Luke § 26

There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways. The way of life, then, is this: First, thou shalt love God who made thee; second, thy neighbour as thyself; and all things whatsoever thou wouldst should not occur to thee, thou also to another do not do. And of these sayings the teaching is this: Bless them that curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for them that persecute you. For what thank is there, if ye love them that love you? Do not also the Gentiles do the same? But do ye love them that hate you; and ye shall not have an enemy. Abstain thou from fleshly and worldly lusts. If one give thee a blow upon thy right cheek, turn to him the other also; and thou shalt be perfect. If one impress thee for one mile, go with him two. If one take away thy cloak, give him also thy coat. If one take from thee thine own, ask it not back for indeed thou art not able. Give to every one that asketh thee, and ask it not back; for the Father willeth that to all should be given of our own blessings (free gifts).

And as you would that men should do to you, do also to them likewise. Because charity is patient, kind, it not only bravely endures the injuries of an enemy but also most graciously anticipates the kindness of a friend. For reciprocating the love of a lover, nature taught all. But to compel someone who does not love to love through benefits, only the perfect doctrine of Christ has taught. When He commanded us first to do to others as we would have done to us, He immediately confirmed the same notion more broadly, saying:

For the perfection of benevolence it is also required that a person do good in all things: whence it is added: And as you wish that people would do to you, do also to them likewise. And note that he does not say: as they do, but: as you wish, because everyone wishes, when he is in need, to have good done to him and to be relieved in every necessity: Proverbs twenty-four: "Do not say: As he has done to me, so will I do to him, and I will render to each one according to his work." In this commandment is the fulfillment of the natural law, whose one negative part is set forth in Tobit four and is implied here: "What you would hate to have done to you by another, see that you never do to another." He wills therefore that we always do good, when we can, to everyone, just as we are ready to wish to receive, according to that passage in Galatians, the last chapter: "Let us not grow weary in doing good," etc. And note that he does not say: do as people wish, but: as you wish; both because our own will is better known to us; and also because consideration of ourselves moves us more; and also because he speaks to those who have a rightly ordered will, and according to that will one must act. In summary, it must be held concerning the precept of beneficence in general that it binds only insofar as it is made explicit through the specific obligations of precepts; and therefore above the law of nature the written law was added, so that through it a person might know to what he was bound by justice.

Here is then a comprehensive precept, and an exhortation of life, all-embracing: "As ye would that men should do unto you, do ye likewise to, them." We may comprehend the commandments in two, as the Lord says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbour as thyself." Then from these He infers, "on this hang the law and the prophets."

Some of the hermits used to say, 'Whatever you hate for yourself, do not do it to someone else. If you hate being spoken evil of, do not speak evil of another. If you hate being slandered, do not slander another. If you hate him who tries to make you despised, or wrongs you, or takes away what is yours, or anything like that, do not do such things to others. To keep this is enough for salvation.'

(Hom. 13. ad Pop. Ant.) Now we have a natural law implanted in us, by which we distinguish between what is virtue, and what is vice. Hence it follows, And as ye would that men should do unto you, do ye also to them. He does not say, Whatever ye would not that men should do unto you, do not ye. For since there are two ways which lead to virtue, namely, abstaining from evil, and doing good, he names one, signifying by it the other also. And if indeed He had said, That ye may be men, love the beasts, the command would be a difficult one. But if they are commanded to love men, which is a natural admonition, wherein lies the difficulty, since even the wolves and lions observe it, whom a natural relation compels to love one another. It is manifest then that Christ has ordained nothing surpassing our nature, but what He had long before implanted in our conscience, so that thy own will is the law to thee. And if thou wilt have good done unto thee, thou must do good to others; if thou wilt that another should show mercy to thee, thou must show mercy to thy neighbour.

So that, whatever was the ampler scope of His teaching, He received it all in His heritage of the nations. "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." In this command is no doubt implied its counterpart: "And as ye would not that men should do to you, so should ye also not do to them likewise.

Rather is the nature preserved, though the life blushes; nor does Christ know other men than those with reference to whom He says, "Whom do men say that I am? " And, "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye likewise so to, them." Consider whether He may not have I preserved a race such that He is looking for a testimony to Himself from them, as well as l consisting of those on whom He enjoins the interchange of righteous dealing.

