Luke § 9

The Son of God, who is to gather the church, first works in a servant. Thus St. Luke fittingly says that the Word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness, so that the church would not begin from a man but from the Word. For she is a wilderness, because children of depravity outnumber hers, though she has a husband. Then it is said to her, "Sing, O barren one," and, "Break forth together into singing, you waste places," because the desert had not yet been cultivated by any work of a flock of people, nor had those trees which could bear fruit displayed the crown of their merits. The one who said, "I am like a green olive tree in the house of the Lord," had not yet come, nor had that heavenly Vine borne fruit with its shoots of words on the trained branch of its own people. So the Word came that the desolate earth would bring forth fruit for us. The Word came, and the voice followed, for the Word first works within before the voice follows. Hence David too says, "I believed, and then I spoke."

The Son of God being about to gather together the Church, commences His work in His servant. And so it is well said, The word of the Lord came to John, that the Church should begin not from man, but from the Word. But Luke, in order to declare that John was a prophet, rightly used these few words, The word of the Lord came to him. He adds nothing else, for they need not their own judgment who are filled with the Word of God. By saying this one thing, he has therefore declared all. But Matthew and Mark desired to show him to be a prophet, by his raiment, his girdle, and his food.

Again, the wilderness is the Church itself, for the barren has more children than she who has an husband. The word of the Lord came, that the earth which was before barren might bring forth fruit unto us.

(Metaphrastes) For the emperor Augustus being dead, from whom the Roman sovereigns obtained the name of "Augustus," Tiberius being his successor in the monarchy, was now in the 15th year of his receiving the reins of government.

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene. Herod, Philip, and Lysanias, who governed Judea with the Roman prefect Pilate, were the sons of that Herod under whom the Lord was born, among whom also their brother Archelaus reigned for ten years. He was accused by the Jews before Augustus because of his intolerable cruelty, and he perished in eternal exile at Vienna. Augustus took care to divide the kingdom of Judea into tetrarchies so that it would become less powerful. Moreover, Pilate, in the twelfth year of Tiberius Caesar, was sent to Judea and took over the administration of the nation, and he continued there for ten consecutive years until almost the very end of Tiberius's reign.

Pilate was sent in the twelfth year of Tiberius to take the government of the Jewish nation, and remained there for ten successive years, almost until the death of Tiberius. But Herod, and Philip, and Lysanias, were the sons of that Herod in whose reign our Lord was born. Between these and Herod himself Archelaus their brother reigned ten years. He was accused by the Jews before Augustus, and perished in exile at Vienne. But in order to reduce the Jewish kingdom to greater weakness, August us divided it into Tetrarchies.

Both Annas and Caiaphas, when John began his preaching, were the High Priests, but Annas held the office that year, Caiaphas the same year in which our Lord suffered on the cross. Three others had held the office in the intervening time, but these two, as having particular reference to our Lord's Passion, are mentioned by the Evangelist. For at that time of violence and intrigue, the commands of the Law being no longer in force, the honour of the High Priest's office was never given to merit or high birth, but the whole affairs of the Priesthood were managed by the Roman power. For Josephus relates, that Valerius Gratus, when Annas was thrust out of the Priesthood, appointed Ismael High Priest, the son of Baphas; but not long after casting him off, he put in his place Eleazar the son of the High Priest Ananias. After the space of one year, he expelled him also from the office, and delivered the government of the High Priesthood to a certain Simon, son of Caiaphas, who holding it not longer than a year, had Joseph, whose name also was Caiaphas, for his successor; so that the whole time during which our Lord is related to have taught is included in the space of four years.

In the fifteenth year etc. Above the Evangelist treated the mystery of the incarnation of Christ with regard to the nativity in the womb and from the womb: here he treats of it with regard to the nativity outside the womb, according to that saying of Ambrose, who says that he was reborn by the Sacraments, namely when he was baptized. And this part has three sections, in the first of which he treats of the baptism and preaching of John in general regard to the whole people: in the second, in special regard to special persons, there: And they asked him etc. In the third, in singular regard to Christ, there: And it came to pass, while he was being baptized. And the order is clear, because the general directs to the special, the special to the singular.

First, on the baptism and preaching of John in general with regard to three things. With regard to the first it should be noted that the doctrine and preaching of John is commended on three grounds: first, from the opportuneness of the time: second, from the authority of the office, there: The word of the Lord came etc.; third, from the severity of zeal, there: He said therefore to the crowds etc. The first regards what is outside, the second, what is above, the third, what is within. And thus in every way his preaching and doctrine is perfect.

The preaching of John is first commended with regard to the opportuneness of the time in three ways. With regard to the first it should be noted that the opportuneness of the time is gathered from three things, namely from the union of the Roman Empire, from the partition of the Jewish kingdom and from the division of the Levitical priesthood: from which the opportuneness of the time is gathered, because John was announcing him who was scattering the synagogue of the Jews and gathering the varieties of the nations into the unity of the Church.

With regard to the union of the empire it is said: In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, in which, namely, the time of the coming of Christ had already arrived, because, namely, before Tiberius there were Julius and Pompey; and Julius crushed Pompey, and after these Tiberius succeeded. And thus that saying of Daniel, chapter two, concerning the fourth kingdom, namely of the Romans, had already been verified, that "it was partly solid and partly crushed"; and therefore it was the time for the verification of what follows in the same place: "In those days the God of heaven will raise up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and its power shall not be delivered to another people."

As for the partition of the Jewish kingdom, there is added: Pontius Pilate being procurator of Judea, under whom, namely, the Lord was crucified, according to what the history of all the Evangelists narrates; and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee: this was the one under whom the Lord was also crucified, below in the twenty-third chapter, and who killed John the Baptist, according to what is said in Matthew fourteen, because he said to him: "It is not lawful for you to have the wife of Philip, your brother"; concerning which Philip it is added: Philip, his brother, being tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis. And thus that word of Isaiah one was already verified: "Strangers devour your land before your face"; and Proverbs twenty-eight: "Because of the sins of the land, many are its princes." And therefore there is added: And Lysanias being tetrarch of Abilene, that is, of another region, which was a fourth part of the kingdom. For a tetrarchy is called a fourth part of a kingdom; for it is derived from tetra, which means four, and archos, which means rule. For when Archelaus, the son of Herod the Great, was deported into exile at Lyons on account of his pride, the kingdom was divided into four tetrarchies, so that the pride of the Jews might thus be diminished. Whence Bede: "Three tetrarchies were governed by the three sons of Herod the Great, under whom the Lord was born. Pilate, however, was procurator of the other tetrarchy." And note that there were two men named Lysanias: one the son of Hyrcanus, about whom Josephus writes; and the other of Herod, about whom Bede speaks.

And our Lord was born in the twenty-eighth year, when first the census was ordered to be taken in the reign of Augustus. And to prove that this is true, it is written in the Gospel by Luke as follows: "And in the fifteenth year, in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias." And again in the same book: "And Jesus was coming to His baptism, being about thirty years old," and so on. And that it was necessary for Him to preach only a year, this also is written: "He hath sent Me to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." This both the prophet spake, and the Gospel. Accordingly, in fifteen years of Tiberius and fifteen years of Augustus; so were completed the thirty years till the time He suffered.

