards wish to be freed: the second, of virtue, (and consists in) contemning that the power of which you know full well: the remaining species, (that) of marrying no more after the disjunction of matrimony by death, besides being the glory of virtue, is (the glory) of moderation likewise; for moderation is the not regretting a thing which has been taken away, and taken away by the Lord God, without whose will neither does a leaf glide down from a tree, nor a sparrow of one farthing's worth fall to the earth.

But grant that these argumentations may be thought to be forced and founded on conjectures, if no dogmatic teachings have stood parallel with them which the Lord uttered in treating of divorce, which, permitted formerly, He now prohibits, first because "from the beginning it was not so," like plurality of marriage; secondly, because "What God hath conjoined, man shall not separate," -for fear, namely, that he contravene the Lord: for He alone shall "separate" who has "conjoined" (separate, moreover, not through the harshness of divorce, which (harshness) He censures and restrains, but through the debt of death) if, indeed, "one of two sparrows falleth not on the ground without the Father's will." Therefore if those whom God has conjoined man shall not separate by divorce, it is equally congruous that those whom God has separated by death man is not to conjoin by marriage; the joining of the separation will be just as contrary to God's will as would have been the separation of the conjunction.

For you say, seeing we assemble without order, and assemble at the same time, and flock in large numbers to the church, the heathen are led to make inquiry about us, and we are alarmed lest we awaken their anxieties. Do ye not know that God is Lord of all? And if it is God's will, then you shall suffer persecution; but if it is not, the heathen will be still. Believe it most surely, if indeed you believe in that God without whose will not even the sparrow, a penny can buy, falls to the ground. But we, I think, are better than many sparrows.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of much more value than sparrows." So that they would not fear that they are abandoned, He says, "If not even a sparrow is caught without My knowledge, how shall I abandon you whom I love?" And to show His precise knowledge and forethought for us He says that even the hairs of our head are numbered by Him. But do not think that the sparrows are snared by God's doing; rather, that even the snaring of sparrows is not unknown to Him.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? It has already been stated that they are not to be feared, because they cannot... Again, if they are not to be feared, because the little they can do cannot be done without divine providence. First, he shows divine providence over the birds of the air; secondly, over men (v. 30); thirdly, he inculcates security (v. 31).

He says, therefore, Are not two sparrows... By sparrows he gives us to understand small birds, sold for a penny? In this he notes their low value, because, as one is the smallest number, so a penny the smallest coin. But note, according to Augustine, that something is said to be valuable in two ways: either according to the order of nature, and then one sparrow is more valuable than a denarius; or according to our use, and then a denarius is more valuable. But it is objected that Luke (12:6) says five sparrows and two pennies. The answer is that the difference is small: if two are sold for a penny and five for two pennies, there is only a slight difference. And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father, i.e., without his providence. Why does he say this? Because it agrees with the word of the Law (Lev c. 14) that when anyone is cured of leprosy, he offered two sparrows. One was immolated, but the other was dipped with cedar wood and hyssop in the blood of the bird that was killed; later the living bird was set free. He wills, therefore, that two be accepted and one not killed; and this is not done without God's providence. Hilary explains it this way: "By the two sparrows are understood the body and the soul, and they are surrendered for a penny, i.e., for a slight pleasure: 'Behold, for your iniquities you were sold and for your transgressions your mother was put away' (Is 50:1). And only one of them falls to the earth, namely, the body, but the soul moves to judgment." But it is written that God has no care for oxen; therefore, neither for sparrows. But it should be known that he provides for all creatures according to the mode of their nature; although among creatures is this diversity that some are naturally free and the rest not. The free creature has the power to do what he wills; the unfree does not have this power. Hence he provides for the rational creatures as free, but he provides for the rest as slaves, just as the head of a household provides for the free in one way and for the slaves in another. For he provides for the free for their own sakes, for the slaves in as much as they are of use to the master and according as each is more capable of serving. In the same way divine mercy distributes to the rational creatures for their own sake, because all is done on account of their good or of their evil. Hence all things are reward or punishments for them in view of their merits. But everything done for the irrational creature is either for man's welfare or for the completeness of the universe, as it says in 1 Kings (c. 13) that a certain prophet was killed by a lion, and this on account of his guilt. As a mouse is killed by a cat to preserve the good of the universe; for this is the order of the universe, that one animal lives off another.

(De Civ. Dei, xxii. 19.) Though we may fairly enquire concerning our hair, whether all that has ever been shorn from us will return; for who would not dread such disfigurement. When it is once understood that nothing of our body shall be lost, so as that the form and perfectness of all the parts should be preserved, we at the same time understand that all that would have disfigured our body is to be united or taken up by the whole mass, not affixed to particular parts so as to destroy the frame of the limbs; just as a vessel made of clay, and again reduced to clay, is once more reformed into a vessel, it needs not that that portion of clay which had formed the handle should again form it, or that which had composed the bottom, should again go to the bottom, so long as the whole was remoulded into the whole, the whole clay into the whole vessel, no part being lost. Wherefore if the hair so often shorn away would be a deformity if restored to the place it had been taken from, it will not be restored to that place, but all the materials of the old body will be revived in the new, whatever place they may occupy so as to preserve the mutual fitness of parts. Though what is said in Luke, Not a hair of your head shall fall to the ground, (Luke 21:18.) may be taken of the number, not the length of the hairs, as here also it is said, The hairs of your head are all numbered.

For when any thing is numbered it is carefully watched over.

For it is an unworthy task to number things that are to perish. Therefore that we should know that nothing of us should perish, we are told that our very hairs are numbered.

But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Therefore, do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. The deeper meaning of our previous explanation is expressed: that those who can kill the body should not be afraid, for they cannot kill the soul, and if even small animals do not fall without God's knowledge, how much more so for humans, who are supported by apostolic dignity! Moreover, when it is said that even the hairs of your head are all counted, it shows the immense providence of God towards humans and signifies His ineffable affection, that nothing about us escapes God, and even the smallest and most insignificant things do not elude His knowledge. They mock the ecclesiastical intelligence in this place, who deny the resurrection of the flesh, as if we were all saying that even the hairs that have been counted and cut by the barber will rise again, when the Savior did not say, 'But all the hairs on your head will be saved,' but 'They are counted.' Where there is number, the knowledge of number is demonstrated, not the preservation of the same number.

That He says, The hairs of your head are all numbered, shows the boundless providence of God towards man, and a care unspeakable that nothing of ours is hid from God.

Those who deny the resurrection of the flesh ridicule the sense of the Church on this place, as if we affirmed that every hair that has ever been cut off by the razor rises again, when the Saviour says, Every hair of your head—not is saved, but—is numbered. Where there is number, knowledge of that number is implied, but not preservation of the same hairs.

And besides what hath been mentioned, there is another thing also, which we learn from this; that His providence is not only over all in common, but also over each in particular; which He also declared with respect to His disciples, saying, "But the very hairs of your head are numbered." And from these demoniacs too, one may clearly perceive this; who would have been choked long before, if they had not enjoyed the benefit of much tender care from above.

Not that God reckons our hairs, but to show His diligent knowledge, and great carefulness over us.

Figuratively; Christ is the head, the Apostles the hairs, who are well said to be numbered, because the names of the saints are written in heaven.

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.

Then he shows that care for men is different from that for brutes; hence he says, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. He shows that God's providence varies, in as much as he provides in diverse ways. For he had said about sparrows that not one falls to the ground without the Father; but here he says that not only you will not fall but not even the hairs of your head. And here he points out the providence over the slightest acts, because everything in them is ordained to them, and the Lord makes provision for them. But it should be noted that he says, are numbered. The reason is that it is customary for a person to count things he wishes to keep; whatever he wishes to dispose of he gives to someone. Hence this is the difference between providence over rational creatures and others, that the former are immediately ordained to God but the others not. Again, what we count we wish to keep for ourselves; therefore, he did not say that the sparrows are counted, because they will not exist forever. But there is a question here: If the hairs are numbered, will they not all be restored in the resurrection, even those that have been cut off? If so, the length will be unsightly. Some say that the matter will not perish, but that what is superfluous in one section will be transferred to another section. But if no hair has been lost, what then?

Here are three opinions: Some say that nothing will be resurrected except what pertains to the truth of human nature. Others say that only what has been cut off by Adam will rise, for his grew so much. But others say that not only what was cut off by Adam but also by our own immediate parent. Hence whatever is added, if it is truly human, will rise; but whatever does not pertain to the quantity of the parts will not rise. But against this it seems that heat acting on something moist and nourishing acts also on the root, and so a man does not consume one without the other, since they are mixed together. Therefore, it seems that a different answer must be given, namely, that whatever is of the truth will remain only in so far as it pertains to completeness. But by the truth of human nature I mean what is specifically flesh; but the other, materially flesh. The flesh will rise as to its species, though not according to matter. But what is meant by flesh according to its species? I answer that man's parts can be considered either as to form or as to matter: as to form he remains always; but if we consider the matter removed, something is lost and then replenished, as happens in fire. So if logs are added to fire, the fire remains the same specifically; yet there was matter according to the removal of the logs. Hence the more perfect will rise. Consequently, he does not say, "your hair is weighed," but numbered. Therefore, they will rise not in weight but in number.

The only rational line for the Christian vivisectionist to take is to say that the superiority of man over beast is a real objective fact, guaranteed by revelation, and that the propriety of sacrificing beast to man is a logical consequence. We are "worth more than many sparrows," and in saying this we are not merely expressing a natural preference for our own species simply because it is our own but conforming to a hierarchical order created by God and really present in the universe whether any one acknowledges it or not. The position may not be satisfactory. We may fail to see how a benevolent Deity could wish us to draw such conclusions from the hierarchical order He has created. We may find it difficult to formulate a human right of tormenting beasts in terms which would not equally imply an angelic right of tormenting men. And we may feel that though objective superiority is rightly claimed for man, yet that very superiority ought partly to consist in not behaving like a vivisector: that we ought to prove ourselves better than the beasts precisely by the fact of acknowledging duties to them which they do not acknowledge to us. But on all these questions different opinions can be honestly held.

Nothing shall induce me to darken human homes, to destroy human festivities, to insult human gifts and human benefactions for the sake of some hypothetical knowledge which Nature curtained from our eyes. We men and women are all in the same boat, upon a stormy sea. We owe to each other a terrible and tragic loyalty.

No accident then that can befal our bodies is to be feared; thus He adds, Fear not, ye are better than many sparrows.

Or this, ye are better than many sparrows, teaches that the elect faithful are better than the multitude of the unbelieving, for the one fall to earth, the other fly to heaven.

This expresses still more clearly the sense as it was above explained, that they should not fear those who can kill the body, for if the least animal falls not without God's knowledge, how much less a man who is dignified with the Apostolic rank?

"Fear ye not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows." Seest thou that the fear had already prevailed over them? Yea, for He knew the secrets of the heart; therefore He added, "Fear them not therefore;" for even should they prevail, it will be over the inferior part, I mean, the body; which though they should not kill, nature will surely take with her and depart. So that not even this depends on them, but men have it from nature. And if thou fear this, much more shouldest thou fear what is greater, and dread "Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." And He saith not openly now, that it is Himself, "Who is able to destroy both soul and body," but where He before declared Himself to be judge, He made it manifest.

Here he assures them on the ground that they can do little, and what they can do, they cannot accomplish without God's providence. Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows: "You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field" (Ps 8:6); and Genesis (1:26): "Let us make man to our image and likeness; and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

(De Officiis i. 16.) In the eye of Heaven blessedness begins there where misery begins in human estimation.

(De Civ. Dei, xix. 1.) The chief good is the only motive of philosophical enquiry; but whatever confers blessedness, that is the chief good; therefore He begins, Blessed are the poor in spirit.

(Id. de Serm. in Mont. i. 1.) Augmentation of 'spirit' generally implies insolence and pride. For in common speech the proud are said to have a great spirit, and rightly—for wind is a spirit, and who does not know that we say of proud men that they are 'swollen,' 'puffed up.' Here therefore by poor in spirit are rightly understood 'lowly,' 'fearing God,' not having a puffed up spirit.

(ubi sup.) The proud seek an earthly kingdom, of the humble only is the kingdom of Heaven.

(ubi sup.) The number of these sentences should be carefully attended to; to these seven degrees of blessedness agree the operation of that seven-form Holy Spirit which Isaiah described. But as He began from the highest, so here He begins from the lowest; for there we are taught that the Son of God will descend to the lowest; here that man will ascend from the lowest to the likeness of God. Here the first place is given to fear, which is suitable for the humble, of whom it is said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, that is, those who think not high things, but who fear. The second is piety, which belongs to the meek; for he who seeks piously, reverences, does not find fault, does not resist; and this is to become meek. The third is knowledge, which belongs to those that mourn, who have learned to what evils they are enslaved which they once pursued as goods. The fourth, which is fortitude, rightly belongs to those who hunger and thirst, who seeking joy in true goods, labour to turn away from earthly lusts. The fifth, counsel, is appropriate for the merciful, for there is one remedy to deliver from so great evils, viz. to give and to distribute to others. The sixth is understanding, and belongs to the pure in heart, who with purged eye can see what eye seeth not. The seventh is wisdom, and may be assigned to the peacemakers, in whom is no rebellious motion, but they obey the Spirit. Thus the one reward, the kingdom of heaven, is put forth under various names. In the first, as was right, is placed the kingdom of heaven, which is the beginning of perfect wisdom; as if it should be said, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. To the meek, an inheritance, as to those who with piety seek the execution of a father's will. To those that mourn, comfort, as to persons who know what they had lost, and in what they were immersed. To the hungry, plenty, as a refreshment to those who labour for salvation. To the merciful, mercy, that to those who have followed the best counsel, that may be showed which they have showed to others. To the pure in heart the faculty of seeing God, as to men bearing a pure eye to understand the things of eternity. To the peacemakers, the likeness of God. And all these things we believe may be attained in this life, as we believe they were fulfilled in the Apostles; for as to the things after this life they cannot be expressed in any words.

The gift of grace flowing liberally and abundantly ought to ramify even unto the habits of perfections, which, since they approximate the end, are rightly called by the name of beatitudes.

For the integrity of perfection there is necessarily required a perfect withdrawal from evil, a perfect advance in good, and a perfect standing in the best. Since evil proceeds either from the swelling of pride, or from the rancor of malice, or from the languor of concupiscence, therefore for perfectly distancing oneself from this threefold kind of evil, three beatitudes are necessary, namely poverty of spirit, distancing from the evil of swelling; meekness, distancing from the evil of rancor; and mourning, distancing from the evil of lust and concupiscential languor.

For the perfection of religious life, there is necessarily required the renunciation of private good, the acceptance of fraternal good, and the desire for eternal good; the first is accomplished through poverty of spirit.

Fear causes one to withdraw from evil and from the occasion of evil; and because the root of all evils is cupidity, therefore fear disposes to poverty of spirit, in which humility is joined together with poverty, so that the perfect man may thus be distanced from the fount of all fault, namely from pride and cupidity. And hence it is that poverty of spirit is the foundation of all evangelical perfection. Whence he who wishes to come to the summit of perfection must first lay this foundation, according to that passage in Matthew nineteen: If you wish to be perfect, go and sell all that you have: behold, perfect poverty, which retains absolutely nothing for itself: and follow me: behold, humility, which causes a man, by denying himself, to take up his cross and follow Christ, who is the most principal foundation of all perfection. Fear therefore disposes to poverty of spirit.