"Love your enemies; for what thanks is it if ye love those that love you? for even the Gentiles do the same." "But do ye love those that hate you, and ye shall have no enemy." For says He, "Thou shalt not hate any man; no, not an Egyptian, nor an Edomite;" for they are all the workmanship of God. Avoid not the persons, but the sentiments, of the wicked.

And if you love those who love you, what grace is it to you? For even sinners love those who love them, etc. If even sinners, publicans, and pagans know how to be kind to their lovers, led by nature, how much more must you (he says) who, as your profession is nobler, so is the necessity that your virtue be more abundant, embrace with broader affection even those who do not love? Whence it seems worthy of inquiry how, when the Lord testifies that those who love only those who love them, do good only to those who do good to them, lend only to friends, not only do not have perfect charity but are equated with sinners, that beloved disciple who leaned on Jesus' chest, concluding his Epistle on the love of God and neighbor, nowhere admonishes to love enemies, but absolutely says: Because if we love one another, God abides in us, and God's love is perfected in us (1 John 4). And if this troubles anyone, let them know that he did not omit the love of enemies, but also included them under the name of brothers and instructed that they should be loved with the perspective of brotherly love and that prayers should be offered for them. Certainly, that they may not always remain enemies but may come to their senses from the snares of the devil and be united to us in a genuine covenant. Nor should it seem harsh that we say those who do not yet believe can be called brothers because of the hope that they will believe. For the same John is recorded to call them children of God. Because Jesus (he says) was about to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but that He might gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad (John 11). For as long as they are scattered, they are not yet children of God, but by coming together in one, they are made children.

It is difficult for anyone to love his enemy except through grace. A stone cannot give heat of itself: but if it is placed next to a burning furnace, it can afterward give heat. "If you love those who love you," what grace is that? To love only a friend is not the virtue of grace.

After he promulgated the evangelical laws under fitting perfection, here secondly he proves from a deficient condition, where he shows that he had to command according to the aforementioned manner: otherwise there is no merit before God. Whence he shows here three things, namely that it does not suffice for merit to be benevolent toward those who love us, nor beneficent only toward those who repay, nor generous toward those who recompense. And in this he shows that perfect benevolence and beneficence ought to extend not only to friends, but also to adversaries according to the form promulgated above. He shows therefore first that it does not suffice to be benevolent only toward those who love us, because this is characteristic of sinners: on account of which he says: And if you love those who love you, that is, because they love you, what credit is there for you? that is, what merit worthy of recompense? As if to say: none. And he gives the reason: For sinners also love those who love them, who have no merit before God; for this is natural, according to that passage in Ecclesiasticus thirteen: "Every animal loves its like, so also every man his neighbor" etc.; or even carnal, as in Ecclesiasticus thirty-seven: "A companion sympathizes with a friend for the sake of his belly, and against the enemy he will take up the shield." Such love has no merit before God, because it is not bestowed on account of God. For if it were bestowed on account of God, a person would certainly love those who love him, according to that passage in Proverbs eight: "I love those who love me"; even to those less loving him he would repay with greater love, according to that passage in Second Corinthians twelve: "But I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls, even though, loving you more, I am loved less"; likewise, those in no way even loving him he would also love, according to that passage in First John four: "In this the charity of God appeared, not that we loved God, but that he first loved us"; and Romans five: "But God commends his charity toward us, because while we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly." Whence when it extends only to those who love us, it is not divine nor gratuitous love, but mercenary and human, and therefore not worthy of recompense.

That even our enemies must be loved. In the Gospel according to Luke: "If ye love those who love you, what thank have ye? For even sinners love those who love them." Also according to Matthew: "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and giveth rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous."

(Hom. i. in Col.) The Lord had said that we must love our enemies, but that you might not think this an exaggerated expression, regarding it solely as spoken to alarm them, he adds the reason, saying, For if you love them which love you, what thank have ye? There are indeed several causes which produce love; but spiritual love exceeds them all. For nothing earthly engenders it, neither gain, nor kindness, nor nature, nor time, but it descends from heaven. But why wonder that it needs not kindness to excite it, when it is not even overcome of malice? A father indeed suffering wrong bursts the bands of love. A wife after a quarrel leaves her husband. A son, if he sees his father come to a great age, is troubled. But Paul went to those who stoned him to do them good. (Acts 14:17) Moses is stoned by the Jews, and prays for them. (Exod. 17:4) Let us then reverence spiritual love, for it is indissoluble. Reproving therefore those who were inclined to wax cold, he adds, For sinners even love those which love them. As if he said, Because I wish you to possess more than these, I do not advise you only to love your friends, but also your enemies. It is common to all to do good to those who do good to them. But he shows that he seeks something more than is the custom of sinners, who do good to their friends. Hence it follows, And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thank have ye?