The blessed Isaiah was not ignorant of the scope of John's preachings, but of old, even long before the time, bearing witness of it, he called Christ Lord and God: but John he styled His minister and servant, and said that he was a lamp advancing before the true light, the morning star heralding the sun, foreshowing the coming of the day that was about to shed its rays upon us: and that he was a voice, not a word, forerunning Jesus, as the voice does the word.

(de Virg. c. 6.) Who also entered this life at once in the spirit and power of Elias, removed from the society of men, in uninterrupted contemplation of invisible things, that he might not, by becoming accustomed to the false notions forced upon us by our senses, fall into mistakes and errors in the discernment of good men. And to such a height of divine grace was he raised, that more favour was bestowed upon him than the Prophets, for from the beginning even to the end, he ever presented his heart before God pure and free from every natural passion.

The time when the precursor of our Redeemer received the word of preaching is indicated by mention of the prince of the Roman commonwealth and the kings of Judea, when it is said: "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, under the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, the word of the Lord came upon John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness." For since he was coming to preach him who would redeem some from Judea and many from the Gentiles, the times of his preaching are indicated by the king of the Gentiles and the rulers of the Jews. Moreover, because the Gentiles were to be gathered in and Judea was to be scattered on account of the guilt of faithlessness, the very description of earthly rule shows that one man is described as having been in charge of the Roman commonwealth, while in the kingdom of Judea very many ruled over a fourth part each. For by the voice of our Redeemer it is said: "Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste." It is clear, therefore, that Judea had come to the end of its kingdom, since it lay subject to so many kings by whom it was divided. It is also fittingly demonstrated not only under which kings but also under which priests this took place; because John the Baptist was preaching him who would be both king and priest at the same time, Luke the Evangelist indicated the times of his preaching through both the kingdom and the priesthood.

(Hom. 20. in Ev.) The time at which the forerunner of the Saviour received the word of preaching, is marked by the names of the Roman sovereign and of the princes of Judæa, as it follows: Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judæa, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, &c. For because John came to preach Him who was to redeem some from among the Jews, and many among the Gentiles, therefore the time of his preaching is marked out by making mention of the king of the Gentiles and the rulers of the Jews. But because all nations were to be gathered together in one, one man is described as ruling over the Roman state, as it is said, The reign of Tiberius Cæsar.

(ubi sup.) Because the Jews were to be scattered for their crime of treachery, the Jewish kingdom was shut up into parts under several governors. According to that saying, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. (Luke 11:17.)

Because John preached Him who was to be at the same time both King and Priest, Luke the Evangelist has marked the time of that preaching by the mention not only of Kings, but also of Priests. As it follows, Under the High Priests Annas and Caiaphas.

In the word of prophecy, spoken to the Jews alone, the Jewish kingdom only is mentioned, as, The vision of Esaias, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. (Is. 1:1.) But in the Gospel which was to be proclaimed to the whole world, the empire of Tiberius Cæsar is mentioned, who seemed the lord of the whole world. But if the Gentiles only were to be saved, it were sufficient to make mention only of Tiberius, but because the Jews also must believe, the Jewish kingdom therefore, or Tetrarchies, are also introduced, as it follows, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judæa, and Herod tetrarch, &c.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius (for such is Marcion's proposition) he "came down to the Galilean city of Capernaum," of course meaning from the heaven of the Creator, to which he had previously descended from his own.

The mention of the time and the rulers is rightly made to show that under Christ the succession of Jewish leaders had ceased; since the governor was Pilate, a man from another nation, and the tetrarchs were the sons of Herod the Ascalonite, and so that it would therefore be accepted as certain that Christ had come, according to the prophecy of Jacob (Gen. 49:10).

Through the whole of the time until his showing himself he was hid in the wilderness, that no suspicion might arise in men's minds, that from his relation to Christ, and from his intercourse with Him from a child, he would testify such things of Him; and hence he said, I knew him not. (John 1:33.)

During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert. Both indeed, at the beginning of John's prophecy, that is, Annas and Caiaphas were the chief priests; but Annas held the office for that year, while Caiaphas administered it in the year when the Lord ascended the cross, and indeed with three others in between completing the pontificate, but especially with those mentioned by the evangelist who were related to the passion of the Lord. For at that time, legal precepts having ceased through force and ambition, the honor of the pontificate was conferred neither on account of life nor lineage, but by Roman authority it was conferred upon some now, and again upon others. Indeed, Josephus reports in this manner, saying: Valerius Gratus, having removed Annas from the priesthood, appointed Ismael, son of Fabo, as high priest. But soon after rejecting him as well, he substituted Eleazar, son of Ananus, to the high priesthood. After one year, he also removed him from office and bestowed the ministry of the high priesthood upon one Simon, son of Camith. He too fulfilled the office scarcely for the breadth of a year and then received Joseph, whose name was also Caiaphas, as a successor. And thus, the whole time in which our Lord is described as teaching on earth is confined within a span of four years. In this time, the four successions of high priests that Josephus mentions are described, scarcely ministering for individual years. Because John was coming to preach about Him who would redeem some from Judea and many from the Gentiles, the times of his preaching are designated by the king of the nations and the princes of the Jews. Because the Gentiles were to be gathered, and Judea, for its fault of unfaithfulness, was to be scattered, the very account of earthly authority also shows that in the Roman republic one is described as presiding, and in the kingdom of Judea, many ruled by quarters. For our Redeemer's voice says: "Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolate" (Matthew XII). Therefore, it is clear that the kingdom of Judea had come to an end since it was subjected to division under so many kings. It is fittingly demonstrated not only by which kings, but also by which priests the events took place. So that because John the Baptist was to preach about Him who would also be king and priest at the same time, Luke the evangelist designated the times of his preaching by the kingdom and the priesthood.

As for the division of the priesthood, there is added: Under the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, who, moved by ambition, as Bede says, were purchasing the high priesthood from the Romans. Whence, because according to Bede and Josephus priests were no longer being instituted through anointing but through earthly power, therefore the priestly anointing and the royal anointing had ceased. Already, therefore, the time had come for Christ to arrive, according to that passage in the penultimate chapter of Genesis: "The scepter shall not be taken away from Judah," etc. — Likewise, the anointing of the Levitical priesthood had already ceased, and therefore it was the time for the "priest according to the order of Melchizedek" to come, so that that word of Isaiah twenty-two might be fulfilled, which was spoken concerning the Levitical priesthood and the priesthood of Christ: "I will expel you from your station and depose you from your ministry"; and afterwards, concerning Christ in figure: "And it shall be in that day, I will call my servant Eliakim and I will clothe him with your robe"; and below: "And I will lay the key of David upon his shoulder." In this it is shown that this Eliakim must be king and priest, which was fulfilled in Christ alone, who was "a priest according to the order of Melchizedek," who was at once king and priest, according to that passage in Hebrews seven. And because "when the priesthood is transferred, it is necessary that a transfer of the Law also be made," already it was the time for the Gospel to be preached; and at such a time the Gospel ought to have begun and been preached starting from the preaching of John.