These vices are expelled by the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and seven virtues are introduced, which Christ taught when he set forth the foundations of salvation on the mountain. The first virtue is voluntary poverty, concerning which it says in the Gospel: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The gift of fear destroys pride and brings about the good of poverty.

Ambrose, in the book On Duties: "Riches furnish no assistance toward the blessed life; which the Lord clearly demonstrated in the Gospel, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, etc. And so it has been most clearly proven that poverty, hunger, and pain, which are thought to be evils, are not only no hindrance to the blessed life, but are even an assistance to it. Thus, therefore, the external goods of the body are not only no assistance to the blessed life, but are even a detriment." But it is perfect to relinquish those things which are no assistance but a detriment: therefore, etc.

It is very different for the nasty people—the little, low, timid, warped, thin-blooded, lonely people, or the passionate, sensual, unbalanced people. If they make any attempt at goodness at all, they learn, in double quick time, that they need help. It is Christ or nothing for them. It is taking up the cross and following—or else despair. They are the lost sheep; He came specially to find them. They are (in one very real and terrible sense) the 'poor': He blessed them.

I see only one thing to do at the moment. Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, "By jove! I'm being humble", and almost immediately pride--pride at his own humility--will appear. If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt--and so on, through as many stages as you please. But don't try this too long, for fear you awake his sense of humour and proportion, in which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed.

We know many poor people, indeed, who are not merely poor but blessed. For the necessity of poverty does not produce blessedness in each of us, but a devout trust sustained through poverty does. Some, having no worldly resources, continue to sin and remain without faith in God. Clearly we cannot call these people blessed. We must inquire just who are these blessed of whom the Lord says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Jesus means that those persons are truly blessed who, having spurned the riches and resources of the world to become rich in God, desire to be poor in the world. Indeed, such people seem to be poor in the sight of the world, but they are rich in God, needy in the world but wealthy in Christ.

John of the Thebaid said, 'Above all a monk should be humble. For this is the Saviour's first commandment, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3).'

The poor have many other vices, but, at least, they are never realistic. The poor are melodramatic and romantic in grain; the poor all believe in high moral platitudes and copy-book maxims; probably this is the ultimate meaning of the great saying, "Blessed are the poor." Blessed are the poor, for they are always making life, or trying to make life like an Adelphi play.

There remains always this great boast, perhaps the greatest boast that is possible to human nature. I mean the great boast that the most unhappy part of our population is also the most hilarious part. The poor can forget that social problem which we (the moderately rich) ought never to forget. Blessed are the poor; for they alone have not the poor always with them. The honest poor can sometimes forget poverty. The honest rich can never forget it.

To be simple is the best thing in the world; to be modest is the next best thing. I am not so sure about being quiet. I am rather inclined to think that really modest people make a great deal of noise. It is quite self-evident that really simple people make a great deal of noise. But simplicity and modesty, at least, are very rare and royal human virtues, not to be lightly talked about. Few human beings, and at rare intervals, have really risen into being modest; not one man in ten or in twenty has by long wars become simple, as an actual old soldier does by long wars become simple. These virtues are not things to fling about as mere flattery; many prophets and righteous men have desired to see these things and have not seen them.

(interlin.) The riches of Heaven are suitably promised to those who at this present are in poverty.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The Lord taught by way of example that the glory of human ambition must be left behind when he said, "The Lord your God shall you adore and him only shall you serve." And when he announced through the prophets that he would choose a people humble and in awe of his words, he introduced the perfect Beatitude as humility of spirit. Therefore he defines those who are inspired as people aware that they are in possession of the heavenly kingdom.… Nothing belongs to anyone as being properly one's own, but all have the same things by the gift of a single parent. They have been given the first things needed to come into life and have been supplied with the means to use them.

This is what we read elsewhere: "He shall save the humble in spirit." But do not imagine that poverty is bred by necessity. For he added "in spirit" so you would understand blessedness to be humility and not poverty. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," who on account of the Holy Spirit are poor by willing freely to be so. Hence, concerning this type of poor, the Savior also speaks through Isaiah: "The Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor."

(Verse 3.) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is what we read elsewhere: And the humble in spirit will be saved (Psalm 34:16): But lest anyone should think that poverty, which is sometimes borne out of necessity, is being preached by the Lord, he added 'in spirit,' so that you would understand it as humility, not as lack. Blessed are the poor in spirit, who are poor by choice for the sake of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, concerning such poor, the Savior also speaks through Isaiah: The Lord has annointed me; therefore, he has sent me to preach to the poor (Isaiah 61:1).

The poor in spirit are those who embrace a voluntary poverty for the sake of the Holy Spirit.

Whence then doth He begin? and what kind of foundations of His new polity doth He lay for us? Let us hearken with strict attention unto what is said. For though it was spoken unto them, it was written for the sake also of all men afterwards. And accordingly on this account, though He had His disciples in His mind in His public preaching, yet unto them He limits not His sayings, but applies all His words of blessing without restriction. For He said not, This or that person, but they who do so, are all of them blessed. So that though thou be a slave, a beggar, in poverty, a stranger, unlearned, there is nothing to hinder thee from being blessed, if thou emulate this virtue.

Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. What is meant by the poor in spirit? The humble and contrite in mind. For by spirit He hath here designated the soul, and the faculty of choice. That is, since many are humble not willingly, but compelled by stress of circumstances; letting these pass (for this were no matter of praise), He blesses them first, who by choice humble and contract themselves.

But why said he not, the humble, but rather the poor? Because this is more than that. For He means here them who are awestruck, and tremble at the commandments of God. Whom also by His prophet Isaiah God earnestly accepting said, To whom will I look, but to him who is meek and quiet, and trembleth at My words? For indeed there are many kinds of humility: one is humble in his own measure, another with all excess of lowliness. It is this last lowliness of mind which that blessed prophet commends, picturing to us the temper that is not merely subdued, but utterly broken, when he saith, The sacrifice for God is a contrite spirit, a contrite and an humble heart God will not despise. And the Three Children also offer this unto God as a great sacrifice, saying, Nevertheless, in a contrite soul, and in a spirit of lowliness, may we be accepted. This Christ also now blesses.

For whereas the greatest of evils, and those which make havoc of the whole world, had their entering in from pride - for both the devil, not being such before, did thus become a devil; as indeed Paul plainly declared, saying, Lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil - and the first man, too, puffed up by the devil with these hopes, was made an example of, and became mortal (for expecting to become a god, he lost even what he had; and God also upbraiding him with this, and mocking his folly, said, Behold, Adam is become as one of us); and each one of those that came after did hereby wreck himself in impiety, fancying some equality with God - since, I say, this was the stronghold of our evils, and the root and fountain of all wickedness, He, preparing a remedy suitable to the disease, laid this law first as a strong and safe foundation. For this being fixed as a base, the builder in security lays on it all the rest. But if this be taken away, though a man reach to the Heavens in his course of life, it is all easily undermined, and issues in a grievous end. Though fasting, prayer, almsgiving, temperance, any other good thing whatever, be gathered together in thee; without humility all fall away and perish.

It was this very thing that took place in the instance of the Pharisee. For even after he had arrived at the very summit, he went down with the loss of all, because he had not the mother of virtues: for as pride is the fountain of all wickedness, so is humility the principle of all self-command. Wherefore also He begins with this, pulling up boasting by the very root out of the soul of His hearers.

What then, saith one, is the head of virtue? Humility. Wherefore Christ also begins with it, saying, "Blessed are the poor." This head hath not locks and ringlets, but beauty, such as to gain God's favor. For, "Unto whom shall I look," saith He, "but unto him that is meek and humble, and trembleth at my words?" And, "Mine eyes are upon the meek of the earth." And, "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart." This head, instead of locks, and flowing hair, bears sacrifices acceptable to God. It is a golden altar, and a spiritual place of sacrifice; "For a contrite spirit is a sacrifice to God." This is the mother of wisdom. If a man have this, he will have the rest also.

Blessed are the poor in spirita, or, according to the literal rendering of the Greek, 'they who beg,' that the humble may learn that they should be ever begging at God's almshouse. For there are many naturally humble and not of faith, who do not knock at God's almshouse; but they alone are humble who are so of faith.

For as all other vices, but chiefly pride, casts down to hell; so all other virtues, but chiefly humility, conduct to Heaven; it is proper that he that humbles himself should be exalted.

For whom but the patient has the Lord called happy, in saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens? " No one, assuredly, is "poor in spirit," except he be humble.

To a Christian believer it is irksome to wed a believer inferior to herself in estate, destined as she will be to have her wealth augmented in the person of a poor husband! For if it is "the pour," not the rich, "whose are the kingdoms of the heavens," the rich will find more in the poor (than she brings him, or than she would in the rich).

Blessed therefore are the poor, because, He says, the kingdom of heaven is theirs who have the soul only treasured up. If we cannot serve God and mammon, can we be redeemed both by God and by mammon? For who will serve mammon more than the man whom mammon has ransomed? Finally, of what example do you avail yourself to warrant your averting by money the giving of you up? When did the apostles, dealing with the matter, in any time of persecution trouble, extricate themselves by money? And money they certainly had from the prices of lands which were laid down at their feet, there being, without a doubt, many of the rich among those who believed-men, and also women, who were wont, too, to minister to their comfort.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. First He lays down humility as a foundation. Since Adam fell through pride, Christ raises us up by humility; for Adam had aspired to become God. The "poor in spirit" are those whose pride is crushed and who are contrite in soul.

After giving a brief title to the doctrine of Christ, the evangelist now presents the doctrine itself and its effect, namely, the crowd's astonishment. But it should be remarked that, according to Augustine, the whole perfection of our life is contained in that sermon of the Lord. He proves this by the fact that it mentions the end to which it leads, namely, a promise. But what man chiefly desires is happiness. Hence, the Lord does three things here: first, he mentions the reward attained by those who accept this doctrine; secondly, he lays down precepts (v. 17); thirdly, he teaches how one can arrive at observing them (v. 20).

In regard to the first he does two things, because some are only observers of this doctrine, and others ministers: first, therefore, he describes the happiness of those who observe it; secondly, of its ministers (v. 11).

It should be noted that many things are presented here about the beatitudes; but no one could have spoken so exactly in the Lord's words, that he would attain the Lord's purpose. Yet it should be known that all complete happiness is included in those words: for all men seek happiness, but they differ in judging about happiness; and therefore, some seek this and some that. But we find four opinions about happiness (or beatitude): Some believe that it consists only in external things, i.e., in an affluence of temporal things: "Happy the people to whom such blessings fall" (Ps 144:15); others, that it consists in man's satisfying his own will; hence, we say: "Happy the man who lives as he wishes" (Ec 3:12): "I know there is nothing better for them than to be happy." The third say that happiness consists in the virtues of the active life; others say in the virtues of the contemplative life, namely, of divine and intelligible things, as Aristotle.

All those opinions are false, although not in the same way. Hence, the Lord rejects all of them. He rejects the opinion of those who said that it consists in an abundance of external goods; hence he says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, i.e., the affluent are not blessed. He rejects the opinion putting happiness in the satisfaction of appetite, when he says, Blessed are the merciful. But it should be known that in man are three appetites: the irascible, which seeks revenge against enemies; this he rejects when he says, Blessed are the meek; the concupiscible, whose good is to be joyful and gratified; he rejects this when he says, Blessed are those who mourn; the will, which is twofold accordingly as it seeks two things: first, that it not be coerced by a higher law; secondly, that it be able to bind others as subjects; hence it desires to rule and not be subject. But the Lord shows the opposite of both. In regard to the first he says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after justice. As to the second, Blessed are the merciful. Therefore, they err who place happiness either in an abundance of external goods or in the satisfaction of appetite.

But those who place happiness in the acts of the active life, namely, moral acts, also err, but less so, because that is the road to happiness. Hence, the Lord does not reject them as evil, but shows that they are directed to happiness; because they are directed either to the self, as temperance and the like, and their end is a clean heart, because they make one overcome the passions. Or they are directed to another, and then their end is peace and so on, for peace is the work of justice. Consequently, those virtues are roads to happiness and not happiness itself; and this is Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. He does not say, "They see," because this would be happiness itself. Again, Blessed are the peacemakers, not because they are peacemakers, but because they tend toward something else, for they shall be called sons of God.

But the opinion of those who say that happiness consists in contemplation of divine things the Lord rejects, as far as the time is concerned; because otherwise it is true, for the ultimate felicity consists in the vision of the best intelligible, namely, of God. Hence, he says, they shall see. It should be noted, according to the Philosopher, that in order for contemplative acts to make one happy, two things are required: the one substantially, namely, that it be the act concerned with the supreme intelligible, which is God; the other formally, namely, love and delight. For delight perfects happiness as beauty does youth. Therefore, the Lord presents two: they shall see God and they shall be called sons of God. For this pertains to the union of love: "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called and be children of God" (1 Jn 3:1).

There should also be noted something in regard to merit in general and something in regard to reward in general. In regard to merit: that the Philosopher distinguishes two genera of virtues: one is common and perfects man in a human way; the other is special, which he calls heroic and perfects man in a superhuman way. For when a brave man fears where there should be fear, it is a virtue; but if he were not to fear, it would be a vice. But if he feared in no case, because he had confidence in God, that virtue would be superhuman; and those virtues are called divine. Therefore, those actions are perfect; and virtue, according to the Philosopher, leads to perfect action. Consequently, those merits are either actions of the gifts or acts of the virtues, in so far as they are made perfect by the gifts.

Note also that the acts of the virtues are the ones about which the law commands. But things meriting happiness are the acts of the virtues. Therefore, all things commanded and contained below are referred to those happinesses. Consequently, as Moses first set forth commands and later said many things, all of which were referred to the commands set forth; so Christ in his doctrine first set forth those beatitudes, to which all other things are referred. In regard to the reward it should be noted that God is the reward of those who serve him: "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore, will I hope in him" (Lam 3:24); "The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup" (Ps 16:5); "I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess" (Gen 15:7). And as Augustine says in Confessions II: "My soul departs from you, it seeks good things outside of you." But men seek various things; yet whatever can be found in any life, the Lord promised all in God.

For some place as the supreme good an abundance of wealth, through which they can reach the loftiest dignity. The Lord promises a kingdom which includes both; but he says that one reaches this kingdom by the power of poverty, not of riches. Hence Blessed are the poor. Others reach those honors through wars; but the Lord says, Blessed are the meek. Others seek consolations through pleasures; the Lord says, Blessed are those who mourn. Some are not willing to be made subject; but the Lord says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after justice. Some wish to avoid evil by oppressing those under them; the Lord says, Blessed are the merciful. Some put the vision of God in the contemplation of truth in this life, but the Lord promises it in the future life; hence Blessed are the clean of heart.

It should also be noted that those rewards which the Lord mentions here can be possessed in two ways, namely, perfectly and consummately, and thus in heaven only or inchoately and imperfectly, and thus in this life. Hence, the saints have the beginning of that happiness. And because they cannot be explained as they will be in heaven, Augustine explains them as they are in this life. Blessed, therefore, are the poor in spirit, not in hope only, but also in reality: "The kingdom of heaven is within you" (Lk 17:21). With this as an introduction, let us proceed to the text.