"Sometimes, however, we must exercise bounty in giving: nor is this kind of liberality altogether to be rejected; and we must give from our property to suitable persons when they are in need of assistance." What is the meaning of "suitable"? Assuredly those who are able to restore and give back the favour. If Cicero were now alive, I should certainly exclaim: Here, here, Marcus Tullius, you have erred from true justice; and you have taken it away by one word, since you measured the offices of piety and humanity by utility. For we must not bestow our bounty on suitable objects, but as much as possible on unsuitable objects. For that will be done with justice, piety, and humanity, which you shall do without the hope of any return!

For, whenever they hear from us that God says, "No thank have ye, if you love them which love you, but you have thank, if you love your enemies and them which hate you" — whenever they hear these words, they marvel at the surpassing measure of their goodness; but when they see, that not only do we not love those who hate, but that we love not even those who love, they laugh us to scorn, and the name is blasphemed.

It is also not sufficient to be beneficent toward those who repay, because this is also characteristic of worldly people themselves: on account of which he adds: And if you do good to those who do good to you: the Gloss says: "That is, for the reason that they do good"; what thanks is there to you? that is, what merit? as if to say: none. And the reason is given: Since even sinners do this; for a benefit done in exchange for recompense is not gratuitous but mercenary, and therefore neither is it acceptable. Whence Ecclesiasticus 20: "The gift of a fool shall be unprofitable to you: for his eyes are sevenfold: he will give little and upbraid much." But that which is given freely and cheerfully, that is acceptable, according to 2 Corinthians 9: "Everyone as he has determined in his heart, not out of sadness or out of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver." If therefore to do good to those who do good is merely a debt, to do good to those who do not do good appears gratuitous, then to do evil to those who do good is inhuman and most cruel: which indeed the sinner does when he offends God; according to what is said in 2 Paralipomenon 32 concerning Hezekiah, that "he did not render according to the benefits which he had received from God, because his heart was lifted up." Whence Christ can say that word of the Psalm: "They repaid me evil for good," and the sinner can say to Christ that word of 1 Kings 24: "You have rendered good to me, and I have rendered evil to you." And by that very fact, if he wishes to be reconciled to the Lord, it is necessary that he himself do good not only to one who does good, but also to an adversary: and such is the benefit of charity, according to 1 Corinthians 13: "Charity is patient, is kind."

But he not only condemns as unprofitable the love and kindness of sinners, but also the lending. As it follows, And if ye lend to those from whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

Nor is it sufficient to be generous toward those who repay, because this is the way of usurers themselves; whence he also adds: And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, namely repayment: what thanks is it to you? As if to say: none. And he shows this: For sinners also lend to sinners, that is, they lend at interest; whence he adds: That they may receive the equivalent, namely for the service, not only for the debt. And because they receive their reward, they have no merit before God: whence in the Psalm: "Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?" and it is added: "He who has not given his money at usury nor accepted bribes against the innocent." Otherwise he does not ascend the mountain of the Lord: whence in Ezekiel eighteen, he is justified of whom it is said: "He who has not lent at usury nor taken increase"; and conversely, he who takes increase is condemned in the same place. Whence to such people can be said that word of Haggai one: "You looked for more, and behold, it became less," because in the Psalm it is said: "The men of riches found nothing in their hands." Such usurers are counted among sinners, because they are oppressors of others; whence Proverbs twenty-two: "He who borrows is the servant of the lender." And therefore it is forbidden in Exodus twenty-two: "If you lend money to a poor man, you shall not press him as an exactor nor oppress him with usury."

But the contrary of this seems to be said in Deuteronomy twenty-three: "You shall not lend at interest to your brother, but to a stranger." But it should be understood that this is evil in itself: but the Law permitted this to them, just as the bill of divorce, for the avoidance of a greater evil. Moreover, the reason for this prohibition is manifold: both because money is not diminished by being lent; and because it does not of itself bear fruit, but the entire basis of profit is on the part of the user; and because it continually consumes and devastates, and thus the advantage of the loan is converted into the disadvantage of loss; and because in a loan of money, ownership of the thing lent passes over, since one is not bound to return the same coins in number; and because all risk is transferred to him who had borrowed; and also because in such a manner of lending, money is loved more than one's neighbor, since one lends money to one's neighbor not out of love for the neighbor but out of love for the money.