It is therefore clear how sufficiently, according to the Scriptures, the Evangelist showed the opportune time in the coming of Christ and the preaching of the precursor, which the blind Jews did not see. Therefore Jeremiah 8: "The kite in the sky has known its time; the turtledove and the swallow and the stork have kept the time of their coming; but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord"; and below in the twelfth chapter: "Hypocrites, you know how to test the face of the sky and the earth, but how do you not test this time?" — Moreover, they could have known this time not only through the Scriptures, but also through the very events carried out in those times, according to what Gregory says: "It is clear that Judea had come to its end, which lay subject, divided among so many rulers." And since they were already subject to a foreign empire, it was already time for the Lord to restore the Israelite kingdom, which he had promised to establish forever in every way. — It is also clear how reasonably the Evangelist, although he intends to treat of the priesthood of Christ, nevertheless announces the time of kings and priests, so as to show that Christ's priesthood and kingdom are joined together: and through both the time of his coming is proven; and at once the kingdom of the Jews and of the Gentiles, because he had come to unite both together into one; likewise the former divided and the latter one, because the fullness of the Gentiles was to enter in and the multitude of the Jews was to be scattered on account of the sin of unbelief.

The word came to pass etc. Here the preaching of John is commended from the authority of his office, which the Evangelist first commends from itself; and secondly, from prophetic attestation, at the passage: As it is written etc. — As to the first, it should be noted that the authority entrusted to John is commended on three grounds, namely: from the gift of heavenly grace, from the ministry of humble obedience, and from the sign of sacramental remedy.

As for the gift of heavenly grace, it is said: The word of the Lord came upon John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert. It came, namely through divine inspiration, and therefore it says: Upon John: because, in Second Peter 1, "Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the holy men of God spoke." Whence upon signifies authority, according to that passage of Isaiah 61: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has sent me to announce to the meek." And for this he was worthy by reason of the gift of divine grace; therefore it says: Upon John, "in whom, namely, is grace," because in Wisdom 7 it is said that "wisdom transfers itself into holy souls." — Worthy also by the merit of his father, and therefore it says: The son of Zechariah: whence that passage of Tobit 7 could be said to him: "Blessing be upon you, my son, because you are the son of a good and excellent man." — Worthy also by the merit of his own virtue: whence it says: In the desert, in a harsh and hard place: Deuteronomy 32: "He found him in a desert land, in a place of horror," etc.; and Hosea 13: "I knew you in the desert, in a land of solitude"; in which land the word of God was accustomed to come to man, as to Moses: Exodus 3: "He called him from the midst of the bush," etc., when "he drove the flock to the interior of the desert"; Hosea 2: "I will lead her into the wilderness, and there I will speak to her heart."

(in Matt. Hom. 10.) The word of God here mentioned was a commandment, for the son of Zacharias came not of himself, but God moved him.

But the king deprived Joseph of the high priesthood, and bestowed the succession to that dignity on the son of Ananus, who was also himself called Ananus. Now the report goes that this eldest Ananus proved a most fortunate man; for he had five sons who had all performed the office of a high priest to God, and who had himself enjoyed that dignity a long time formerly, which had never happened to any other of our high priests. But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed.

"The word of God came to John," it is said, so that you would know that he came to bear witness about Christ not as a self-appointed man, but because he was moved by the Spirit of God. By "word" understand either the Holy Spirit or the commandment of God. The word of God came to John "in the wilderness." Since the children of the forsaken church, that is, the church from the Gentiles, were more numerous than the children of "her who has a husband" (Isa. 54:1), that is, the Jewish church, the word and commandment of God fittingly came to John when he was in the wilderness.

The Word came, and the voice followed. For the Word first works inward, then follows the office of the voice, as it is said, And he went into all the country about Jordan.

And therefore many say that St. John is a type of the Law, because the Law could denounce sin, but could not pardon it.

And he went into all the region around Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. To all readers it is clear that John not only preached the baptism of repentance, but also gave it to certain people, yet he could not grant his baptism for the remission of sins. For indeed, the remission of sins is granted to us by the baptism of Christ alone. It should be noted, therefore, what is said, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, since he could not give a baptism that would absolve sins, he preached it. Just as he preceded the incarnate Word of the Father with the word of preaching: so the baptism of repentance, by which sins are absolved, would precede his baptism, by which sins cannot be absolved.

As for the ministry of humble obedience, it is added: And he came into the whole region of the Jordan. Whence Chrysostom says: "John came as the preparer and faithful herald of the great King." And then was fulfilled that passage of Malachi 3: "Behold, I send my Angel, and he will prepare your way." And he says pointedly: Into the whole region, to signify true obedience, which makes no exceptions but is ready for all things: Jeremiah 1: "To all things to which I shall send you, you shall go," etc.

As for the sign of sacramental medicine, it is added: Preaching the baptism of repentance, as is said in Acts 19: "John baptized the people with the baptism of repentance." He calls it the baptism of repentance because it instructed unto repentance; Matthew 3: "Jerusalem and all Judea went out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins." But although it instructed unto repentance, nevertheless it did not effect the remission of sins, but prepared for that baptism. And therefore it is added: For the remission of sins, that is, unto the baptism of Christ, in which is remission: whence Acts 2: "Let each one of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." And concerning this Zechariah 13 says: "There shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for the washing of the sinner and of the unclean"; and Ezekiel 36: "I will pour clean water upon you, and you shall be cleansed from all your defilements," etc.

And all flesh did see the salvation of God, even of the Father: for He sent the Son to be our Saviour. And in these words by "flesh," man generally is to be understood, that is, the whole human race. For thus all flesh shall see the salvation of God: no longer Israel only, but all flesh. For the gentleness of the Saviour and Lord of all is not limited, nor did He save one nation merely, but rather embraced within His net the whole world, and has illuminated all who were in darkness.

Moreover, the fruit of repentance is, in the highest degree, faith in Christ. Next to it is the evangelic mode of life, and in general terms the works of righteousness as opposed to sin, which the penitent must bring forth as fruits worthy of repentance.

(Orat. 39.) To speak now of the difference of baptisms. Moses indeed baptized, but in the water, the cloud, and the sea, but this was done figuratively. John also baptized, not indeed according to the Jewish rite, (for he baptized not only with water,) but also for the remission of sins, yet not altogether spiritually, (for he adds not, in the Spirit.) Jesus baptizes but with the Spirit, and this is perfect baptism. There is also a fourth baptism, namely by martyrdom and blood, by which also Christ Himself was baptized, and which is so far more glorious than the others, as it is not sullied by repeated acts of defilement. There is also a fifth, the most weary, according to which David every night washed his bed and his couch with tears. It follows, As it is written in the book of Esaias the Prophet, The voice of one crying in the wilderness. (Is. 40:3.)