In the beatitudes the evangelist does two things: first, the beatitudes are presented; secondly, the manifestation of these beatitudes: Blessed are those who are persecuted for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; for this is expressive of all the beatitudes. But virtue does three things: it removes from evil, does and makes one do good, and disposes one toward the best. First, therefore, he deals with the first (v. 3); secondly, with the second (v. 6); thirdly, with the third (v. 8). Furthermore, virtue removes one from three evils: covetousness, cruelty or unrest, and harmful pleasures. The first is noted in v. 3; the second in v. 7, the third in v. 4.

He says, therefore, Blessed are the poor, i.e., the humble, who regard themselves as poor; for they are truly humble who regard themselves as poor not only in external, but also in internal things: "I am poor and needy" (Ps 40:17), contrary to Rev (3:17): "You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked." The "in spirit" can be understood in three ways. For sometimes "spirit" refers to man's pride: "Turn away from a man whose breath is in his nostrils, for of what account is he?" (Is 2:22); it is called pride, because as wineskins are inflated with air, so men by pride: "Puffed up by his sensuous mind" (Col 2:18). Therefore, Blessed are the poor, i.e., those who have little of the spirit of pride. Or "spirit" is taken for man's will. For some are humble of necessity and are not happy, but they pretend humility. Thirdly, it is taken for the Holy Spirit; hence blessed are the poor in spirit, who are humble through the Holy Spirit. And those two practically turn out to be the same.

He says, poor in spirit, because humility gives the Holy Spirit: "This is the man to whom I will look, he that is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word" (Is 66:2). To those poor a kingdom is promised, in which is understood supreme excellence. And although it is the reward for every virtue, it is given in a special way to humility; because "everyone who humbles himself shall be exalted" (Mt 23:12); "He who is lowly in spirit will obtain honors" (Pr 29:22). Or another way, according to Jerome: poor in spirit literally, in disowning temporal goods. He says, in spirit, because some are poor by necessity, but happiness is not owed to such but to those who are poor by will.

The poor are described in two ways: because even though some have riches, they do not have them in their heart: "If riches increase, set not your heart on them" (Ps 62:10). Some neither have nor desire them, and that is more secure, because the mind is drawn from spiritual things by riches. And these are properly called poor in spirit, because the acts of the gifts, which are above the human way of acting, belong to the happy man. And that a man reject all riches, so that he does not seek them at all is also above the human way of acting. To those is promised the kingdom of heaven, which is marked not only by the loftiness of honor but by abundance of wealth: "Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith?" (Jas 2:5).

Note that Moses first promised riches: "The Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth" (Dt 28:1), and in v. 3: "Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed in the field." Therefore, to distinguish the old law from the new, the Lord first places happiness in the contempt for temporal things.

Note also, according to Augustine, that this beatitude pertains to the gift of fear, because fear, particularly filial, makes one have reverence for God and, as a result, a man despises riches.

Note also that Isaiah presents the beatitudes in descending order: "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord" (Is 11:1). Christ, on the other hand, begins with the gift of fear, namely, from poverty, because Isaiah foretold Christ's coming to earth; but Christ attracted his followers upwards from the earth.

(ubi sup.) When you have done thus much, attained both poverty and meekness, remember that you are a sinner, mourn your sins, as He proceeds, Blessed are they that mourn. And it is suitable that the third blessing should be of those that mourn for sin, for it is the Trinity that forgives sin.

(Serm. in Mont. i. 2.) Otherwise; mourning is sorrow for the loss of what is dear; but those that are turned to God lose the things that they held dear in this world; and as they have now no longer any joy in such things as before they had joy in, their sorrow may not be healed till there is formed within them a love of eternal things. They shall then be comforted by the Holy Spirit, who is therefore chiefly called, The Paraclete, that is, 'Comforter;' so that for the loss of their temporal joys, they shall gain eternal joys.

Since evil proceeds either from the swelling of pride, or from the rancor of malice, or from the languor of concupiscence, therefore for perfectly distancing oneself from this threefold kind of evil, three beatitudes are necessary, namely poverty of spirit, distancing from the evil of swelling; meekness, distancing from the evil of rancor; and mourning, distancing from the evil of lust and concupiscential languor.

For the perfection of religious life, there is necessarily required the renunciation of private good, the acceptance of fraternal good, and the desire for eternal good; the third is accomplished through the bitterness of mourning.

Knowledge disposes to mourning, since through knowledge we recognize that we have been banished from the state of blessedness into this valley of misery and tears.

The third virtue is mourning, concerning which it says in the Gospel: "Blessed are those who mourn." The gift of knowledge destroys wrath and introduces the gift of mourning — nothing is so contrary to wrath as serenity of mind.

Feelings, and feelings, and feelings. Let me try thinking instead. From the rational point of view, what new factor has H's death introduced into the problem of the universe? What grounds has it given me for doubting all that I believe? I knew already that these things, and worse, happened daily. I would have said that I had taken them into account. I had been warned--I had warned myself--not to reckon on worldly happiness. We were even promised sufferings. They were part of the programme. We were even told "Blessed are they that mourn" and I accepted it. I've got nothing that I hadn't bargained for. Of course it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality, not in imagination. Yes; but should it, for a sane man, make quite such a difference as this? No. And it wouldn't for a man whose faith had been real faith and whose concern for other people's sorrows had been real concern. The case is too plain. If my house has collapsed at one blow, that is because it was a house of cards. The faith which "took these things into account" was not faith but imagination. The taking them into account was not real sympathy. If I had really cared, as I thought I did, about the sorrows of the world, I should not have been so overwhelmed when my own sorrow came. It has been an imaginary faith playing with innocuous counters labelled "Illness", "Pain", "Death" and "Loneliness". I thought I trusted the rope until it mattered to me whether it would bear me. Now it matters, and I find I didn't.

As with Jesus' earlier teaching on the poor, here too he speaks of those who mourn. The blessed of whom he speaks are not those bereaving the death of a spouse or the loss of cherished servants. Rather, he is speaking of those blessed persons who … do not cease to mourn over the iniquity of the world or the offenses of sinners with a pious, duty-bound sentiment. To those who mourn righteously, therefore, they will receive, and not undeservedly, the consolation of eternal rejoicing promised by the Lord.

(ord.) The meek, who have possessed themselves, shall possess hereafter the inheritance of the Father; to possess is more than to have, for we have many things which we lose immediately.

(ap Anselm.) Or, by mourning, two kinds of sorrow are intended; one for the miseries of this world, one for lack of heavenly things; so Caleb's daughter asked both the upper and the lower springs. This kind of mourning none have but the poor and the meek, who as not loving the world acknowledge themselves miserable, and therefore desire heaven. Suitably, therefore, consolation is promised to them that mourn, that he who has sorrow at this present may have joy hereafter. But the reward of the mourner is greater that that of the poor or the meek, for to rejoice in the kingdom is more than to have it, or to possess it; for many things we possess in sorrow.

Let us therefore call back before our eyes the sins we have committed; let us consider how terrible is the judge who comes to punish these things; let us form our mind for lamentation; let our life become bitter for a time in repentance, lest it feel eternal bitterness in punishment. For through weeping we are led to eternal joys, as Truth promises when it says: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." But through joys one arrives at weeping, as this same Truth attests when it says: "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep." If therefore we seek the joy of reward at our arrival, let us hold to the bitterness of repentance on the way.

Those that mourn, that is, not loss of kindred, affronts, or losses, but who weep for past sins.

The mourning discussed here does not concern the common natural law of the dead but rather their sins and vices. Thus Samuel grieved over Saul, and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. Also Paul the apostle says that he wept and mourned over those who, after committing fornication and impure deeds, did not feel the need of repentance.

(Ver. 4.) Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Not the land of Judah ((Al. Judea)), nor the land of this world; not the cursed land, bringing forth thorns and thistles (Gen. V), which the most cruel and warlike possess; but the land that the Psalmist desires, saying: I believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps. XXVI, 13). Such a possessor, and after victory a triumphator, is also described in the forty-fourth psalm: Attend, proceed and reign prosperously (Al. and prosperously): for truth, meekness, and justice. No one possesses this land by meekness, but by pride.

For the mourning here meant is not for the dead by common course of nature, but for the dead in sins, and vices. Thus Samuel mourned for Saul, thus the Apostle Paul mourned for those who had not performed penance after uncleanness.

Now having begun, as you see, where most need was, He proceeds to another commandment, one which seems to be opposed to the judgment of the whole world. For whereas all think that they who rejoice are enviable, those in dejection, poverty, and mourning, wretched, He calls these blessed rather than those; saying thus, Blessed are they that mourn.

Yet surely all men call them miserable. For therefore He wrought the miracles beforehand, that in such enactments as these He might be entitled to credit.

And here too again he designated not simply all that mourn, but all that do so for sins: since surely that other kind of mourning is forbidden, and that earnestly, which relates to anything of this life. This Paul also clearly declared, when he said, The sorrow of the world worketh death, but godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of.

These then He too Himself calls blessed, whose sorrow is of that kind; yet not simply them that sorrow did He designate, but them that sorrow intensely. Therefore He did not say, they that sorrow, but they that mourn. For this commandment again is fitted to teach us entire self-control. For if those who grieve for children, or wife, or any other relation gone from them, have no fondness for gain or pleasure during that period of their sorrow; if they aim not at glory, are not provoked by insults, nor led captive by envy, nor beset by any other passion, their grief alone wholly possessing them; much more will they who mourn for their own sins, as they ought to mourn, show forth a self-denial greater than this.

Next, what is the reward for these? For they shall be comforted, saith He. Where shall they be comforted! tell me. Both here and there. For since the thing enjoined was exceeding burthensome and galling, He promised to give that, which most of all made it light. Wherefore, if thou wilt be comforted, mourn: and think not this a dark saying. For when God doth comfort, though sorrows come upon thee by thousands like snow-flakes, thou wilt be above them all. Since in truth, as the returns which God gives are always far greater than our labors; so He hath wrought in this case, declaring them that mourn to be blessed, not after the value of what they do, but after His own love towards man. For they that mourn, mourn for misdoings, and to such it is enough to enjoy forgiveness, and obtain wherewith to answer for themselves. But forasmuch as He is full of love towards man, He doth not limit His recompense either to the removal of our punishments, or to the deliverance from our sins, but He makes them even blessed, and imparts to them abundant consolation.

But He bids us mourn, not only for our own, but also for other men's misdoings. And of this temper were the souls of the saints: such was that of Moses, of Paul, of David; yea, all these many times mourned for evils not their own.

And they who weep for their own sins are blessed, but much more so who weep for others' sins; so should all teachers do.

The comfort of mourners is the ceasing of their mourning; they then who mourn their own sins shall be consoled when they have received remittance thereof.

But they also who mourn for others' sins shall be comforted, inasmuch as they shall own God's providence in that worldly generation, understanding that they who had perished were not of God, out of whose hand none can snatch. For these leaving to mourn, they shall be comforted in their own blessedness.

Well, who is humble, except he be patient? For no one can abase himself without patience, in the first instance, to bear the act of abasement. "Blessed," saith He, "are the weepers and mourners." Who, without patience, is tolerant of such unhappinesses? And so to such, "consolation" and "laughter" are promised.

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. "Blessed are they that mourn" for their sins, not for things of this life. Christ said, "They that mourn," that is, they that are mourning incessantly and not just one time; and not only for our own sins, but for those of our neighbor. "They shall be comforted" both in this life, for he who mourns for his sin rejoices spiritually, and even more so in the next life.

Blessed are those who mourn. Two beatitudes, through which we are drawn from the evil of covetousness and cruelty, have been presented. Here is presented a third, by which we are drawn from the evil of harmful pleasure, and it is Blessed are those who mourn. In the Old Testament earthly things were promised and earthly happiness: "They shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine and the oil" (Jer 31:12). But contrariwise the Lord promises happiness in mourning. Yet it should be noted that not just any weeping is mourning, but that by which one weeps over a dead person beloved to him. For the Lord speaks here by hyperbole. As above he said, Blessed are the poor, so here he mentions the bitterest mourning; for as those who mourn the dead receive no consolation, so the Lord wishes our life to be a mourning: "Make mourning as for an only son" (Jer 6:26). This mourning can be expounded in three ways: first, for sins, not only one's own but those of others; because if we mourn the bodily dead, much more the spiritually: "How long will you grieve over Saul?" (1 Sam 16:1); "O that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people" (Jer 9:1). This beatitude is fittingly placed after the preceding one, for someone could say that it is enough not to do evil. This is true in the beginning before sin; but after sin has been committed, it is not enough, unless he makes satisfaction. Secondly, it can be taken for the mourning about sojourning with present misery: "Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged" (Ps 120:5). This is watered above and below: "Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs" (Jos 15:19). Thirdly, according to Augustine, for mourning which men have in regard to the joys of the world, which they abandon by coming to Christ; for some men die to the world and the world dies to them: "By which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world" (Gal 6:14). But as we mourn over the dead, so they mourn; because one cannot escape the fact that in abandoning they feel some pain.

Three consolations correspond to these three kinds of mourning: because for mourning over sins one is granted forgiveness, as David sought in Ps 51 (v. 12): "Restore to me the joy of my salvation." To the postponement of the heavenly fatherland and the continued dwelling with present misery corresponds the consolation of eternal life: "I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow" (Jer 31:13); "You shall be comforted in Jerusalem" (Is 66:13). Thirdly, to mourning corresponds the consolation of divine love; for when one weeps over the loss of a treasured object, he is consoled, if he acquires something more valuable.

Hence men are consoled, when in place of temporal they receive spiritual and eternal things, which is to receive the Holy Spirit; hence he is called Paraclete (Jn 15:26). For in virtue of the Holy Spirit, who is divine love, men rejoice: "Your sorrow will be turned into joy" (Jn 16:20).

It should be noted that this beatitude is associated with the gift of knowledge, because those mourn who know others' misery; hence Wisdom (14:22) says of some who do not have such knowledge: "They live in great strife due to ignorance, and they call such great evils peace"; and on the other hand: "He who increases knowledge increases sorrow" (Ec 1:18).

It should also be noted that those rewards are so arranged that the subsequent always adds to the preceding. For, first, he said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; then, because they shall inherit the earth. For it is better to possess than merely to have. Then, after these, they shall be comforted; for it is more to be comforted than to possess, because some possess things but are not delighted with them.

(in Luc. c. v. 20.) When I have learned contentment in poverty, the next lesson is to govern my heart and temper. For what good is it to me to be without worldly things, unless I have besides a meek spirit? It suitably follows therefore, Blessed are the meek.

(ubi sup.) Soften therefore your temper that you be not angry, at least that you be angry, and sin not. It is a noble thing to govern passion by reason; nor is it a less virtue to check anger, than to be entirely without anger, since one is esteemed the sign of a weak, the other of a strong, mind.

Piety corresponds to the meek: for he who inquires piously honours Holy Scripture, and does not censure what he does not yet understand, and on this account does not offer resistance; and this is to be meek: whence it is here said, Blessed are the meek. Knowledge corresponds to those that mourn who already have found out in the Scriptures by what evils they are held chained which they ignorantly have coveted as though they were good and useful.