And now, on the subject of a loan, when He asks, "And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? " compare with this the following words of Ezekiel, in which He says of the before-mentioned just man, "He hath not given his money upon usury, nor will he take any increase" -meaning the redundance of interest, which is usury.

Now philosophy seems to divide justice into three parts; one towards God, which is called piety; another towards our parents, or the rest of mankind; a third to the dead, that the proper rites may be performed. But the Lord Jesus passing beyond the oracle of the law, and the heights of prophecy, extended the duties of piety to those also who have injured us, adding, But love your enemies.

How great the reward of mercy which is received into the privilege of divine adoption! For it follows, And ye shall be the sons of the Highest (Ps. 82:6.). Follow then mercy, that ye may obtain grace. Widely spread is the mercy of God; He pours His rain upon the unthankful, the fruitful earth refuses not its increase to the evil. Hence it follows, For he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil.

(Orat. 3. cont. Arian.) That is to say, that we beholding His mercies, what good things we do should do them not with regard to men, but to Him, that we may obtain our rewards from God, not from men.

"Lend to those from whom you do not hope to receive in return." "And what sort of a loan is this," he says, "to which there is no hope of a return attached?" Consider the force of the statement, and you will admire the kindness of the Lawmaker. When you have the intention of providing for a poor person for the Lord's sake, it is at the same time both a gift and a loan. It is a gift because of the expectation of no repayment, but a loan because of the great gift of the Master who pays in his place and who, receiving trifling things through a poor person, will give great things in return for them.

(Hom. in Ps. 14.) Now this mode of avarice is rightly called in the Greek τόκος, from producing, because of the fruitfulness of the evil. Animals in course of time grow up and produce, but interest as soon as it is born begins to bring forth. Animals which bring forth most rapidly cease soonest from breeding, but the money of the avaricious goes on increasing with time. Animals when they transfer their bringing forth to their own young, themselves cease to breed, but the money of the covetous both produces an increase, and renews the capital. Touch not then the destructive monster. For what advantage that the poverty of to-day is escaped, if it falls upon us repeatedly, and is increased? Reflect then how canst thou restore thyself? Whence shall thy money be so multiplied as that it will partly relieve thy want, partly refresh thy capital, and besides bring forth interest? But thou sayest, How shall I get my living? I answer, work, serve, last of all, beg; any thing is more tolerable than borrowing upon interest. But thou sayest, what is that lending to which the hope of repayment is not attached? Consider the excellence of the words, and thou wilt admire the mercifulness of the author. When thou art about to give to a poor man from regard to divine charity, it is both a lending and a gift; a gift indeed, because no return is hoped for; lending, because of the beneficence of God, who restores it in its turn. Hence it follows, And great shall be your reward. Dost thou not wish the Almighty to be bound to restore to thee? Or, should He make some rich citizen thy security, dost thou accept him, but reject God standing as security for the poor?

Nonetheless, love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. For the love and benefit of mutual sinners, which is fruitless, now shows how these should be fruitfully done by the faithful. Indeed, anyone who receives borrows, even if he himself is not to repay. For when God restores more to the merciful, everyone who offers a benefit lends. Or if it is not pleasing to accept the borrower, except him who is to repay, it is to be understood that the Lord has embraced these two kinds of giving. For we either give as a gift what we give benevolently or we lend to someone who will repay. Because many (as it is written) have considered interest a gain and have made a nuisance of themselves to those who help them, many have not lent out of wickedness but feared to be defrauded without charge. The divine authority also remedies this weakness, saying: And lend, expecting nothing in return (Luke VI). That is, not fixing the hope of reward on man. For whether he repays what you have lent, or God repays what you did at His command, your inheritance will be eternal. For the sinner borrows and does not repay, but the righteous is merciful and lends (Psalm CXI). For those who bless him shall possess the land (Psalm XXXVI). And elsewhere when he said: The man who is gracious and lends, he shall be remembered forever (Psalm CXI).