And he came into all the region of Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. It is clear to all readers that John not only preached the baptism of repentance, but also gave it to some, yet nevertheless he was not able to give his baptism for the remission of sins. For the remission of sins is granted to us only in the baptism of Christ. Therefore it must be noted what is said: Preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, because the baptism that would loose sins, since he was not able to give it, he preached: so that just as he preceded the incarnate Word of the Father with the word of preaching, so he might precede the baptism of repentance, by which sins are loosed, with his own baptism, by which sins cannot be loosed; so that because his speech preceded the presence of the Redeemer, his baptism also by preceding might become a shadow of the truth.

(ubi sup.) It is plain to every reader that John not only preached the baptism of repentance, but to some also he gave it, yet his own baptism he could not give for the remission of sins.

(ubi sup.) Or John is said to preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, because the baptism which was to take away sin, as he could not give, he preached; just as the Incarnate Word of the Father preceded the word of preaching, so the baptism of repentance, which was able to take away sin, was preceded by John's baptism, which could not take away sin.

(ubi sup.) For as the sacrifice had not yet been offered up, nor had the holy Spirit descended, how could remission of sins be given? What is it then that St. Luke means by the words, for the remission of sins? Seeing the Jews were ignorant, and knew not the weight of their sins, and because this was the cause of their evils, in order that they might be convinced of their sins and seek a Redeemer, John came exhorting them to repentance, that being thereby made better and sorrowful for their sins, they might be ready to receive pardon. Rightly then after saying, that he came preaching the baptism of repentance, he adds, for the remission of sins. As if he should say, The reason by which he persuaded them to repent was, that thereby they would the more easily obtain subsequent pardon, believing on Christ. For if they were not led by repentance, in vain could they ask for grace, other than as a preparation for faith in Christ.

The Jordan is interpreted as "descending." Truly, the river of God is a descent, the true water, the saving water. And he preaches "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." "For the forgiveness of sins" to whom? To the one who no longer sins; for forgiveness of sins is not given to one who still sins.

But he was the forerunner of Christ, "the voice of one crying in the desert," to a soul not at war; and not just then, but even now the first "burning and shining lamp" comes "preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins," then after him comes "the true light," about which the lamp says, "He must increase, but I must decrease." "And he went into all the region around the Jordan." For where else should the baptist go except "into the region around the Jordan," so that if anyone wishes to repent, he can easily find the river?

Jordan is the same as descending, for there descends from God a river of healing water. But what parts would John be traversing but the country lying about Jordan, that the penitent sinner might soon arrive at the flowing stream, humbling himself to receive the baptism of repentance. For it is added, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

He preached to the people "the baptism of repentance," that is, of confession. And this baptism assisted them toward the remission of sins, granted through the baptism of Christ. For the baptism of John did not have the remission of sins, but led to remission, that is, it prepared the people to receive the baptism of Christ, which has the remission of sins.

Again, the wilderness is the Church itself, for the barren has more children than she who has an husband. The word of the Lord came, that the earth which was before barren might bring forth fruit unto us.

John the forerunner of the Word is rightly called the voice, because the voice being inferior precedes, the Word, which is more excellent, follows.

(non occ.) And because a path is a way trodden down by those that have gone before, and which former men have worn away, the word bids those who depart from the zeal of their predecessors repeatedly pursue it.

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: The voice, etc. The same John the Baptist, being asked who he was, answered, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, who is therefore called a voice by the prophet because he preceded the word; who also cries in the wilderness, because he announces the comfort of redemption to the abandoned and destitute Judea. What he cried out is made clear when it is added: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Whoever preaches true faith and good works, what else is he doing but preparing the way for the Lord to come to the hearts of the listeners? That the power of grace may penetrate these, and the light of truth may illuminate, making straight paths for God, by forming pure thoughts in the mind through the word of good preaching.

As it is written etc. Here the authority of John is commended from the prophetic attestation, in which John preaching is shown to have the office of arousing, admonishing, and consoling. — He is shown, I say, first to have the office of arousing through exclamation: and therefore it is said: As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: for this is written in Isaiah forty. Moreover, John is called a voice, because, just as the voice precedes the word, so John preceded Christ: and the voice of one crying, because it arouses the sleeping, that they may awaken to the light, according to that passage in Isaiah fifty-eight: "Cry out, cease not, lift up your voice like a trumpet"; and Job thirty-seven: "The Lord will thunder wondrously with his voice," "and he shall not be searched out, when his voice has been heard." This is the voice of which it is said in the Psalm: "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of majesty has thundered." Whence John, in John one, responded to those asking: "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness." The voice therefore is an expressive sign of the word: whence the prophecies of others were as it were a nod with respect to Christ, but John's was as it were a voice with respect to the Word, because he showed him visibly.

It is also shown secondly that he has the office of admonishing through exhortation, when it is added: Prepare the way of the Lord, namely through the observance of the commandments. Psalm: "I have run the way of your commandments"; and Baruch 3: "If you had walked in the way of God, you would surely have dwelt in peace upon the earth." Make straight his paths, through the observance of the counsels: Proverbs 4: "I have shown you the way of wisdom and led you through the paths of equity, which when you have entered, your steps shall not be straitened, and running you shall have no stumbling block"; Isaiah 26: "The path of the just is right, the right way of the just to walk in," etc. Psalm: "Direct me in the path of your commandments," etc. — Make straight, namely the intentions: Job 1: "And that man was simple and upright and fearing God and departing from evil." — The thoughts: Psalm: "The innocent and the upright have adhered to me"; and Ecclesiastes 7: "This I have found, that God made man upright." — The affections: Song of Songs 1: "The upright love you"; and Psalm: "How good is the God of Israel to those who are upright of heart"! — The words: Proverbs 8: "All my words are just; they are right to those who understand." — The actions: Proverbs 20: "By his pursuits a child is known, whether his works are clean and right"; Job 8: "If you walk clean and upright, he will presently awake unto you." — The sufferings: Job 4: "Remember, I beseech you, who ever perished being innocent? Or when were the upright destroyed?" — The rewards: Proverbs 11: "The justice of the upright shall deliver them." For justice, according to Tully, is "the constant and perpetual will to render to each one his right." — Those who walk by these rectitudes are understood through those living creatures of which Ezekiel 1 says: "Their feet were straight," etc.

John, being chosen for the apostleship, was also the last of the holy prophets. For this reason, as the Lord has not come yet, he says, "Prepare the way of the Lord." What is the meaning of "Prepare the way of the Lord"? It means, Make ready for the reception of whatever Christ may wish to do. Withdraw your hearts from the shadow of the law, discard vague figures and no longer think perversely. Make the paths of our God straight. For every path that leads to good is straight and smooth and easy, but the one that is crooked leads down to wickedness those that walk in it.