To the meek an inheritance is given, as it were the testament of a father to those dutifully seeking it: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

"Inherit the earth," I believe, means the land promised in the psalm: "Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the living." It signifies the solidity and stability of a perpetual inheritance. The soul because of its good disposition is at rest as though in its own place, like a body on the earth, and is fed with its own food there, like a body from the earth. This is the peaceful life of the saints. The meek are those who submit to wickedness and do not resist evil but overcome evil with good. Let the haughty therefore quarrel and contend for earthly and temporal things. But "blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land." This is the land from which they cannot be expelled.

(Serm. in Mont. i. 2.) The meek are they who resist not wrongs, and give way to evil; but overcome evil of good.

(ubi sup.) Let the unyielding then wrangle and quarrel about earthly and temporal things, the meek are blessed, for they shall inherit the earth, and not be rooted out of it; that earth of which it is said in the Psalms, Thy lot is in the land of the living, (Ps. 142:5.) meaning the fixedness of a perpetual inheritance, in which the soul that hath good dispositions rests as in its own place, as the body does in an earthly possession, it is fed by its own food, as the body by the earth; such is the rest and the life of the saints.

Since evil proceeds either from the swelling of pride, or from the rancor of malice, or from the languor of concupiscence, therefore for perfectly distancing oneself from this threefold kind of evil, three beatitudes are necessary, namely poverty of spirit, distancing from the evil of swelling; meekness, distancing from the evil of rancor; and mourning, distancing from the evil of lust and concupiscential languor.

For the perfection of religious life, there is necessarily required the renunciation of private good, the acceptance of fraternal good, and the desire for eternal good; the second is accomplished through meekness of affection.

Piety disposes to meekness: for he who is piously disposed toward another neither provokes him nor is provoked by him.

The second virtue is meekness or gentleness, concerning which it says in the Gospel: "Blessed are the meek." The gift of piety destroys envy and introduces meekness or gentleness of spirit.

The meek are those who are gentle, humble and unassuming, simple in faith and patient in the face of every affront. Imbued with the precepts of the gospel, they imitate the meekness of the Lord, who says, "Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart." Moses found the greatest favor with God because he was meek. It was written about him: "And Moses was the meekest of all people on earth." Furthermore, we read in David's psalm: "Be mindful, O Lord, of David and his great meekness."

The statement that the meek shall inherit the earth is very far from being a meek statement. I mean it is not meek in the ordinary sense of mild and moderate and inoffensive. To justify it, it would be necessary to go very deep into history and anticipate things undreamed of then and by many unrealised even now; such as the way in which the mystical monks reclaimed the lands which the practical kings had lost. If it was a truth at all, it was because it was a prophecy. But certainly it was not a truth in the sense of a truism. The blessing upon the meek would seem to be a very violent statement; in the sense of doing violence to reason and probability. And with this we come to another important stage in the speculation. As a prophecy it really was fulfilled; but it was only fulfilled long afterwards. The monasteries were the most practical and prosperous estates and experiments in reconstruction after the barbaric deluge; the meek did really inherit the earth. But nobody could have known anything of the sort at the time--unless indeed there was one who knew.

The truth is, that all genuine appreciation rests on a certain mystery of humility and almost of darkness. The man who said, "Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed," put the eulogy quite inadequately and even falsely. The truth "Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall be gloriously surprised." The man who expects nothing sees redder roses than common men can see, and greener grass, and a more startling sun. Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall possess the cities and the mountains; blessed is the meek, for he shall inherit the earth. Until we realize that things might not be we cannot realize that things are. Until we see the background of darkness we cannot admire the light as a single and created thing. As soon as we have seen that darkness, all light is lightening, sudden, blinding, and divine. Until we picture nonentity we underrate the victory of God, and can realize none of the trophies of His ancient war. It is one of the million wild jests of truth that we know nothing until we know nothing.

(interlin.) The riches of Heaven are suitably promised to those who at this present are in poverty.

(ord.) The meek, who have possessed themselves, shall possess hereafter the inheritance of the Father; to possess is more than to have, for we have many things which we lose immediately.

Or, the Lord promises the inheritance of the earth to the meek, meaning of that Body, which Himself took on Him as His tabernacle; and as by the gentleness of our minds Christ dwells in us, we also shall be clothed with the glory of His renewed body.

(Verse 5.) Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. This mourning is not a common law of nature for the dead, but for the sins and vices of the dead. Thus Samuel wept for Saul, because he regretted that God had anointed him king over Israel (1 Samuel 15). And so the Apostle Paul says that he weeps and mourns for those who have not repented after committing fornication and impurity (2 Corinthians 12).

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Tell me, what kind of earth? Some say a figurative earth, but it is not this, for nowhere in Scripture do we find any mention of an earth that is merely figurative. But what can the saying mean? He holds out a sensible prize; even as Paul also doth, in that when he had said, Honor thy father and thy mother, he added, For so shalt thou live long upon the earth. And He Himself unto the thief again, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.

Thus He doth not incite us by means of the future blessings only, but of the present also, for the sake of the grosser sort of His hearers, and such as before the future seek those others.

Thus, for example, further on also He said, Agree with thine adversary. Then He appoints the reward of such self-command, and saith, Lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge to the officer. Seest thou whereby He alarmed us? By the things of sense, by what happens before our eyes. And again, Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council.

And Paul too sets forth sensible rewards at great length, and uses things present in his exhortations; as when he is discoursing about virginity. For having said nothing about the heavens there, for the time he urges it by things present, saying, Because of the present distress, and, But I spare you, and, I would have you without carefulness.

Thus accordingly Christ also with the things spiritual hath mingled the sensible. For whereas the meek man is thought to lose all his own, He promises the contrary, saying, Nay, but this is he who possesses his goods in safety, namely, he who is not rash, nor boastful: while that sort of man shall often lose his patrimony, and his very life.

And besides, since in the Old Testament the prophet used to say continually, The meek shall inherit the earth; He thus weaves into His discourse the words to which they were accustomed, so as not everywhere to speak a strange language.

And this He saith, not as limiting the rewards to things present, but as joining with these the other sort of gifts also. For neither in speaking of any spiritual thing doth He exclude such as are in the present life; nor again in promising such as are in our life, doth He limit his promise to that kind. For He saith, Seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. And again: Whosoever hath left houses or brethren, shall receive an hundred fold in this world, and in the future shall inherit everlasting life.

This earth as some interpret, so long as it is in its present condition is the land of the dead, seeing it is subject to vanity; but when it is freed from corruption it becomes the land of the living, that the mortal may inherit an immortal country. I have read another exposition of it, as if the heaven in which the saints are to dwell is meant by the land of the living, because compared with the regions of death it is heaven, compared with the heaven above it is earth. Others again say, that this body as long as it is subject to death is the land of the dead, when it shall b made like unto Christ's glorious body, it will be the land of the living.

Who, without patience, is tolerant of such unhappinesses? And so to such, "consolation" and "laughter" are promised. "Blessed are the gentle: " under this term, surely, the impatient cannot possibly be classed.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Some say that the "earth" is the spiritual earth, that is, heaven. But understand it to mean this earth as well. Since the meek are thought to be those who are despised and deprived of wealth, Christ says that it is the meek, rather, who possess everything. The meek are not those who never get angry at all, for such people are unfeeling and apathetic. Rather, the meek are those who possess the capacity for anger but control it, and become angry only when it is necessary.

Blessed are the meek. This is the second beatitude. But lest anyone suppose that poverty is sufficient for happiness, he shows that it is not; indeed, meekness, which puts a restraint on anger is required, as temperance does to pleasures. For one is meek who is not irritated. But this could be done by a virtue, so that one does not become angry without just cause; however, even if you have a just cause and are not vexed, it is strictly beyond human power. Therefore he says, Blessed are the meek. For a struggle arises on account of an abundance of external goods; therefore, there would never be conflict, if man were not affected by riches. Hence those who are not meek are not poor in spirit. That is why he says immediately, Blessed are the meek. Note that this consists in two things: first, that a man not become angry; secondly, that if he becomes angry, he tempers the anger.

Thus Ambrose says: "It is the mark of a prudent man to temper movements to anger, nor is it less virtuous to get angry temperately than not to get angry at all. And in general I consider the latter milder, the former stronger."

Chrysostom says: "In the midst of eternal promises he places one which is earthly." Hence according to the letter the meek possess this earth. For many fight to acquire possessions, but frequently they lose life and everything else; whereas the meek often have the whole: "The meek shall possess the land" (Ps 37:11). But it is better to explain it in reference to the future. Then it is explained in a number of ways.

Hilary, in this way: They shall inherit the earth, i.e., the glorified body of Christ, because they will be conformed in their bodies to that brightness. "Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; they will behold a land that stretches far" (Is 33:17); "He will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body" (Phil 3:21). Or in another way: this is the earth of the dead, because it is subject to corruption; but it will be freed from corruption, according to the Apostle (Rom 8:21). Therefore this earth, when it will be renewed and freed from the slavery of corruption, will be called the earth of the living. Or by earth is understood the empyrean heaven, in which are the blessed; and it is called earth, because as earth is to heaven, so that heaven to the heaven of the Holy Trinity. Or they shall merit the earth, i.e., their glorified body.

Augustine explains it metaphorically and says that "by this must be understood a certain stability of the saints in their knowledge of the first truth"; "I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living" (Ps 27:13).

This beatitude is adapted to the gift of piety, because, properly speaking, those not content with the divine order get angry.

(ubi sup.) As soon as I have wept for my sins, I begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness. He who is afflicted with any sore disease, hath no hunger.

When Luke mentions these blessed ones, he calls them simply those "who hunger." But Matthew here defines them as those who willingly and from a longing for the good abstain from fleshly pleasures. Both of them speak in a similar way. Whoever longs for the righteousness of God has found what is truly desirable. But the yearning for righteousness is not satisfied by analogy to the appetite alone. For brotherhood in justice is desired not merely as food. That is only half the total picture. But now he has also represented this yearning as analogous to thirst for something to drink. By the passion of thirst he intends to indicate the heat and burning of intense longing. He says that such a person "will be filled." But such fulfillment does not produce a turning away but rather an intensification of the desire.

To those hungering and thirsting, a full supply, as it were a refreshment to those labouring and bravely contending for salvation: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

But now, to conclude by summing up this passage, what can be named or thought of more laborious and toilsome, where the believing soul is straining every nerve of its industry, than the subduing of vicious habit? Let such an one cut off the members which obstruct the kingdom of heaven, and not be overwhelmed by the pain: in conjugal fidelity let him bear with everything which, however grievously annoying it may be, is still free from the guilt of unlawful corruption, i.e. of fornication: as, for instance, if any one should have a wife either barren, or misshapen in body, or faulty in her members—either blind, or deaf, or lame, or having any other defect—or worn out by diseases and pains and weaknesses, and whatever else may be thought of exceeding horrible, fornication excepted, let him endure it for the sake of his plighted love and conjugal union; and let him not only not put away such a wife, but even if he have her not, let him not marry one who has been divorced by her husband, though beautiful, healthy, rich, fruitful. And if it is not lawful to do such things, much less is it to be deemed lawful for him to come near any other unlawful embrace; and let him so flee from fornication, as to withdraw himself from base corruption of every sort. Let him speak the truth, and let him commend it not by frequent oaths, but by the probity of his morals; and with respect to the innumerable crowds of all bad habits rising up in rebellion against him, of which, in order that all may be understood, a few have been mentioned, let him betake himself to the citadel of Christian warfare, and let him lay them prostrate, as if from a higher ground. But who would venture to enter upon labours so great, unless one who is so inflamed with the love of righteousness, that, as it were utterly consumed with hunger and thirst, and thinking there is no life for him till that is satisfied, he puts forth violence to obtain the kingdom of heaven? For otherwise he will not be able bravely to endure all those things which the lovers of this world reckon toilsome and arduous, and altogether difficult in getting rid of bad habits. Blessed, therefore, are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

But yet, when any one encounters difficulty in these toils, and advancing through hardships and roughnesses surrounded with various temptations, and perceiving the troubles of his past life rise up on this side and on that, becomes afraid lest he should not be able to carry through what he has undertaken, let him eagerly avail himself of the counsel that he may obtain assistance. But what other counsel is there than this, that he who desires to have divine help for his own infirmity should bear that of others, and should assist it as much as possible? And so, therefore, let us look at the precepts of mercy. The meek and the merciful man, however, seem to be one and the same: but there is this difference, that the meek man, of whom we have spoken above, from piety does not gainsay the divine sentences which are brought forward against his sins, nor those statements of God which he does not yet understand; but he confers no benefit on him whom he does not gainsay or resist. But the merciful man in such a way offers no resistance, that he does it for the purpose of correcting him whom he would render worse by resisting.

Fortitude corresponds to those hungering and thirsting: for they labour in earnestly desiring joy from things that are truly good, and in eagerly seeking to turn away their love from earthly and corporeal things: and of them it is here said, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.

(ubi sup.) Or He speaks of food with which they shall be filled at this present; to wit, that food of which the Lord spake, My food is to do the will of my Father, that is, righteousness, and that water of which whoever drinks it shall be in him a well of water springing up to life eternal.

Since indeed a perfect advance in good is considered according to divine imitation, and all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth: hence it is that there is a twofold beatitude according to these two ways, namely hunger or zeal for justice, and the affection of mercy.

For the perfection of prelacy, two things are necessarily required, namely zeal for justice and the affection of mercy: for mercy and truth preserve the king. According to these two, the governance of prelacy in the Church militant ought to be ordered.

Fortitude disposes to hunger for justice; for he who is strong holds so eagerly to justice that he would rather be separated from bodily life than from justice.

The fourth virtue is hunger for justice, concerning which it says in the Gospel: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice." The gift of fortitude destroys sloth and introduces hunger for justice.

He taught that we must seek after righteousness with earnest desire, not with fainthearted energy. Indeed, he calls those persons blessed who in their search for righteousness virtually burn with passionate longing in their hunger and thirst. For if each one of us really hungers and thirsts for righteousness with eager desire, we can do nothing else but think and seek after righteousness. It is necessary that we eagerly desire that for which we hunger and thirst.

Rightly then the One who is the heavenly bread and the fountain of living waters promises in return to those who thus hunger and thirst the fullness of perpetual refreshment: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." This indeed is that righteousness of faith that comes from God and Christ, of which the apostle says, "The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ in all and upon all who believe in him."

The blessedness which He appropriates to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shows that the deep longing of the saints for the doctrine of God shall receive perfect replenishment in heaven; then they shall be filled.

It is not enough that we desire righteousness, unless we also suffer hunger for it, by which expression we may understand that we are never righteous enough, but always hunger after works of righteousness.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. What sort of righteousness? He means either the whole of virtue, or that particular virtue which is opposed to covetousness. For since He is about to give commandment concerning mercy, to show how we must show mercy, as, for instance, not of rapine or covetousness, He blesses them that lay hold of righteousness.