And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. No greater reward can there be than for the sons of men, born of the earth, to become the sons of the Most High, who is in the heavens. Therefore, what he says: And you will be sons of the Most High, is to be understood from that rule by which John also says: He gave them power to become children of God. For there is one who is naturally the Son, who does not know sin at all. But we, having received the power, are made sons, to the extent that we fulfill those things commanded by him. Hence the apostolic discipline calls it adoption, by which we are called into eternal inheritance, so that we might be co-heirs. Therefore, he does not say: Do these things because you are sons, but do these things, and you will be sons. When, however, he calls us to this through the Only Begotten, he calls us to his likeness.

Because he himself is kind (he says) to the ungrateful and the wicked, etc. God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, either by his manifold mercy, by which he even saves animals, granting temporal goods, or by the singular grace of heavenly gifts, by which he glorifies only the elect, inspiring them. But whether you understand this, or that, or both, it is done by the great goodness of God, which is commanded to us to imitate, if we wish to be sons of God.

Either by giving them temporal gifts, or by inspiring His heavenly gifts with a wonderful grace.

Here, after the promulgation and proof, he resumes the approved commands with the motivating reason. Now there are three things that ought to move us to do the aforesaid, namely the authority of the precept, the immensity of the reward, and the sublimity of the example. The first moves the irascible, the second the concupiscible, and the third the rational. He therefore takes up the aforesaid teachings by way of precept, when he says: But love your enemies and do good, namely so that you may not "love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth," 1 John 3. And he says this by way of command, because, as is said in John 15, "this is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you." But he himself loved not only in affection, but also in effect, without any hope of recompense. Therefore it is added: And lend, hoping for nothing thereby, namely of recompense: Deuteronomy 23: "You shall lend to your brother without usury what he needs, that the Lord may bless you," that is, do not seek recompense for this from man, as usurers do, who on account of the hope of usury lose the hope of eternal life: against whom the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 15 says: "If we are hoping only in this life, we are the most miserable of all men." Such are the rich who hope in riches: "the hope of such is empty and their labors without fruit," Wisdom 3. And therefore Sirach 31: "Blessed is the rich man who is found without blemish, and who has not gone after gold nor hoped in money and treasures. Who is this, and we shall praise him? For he has done wondrous things in his life."

Note that hope in lending can be for a similar service, or for profit. In the first way it is permitted; in the second way it can be twofold: either expressed through a pact, and this is simply prohibited, because it makes one a usurer; or tacit in the heart, and in this way twofold: either principally moving one to lend, and this is likewise prohibited, because it is against the divine commandment; or not principally moving, but as it were annexed, because, although one does not act principally for advantage or profit, he nevertheless believes that the recipient will not be ungrateful to him, and therefore he acts more willingly. But here such a hope of advantage is not against the divine commandment.

Second, he adds a motivating reason on the part of the reward, when he adds: And your reward shall be great: Sirach 12: "Do good to the just, and you shall find great recompense, and if not from him, certainly from the Lord." And the recompense is called abundant and great, because the eternal reward contains all goods in excellence, according to that verse of the Psalm: "How great is the multitude of your sweetness, O Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you!" And truly great and abundant and hidden, but promised, because, 1 Corinthians 2 and Isaiah 64, "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him."

Third, he adds a motivating reason from the side of example, when he adds: And you shall be sons of the Most High, namely through imitation, according to that passage in Ephesians 5: "Be imitators of God, as most beloved children." As sons we ought to imitate God, because we have received the grace of faith, concerning which John 1 says: "He gave them power to become sons of God, to those who believe in his name." We have also received from him the spirit of adoption of sons, according to that passage in Romans 8: "You have not received the spirit of servitude in fear, but the spirit of adoption of sons." And therefore we ought to imitate God, as a son imitates his father, according to that passage in John 8: "If you are sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham." And for this reason we ought to live according to his example: which he adds when he says: For he is kind toward the ungrateful and the wicked, according to that passage in Joel 2: "He is kind and merciful, patient and of great mercy and relenting over wickedness." And this kindness extends itself to the ungrateful and the wicked: Romans 2: "Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But you, according to your hardness and impenitent heart, treasure up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his works." And therefore it is said in 2 Timothy 3: "Evil men and seducers will advance to worse things"; Ecclesiastes 8: "For because sentence is not quickly pronounced against the wicked, the sons of men commit evils without any fear." From all these evils divine kindness frees and saves, surpassing our wickedness: Titus 3: "The kindness and humanity of God our Savior has appeared."