(in Esai. 40. lib. 3.) But suppose some one should answer, saying, How shall we prepare the way of the Lord, or how shall we make His paths straight? since so many are the hindrances to those who wish to lead an honest life. To this the word of prophecy replies, There are some ways and paths by no means easy to travel, being in some places hilly and rugged, in others steep and precipitous; to remove which it says, Every valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill shall he brought low. Some roads are most unequally constructed, and while in one part rising, in another sloping downwards, are very difficult to pass. And here he adds, And the crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth. But this was in a spiritual manner brought to pass by the power of our Saviour. For formerly to pursue an Evangelical course of life was a difficult task, for men's minds were so immersed in worldly pleasures. But now that God being made Man, has condemned sin in the flesh, all things are made plain, and the way of going has become easy, and neither hill nor valley is an obstacle to those who wish to advance.

"I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said." You know, dearest brothers, that the only-begotten Son is called the Word of the Father, as John testifies when he says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And from your own manner of speaking you recognize that the voice sounds first, so that the word may afterward be heard. Therefore John asserts that he is the voice, because he precedes the Word. And so, going before the coming of the Lord, he is called a voice, because through his ministry the Word of the Father is heard by men. He also cries out in the wilderness, because he announces the comfort of the Redeemer to abandoned and forsaken Judea. But what he cries out he indicates when he adds: "Make straight the way of the Lord." The way of the Lord is made straight to the heart when the word of truth is humbly heard. The way of the Lord is made straight to the heart when one's life is prepared according to his commandment.

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Indeed, the same John the Baptist, when asked who he was, answered, saying: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. He, as was said by us before, was called a voice by the prophet because he preceded the Word. But what he cried out is revealed when it is added: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Everyone who preaches right faith and good works, what else does he do but prepare a way for the coming Lord into the hearts of his hearers? So that the power of grace may penetrate, so that the light of truth may illuminate, so that he may make straight paths for God, while he forms pure thoughts in the mind through the word of good preaching.

(7, 20. in Ev.) John cries in the desert because he brings the glad tidings of redemption to deserted and forsaken Judæa, but what he cries is explained in the words, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. For they who preach true faith and good works, what else do they than prepare the way for the Lord's coming into the hearts of the hearers, that they might make the paths of God straight, forming pure thoughts in the mind by the word of good preaching.

Thus the prophet wrote that he shall come saying, "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." And John himself said when he came, "Bring forth fruits consistent with repentance," which corresponds with "prepare the way of the Lord." See that both by the words of the prophet and by his own preaching, this one thing is manifested alone. John was to come, making a way and preparing beforehand, not bestowing the gift, which was the remission, but ordering in good time the souls of such as should receive the God of all.

(ubi sup.) But to cry, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, was not the office of the king, but of the forerunner. And so they called John the voice, because he was the forerunner of the Word.

"Prepare a way for the Lord." What way are we to prepare for the Lord? Surely not a material way. Can the Word of God go on such a journey? Should not the way be prepared for the Lord within? Should not straight and level paths be built in our hearts? This is the way by which the Word of God has entered. That Word dwells in the spaces of the human heart.

I believe that the mystery of John is still being achieved in the world today. If anyone is going to believe in Christ Jesus, John's spirit and power first come to his soul and "prepare a perfect people for the Lord." It makes the ways in the heart's rough places smooth and straightens out its paths.

Or, a way must be prepared in our heart for the Lord, for the heart of man is large and spacious if it has become clean. For imagine not that in the size of the body, but in the virtue of the understanding, consists that greatness which must receive the knowledge of the truth. Prepare then in thy heart by good conversation a way for the Lord, and by perfect works pursue the path of life, that so the word of God may have free course in thee.

As messenger of God, who was about to come, He faithfully observed this law, constructing well, That every hill might low become and tough ways plain, Lest when the truth should glide from heaven down to earth It then would find a barrier to its swift approach.

The law, indeed, had to be overthrown, from the moment when John "cried in the wilderness, Prepare ye the ways of the Lord," that valleys and hills and mountains may be filled up and levelled, and the crooked and the rough ways be made straight and smooth -in other words, that the difficulties of the law might be changed into the facilities of the gospel.

John holds not his peace, saying, "Enter upon repentance, for now shall salvation approach the nations" -the Lord, that is, bringing salvation according to God's promise.

The "way" which he commands to prepare is the manner of life according to the teaching of Christ, for the Lord was soon to preach. The "paths" are the commandments of the Law, as if already worn away. He commands to make them "straight" because the Pharisees had perverted the commandments. By "way" one can also understand the soul, and by "paths" the thoughts and deeds. Thus we must prepare the soul and make right our deeds and thoughts.

(non occ.) But as the hills differ from mountains in respect of height, in other things are the same, so also the adverse powers agree indeed in purpose, but are distinguished from one another in the enormity of their offences.

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. What else is meant by the term valley in this place but the humble; what else by mountains and hills but proud men? At the coming of the Redeemer, therefore, the valleys were filled, and the mountains and hills were made low. Because according to his word, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled: and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14). For a valley filled grows, but a mountain and a hill made low decrease. Because in the faith of the mediator of God and men, the man Jesus Christ, both the gentiles received the fullness of grace, and Judea through the error of perfidy, lost that by which it was arrogant.

The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth. The crooked are made straight when the hearts of the wicked, twisted by injustice, are guided to the rule of justice. The rough ways are made smooth when harsh and irascible minds are brought back to gentleness through the infusion of heavenly grace. For when the word of truth is not received by an irascible mind, it is as if the roughness of the path repels the steps of the one advancing. But when the irascible mind, corrected through the grace of gentleness, receives the word of reproof or exhortation, the preacher finds a smooth way there, where previously he could not step forward due to the roughness of the path, that is, where he could not engage in the steps of preaching.

It is also shown thirdly to have the office of consoling through promise, when it is added: Every valley etc.; in which he foretells the effect of Christ's coming with respect to the humble just, with respect to sinners, and with respect to all. — Because he will exalt the humble; on account of which it is said: Every valley shall be filled, that is, the humble one: Psalm: "The valleys shall abound with grain"; above in the first chapter: "He has exalted the humble"; below in the eighteenth chapter: "Everyone who humbles himself shall be exalted." The figure of this is in Fourth Kings, chapter four, where Elisha filled the empty vessels. — He will humble the proud; on account of which is added: And every mountain and hill shall be brought low: Isaiah forty-five: "I will go before you and will humble the glorious ones of the earth"; Job forty: "Look upon every arrogant one and humble him." — He will set straight those who go astray: on account of which he adds: And the crooked shall be made straight: Bede: That is, the hearts of the wicked, twisted through injustice, shall be made straight, that is, they shall be directed to the rule of justice: Proverbs sixteen: "Reveal your works to the Lord, and your thoughts shall be directed." This moreover is against hypocrites, who hide their counsels from the Lord: Second Thessalonians three: "But may the Lord direct your hearts" etc. — He will calm the turbulent: on account of which he says: And the rough ways into smooth paths, that is, wrathful minds shall be converted to meekness; Isaiah eleven: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the lion and the sheep shall abide together."

(ubi sup.) Or by the valleys he means a quiet habitual practice of virtue, as in the Psalms, The valleys shall be filled with corn. (Ps. 65:13.)

(ubi sup.) Or, He orders the valleys to be filled, the mountains and hills to be cast down, to show that the rule of virtue neither fails from want of good, nor transgresses from excess.