And see with what exceeding force He puts it. For He said not, Blessed are they which keep fast by righteousness, but, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: that not merely anyhow, but with all desire we may pursue it. For since this is the most peculiar property of covetousness, and we are not so enamored of meat and drink, as of gaining, and compassing ourselves with more and more, He bade us to transfer this desire to a new object, freedom from covetousness.

Then He appoints the prize, again from things sensible; saying, for they shall be filled. Thus, because it is thought that the rich are commonly made such by covetousness, Nay, saith He, it is just contrary: for it is righteousness that doeth this. Wherefore, so long as thou doest righteously, fear not poverty, nor tremble at hunger. For the extortioners, they are the very persons who lose all, even as he certainly who is in love with righteousness, possesses himself the goods of all men in safety.

But if they who covet not other men's goods enjoy so great abundance, much more they who give up their own.

But if I must utilize a bold explanation indeed, I think that perhaps it was through the word that is measured by virtue and justice that the Lord presents himself to the desire of the hearers. He was born as wisdom from God for us, and as justice and sanctification and redemption. He is "the bread that comes down from heaven" and "living water," for which the great David himself thirsted. He said in one of his psalms, "My soul has thirsted for you, even for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?" … "I shall behold your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied in beholding your glory." This then, in my estimation, is the true virtue, the good unmingled with any lesser good, that is, God, the virtue that covers the heavens, as Habakkuk relates.

All good which men do not from love of the good itself is unpleasing before God. He hungers after righteousness who desires to walk according to the righteousness of God; he thirsts after righteousness who desires to get the knowledge thereof.

Such is the bounty of a rewarding God, that His gifts are greater than the desires of the saints.

How unworthy, also, is the way in which you interpret to the favour of your own lust the fact that the Lord "ate and drank" promiscuously! But I think that He must have likewise "fasted" inasmuch as He has pronounced, not "the full; "but "the hungry and thirsty, blessed: " (He) who was wont to profess "food" to be, not that which His disciples had supposed, but "the thorough doing of the Father's work; " teaching "to labour for the meat which is permanent unto life eternal; " in our ordinary prayer likewise commanding us to request "bread," not the wealth of Attalus therewithal.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Since He is about to speak about almsgiving, He first shows that one must pursue righteousness, and not give alms from what has been acquired by theft and extortion. And one must avidly practice righteousness, for this is what it means to "hunger and thirst." Since it is the greedy who are thought to be well off and satisfied, Jesus says that it is rather the righteous who shall be filled, even here in this life, for what is theirs they possess with surety.

Then, having given the beatitudes which pertain to removing evil, he now gives one which pertains to producing good. But our good is twofold, namely, of justice and of mercy. In regard to the first he says, Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Justice is taken in three ways according to Chrysostom and the Philosopher: sometimes for every virtue, which is called legal justice, which commands acts of the virtues. Hence, to the extent that a man obeys the law, he fulfills every virtue. In another way, in as much as it is a special virtue listed among the cardinal virtues and opposed to greed or injustice, and deals with buying and selling and hiring. Therefore, you thirst after justice can be understood in a general sense and in a specific sense.

If it is understood in a general sense, he says this for two reasons. The first is Jerome's, who says that it is not enough that a man perform a work of justice, unless he acts with desire: "With free will I will sacrifice to you" (Ps 54:6); "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Ps 42:2); "I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord" (Am 8:11). Therefore, it is thirst, when one acts with desire. Another reason: Justice is twofold, perfect and imperfect. We cannot have the perfect in this world, because "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 Jn 1:8); "All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment" (Is 64:6). But we have it in heaven: "Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever" (Is 60:21). But we can have the desire for justice here; hence, he says, Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice. This is similar to what Pythagoras did. For in his time those who studied were called wise; but Pythagoras did not wish to be called wise, but a philosopher, i.e., a lover of wisdom. In like manner the Lord wishes that his people be and be called lovers of justice.

But if it be understood of specific justice, it consists in a man's rendering to each what is his due. Then it is fitting to state that blessed are they..., because hunger and thirst, properly speaking, pertain to the greedy. For those who desire to possess what belongs to others are never satiated; hence, that hunger about which the Lord speaks is opposed to that of the greedy. And the Lord wishes that we so yearn for that justice, that we are never, as it were, satiated in this life, as the greedy person is never satiated.

For they shall be satisfied. A fitting reward is mentioned, they shall be satisfied: first, in the eternal vision, for they shall see God in his essence: "I shall be satisfied when your glory shall appear" (Ps 17:15). For nothing will remain to be desired there: "He who pursues righteousness and kindness will find life" (Pr 21:21). Secondly, in the present, and this is twofold: one is in spiritual goods, i.e., in fulfilling the commandments: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work" (Jn 4:34). In another way, it is taken for a fullness of temporal things. Unjust men are never satisfied, but men who have justice itself as their goal can go no further: "The just man eats and satisfies his soul" (Pr 13:25).

This beatitude, according to Augustine, is reduced to the gift of courage, namely, because it belongs to courage that a man act justly. Furthermore, the Lord adds something to the previous reward, because to be satisfied is to have one's desire totally fulfilled.

Counsel corresponds to the merciful: for this is the one remedy for escaping from so great evils, that we forgive, as we wish to be ourselves forgiven; and that we assist others so far as we are able, as we ourselves desire to be assisted where we are not able: and of them it is here said, Blessed are the merciful.

To the merciful mercy, as to those following a true and excellent counsel, so that this same treatment is extended toward them by one who is stronger, which they extend toward the weaker: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Hear what follows: "Blessed are the compassionate, for God will have compassion on them." Do this, and it will be done to you. Do it in regard to another that it might be done in regard to you. For you may overflow yet remain in need. You may overflow with temporal things but remain in need of eternal life. You hear the voice of a beggar, but before God you are yourself a beggar. Someone is begging from you, while you yourself are begging. As you treat your beggar, so will God treat his. You who are empty are being filled. Out of your fullness fill an empty person in need, so that your own emptiness may be again filled by the fullness of God.

(ubi sup.) He pronounces those blessed who succour the wretched, because they are rewarded in being themselves delivered from all misery; as it follows, for they shall obtain mercy.

Since indeed a perfect advance in good is considered according to divine imitation, and all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth: hence it is that there is a twofold beatitude according to these two ways, namely hunger or zeal for justice, and the affection of mercy.

For the perfection of prelacy, two things are necessarily required, namely zeal for justice and the affection of mercy: for mercy and truth preserve the king. According to these two, the governance of prelacy in the Church militant ought to be ordered.

Counsel disposes to mercy: for there is nothing God counsels more in Scripture than to show mercy, which he esteems above all holocausts.

The fifth virtue is mercy, concerning which it says in the Gospel: "Blessed are the merciful." The gift of counsel destroys avarice and introduces mercy.

By a great number of witnesses indeed, just as many in the Old Testament as the New, we are called by the Lord to show compassion. But as a shortcut to faith we deem enough and more than enough what the Lord himself in the passage at hand expresses with his own voice, saying, "Blessed are the compassionate, for God will have compassion for them." The Lord of compassion says that the compassionate are blessed. No one can obtain God's compassion unless that one is also compassionate. In another passage he said, "Be compassionate, just as your Father who is in the heavens is compassionate."

Let us therefore, brethren, be of humble mind, laying aside all haughtiness, and pride, and foolishness, and angry feelings; and let us act according to that which is written (for the Holy Spirit saith, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, neither let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in the Lord, in diligently seeking Him, and doing judgment and righteousness" [Jeremiah 9:23-24]), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spake, teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: "Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you." [Matthew 5:7, Matthew 6:14, Matthew 7:1-2] By this precept and by these rules let us establish ourselves, that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words. For the holy word saith, "On whom shall I look, but on him that is meek and peaceable, and that trembleth at My words?" [Isaiah 66:2]

(ord.) Justice and mercy are so united, that the one ought to be mingled with the other; justice without mercy is cruelty; mercy without justice, profusion—hence He goes on to the one from the other.

(ap. Anselm.) Justly is mercy dealt out to the merciful, that they should receive more than they had deserved; and as he who has more than enough receives more than he who has only enough, so the glory of mercy is greater than of the things hitherto mentioned.

So greatly is God pleased with our feelings of benevolence towards all men, that He will bestow His own mercy only on the merciful.

(Verse 7) Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Mercy is not only understood in acts of charity, but also in bearing each other's burdens in every sin, if we carry the burdens of one another (Galatians 6).

Mercy here is not said only of alms, but is in every sin of a brother, if we bear one another's burdens.

Blessed are the merciful. Here He seems to me to speak not of those only who show mercy in giving of money, but those likewise who are merciful in their actions. For the way of showing mercy is manifold, and this commandment is broad. What then is the reward thereof? For they shall obtain mercy.

And it seems indeed to be a sort of equal recompence, but it is a far greater thing than the act of goodness. For whereas they themselves show mercy as men, they obtain mercy from the God of all; and it is not the same thing, man's mercy, and God's; but as wide as is the interval between wickedness and goodness, so far is the one of these removed from the other.

The merciful (misericors) is he who has a sad heart; he counts others' misery his own, and is sad at their grief as at his own.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Not only with money does one show mercy in almsgiving, but also with words. And should you have nothing at all to give, show mercy with tears of compassion. "They shall obtain mercy" even here in this life from men; for if he who showed mercy yesterday should be in want today, he will obtain mercy from all. And in the next life, how much more shall he obtain mercy from God?

Note also that first he says Blessed are those who mourn, for when a man is infirm, he does not desire to eat; but he begins to desire when he begins to get well. So it is in matters of the spirit: when men are in sin, they do not feel spiritual hunger; but when their sins are forgiven, they experience that hunger. Therefore he continues at once: Blessed are the merciful, because justice without mercy is cruelty, while mercy without justice is the mother of destruction. Therefore, it is necessary for the two to be joined, as it says in Proverbs (3:3): "Let not mercy and truth forsake you"; "Mercy and truth will meet" (Ps 85:10).

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. To be merciful is to have a compassionate heart for the wretchedness of others; but we have mercy toward the wretchedness of others, when we regard it as our own. But we grieve over our own wretchedness and strive to remove it. Therefore, you are truly merciful, when you work to relieve the wretchedness of others. Now the wretchedness of our neighbor is twofold: the first is in temporal matters, and in regard to that wretchedness we should have a compassionate heart: "If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?" (1 Jn 3:17). The second is that whereby man is made wretched through sin; because just as happiness lies in the works of the virtues, so one's wretchedness lies in vices: "Sin makes a people wretched" (Pr 14:34). Therefore, when we admonish the fallen to return, we are merciful: "Seeing the crowds he had compassion on them" (Mt 9:36). Therefore, the merciful are blessed. And why? Because they shall obtain mercy.

Here it should be noted that God's gifts always outweigh our merits: "The Lord is the one who repays, and he will repay you sevenfold" (Sir 35:13). Consequently, the mercy God bestows on us is much greater than that we bestow on others. That mercy begins in this life in two ways: first, because our sins are forgiven: "Who forgives all your iniquity" (Ps 103:3). Secondly, because he removes temporal imperfections, so that he makes his sun to rise. This will be perfected in the future, when all wretchedness, both of guilt and punishment, will be removed: "Your mercy, O Lord, is in heaven" (Ps 36:6). And this is because they shall obtain mercy.

This beatitude is reduced to the gift of counsel, because this is unique counsel, that amid the dangers of this world we should obtain mercy: "Godliness is of value in every way" (1 Tim 4:8); "Let my counsel be acceptable to the king" (Dan 4:27).

(in Luc. vi. 22.) The merciful loses the benefit of his mercy, unless he shows it from a pure heart; for if he seeks to have whereof to boast, he loses the fruit of his deeds; the next that follows therefore is, Blessed are the pure in heart.

He calls "pure of heart" here those who have acquired virtue in general. Showing the inadequacy of what he had said before, he adds "for they shall see God." Why then is it said that "no one has seen God at any time"? We maintain that he is seen and understood by reason. Either we may see God through the holy Scriptures with the eyes of the understanding, or again, through the wisdom visible in the universe it is possible to see, in a conjectural sort of way, him who made it. God is seen in the same way that in objects made by human beings, the maker of a given work is, after a certain manner, seen by the intellect. But what is seen is not the nature of the artificer but only his or her artistic skill. So also, whoever sees God by looking at the creation gains an impression not of the essence but of the wisdom of the One who has made all things. Therefore the Lord tells the truth when proclaiming that God is seen by the pure in heart, while at the same time the Scripture does not lie when it asserts that God has not been seen nor can be seen.

To the pure in heart is given the power of seeing God, as to those bearing about with them a pure eye for discerning eternal things: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Understanding corresponds to the pure in heart, the eye being as it were purged, by which that may be beheld which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, and what has not entered into the heart of man: and of them it is here said, Blessed are the pure in heart.

Mark well what follows. When the text says "blessed are the pure in heart," it refers to those who have been made clean within, for they shall see God. To behold God is the end and purpose of all our loving activity. But it is the end by which we are to be perfected, not the end by which we come to nothing. Note that food is finished in a different way than a garment is finished. Food is finished when it is consumed in the eating. A garment is finished when it is completed in the weaving. Both are finished, but the former's finish means destruction; the latter's, perfection. Whatever we do, whatever good deeds we perform, whatever we strive to accomplish, whatever we laudably yearn for, whatever we blamelessly desire, we shall no longer be seeking any of those things when we reach the vision of God. Indeed, what would one search for when one has God before one's eyes? Or what would satisfy one who would not be satisfied with God? Yes, we wish to see God. Who does not have this desire? We strive to see God. We are on fire with the desire of seeing God. But pay attention to the saying, "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God." Provide yourself with this means of seeing God. Let me speak concretely: Why would you, while your eyes are bleary, desire to see a sunrise? Let the eyes be sound, and that light will be full of joy. If your eyes are blind, that light itself will be a torment. Unless your heart is pure, you will not be permitted to see what cannot be seen unless the heart be pure.

There will come the form of a servant, and that same will be apparent. For how could the form of God be made apparent to the just and to the unjust? If the judgment were to be only among the just, then the form of God might appear as to the just. But because the judgment is to be of the just and of the unjust, and that it is not permitted to the wicked to see God, - for "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," - such a Judge will appear as may be seen by those whom He is about to crown, and by those whom He is about to condemn. Hence the form of a servant will be seen, the form of God will be hid. The Son of God will be hid in the servant, and the Son of man will be manifest.

Seek in the Father and Son a separation, thou findest none; no, not if thou hast mounted high; no, not even if thou hast reached something above thy mind. For if thou turnest about among the things which thy wandering mind makes for itself, thou talkest with thine own imaginations, not with the Word of God; thine own imaginations deceive thee. Mount also beyond the body, and understand the mind; mount also beyond the mind, and understand God. Thou reachest not unto God, unless thou hast passed beyond the mind; how much less thou reachest unto God, if thou hast tarried in the flesh! They who think of the flesh, how far are they from understanding what God is! - since they would not be there even if they knew the mind. Man recedes far from God when his thoughts are of the flesh; and there is a great difference between flesh and mind, yet a greater between mind and God. If thou art occupied with the mind, thou art in the midway: if thou directest thy attention beneath, there is the body; if above, there is God. Lift thyself up from the body, pass beyond even thyself. For observe what said the psalm, and thou art admonished how God must be thought of: "My tears," it saith, "were made to me my bread day and night, when it was said to me daily, Where is thy God?" As the pagans may say, "Behold our gods, where is your God?" They indeed show us what is seen; we worship what is not seen. And to whom can we show? To a man who has not sight with which to see? For anyhow, if they see their gods with their eyes, we too have other eyes with which to see our God: for "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Therefore, when he had said that he was troubled, when it was daily said to him, "Where is thy God?" "these things I remembered," saith he, "because it is daily said to me, Where is thy God?" And as if wishing to lay hold of his God, "These things," saith he, "I remembered, and poured out my soul above me." Therefore, that I might reach unto my God, of whom it was said to me, "Where is thy God? I poured out my soul," not over my flesh, but "above me;" I transcended myself, that I might reach unto Him: for He is above me who made me; none reaches to Him but he that passes beyond himself.