He loves the people in spite of their faults. He goes on loving. He does not let go. Don't say, "It's all very well for Him; He hasn't got to live with them." He has. He is inside them as well as outside them. He is with them far more intimately and closely and incessantly than we can ever be. Every vile thought within their minds (and ours), every moment of spite, envy, arrogance, greed, and self-conceit comes right up against His patient and longing love, and grieves His spirit more than it grieves ours.

The more we can imitate God in both these respects, the more progress we shall make. We must love "X" more; and we must learn to see ourselves as a person of exactly the same kind.

Now, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus is good, the Word Himself will again avouch: "For He is kind to the unthankful and the evil; "and further, when He says," Be merciful, as your Father is merciful." Still further also He plainly says, "None is good, but My Father, who is in heaven." In addition to these, again He says, "My Father makes His sun to shine on all." Here it is to be noted that He proclaims His Father to be good, and to be the Creator. And that the Creator is just, is not disputed: And again he says," My Father sends rain on the just, and on the unjust." In respect of His sending rain, He is the Creator of the waters, and of the clouds. And in respect of His doing so on all, He holds an even balance justly and rightly. And as being good, He does so on just and unjust alike.

(Orat. cont. usurar.) But man ought to shun that baneful anxiety with which he seeks from the poor man increase of his money and gold, exacting a profit of barren metals. Hence he adds, And lend, hoping for nothing again, &c. If a man should call the harsh calculation of interest, theft, or homicide, he will not err. For what is the difference, whether a man by digging under a wall become possessed of property, or possess it unlawfully by the compulsory rate of interest?

This, he says, is ocean, "generation of gods and generation of men" ever whirled round by the eddies of water, at one time upwards, at another time downwards. But he says there ensues a generation of men when the ocean flows downwards; but when upwards to the wall and fortress and the cliff of Luecas, a generation of gods takes place. This, he asserts, is that which has been written: "I said, Ye are gods, and all children of the highest; " "If ye hasten to fly out of Egypt, and repair beyond the Red Sea into the wilderness," that is, from earthly intercourse to the Jerusalem above, which is the mother of the living; "If, moreover, again you return into Egypt," that is, into earthly intercourse, "ye shall die as men." For mortal, he says, is every generation below, but immortal that which is begotten above, for it is born of water only, and of spirit, being spiritual, not carnal. But what (is born) below is carnal, that is, he says, what is written. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." This, according to them, is the spiritual generation. This, he says, is the great Jordan which, flowing on (here) below, and preventing the children of Israel from departing out of Egypt-I mean from terrestrial intercourse, for Egypt is with them the body,-Jesus drove back, and made it flow upwards.

(Hom. 58. in Gen.) Whereby thou wilt confer more upon thyself than him. For he is beloved by a fellow servant, but thou art made like unto God. But it is a mark of the greatest virtue when we embrace with kindness those who wish to do us harm. Hence it follows, And do good. For as water, when cast upon a lighted furnace, extinguishes it, so also reason joined with gentleness. But what water is to fire, such is lowliness and meekness to wrath; and as fire is not extinguished by fire, so neither is anger soothed by anger.

(Hom. 3. in. Gen.) Observe the wonderful nature of lending, one receives and another binds himself for his debts, giving a hundred fold at the present time, and in the future eternal life.

For He taught us to pray for our enemies also, saying, 'Love your enemies; be kind and merciful, as your heavenly Father is.'

And in addition to all this we pray for you, that Christ may have mercy upon you. For He taught us to pray for our enemies also, saying, 'Love your enemies; be kind and merciful, as your heavenly Father is.' For we see that the Almighty God is kind and merciful, causing His sun to rise on the unthankful and on the righteous, and sending rain on the holy and on the wicked; all of whom He has taught us He will judge.

" Now, when He commands that a debt be remitted to a man who shall be unable to pay it (for it is a still stronger argument when He forbids its being asked for from a man who is even able to repay it), what else does He teach than that we should lend to those of whom we cannot receive again, inasmuch as He has imposed so great a loss on lending? "And ye shall be the children of God." What can be more shameless, than for him to be making us his children, who has not permitted us to make children for ourselves by forbidding marriage? How does he propose to invest his followers with a name which he has already erased? I cannot be the son of a eunuch Especially when I have for my Father the same great Being whom the universe claims for its! For is not the Founder of the universe as much a Father, even of all men, as (Marcion's) castrated deity, who is the maker of no existing thing? Even if the Creator had not united male and female, and if He had not allowed any living creature whatever to have children, I yet had this relation to Him before Paradise, before the fall, before the expulsion, before the two became one.