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low. What is designated by the name of valleys in this place except the humble, what by mountains and hills except proud people? At the coming of the Redeemer, therefore, valleys were filled, but mountains and hills were brought low, because according to his voice: Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. For a valley that is filled grows, but a mountain and hill that is brought low decreases, because indeed in the faith of the Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, the Gentiles received the fullness of grace, while Judea through the error of unbelief lost that by which it was puffed up. For every valley shall be filled, because the hearts of the humble will be filled with the grace of virtues through the eloquence of sacred teaching, according to what is written: He sends forth springs in the valleys. And from which again it is said: And the valleys shall abound with grain. For water flows down from mountains; because the teaching of truth abandons proud minds. But springs rise in the valleys, because humble minds receive the word of preaching. Already we see, already we perceive that the valleys abound with grain, because their mouths are filled with the food of truth who, being meek and simple, seemed despicable to this world.

The people, seeing that John the Baptist himself was endowed with wonderful holiness, believed him to be that singularly lofty and solid mountain of which it is written: "In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains." For they thought he was Christ, as it is said through the Gospel: "And as the people were in expectation, and all were reasoning in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he might be the Christ," whom they also sought out saying: "Are you the Christ?" But unless John had been a valley within himself, he would not have been filled with the spirit of grace. To show what he was, he said: "There comes one mightier than I after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to loose." And again he said: "He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease." Behold, although he was such through his wonderful working of virtues that he was believed to be Christ, he not only answered that he was not Christ, but also declared that he was not worthy to loose the strap of his sandal, that is, to scrutinize the mystery of his incarnation. Those who thought John was Christ believed the Church to be his bride. But he said: "He who has the bride is the bridegroom." As if to say: I am not the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom. Nor did he declare that he rejoiced because of his own voice, but in the voice of the bridegroom, because he did not rejoice in his heart because he was humbly heard by the people when he spoke, but because he himself heard the voice of truth within so that he might speak outwardly. He rightly says his joy was fulfilled, because whoever rejoices in his own voice does not have full joy. And he adds: "He must increase, but I must decrease." In this matter we must ask in what way Christ increased and in what way John decreased, unless it be that the people, seeing John's abstinence and observing that he was withdrawn from men, thought he was Christ; but seeing Christ eating with tax collectors and walking among sinners, they believed he was not Christ but a prophet. But as time passed, Christ who was thought to be a prophet was recognized as Christ, and John who was believed to be Christ became known to be a prophet, and thus was fulfilled what his forerunner predicted about Christ: "He must increase, but I must decrease." Indeed, in the estimation of the people Christ increased because he was recognized as what he was; and John decreased because he ceased to be called what he was not. Therefore, since John persisted in holiness because he persevered in humility of heart, and many fell because they swelled up with proud thoughts within themselves, let it rightly be said: "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low," because the humble receive the gift which the hearts of the proud repel from themselves.

The text continues: "And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth." The crooked are made straight when the hearts of the wicked, twisted by injustice, are directed to the rule of justice. And the rough are changed into smooth ways when harsh and wrathful minds, through the infusion of heavenly grace, return to the gentleness of meekness. For when the word of truth is not received by a wrathful mind, the roughness of the path, as it were, repels the step of one journeying. But when a wrathful mind, through the received grace of meekness, accepts the word of correction or exhortation, there the preacher finds a smooth way where previously, because of the roughness of the path, he was unable to proceed—that is, to set the step of preaching.

(20. in Ev.) Or, the valley when filled increases, but the mountains and hills when brought low decrease, because the Gentiles by faith in Christ receive fulness of grace, but the Jews by their sin of treachery have lost that wherein they boasted. For the humble receive a gift because the hearts of the proud they keep afar off.

(ubi sup.) But the crooked places are become straight, when the hearts of the wicked, perverted by a course of injustice, are directed to the rule of justice. But the rough ways are changed to smooth, when fierce and savage dispositions by the influence of Divine grace return to gentleness and meckness.

Do you perceive how the prophet anticipated all by his words—the concourse of the people? Thus, when he says, "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the rough ways shall be made smooth," he is signifying the exaltation of the lowly, the humiliation of the self-willed, the hardness of the law changed into easiness of faith. For it is no longer toils and labors, says he, but grace and forgiveness of sins, affording the way to salvation. Next he states the cause of these things, saying, "All flesh shall see the salvation of God." No longer Jews and proselytes only, but also all earth and sea and the whole race of people may be saved. By "the crooked things" he signified our whole corrupt life, publicans, harlots, robbers and magicians, as many as having been perverted before, afterward walk in the right way. As Jesus himself likewise said, "Tax collectors and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you," because they believed.

(ubi sup.) He denounces the haughty and arrogant by the name of mountains, whom Christ has brought low. But by the hills He implies the wreckless, not only because of the pride of their hearts, but because of the barrenness of despair. For the hill produces no fruit.

For when Jesus had come and sent His Spirit, every valley was filled with good works, and the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which if thou hast, thou wilt not only cease to become a valley, but will begin also to be a mountain of God.

Or you may understand the mountains and hills to be the hostile powers, which have been overthrown by the coming of Christ.

Then it is as if someone asked: how shall we accomplish this? For virtue is not easy to fulfill and encounters many snares and obstacles both from the evil powers and from the passions dwelling in us. He answers that nothing will be difficult, but all will be easy. For the valleys "shall be filled," that is, our natural powers, weakened for good and brought to a low state, shall be replenished; "every mountain and hill," that is, the opposing powers and desires that seem to us implanted by nature, have truly been weakened; and everything has become level, and what was crooked has been changed to straight. For Christ abolished the opposing powers, which are here called mountains and hills, and revived our natural impulses toward good, which the Evangelist called the valleys that are filled. For He became incarnate for this very reason: to restore our nature to its proper form.

The expression of Scripture, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God," may without difficulty be understood as if it were said, "And every man shall see the Christ of God." And He certainly was seen in the body, and shall be seen in the body when He judges quick and dead. And that Christ is the salvation of God, many other passages of Scripture witness, but especially the words of the venerable Simeon, who, when he had received into his hands the infant Christ, said, "Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation."

And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Because "all flesh" is understood as every human being, but not every human being could see Christ, the salvation of God, in this life. So where does the prophet direct the prophetic eye in this sentence if not toward the day of the final judgment? When the heavens are opened, the angels minister, and the Apostles are seated, and Christ appears on His throne of majesty, all will see Him, the wicked equally with the just, so that the just may rejoice forever in the reward of their recompense, and the unjust may eternally groan in the punishment of vengeance. For this sentence intends that He will be seen by all flesh at the final judgment, and rightly it is added.

He will illuminate all who approach: on account of which he adds: And all flesh shall see the salvation of God, that is, from every kind of flesh, as the distribution gives for the classes of individuals, according to that of the Psalm: "All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God." In Isaiah forty, after the aforementioned words, it is added: "And all flesh together shall see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken." But in the fifty-second chapter it is said: "All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." And note that the very same one who is the mouth or Word of the Father according to his Divinity, is the salvation according to his humanity.