(Serm. in Mont. i. 2.) They are foolish who seek to see God with the bodily eye, seeing He is seen only by the heart, as it is elsewhere written, In singleness of heart seek ye Him; (Wisd. 1:1.) the single heart is the same as is here called the pure heart.

(Civ. Dei, xxii 29.) But if spiritual eyes in the spiritual body shall be able only to see so much as they we now have can see, undoubtedly God will not be able to be seen of them.

(de Trin. i. 8.) This seeing God is the reward of faith; to which end our hearts are made pure by faith, as it is written, cleansing their hearts by faith; (Acts 15:9.) but the present verse proves this still more strongly.

(de Genesi ad Literam. xii. 26.) No one seeing God can be alive with the life men have on earth, or with these our bodily senses. Unless one die altogether out of this life, either by totally departing from the body, or so alienated from earnal lusts that he may truly say with the Apostle, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, he is not translated that he should see this vision.

Since standing in the best is either through limpid cognition or through tranquil affection, hence it is that there are two final beatitudes, namely purity of heart for seeing God and peace of mind for perfectly enjoying him.

For the perfection of interior sanctity, there is necessarily required purity of conscience and tranquility of the whole soul through the peace of God surpassing all human understanding.

Understanding disposes to cleanness of heart: for the contemplation of truth cleanses our heart from all phantasms.

The sixth virtue is purity of heart, concerning which it says in the Gospel: "Blessed are the pure of heart." The gift of understanding destroys gluttony and introduces purity of heart.

Again, we are afraid that heaven is a bribe, and that if we make it our goal we shall no longer be disinterested. It is not so. Heaven offers nothing that a mercenary soul can desire. It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to. There are rewards that do not sully motives. A man's love for a woman is not mercenary because he wants to marry her, nor his love for poetry mercenary because he wants to read it, nor his love of exercise less disinterested because he wants to run and leap and walk. Love, by definition, seeks to enjoy its object.

And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others—not because He has favourites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favourites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one.

You can put this another way by saying that while in other sciences the instruments you use are things external to yourself (things like microscopes and telescopes), the instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man's self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred—like the Moon seen through a dirty telescope. That is why horrible nations have horrible religions: they have been looking at God through a dirty lens.

The pure of heart are those who have gotten rid of sin's filth, have cleansed themselves of all the pollution of the flesh and have pleased God through works of faith and justice. As David testifies in a psalm, "Who will climb up the Lord's mountain, or who will stand in his holy place? The one with innocent hands and a pure heart, who has not received his soul in vain." And David, rightly knowing that God can be seen only with a pure heart, prays as follows in the psalm, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." So the Lord shows that it is pure-hearted people like this who are blessed. They are those who, living by faith in God with a pure mind and unstained conscience, will win the right to see the God of glory in the heavenly kingdom to come, "no longer in a mirror and in riddles, but face to face," as the apostle has said.

(ap. Anselm.) Justly is mercy dealt out to the merciful, that they should receive more than they had deserved; and as he who has more than enough receives more than he who has only enough, so the glory of mercy is greater than of the things hitherto mentioned.

(ap. Anselm.) Purity of heart comes properly in the sixth place, because on the sixth day man was created in the image of God, which image was shronded by sin, but is formed anew in pure hearts by grace. It follows rightly the beforementioned graces, because if they be not there, a clean heart is not created in a man.

(non occ.) The reward of these is greater than the reward of the first; being not merely to dine in the King's court, but further to see His face.

(Verse 8.) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Those who have no consciousness of sin are not accused. The world is seen by the pure in heart: the temple of God cannot be defiled.

The pure is known by purity of heart, for the temple of God cannot be impure.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Behold again the reward is spiritual. Now He here calls pure, either those who have attained unto all virtue, and are not conscious to themselves of any evil; or those who live in temperance. For there is nothing which we need so much in order to see God, as this last virtue. Wherefore Paul also said, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. He is here speaking of such sight as it is possible for man to have.

For because there are many who show mercy, and who commit no rapine, nor are covetous, who yet are guilty of fornication and uncleanness; to signify that the former alone suffices not, He hath added this, much in the same sense as Paul, writing to the Corinthians, bore witness of the Macedonians, that they were rich not only in almsgiving, but also in all other virtue. For having spoken of the noble spirit they had shown in regard of their goods, he saith, They gave also their own selves to the Lord, and to us.

And if thou wilt see the eyes also, behold them exactly delineated with decency and temperance. Wherefore they become also so beautiful and sharpsighted, as to behold even the Lord Himself. For, "Blessed," saith He, "are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

David sheweth in a psalm that the grace of God aboundeth specially with the pure in heart, saying, "God is good to Israel, even to the pure in heart;" now he uniteth purity of heart with the sight of God, for the name Israel is interpreted "He hath seen God". And whosoever is simple and pure in heart is able to see God, even as our Lord spake in His Gospel, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

He who in thought and deed fulfils all righteousness, sees God in his heart, for righteousness is an image of God, for God is righteousness. So far as any one has rescued himself from evil, and works things that are good, so far does he see God, either hardly, or fully, or sometimes, or always, according to the capabilities of human nature. But in that world to come the pure in heart shall see God face to face, not in a glass, and in enigma as here.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. There are many who are not rapacious and greedy, but are generous in almsgiving, yet they fornicate and commit other uncleanliness. Christ commands, therefore, that along with the other virtues we should also be pure, that is, chaste and temperate, not only in the body, but in the heart as well. Without holiness, namely, chastity, no one will see the Lord. Just as a mirror will reflect images only if it is clean, so also only a pure soul admits the vision of God and the understanding of the Scriptures.

Thus have been presented the acts of virtues by which we are removed from evil and do good. Now are presented the acts by which we are disposed for the best; hence Blessed are the pure in heart. This beatitude consists in two things: in the vision of God and the love of neighbor. Hence, he first presents the beatitude pertaining to the vision of God; secondly, to the love of neighbor (v. 9). Therefore Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

But a literal question arises here. For we hold that God cannot be seen: "No one has ever seen God" (1 Jn 4:12). And lest someone say that, although no one sees him in the present life, he will see him in the future, the apostle dismisses this in 1 Timothy (6:16): "He dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see." In regard to this it should be noted that there are various opinions. For some have posited that God is never seen in his essence, but in some refulgence of his brightness. But a Gloss on Exodus (33:20): "Man shall not see me and live," rejects this for two reasons. First, because it conflicts with a text of Sacred Scripture: "We shall see him as he is" (1 Jn 3:2). Likewise, 1 Corinthians (13:12): "Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face." It also conflicts with reason, because man's happiness is man's ultimate good, in which his desire is set at rest. But it is a natural desire that man, seeing effects, inquires about the cause; hence the wondering of philosophers was the origin of philosophy, because seeing effects, they wondered and searched for the cause. Therefore that desire is not set at rest until it arrives at the first cause, which is God, namely, at the divine essence. Therefore, he will be seen in his essence.

Others fell into a greater error by positing the contrary. They said that not only will we see God's essence with the eye of the mind, but also of the body, and that Christ sees the divine essence with a bodily eye. But this is not suitable, as is clear first of all from the text presented here; for it would not say Blessed are the clean of heart, but "blessed are those with clean and pure eyes." Therefore it gives us to understand that he is not seen except by the heart, i.e., the intellect; for that is the way heart is taken here, as also in Ephesians (1:18): "Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened." Secondly, because a bodily sense is restricted to its own object. But if it is said that it will have greater power then, the answer to be given is that then it would not be bodily vision, which sees only colors, and essences only incidentally, according to Augustine in The City of God (c. 19). For example, when we see a living thing, we can say that we see life, in as much as we see indications by which life is indicated to us. Similarly, in the divine vision, because the refulgence will be so great in the new heaven and new earth and the glorified bodies, we shall be said to see God through them as if with bodily eyes. Therefore blessed are the pure in heart...

The objection that "no one has ever seen God" is answered in three ways: first, because not with a comprehensive vision; secondly, not with bodily eyes; thirdly, not in this life. For if it were granted to anyone to see God in this life, this would be because he was totally alienated and raised above the bodily senses. Therefore it is stated, Blessed are the pure in heart; because, just as an eye seeing a color should be purified, so the mind seeing God: "Seek him in simplicity of heart, because he is found by him who does not put him to the test, and manifests himself to those who have faith in him" (Wis 1:1). For by faith is the heart purified: "He cleansed their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:9). And because vision succeeds faith, it is said, for they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, i.e., who have a general cleanliness from alien thoughts. By such cleanliness their heart is a holy temple of God, in which they see God to be contemplated, for temple seems to be named from contemplation.

But in a particular way blessed are the pure in heart, i.e., who have cleanliness of the flesh; for nothing so impedes contemplation as bodily uncleanness: "Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb 12:14). Therefore some say that the moral virtues contribute to the contemplative life, and especially chastity. According to this, blessed are the pure in heart, can be understood of the vision in this life, for the saints with their heart full of righteousness see more clearly than others see by means of bodily effects. For the nearer the effects, the better God is known through them. Hence, the saints who have justice, charity and effects of that sort, which are most similar to God, know more than others: "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (Ps 34:8).

(ubi sup.) When you have made your inward parts clean from every spot of sin, that dissentions and contentious may not proceed from your temper, begin peace within yourself, that so you may extend it to others.

To the peacemakers the likeness of God is given, as being perfectly wise, and formed after the image of God by means of the regeneration of the renewed man: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

Wisdom corresponds to the peacemakers, in whom all things are now brought into order, and no passion is in a state of rebellion against reason, but all things together obey the spirit of man, while he himself also obeys God: and of them it is here said, Blessed are the peacemakers.

There is in the inner person a kind of daily quarrel; a praiseworthy battle acts to keep what is better from being overcome by what is worse. The struggle is to keep desire from conquering the mind and to keep lust from conquering wisdom. This is the steadfast peace that you ought to develop in yourself, that what is better in you may be in charge of what is worse. The better part in you, moreover, is that part in which God's image is found. This is called the mind, the intellect. There faith burns, there hope is strengthened, there charity is kindled.

Where there is no contention, there is perfect peace. And that is why the children of God are peacemakers, because nothing can finally stand against God. In this way the children possess a likeness to God the Father. And those who calm their passions and subject them to reason, to mind and spirit, and who keep their carnal lusts under control engender peace within themselves. Thereby they themselves become the kingdom of God. In this kingdom all things are so well ordered that everything in humanity that is common to us and to the beasts is spontaneously governed by that which is chief and preeminent in humanity, namely, the reasoning mind. This preeminent human faculty is itself subject to a still higher power, which is Truth itself, the only begotten Son of God.

(Civ. Dei, xix. 13.) Peace is the fixedness of order; by order, I mean an arrangement of things like and unlike giving to each its own place. And as there is no man who would not willingly have joy, so is there no man who would not have peace; since even those who go to war desire nothing more than by war to come to a glorious peace.

(Serm. in Mont. i. 2.) The peacemakers within themselves are they who having stilled all disturbances of their spirits, having subjected them to reason, have overcome their carnal desires, and become the kingdom of God. There all things are so disposed, that that which is most chief and excellent in man, governs those parts which we have in common with the brutes, though they struggle against it; nay even that in man which is excellent is subjected to a yet greater, namely, the very Truth, the Son of God. For it would not be able to govern what is inferior to it, if it were not subject to what is above it. And this is the peace which is given on earth to men of good will.

(Retract. i. 19.) No man can attain in this life that there be not in his members a law resisting the law of his mind. But the peacemakers attain thus far by overcoming the lusts of the flesh, that in time they come to a most perfect peace.

Or, because peace is then perfect when there is no where any opposition, the peacemakers are called the sons of God, because nothing resists God, and the children ought to bear the likeness of their Father.

Since standing in the best is either through limpid cognition or through tranquil affection, hence it is that there are two final beatitudes, namely purity of heart for seeing God and peace of mind for perfectly enjoying him.

For the perfection of interior sanctity, there is necessarily required purity of conscience and tranquility of the whole soul through the peace of God surpassing all human understanding.

Wisdom disposes to peace: for wisdom joins us to the highest truth and good, in which is the end and tranquility of our whole rational appetite.

When this peace has been attained, there necessarily follows a superabundant spiritual delight, which is contained in the twelvefold number of the fruits to intimate the superabundance of delights. For twelve is an abundant number, in which is intimated the exuberance of spiritual charisms, in which the holy soul takes delight and rejoices; and then the person is fit for contemplation and for the gazes and embraces of the Bridegroom and the Bride.

The seventh virtue is peace, concerning which it says in the Gospel: "Blessed are the peacemakers." The gift of wisdom destroys lust and introduces peace. It is impossible for the soul to tame its flesh unless it is filled with the gift of wisdom.

Not all kinds of peace are compatible with all kinds of goodwill, nor do all those who say 'Peace, peace' inherit the blessing promised to the peacemakers. The real pacificus is he who promotes peace, not he who gasses about it. Peace, peace ... we won't be hard on you ... it was only a boyish prank . . . you had a neurosis . . . promise not to do it again . . . out of this in the long run I do not think either goodwill or peace will come. Planting new primroses on the primrose path is no long-term benevolence.

The peacemakers are those who, standing apart from the stumbling block of disagreement and discord, guard the affection of fraternal love and the peace of the church under the unity of the universal faith. And the Lord in the Gospel particularly urges his disciples to guard this peace, saying, "I give you my peace; I leave you my peace." David earlier testified that the Lord would give this peace to his church, saying, "I will listen to what the Lord speaks in me, for he will pronounce his peace to his people and upon his holy ones and to those who turn to him."

"Blessed," says He, "are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the sons of God." [Matthew 5:9] It behooves the sons of God to be peacemakers, gentle in heart, simple in speech, agreeing in affection, faithfully linked to one another in the bonds of unanimity.

This unanimity formerly prevailed among the apostles; and thus the new assembly of believers, keeping the Lord's commandments, maintained its charity. Divine Scripture proves this, when it says, "But the multitude of them which believed were of one heart and of one soul." [Acts 4:32] And again: "These all continued with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren." [Acts 1:14] And thus they prayed with effectual prayers; thus they were able with confidence to obtain whatever they asked from the Lord's mercy.

The peacemaker is the one who demonstrates the harmony of the Scriptures, where others see only a contradiction: the Old with the New, the law with the prophets, Gospel with Gospel. Accordingly, having imitated the Son of God, "he shall be called a son," having by his work grasped of the "spirit of adoption."