"Because," says He, "He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." Well done, Marcion! how cleverly have you withdrawn from Him the showers and the sunshine, that He might not seem to be a Creator! But who is this kind being which hitherto has not been even known? How can he be kind who had previously shown no evidences of such a kindness as this, which consists of the loan to us of sunshine and rain?-who is not destined to receive from the human race (the homage due to that) Creator,-who, up to this very moment, in return for His vast liberality in the gift of the elements, bears with men while they offer to idols, more readily than Himself, the due returns of His graciousness.

For he will merit its fruit who has not yet used more than he who has already withal abused it; and remedies will be more effective on their first application than when outworn. No doubt the Lord is "kind" to "the unthankful," rather than to the ignorant! and "merciful" to the "reprobates" sooner than to such as have yet had no probation! so that in-suits offered to His clemency do not rather incur His anger than His caresses! and He does not more willingly impart to strangers that (clemency) which, in the case of His own sons, He has lost, seeing that He has thus adopted the Gentiles while the Jews make sport of His patience! But what the Psychics mean is this-that God, the Judge of righteousness, prefers the repentance to the death of that sinner who has preferred death to repentance! If this is so, it is by sinning that we merit favour.

He commands imitation of himself: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Now there are six works of mercy, namely: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, gathering in strangers, visiting the sick, and ransoming captives. Moreover, the work of perfect virtue cannot exist unless the creature is conformed to Christ in these things.

After he has promulgated and proved the evangelical laws and also resumed them with a motivating reason, here at last he concludes with the consequent retribution, which he shows follows our works in the judicial sentence, in heavenly glory, and in infernal punishment: in judgment indeed with respect to all, in reward with respect to the good, and in punishment with respect to sinners. He concludes therefore first that we ought to fulfill the aforementioned commandments according to the prescribed form, by proclaiming the judicial sentence, when he says: Be therefore merciful, namely in showing yourselves benevolent, peaceable, and beneficent toward your neighbors; in which he touches upon the substance of the aforementioned commandments. As your Father also is merciful, in which he touches upon the form or circumstance, because He condescends not only to friends, but to adversaries. This indeed is necessary, according to that passage of Matthew 18: "You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I also had mercy on you." Whence He requires that mercy which He bestows; and according to that which we bestow, He repays in judgment, according to that passage of Sirach 4: "In judging, be merciful to orphans as a father, and as a husband to their mother; and you shall be as a son of the Most High, and He shall have mercy on you more than a mother"; James 2: "Judgment without mercy to him who has not shown mercy." And therefore he adds the retribution of judgment corresponding to works of merit according to a fourfold difference of act, namely judging, condemning, forgiving, and giving: of which the first pertains to equity, the second to severity, the third to piety, and the fourth to liberality.

Now Plato the philosopher, defining the end of happiness, says that it is likeness to God as far as possible; whether concurring with the precept of the law (for great natures that are free of passions somehow hit the mark respecting the truth, as the Pythagorean Philo says in relating the history of Moses), or whether instructed by certain oracles of the time, thirsting as he always was for instruction. For the law says, "Walk after the Lord your God, and keep my commandments." For the law calls assimilation following; and such a following to the utmost of its power assimilates. "Be," says the Lord, "merciful and pitiful, as your heavenly Father is pitiful." Thence also the Stoics have laid down the doctrine, that living agreeably to nature is the end, fitly altering the name of God into nature; since also nature extends to plants, to seeds, to trees, and to stones. It is therefore plainly said, "Bad men do not understand the law; but they who love the law fortify themselves with a wall." "For the wisdom of the clever knows its ways; but the folly of the foolish is in error." "For on whom will I look, but on him who is mild and gentle, and trembleth at my words?" says the prophecy.

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"), 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." 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?"

A human being is a great thing, and a man, if merciful, is to be honoured. Behold, how great a thing is mercy—the merciful man God likens to Himself; for He saith: Be ye merciful, even as your Father which is in heaven is merciful. Should death come, there your riches abide.