And all flesh did see the salvation of God, even of the Father: for He sent the Son to be our Saviour. And in these words by "flesh," man generally is to be understood, that is, the whole human race. For thus all flesh shall see the salvation of God: no longer Israel only, but all flesh. For the gentleness of the Saviour and Lord of all is not limited, nor did He save one nation merely, but rather embraced within His net the whole world, and has illuminated all who were in darkness. And this is what was celebrated by the Psalmist's lyre, "All the nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord." While at the same time the remnant of the Israelites is saved, as the great Moses also long ago declared, saying, "Rejoice ye nations with His people."

(ubi sup.) That is, of the Father, who sent His Son as our Saviour. But the flesh is here taken for the whole man.

There follows: "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Because by "all flesh" is meant every person, not every person was able to see the salvation of God, namely Christ, in this life. Where then does the prophet direct the eye of prophecy in this statement except to the day of the last judgment? When, with the heavens opened, angels ministering, apostles seated alongside, Christ shall appear on the throne of His majesty, all—both the elect and the reprobate alike—will see Him, so that the just may rejoice without end in the gift of recompense, and the unjust may groan perpetually in the vengeance of punishment.

(ubi sup.) Or else, All flesh, i. e. Every man can not see the salvation of God in Christ in this life. The Prophet therefore stretches his eye beyond to the last day of judgment, when all men both the elect and the reprobate shall equally see Him.

"Every flesh shall see," it is said, "the salvation of God" — not only the Jews and proselytes, but "every flesh," for the Gospel has been carried throughout all the earth. One could say much more besides, but for the sake of greater clarity, let this suffice.

We see these men through the compassion of God, inspired with prudence to seek repentance of their crimes, dreading with wise devotion the terror of the judgment to come. Or perhaps, according to the precept, Be ye wise as serpents, (Matt. 10:16.) they are shown to have a natural prudence, who perceive what is coming, and earnestly desire help, though they still forsake not what is hurtful.

(cont. Eunom. lib. 2.) Now it may be observed, that the following words natus and filius are spoken of animals, but genimen may be said of the fœtus before it is formed in the womb; the fruit of the palm trees is also called genimina, but that word is very seldom used with respect to animals, and when it is, always in a bad sense.

He said therefore to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him: "Brood of vipers," etc. For the coming wrath is the judgment of final retribution. The sinner will not be able to escape this judgment who now does not turn to the laments of penance. And it is to be noted that the offspring of the wicked, imitating the actions of their evil parents, are called a brood of vipers. Because by envying the good and persecuting them, by repaying evil to others, by seeking to harm their neighbors, in all these things they follow the ways of their carnal predecessors, as if venomous offspring born of venomous parents. But since we have already sinned, since we are entangled in the habit of evil custom, let him tell us what we must do to be able to flee from the coming wrath.

He said therefore to the crowds etc. Here the preaching of John is commended for the severity of his zeal. And because piety ought to be joined to severity, therefore first a rebuke is set forth; second, an exhortation is added, at the words: Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance; third, a threat is subjoined, at the words: For now the axe is laid to the root etc. The rebuke is of fault, the admonition is of penance, but the threat is of penal punishment. — The rebuke moreover is concerning two things, namely concerning the certain malice of fault and concerning the ignorance or inconsideration of punishment.

He rebukes therefore concerning the certain malice of fault under the metaphor of the viper, when it is said: He said therefore to the crowds that went out to be baptized by him: Brood of vipers, etc. And note that he compares them to vipers on account of a threefold property: "For the viper, when it has bitten a man, immediately runs to water: so these, confessing mortal sins, were running to baptism." Against which, Sirach thirty-four: "He who is baptized from the dead and again touches the dead, what does his washing profit"? Likewise, the broods of vipers are born by rupturing the maternal entrails: so these, by persecuting the Prophets, violated their maternal entrails: Matthew twenty-three: "You are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who killed the Prophets." "Serpents, brood of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of Gehenna"? "Likewise, outwardly they are beautiful and as if painted, but inwardly filled with venom"; so also these: Matthew twenty-three: "You are like whitewashed sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful to men, but inwardly are full of the bones of the dead".

He rebukes also concerning the lack of consideration of punishment, when he adds: Who showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Gregory: "The wrath to come is the retribution of the final vengeance, which the sinner cannot then flee who now does not have recourse to the laments of penance"; First Thessalonians five: "Then sudden destruction shall come upon them, as labor pains upon her who is with child, and they shall not escape"; likewise, Revelation six: "They shall say to the mountains: Fall upon us, and to the hills: Cover us from the face of him who sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb"; Jeremiah twenty-five: "Their land has been made a desolation from the face of the wrath of the dove and from the face of the wrath of the fury of the Lord"; therefore Job nineteen: "Flee from the face of the sword"; the Psalm: "Where shall I go from your spirit, and where shall I flee from your face"? Not "to Tarshish" with Jonah, Jonah one — for Tarshish is interpreted as "exploration of joy" — but with the Prophet into the desert of penance: the Psalm: "I went far off, fleeing, and remained in solitude"; Matthew twenty-four: "Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains"; "But pray that your flight be not in winter or on the Sabbath".

Denunciation is vehement speech. And He employs denunciation as medicine, by Isaiah, saying, "Ah, sinful nation, lawless sons, people full of sins, wicked seed!" And in the Gospel by John He says, "Serpents, brood of vipers."

WE affirm therefore that the blessed Baptist, as being full of the Holy Ghost, was not ignorant of the daring acts that Jewish wickedness would venture against Christ. For he foreknew that they would both disbelieve in Him, and wagging their envenomed tongue, would pour forth railings and accusations against Him: accusing Him at one time of being born of fornication; at another, as one who wrought His miracles by the help of Beelzebub, prince of the devils: and again, as one that had a devil, and was no whit better than a Samaritan. Having this therefore in view, he calls even those of them who repent wicked, and reproves them because, though they had the law speaking unto them the mystery of Christ, and the predictions of the prophets relating thereunto, they nevertheless had become dull of hearing, and unready for faith in Christ the Saviour of all. "For who hath warned you to flee from the coining wrath?" Was it not the inspired Scripture, which tells the happiness of those who believe in Christ, but forewarns those who believe not, and are ignorant, that they will be condemned to severe and inevitable punishment?

For because this statement aims at this—that He will be seen by all flesh at the final examination—it is rightly added: "He said therefore to the crowds that went out to be baptized by him: You offspring of vipers, who has shown you to flee from the wrath to come?" For the wrath to come is the punishment of final vengeance, which the sinner cannot then escape who does not now have recourse to the laments of penance. And it should be noted that evil offspring, imitating the actions of evil parents, are called offspring of vipers, because by envying the good and persecuting them, by returning evil to some, by seeking injuries against their neighbors—since in all these things they follow the ways of their carnal forebears—they are as if venomous children born from venomous parents.

(in Hom. 20, in Ev.) Because the Jews hated good men, and persecuted them, following the steps of their carnal parents, they are by birth the poisonous sons, as it were, of poisonous or sorcerous parents. But because the preceding verse declares that at the last judgment Christ shall be seen by all flesh, it is rightly added, Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? The wrath to come being the awarding of final punishment.