(non occ.) The reward of these is greater than the reward of the first; being not merely to dine in the King's court, but further to see His face.

(ap. Anselm.) The peacemakers have thus the place of highest honour, inasmuch as he who is called the king's son, is the highest in the king's house. This beatitude is placed the seventh in order, because in the sabbath shall be given the repose of true peace, the six ages being passed away.

The blessedness of the peacemakers is the reward of adoption, they shall be called the sons of God. For God is our common parent, and no other way can we pass into His family than by living in brotherly love together.

(Verse 9.) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Those who first make peace in their own hearts, and then among quarreling brothers. For what good is it to reconcile others through you, when there are wars of vices in your own soul?

The peacemakers (pacifici) are pronounced blessed, they namely who make peace first within their own hearts, then between brethren at variance. For what avails it to make peace between others, while in your own heart are wars of rebellious vices.

Blessed are the peace-makers. Here He not only takes away altogether our own strife and hatred amongst ourselves, but He requires besides this something more, namely, that we should set at one again others, who are at strife.

And again, the reward which He annexes is spiritual. Of what kind then is it? For they shall be called the children of God. Yea, for this became the work of the Only Begotten, to unite the divided, and to reconcile the alienated.

Then, lest thou shouldest imagine peace in all cases a blessing, He hath added, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. That is, for virtue's sake, for succor given to others, and for godliness: it being ever His wont to call by the name of righteousness the whole practical wisdom of the soul.

The peacemakers with others are not only those who reconcile enemies, but those who unmindful of wrongs cultivate peace. That peace only is blessed which is lodged in the heart, and does not consist only in words. And they who love peace, they are the sons of peace.

For which reason the "peace-making" apostle, for fear he should seem to claim all gifts for himself, says that he had been sent "not to baptize, but to preach.

"Blessed are the gentle: " under this term, surely, the impatient cannot possibly be classed. Again, when He marks "the peacemakers" with the same title of felicity, and names them "sons of God," pray have the impatient any affinity with "peace? "Even a fool may perceive that.

"But," say they, "God is `good, 'and `most good, ' and `pitiful-hearted, 'and `a pitier, 'and `abundant in pitiful-heartedness, ' which He holds `dearer than all sacrifice, ' `not thinking the sinner's death of so much worth as his repentance', `a Saviour of all men, most of all of believers.' And so it will be becoming for `the sons of God' too to be `pitiful-hearted' and `peacemakers; ' `giving in their turn just as Christ withal hath given to us; ' `not judging, that we be not judged.' For `to his own lord a man standeth or falleth; who art thou, to judge another's servant? ' `Remit, and remission shall be made to thee.'"

What doest thou, gentlest and humanest Discipline? Either to all these will it be thy duty so to be, for "blessed are the peacemakers; " or else, if not to all, it will be thy duty to range thyself on our side.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. "The peacemakers" are not only those who are themselves peaceable with all, but also those who reconcile others who are at odds. "The peacemakers" are also those who by their teaching convert the enemies of God. Just as the Only-begotten Son reconciled us to God when we were His enemies, so too are the "peacemakers" "sons of God."

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. This is the seventh beatitude and, as has been said, virtues disposing toward the best dispose toward two things, namely, to the vision of God and to love. And just as purity in heart disposes toward the vision of God, so peace disposes toward the love of God, by which we are called and are sons of God. Thus it disposes to the love of neighbor, because it says in 1 John (4:20): "He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen." And it should be noted that two rewards of beatitude are presented here, namely, blessed are the peacemakers and blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice' sake. And all the previous ones are reduced to those two and are their effect. For what is attained by poverty of spirit, by mourning, by meekness, but that a clean heart be had? What by justice and mercy, but that we have peace? "The fruit of justice will be peace, and the result of justice quietness and trust forever" (Is 32:17). Therefore blessed are the peacemakers.

Let us now see what peace is and how we can attain it. Peace is the tranquility of order. Order is an arrangement of equal and unequal things, which assigns its own place to each. Therefore, peace lies in all things keeping their own places. Hence, man's mind should first be subjected to God. Secondly, the lower movements and powers, which are common to us and the beasts, should be subjected to reason; for it is through reason that man excels animals: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth" (Gen 1:26). Thirdly, that man be at peace with others, because in that way he will be completely set in proper order. But this arrangement in proper order is found only in holy men: "Great peace have they who love your name" (Ps 119:165); "There is no peace for the wicked" (Is 48:22), for they cannot have inner peace: "They live in great strife due to ignorance, and they call such great evils peace" (Wis 14:22).

True peace the world cannot give: "Not as the world gives, do I give to you" (Jn 14:27). However, all this is not enough, but they should make peace between those in conflict: "Those who enter into the counsels of peace and joy" (Pr 12:20). Yet it should be noted that peace begins here, but it is not perfect, because no one can have his animal inclinations completely subject: "I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members" (Rom 7:23). Hence it will be true in eternal life: "In peace I will both lie down and sleep" (Ps 4:8); "The peace of God surpasses all understanding" (Phil 4:7).

Because they shall be called sons of God for three reasons: first, because they have the office of the Son of God. For the Son is said to have come into the world to assemble those who are scattered: "For he is our peace" (Eph 2:14); "Reconciling to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven" (Col 1:20). Secondly, because through peace with charity one reaches the eternal kingdom: "Why has he been numbered among the sons of God? And why is his lot among the saints?" (Wis 5:5); "Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph 4:3). Thirdly, because by it man becomes like unto God; for where peace is, there is no resistance, and no one can resist God: "Who resisted him and had peace?" (Jb 9:4).

It should be noted that those beatitudes add something to one another. For it is a greater thing to obtain mercy than to be filled, because being full depends on one's capacity; but mercy is superabundant. Furthermore, not all who receive mercy are admitted by the king to see the king. Finally, it is a greater thing to be the king's son than to see the king. Yet it should be noted that by all these one only reward is designated.

But why did the Lord wish to signify that one reward by many? The answer is that all things which are separate among lower beings are assembled into one in the higher. And because in matters human they are found scattered, and we are led to God through sense-perceptible things, the Lord signified that one eternal reward by many rewards.

This seventh beatitude is adapted to the gift of wisdom, for wisdom makes men be children of God. It should also be noted that in the seventh beatitude is placed peace, and on the seventh day rest (Gen 2:2).

(in Luc. vi. 23.) Otherwise; the first kingdom of heaven was promised to the Saints, in deliverance from the body; the second, that after the resurrection they should be with Christ. For after your resurrection you shall begin to possess the earth delivered from death, and in that possession shall find comfort. Pleasure follows comfort, and Divine mercy pleasure. But on whom God has mercy, him He calls, and he whom He calls, beholds Him that called him. He who beholds God is adopted into the rights of divine birth, and then at length as the son of God is delighted with the riches of the heavenly kingdom. The first then begins, the last is perfected.

And those promises can indeed be fulfilled in this life, as we believe them to have been fulfilled in the case of the apostles. For that all-embracing change into the angelic form, which is promised after this life, cannot be explained in any words. Blessed, therefore, are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This eighth sentence, which goes back to the starting-point, and makes manifest the perfect man, is perhaps set forth in its meaning both by the circumcision on the eighth day in the Old Testament, and by the resurrection of the Lord after the Sabbath, the day which is certainly the eighth, and at the same time the first day; and by the celebration of the eight festival days which we celebrate in the case of the regeneration of the new man; and by the very number of Pentecost. For to the number seven, seven times multiplied, by which we make forty-nine, as it were an eighth is added, so that fifty may be made up, and we, as it were, return to the starting-point: on which day the Holy Spirit was sent, by whom we are led into the kingdom of heaven, and receive the inheritance, and are comforted; and are fed, and obtain mercy, and are purified, and are made peacemakers; and being thus perfect, we bear all troubles brought upon us from without for the sake of truth and righteousness.

"For the sake of justice." This addition clearly distinguishes the martyr from the robber. For the robber too in return for evil deeds suffers at the law's hand and doesn't ask for a prize or garland but instead pays the due penalty. It is not the penalty as such but the basis for the penalty that makes the martyr. Let us first choose the right reason, and then let us endure the penalty without anxiety.There were three crosses in a single place when Christ suffered: he himself was in the middle, and at his two sides were two robbers. Look at the penalty: it is similar for all three. Yet one of the robbers found paradise on the cross. The man in the middle, judging, condemns the proud man and receives the humble man. That piece of wood served as a judgment seat for Christ. He who judges, who is able to make the judgment correctly, says to the robber who confessed: "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." For the robber was humbling himself. Note what he had so simply said, "Remember me, Lord, when you come to your kingdom." The implication: I know my evil deeds. May I continually be crucified until you come. And because everybody who lowers himself shall be lifted up, Christ immediately expressed his thought and showed his mercy.

(Serm. in Mont. i. 2.) When peace is once firmly established within, whatever persecutions he who has been cast without raises, or carries on, he increases that glory which is in the sight of God.

(ubi sup.) Or, the eighth beatitude, as it were, returns to the commencement, because it shows the perfect complete character. In the first then and the eighth, the kingdom of heaven is named, for the seven go to make the perfect man, the eighth manifests and proves his perfectness, that all may be conducted to perfection by these steps.

(ubi sup.) The number of these sentences should be carefully attended to; to these seven degrees of blessedness agree the operation of that seven-form Holy Spirit which Isaiah described. But as He began from the highest, so here He begins from the lowest; for there we are taught that the Son of God will descend to the lowest; here that man will ascend from the lowest to the likeness of God. Here the first place is given to fear, which is suitable for the humble, of whom it is said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, that is, those who think not high things, but who fear. The second is piety, which belongs to the meek; for he who seeks piously, reverences, does not find fault, does not resist; and this is to become meek. The third is knowledge, which belongs to those that mourn, who have learned to what evils they are enslaved which they once pursued as goods. The fourth, which is fortitude, rightly belongs to those who hunger and thirst, who seeking joy in true goods, labour to turn away from earthly lusts. The fifth, counsel, is appropriate for the merciful, for there is one remedy to deliver from so great evils, viz. to give and to distribute to others. The sixth is understanding, and belongs to the pure in heart, who with purged eye can see what eye seeth not. The seventh is wisdom, and may be assigned to the peacemakers, in whom is no rebellious motion, but they obey the Spirit. Thus the one reward, the kingdom of heaven, is put forth under various names. In the first, as was right, is placed the kingdom of heaven, which is the beginning of perfect wisdom; as if it should be said, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. To the meek, an inheritance, as to those who with piety seek the execution of a father's will. To those that mourn, comfort, as to persons who know what they had lost, and in what they were immersed. To the hungry, plenty, as a refreshment to those who labour for salvation. To the merciful, mercy, that to those who have followed the best counsel, that may be showed which they have showed to others. To the pure in heart the faculty of seeing God, as to men bearing a pure eye to understand the things of eternity. To the peacemakers, the likeness of God. And all these things we believe may be attained in this life, as we believe they were fulfilled in the Apostles; for as to the things after this life they cannot be expressed in any words.

In the same manner, there are four acts of justice: to do good, to flee evil, to beware of prosperity, and to withstand misfortune. The fourth is referred to in Proverbs: "The just man, like a lion, feels sure of himself." There is also this: "Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice' sake." And again: "Strive for justice for thy soul, and even unto death fight for justice."

Not without reason did the Lord previously mention hungering and thirsting for justice. He instructs us so to thirst in our desire for justice that for its sake we should despise the world's persecutions, the punishments of the body and death itself. The martyrs above all are the epitome of those who for the righteousness of faith and the name of Christ endure persecution in this world. To them a great hope is promised, namely, the possession of the kingdom of heaven. The apostles were chief examples of this blessedness, and with them all the just people who for the sake of righteousness were afflicted with various persecutions. Due to their faith they have come into the heavenly realms.

(ap. Anselm.) The peacemakers have thus the place of highest honour, inasmuch as he who is called the king's son, is the highest in the king's house. This beatitude is placed the seventh in order, because in the sabbath shall be given the repose of true peace, the six ages being passed away.

Thus, lastly, He includes those in the beatitude whose will is ready to suffer all things for Christ, who is our righteousness. For these then also is the kingdom preserved, for they are in the contempt of this world poor in spirit.

(Verse 10.) Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Notice that it explicitly adds (or, says), for righteousness' sake. For many endure persecution for their own sins and are not righteous. Also, consider that the blessedness of true circumcision is ultimately achieved through martyrdom.

For righteousness' sake He adds expressly, for many suffer persecution for their sins, and are not therefore righteous. Likewise consider how the eighth beatitude of the true circumcision is terminated by martyrdom.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. That is, for virtue's sake, for succor given to others, and for godliness: it being ever His wont to call by the name of righteousness the whole practical wisdom of the soul.

Then see the prize again: Because your reward is great in heaven. But thou, though thou hear not of a kingdom given in each one of the blessings, be not discouraged. For although He give different names to the rewards, yet He brings all into His kingdom. Thus, both when He saith, they that mourn shall be comforted; and, they that show mercy shall obtain mercy; and, the pure in heart shall see God; and, the peacemakers shall be called the children of God; nothing else but the Kingdom doth He shadow out by all these sayings. For such as enjoy these, shall surely attain unto that. Think not therefore that this reward is for the poor in spirit only, but for those also who hunger after righteousness, for the meek, and for all the rest without exception.

Since on this account He hath set His blessing on them all, that thou mightest not look for anything sensible: for that man cannot be blessed, who is crowned with such things as come to an end with this present life, and hurry by quicker than a shadow.

(vid. Phil. 3:2:3.) He said not, Blessed are they who suffer persecution of the Gentiles; that we may not suppose the blessing pronounced on those only who are persecuted for refusing to sacrifice to idols; yea, whoever suffers persecution of heretics because he will not forsake the truth is likewise blessed, seeing he suffers for righteousness. Moreover, if any of the great ones, who seem to be Christians, being corrected by you on account of his sins, shall persecute you, you are blessed with John the Baptist. For if the Prophets are truly martyrs when they are killed by their own countrymen, without doubt he who suffers in the cause of God has the reward of martyrdom though he suffers from his own people. Scripture therefore does not mention the persons of the persecutors, but only the cause of persecution, that you may learn to look, not by whom, but why you suffer.

He remembered the award (which the Lord assigns) in the Gospel: "Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Yet, when he thus contrasted the recompense of the reward, he did not deny the flesh's restoration; since the recompense is due to the same substance to which the dissolution is attributed,-that is, of course, the flesh.

It remains for us, lest ancient times may perhaps have had the sacrament (exclusively) their own, to review the modern Christian system, as though, being also from God, it might be different from what preceded, and besides, therefore, opposed thereto in its code of rules likewise, so that its Wisdom knows not to murder her own sons! Evidently, in the case of Christ both the divine nature and the will and the sect are different from any previously known! He will have commanded either no martyrdoms at all, or those which must be understood in a sense different from the ordinary, being such a person as to urge no one to a risk of this kind as to promise no reward to them who suffer for Him, because He does not wish them to suffer; and therefore does He say, when setting forth His chief commands, "Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The following statement, indeed, applies first to all without restriction, then specially to the apostles themselves: "Blessed shall ye be when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you, for my sake.

Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It is not only the martyrs who are persecuted; many others are persecuted as well, for helping those who have been wronged, and simply for every virtue which they possess. For "righteousness" means every virtue. Thieves and murderers are also persecuted, but they are not blessed.

Then the eighth beatitude is presented. This one designates the perfection of all the preceding ones, for a man is perfect in all things when he abandons none on account of tribulations: "The kiln tests the potter's vessels, and the trial of tribulation just men" (Sir 27:5). Blessed, therefore, are those who are persecuted for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. But perhaps someone hearing, blessed are the peacemakers, will say that these are not happy on account of persecutions, because persecution disturbs the peace or totally destroys it; but certainly not inner but outer: "Great peace have those who love your law" (Ps 119:165).

Not the persecution itself, but its cause, makes one blessed; hence he says, for justice' sake: "If you suffer for justice's sake, you will be blessed" (1 Pt 3:14); "He does not say from the pagans and for the faith, but for justice' sake," because suffering from anyone and for any cause is not martyrdom, but suffering for justice' sake is (Chrysostom). Sirach 4:33: Struggle for justice. The prophets were not killed because they did not deny the faith, but because they proclaimed the truth. John the Baptist was killed because he proclaimed the truth, and he was a martyr.

Note that this beatitude is put in the eighth place, just as circumcision is done on the eighth day, which is a kind of general circumcision of the martyrs is foretold. For theirs is the kingdom. This seems to come from what is placed in the first beatitude; thus the saints give different interpretations of it.

Some say that this beatitude is equivalent to Blessed are the poor, for theirs..., and that to designate the perfection of patience (cf. James 1:4). But perfection is always designated by what goes back to its beginning, as happens in a circle. Again, he who suffers persecution for the sake of justice is poor, and everything else is owed to him, because he is meek and merciful etc. Therefore he has claim not only on the first reward, but all the others as well. Others say that it is not the same. Thus Ambrose says that the kingdom of heaven has to do with the glory of soul and heart. For the kingdom of heaven corresponds to the soul, but the happiness that consists in the glorification of the body corresponds to martyrdom, because of the tortures it undergoes. Or otherwise: The kingdom of heaven is promised to the poor in hope, because they do not fly away immediately, but it is promised to martyrs as a possession, because they fly away immediately.

Let any one who is seeking after the delights of this world and the riches of temporal things under the Christian name, consider that our blessedness is within; as it is said of the soul of the Church by the mouth of the prophet, All the beauty of the king's daughter is within; for outwardly revilings, and persecutions, and disparagements are promised; and yet, from these things there is a great reward in heaven, which is felt in the heart of those who endure, those who can now say, We glory in tribulations: knowing that tribulation works patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For it is not simply the enduring of such things that is advantageous, but the bearing of such things for the name of Christ not only with tranquil mind, but even with exultation. For many heretics, deceiving souls under the Christian name, endure many such things; but they are excluded from that reward on this account, that it is not said merely, Blessed are they which endure persecution; but it is added, for righteousness' sake. Now, where there is no sound faith, there can be no righteousness, for the just [righteous] man lives by faith. Neither let schismatics promise themselves anything of that reward; for similarly, where there is no love, there cannot be righteousness, for love works no ill to his neighbour; and if they had it, they would not tear in pieces Christ's body, which is the Church.

But it may be asked, What is the difference when He says, when men shall revile you, and when they shall say all manner of evil against you, since to revile is just this, to say evil against? But it is one thing when the reviling word is hurled with contumely in presence of him who is reviled, as it was said to our Lord, Say we not the truth that you are a Samaritan, and hast a devil? and another thing, when our reputation is injured in our absence, as it is also written of Him, Some said, He is a prophet; others said, Nay, but He deceives the people. Then, further, to persecute is to inflict violence, or to assail with snares, as was done by him who betrayed Him, and by them who crucified Him. Certainly, as for the fact that this also is not put in a bare form, so that it should be said, and shall say all manner of evil against you, but there is added the word falsely, and also the expression for my sake; I think that the addition is made for the sake of those who wish to glory in persecutions, and in the baseness of their reputation; and to say that Christ belongs to them for this reason, that many bad things are said about them; while, on the one hand, the things said are true, when they are said respecting their error; and, on the other hand, if sometimes also some false charges are thrown out, which frequently happens from the rashness of men, yet they do not suffer such things for Christ's sake. For he is not a follower of Christ who is not called a Christian according to the true faith and the catholic discipline.

There are in all, then, these eight sentences. For now in what remains He speaks in the way of direct address to those who were present, saying: Blessed shall you be when men shall revile you and persecute you. But the former sentences He addressed in a general way: for He did not say, Blessed are you poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of heaven; but He says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven: nor, Blessed are you meek, for you shall inherit the earth; but, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And so the others up to the eighth sentence, where He says: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. After that He now begins to speak in the way of direct address to those present, although what has been said before referred also to His present audience; and that which follows, and which seems to be spoken specially to those present, refers also to those who were absent, or who would afterwards come into existence.

(ubi sup.) It may be asked, what difference there is between 'they shall revile you,' and 'shall speak all manner of evil of you;' to revile, it may be said, being but to speak evil of. But a reproach thrown with insult in the face of one present is a different thing from a slander cast on the character of the absent. To persecute includes both open violence and secret snares.

(Serm. in Mont i. 5.) This I suppose was added because of those who wish to boast of persecutions and evil reports of their shame, and therefore claim to belong to Christ because many evil things are said of them; but either these are true, or when false yet they are not for Christ's sake.

Issachar is understood to mean "sturdy ass," and actually an ass bears a cross on its shoulders. It must always be ready to bear this cross. But the [true] interpretation is not "sturdy ass," but "reward," and it represents a man armed with love of the reward. Hence, in Matthew: "Blessed are you when men reproach you, and persecute you, and, speaking falsely, say all manner of evil against you, for My sake. Rejoice and exult, because your reward is great in heaven." And he said that once he was speaking with Brother Aegidius, who told him that we are not wise compared to Francis, the wise merchant: but we waste our substance, for we should pay a denarius to a man for him to strike us. And we do not even have the wisdom of the ass that bears its burden, and the more blows and insults it receives, the better it carries its load. And so, the obedient man should not let go any [potential] good. On the contrary, he should do better on account of any kind of tribulation, otherwise he is not a contemplative.

The monks praised a brother to Antony. Antony went to him and tested him to see if he could endure being insulted. When he saw that he could not bear it, he said to him, 'You are like a house with a highly decorated outside, but burglars have stolen all the furniture by the back door.'

(ap. Anselm.) Rejoice, that is, in mind, exult with the body, for your reward is not great only but abundant in heaven.

(non occ.) He invites them to patience not only by the prospect of reward, but by example, when He adds, for so persecuted they the Prophets who were before you.

(Hom. in Ezech. i. 9. 17.) What hurt can you receive when men detract from you, though you have no defence but only your own conscience? But as we ought not to stir up wilfully the tongues of slanderers, lest they perish for their slander, yet when their own malice has instigated them, we should endure it with equanimity, that our merit may be added to. Rejoice, He says, and exult, for your reward is abundant in heaven.

(Hom. in Ezech. i. 9. 17.) Yet ought we sometimes to check our defamers, lest by spreading evil reports of us, they corrupt the innocent hearts of those who might hear good from us.

(Verse 11.) Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. That curse should be despised which brings about blessedness, which is uttered falsely by the mouth of the reviler. Hence, it specially defined what blessed cursing is: every curse uttered against you falsely on my account. Therefore, where Christ is the cause, there also the desired cursing is.

This it is in the power of any one of us to attain, that when our good character is injured by calumny, we rejoice in the Lord. He only who seeks after empty glory cannot attain this. Let us then rejoice and exult, that our reward may be prepared for us in heaven.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad. As if He said, Though they should call you sorcerers, deceivers, pestilent persons, or whatever else, blessed are ye: so He speaks. What could be newer than these injunctions? wherein the very things which all others avoid, these He declares to be desirable; I mean, being poor, mourning, persecution, evil report. But yet He both affirmed this, and convinced not two, nor ten, nor twenty, nor an hundred, nor a thousand men, but the whole world. And hearing things so grievous and galling, so contrary to the accustomed ways of men, the multitudes were astonished. So great was the power of Him who spake.

However, lest thou shouldest think that the mere fact of being evil spoken of makes men blessed, He hath set two limitations; when it is for His sake, and when the things that are said are false: for without these, he who is evil spoken of, so far from being blessed, is miserable.

But when He had said, your reward is great, he added also another consolation, saying, For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Thus, since that first, the promise of the Kingdom, was yet to come, and all in expectation, He affords them comfort from this world; from their fellowship with those who before them had been ill-treated.

For think not, saith He, that for something inconsistent in your sayings and enactments ye suffer these things: or, as being teachers of evil doctrines, ye are to be persecuted by them; the plots and dangers proceed not of any wickedness in your sayings, but of the malice of those who hear you. Wherefore neither are they any blame to you who suffer wrong, but to them who do the wrong. And to the truth of these things all preceding time bears witness. For against the prophets they did not even bring any charge of transgressing the law, and of sentiments of impiety, that they stoned some, chased away others, encompassed others with innumerable afflictions. Wherefore let not this trouble you, for of the very same mind they do all that is done now. Seest thou how He raised up their spirits, by placing them near to the company of Moses and Elias?

Thus also Paul writing to the Thessalonians, saith, For ye became followers of the Churches of God, which are in Judea; for ye also have suffered the same things of your own fellow-countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have driven us out; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men. Which same point here also Christ hath established.

And whereas in the other beatitudes, He said, Blessed are the poor, and the merciful; here He hath not put it generally, but addresses His speech unto themselves, saying, Blessed are ye, when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and say every evil word: signifying that this is an especial privilege of theirs; and that beyond all others, teachers have this for their own.

At the same time He here also covertly signifies His own dignity, and His equality in honor with Him who begat Him. For as they on the Father's account, saith He, so shall ye also for me suffer these things. But when He saith, the prophets which were before you, He implies that they were also by this time become prophets.

Now in this place He saith, Your reward is great in heaven. But Luke reports Him to have spoken this, both earnestly, and with more entire consolation; for He not only, as you know, pronounces them blessed, who are evil spoken of for God's sake, but declares them likewise wretched, who are well spoken of by all men. For, Woe unto you, saith He, when all men shall speak well of you. And yet the apostles were well spoken of, but not by all men. Wherefore He said not, Woe unto you, when men shall speak well of you, but, when all men shall do so: for it is not even possible that those who live in the practice of virtue should be well spoken of by all men.

And again He saith, When they shall cast out your name as evil, rejoice ye, and leap for joy. For not only of the dangers they underwent, but of the calumny also, He appoints the recompence to be great. Wherefore He said not, When they shall persecute, and kill you, but, When they shall revile you, and say all manner of evil. For most assuredly, men's evil reports have a sharper bite than their very deeds. For whereas, in our dangers, there are many things that lighten the toil, as to be cheered by all, to have many to applaud, to crown, to proclaim our praise; here in our reproach even this consolation is destroyed. Because we seem not to have achieved anything great; and this galls the combatant more than all his dangers: at least many have gone on even to hang themselves, not bearing evil report.

But if it be true that he who offers a cup of water does not lose his reward, consequently he who has been wronged but by a single word of calumny, shall not be without a reward. But that the reviled may have a claim to this blessing, two things are necessary, it must be false, and it must be for God's sake; otherwise he has not the reward of this blessing; therefore He adds, falsely for my sake.

For by how much any is pleased with the praise of men, by so much is he grieved with their evil speaking. But if you seek your glory in heaven, you will not fear any slanders on earth.

The preceding blessings were general; He now begins to address His discourse to them that were present, foretelling them the persecutions which they should suffer for His name.

For a man in sorrow receives great comfort from the recollection of the sufferings of others, who are set before him as an example of patience; as if He had said, Remember that ye are His Apostles, of whom also they were Prophets.

If the tongue's bitterness break out in malediction or reproach, look back at the saying, "When they curse you, rejoice." The Lord Himself was "cursed" in the eye of the law; and yet is He the only Blessed One.

When, however, He says, "Rejoice and exult, as often as they shall curse and persecute you; for very great is your reward in heaven," of course it is not to the impatience of exultation that He makes that promise; because no one will "exult" in adversities unless he have first learnt to contemn them; no one will contemn them unless he have learnt to practise patience.

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.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you and persecute you. He addresses the apostles directly, showing that it is especially the mark of a teacher to be reviled. And shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. It is not simply he that is reviled who is blessed, but when he is reviled for Christ's sake, and falsely. If these two conditions are lacking, he is a wretch, as he has been a cause of temptation to many.

(Serm. in Mont. i. 5.) Do not suppose that by heaven here is meant the upper regions of the sky of this visible world, for your reward is not to be placed in things that are seen, but by in heaven understand the spiritual firmament, where everlasting righteousness dwells. Those then whose joy is in things spiritual will even here have some foretaste of that reward; but it will be made perfect in every part when this mortal shall have put on immortality.

(ubi sup.) Persecuted He says generally, comprehending both reproaches and defamation of character.

Issachar is understood to mean "sturdy ass," and actually an ass bears a cross on its shoulders. It must always be ready to bear this cross. But the [true] interpretation is not "sturdy ass," but "reward," and it represents a man armed with love of the reward. Hence, in Matthew: "Blessed are you when men reproach you, and persecute you, and, speaking falsely, say all manner of evil against you, for My sake. Rejoice and exult, because your reward is great in heaven." And he said that once he was speaking with Brother Aegidius, who told him that we are not wise compared to Francis, the wise merchant: but we waste our substance, for we should pay a denarius to a man for him to strike us. And we do not even have the wisdom of the ass that bears its burden, and the more blows and insults it receives, the better it carries its load. And so, the obedient man should not let go any [potential] good. On the contrary, he should do better on account of any kind of tribulation, otherwise he is not a contemplative.

Not only should we patiently endure all the horrible treacheries of the persecutors that can be contrived in a time of persecution for Christ's name against the just, or the various reproaches that can be heaped upon us, or the punishments that can be applied to the body, but we should even welcome them with exultation because of the coming glory. For he says, "Rejoice in that day and exult; I tell you this, because your reward is great in heaven." How glorious is the endurance of this persecution, the reward for which the Lord says is in heaven! And so, taking into account the reward of the proposed glory, we should be ready with devout faith for every endurance of suffering, so that we may be ready to be made partners in the prophets' glory.

(Verse 12.) Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. I do not know who can fulfill this for us, so that our reputation may be torn apart by insults, and we may rejoice in the Lord. Whoever pursues vain glory cannot fulfill it. Therefore, we must rejoice and be glad, so that a reward may be prepared for us in heavenly places. We read elegantly written in a certain volume: 'Do not seek glory, and you will not grieve when you are without it.'

Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. Of the others whom He has said are blessed, He does not speak of a great reward. But here He does, to show that to patiently endure reviling is a great and most difficult thing; so difficult that there have been many who have even hanged themselves to escape this trial. Even Job, who patiently endured his other trials, was troubled when his friends reviled him by saying that he was suffering for his sins. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. So that the apostles would not think that they would be persecuted for teaching something contrary to God, He exhorts them by saying, "Even the prophets before you were persecuted for the sake of virtue, and so you have the example of their sufferings to give you courage."