The principle of the philosophers and stoics is different, dearest brother, who say that all sins are equal, and that a grave man ought not easily to be moved. But there is a wide difference between Christians and philosophers. And when the apostle says, "Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit," we are to avoid those things which do not come from God's clemency, but are begotten of the presumption of a too rigid philosophy. Concerning Moses, moreover, we find it said in the Scriptures, "Now the man Moses was very meek; " and the Lord in His Gospel says, "Be ye merciful, as your Father also had mercy upon you; " and again, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." What medical skill can he exercise who says, "I cure the sound only, who have no need of a physician? "We ought to give our assistance, our healing art, to those who are wounded; neither let us think them dead, but rather let us regard them as lying half alive, whom we see to have been wounded in the fatal persecution, and who, if they had been altogether dead, would never from the same men become afterwards both confessors and martyrs.

Closely neighbouring, so to speak, upon the virtues which we have just mentioned is compassion, of which He next makes mention. For it is a most excelling thing, and very pleasing to God, and in the highest degree becoming to pious souls: and concerning which it may suffice for us to imprint upon our mind that it is an attribute of the divine nature. "For be ye, He says, merciful, as also your heavenly Father is merciful." But that we shall be recompensed with bountiful hand by God, Who giveth all things abundantly to them that love Him, He has given us full assurance by saying, that "good measure, and squeezed down, and running over shall they give into your bosom:" adding this too, "for with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you."

Great then is the praise of mercy. For this virtue makes us like unto God, and imprints upon our souls certain signs as it were of a heavenly nature. Hence it follows, Be ye then merciful, as your heavenly Father also is merciful.

And as of artisans every one hath his peculiar skill, even so the rich man, as he knows not how to work in brass, nor to frame ships, nor to weave, nor to build houses, nor any such thing;-let him learn then to use his wealth aright, and to pity the poor; so shall he know a better art than all those.

For indeed this is above all those arts. Its workshop is builded in Heaven. It hath its tools not of iron and brass, but of goodness and of a right will. Of this art Christ is the Teacher, and His Father. For "be ye merciful," saith He, "as your Father which is in Heaven."

And what is indeed marvellous, being so much superior to the rest, it needs no labor, no time for its perfection; it is enough to have willed, and the whole is accomplished.

But let us see also the end thereof, what it is. What then is the end of it? Heaven, the good things in the heavens, that unspeakable glory, the spiritual bride-chambers, the bright lamps, the abiding with the Bridegroom; the other things, which no speech, nor even understanding, is able to set forth.

So that herein likewise great is its difference from all others. For most of the arts profit us for the present life, but this for the life to come also.

And, "Be ye kind and merciful, as your Father also is kind and merciful, and maketh His sun to rise on sinners, and the righteous, and the wicked. Take no thought what ye shall eat, or what ye shall put on: are ye not better than the birds and the beasts? And God feedeth them. Take no thought, therefore, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall put on; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But seek ye the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you. For where his treasure is, there also is the mind of a man."

[Scripture] says that man was made in the image of God; and in him are manifestly to be discovered traces of the divine image, not by any appearance of the bodily frame, which is corruptible, but by mental wisdom, by justice, moderation, virtue, wisdom, discipline; in fine, by the whole band of virtues, which are innate in the essence of God, and which may enter into man by diligence and imitation of God; as the Lord also intimates in the Gospel, when He says, "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful; " and, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father also is perfect." From which it is clearly shown that all these virtues are perpetually in God, and that they can never approach to or depart from Him, whereas by men they are acquired only slowly, and one by one.

"Wherefore, girding up your loins," "serve the Lord in fear" and truth, as those who have forsaken the vain, empty talk and error of the multitude, and "believed in Him who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory," and a throne at His right hand. To Him all things in heaven and on earth are subject. Him every spirit serves. He comes as the Judge of the living and the dead. His blood will God require of those who do not believe in Him. But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also, if we do His will, and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, false witness; "not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing," or blow for blow, or cursing for cursing, but being mindful of what the Lord said in His teaching: "Judge not, that ye be not judged; forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you; be merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again;" and once more, "Blessed are the poor, and those that are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God."

Wherefore awake, and take to yourselves our Lord and God, even that Lord who is Lord both of heaven and earth, and conform yourselves to His image and likeness, as the true Prophet Himself teaches, saying, 'Be merciful, as also your heavenly Father is merciful, who makes His sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust.'

Compassion also does He teach: "Be ye merciful," says He, "as your Father also that had mercy upon you." This injunction will be of a piece with, "Deal thy bread to the hungry; and if he be houseless, bring him into thine house; and if thou seest the naked, cover him; " also with, "Judge the fatherless, plead with the widow." I recognise here that ancient doctrine of Him who "prefers mercy to sacrifice."

"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.'"