(Hom. in Matt. 10.) The dweller in the wilderness, when he saw all the people of Palestine standing round him and wondering, bent not beneath the weight of such respect, but rose up against them and reproved them. (Hom. in Gen. 12.) The holy Scripture often gives the names of wild beasts to men, according to the passions which excite them, calling them sometimes dogs because of their impudence, horses on account of their lust, asses for their folly, lions and panthers for their ravening and wantonness, asps for their guile, serpents and vipers for their poison and cunning; and so in this place John calls the Jews a generation of vipers.

(Hom. in Matt. 11.) Now they say that the female viper kills the male in copulation, and the fœtus as it increases in the womb kills the mother, and so comes forth into life, bursting open the womb in revenge as it were of its father's death; the viper progeny therefore are parricides. Such also were the Jews, who killed their spiritual fathers and teachers. But what if he found them not sinning, but beginning to be converted? He ought not surely to rebuke them, but to comfort them. We answer, that he gave not heed to those things which are outward, for he knew the secrets of their hearts, the Lord revealing them to him; for they vaunted themselves too much in their forefathers. Cutting therefore at this root, he calls them a generation of vipers, not indeed that he blamed the Patriarchs, or called them vipers.

No one that remains in his old state, and forsakes not his old habits and practices, can rightly come to be baptized; whoever then wishes to be baptized, let him go forth. Hence are those words significantly spoken, And he said unto the multitude that went forth to be baptized of him. To the multitudes then who are going forth to the laver of baptism, He speaks the following words, for if they had already gone forth, He would not have said, O generation of vipers.

The Jews he calls "offspring of vipers," because they insulted their fathers and mothers; for this animal, they say, gnaws through the womb of its mother and is thus born. Moreover, they killed the prophets and teachers. By "the wrath to come" he means the eternal punishment.

But although God can alter and change the most diverse natures, yet in my mind a mystery is of more avail than a miracle. For what else than stones were they who bowed down to stones, like indeed to them who made them. It is prophesied therefore that faith shall be poured into the stony hearts of the Gentiles, and through faith the oracles promise that Abraham shall have sons. But that you may know who are the men compared to stones, he has also compared men to trees, adding, For now the axe is laid to the root of the tree. This change of figure was made, that by means of comparison might be understood to have now commenced a more kindly growth of manhood.

Let him then that is able bring forth fruit unto grace, him who ought, unto repentance. The Lord is at hand seeking for His fruit, who shall cherish the fruitful, but rebuke the barren.

In a word, therefore, let us all listen, and seriously reflect what great merit there is in having fed Christ when he was hungry—and what sort of a crime it is to have ignored Christ when he was hungry. Repentance for our sins does indeed change us for the better. But even repentance will not appear to be of much use to us if works of mercy do not accompany it. Truth bears witness to this through John, who said to those who came to him, "Bear fruits that befit repentance." And so those who haven't produced such fruits have no reason to suppose that by a barren repentance they will earn pardon for their sins.

(non occ.) For neither does the speed of its sire make the horse swift; but as the goodness of other animals is looked for in individuals, so also that is reckoned to be man's legitimate praise which is decided by the test of his present worth. For it is a disgraceful thing for a man to be adorned with the honours of another, when he has no virtue of his own to commend him.

Therefore, produce fruit worthy of repentance. In these words, it is notable that he advises not only producing fruits of repentance but also those worthy of repentance. For it is one thing to produce a fruit of repentance and another to produce one worthy of repentance. Indeed, the fruit of good work ought not to be equal for one who has sinned less and one who has sinned more, or for one who has not fallen into any sins and one who has committed certain crimes. Therefore, by the phrase "produce fruits worthy of repentance," each person's conscience is addressed, so that one seeks greater gains of good works through repentance, to the extent that they have brought upon themselves greater losses through their faults. But the Jews, boasting in the nobility of their lineage, refused to acknowledge themselves as sinners because they were descended from Abraham's lineage. To them, it is rightly said:

And do not begin to say, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones. For what were stones, if not the hearts of the Gentiles, insensible to the knowledge of the Almighty God? Just as it is said to some Jews: 'I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh' (Ezekiel 36). And it is not unreasonably that the Gentiles are signified by the name of stones, as they worshipped stones. Whence it is written: 'Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them' (Psalm 113). Indeed, from these very stones children of Abraham have been raised up, for as the hard hearts of the Gentiles believed in the seed of Abraham, which is Christ, they became his children, united to his seed. Hence, it is said to these same Gentiles by the valiant preacher: 'And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed' (Galatians 3). So, if we through faith in Christ now exist as the seed of Abraham, the Jews, due to their unbelief, have ceased to be Abraham's children.

Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance, etc. Here is set forth an exhortation concerning two things, namely concerning the humility of satisfaction and concerning caution against presumption. — As regards the humility of satisfaction, it is said: Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance, so that the satisfaction may be condign: Romans 6: "As you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members to serve justice unto sanctification"; because it is said in Deuteronomy 25: "According to the measure of the sin shall the measure of the stripes also be." Whence Gregory: "The fruit of good work is not equal for one who has sinned little or not at all and for one who has fallen gravely. For it is necessary that one inflict upon oneself lamentations through penance the greater, the graver the damages one has inflicted upon oneself through fault."

But as regards caution against presumption, it is added: And do not begin to say: We have Abraham for our father, according to that passage in John 8: "We are the seed of Abraham, and we have never served anyone"; Romans 9: "Not all who are the seed of Abraham are children of Abraham," unless they also imitate the father: John 8: "If you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham"; Isaiah 51: "Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah who bore you."

And he gives the reason when he adds: For I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Literally able, because, Wisdom 12, "the ability is at hand to you whenever you will it." Or from stones, that is, from the Gentiles. Gregory: "The Gentiles are rightly called stones, because they worship stones," according to that passage of the Psalm: "Let those who make them become like them." Ambrose: "He compares the Gentiles to stones, because they are unshapen for use, bare for adornment, barren for fruit, irrational for progress." And from these children of Abraham have been raised up; Galatians 3: "But if you are Christ's, then you are the seed of Abraham"; Romans 9: "Not those who are children of the flesh are children of God, but those who are children of the promise are counted as the seed." Such are those who imitate Abraham through faith: John 1: "He gave them power to become children of God." And therefore on account of the faith of the Gentile centurion it is said in Matthew 8: "Many shall come from the east and the west and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven."

Can you see how most skillfully he humbles their foolish pride and shows that their being born of Abraham according to the flesh brings them no profit? Of what benefit is nobility of birth, if people's deeds are not accordingly earnest and they fail to imitate the virtue of their ancestors? The Savior says to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do what Abraham did." The relationship that God requires is one of character and manners. Thus it is useless to boast of holy and good parents, while we fall short of their virtue.But, says the Jew, if it is so, how is the seed of Abraham still to be multiplied? How can God's promise to him hold true, according to which he will multiply his seed as the stars of heaven? By the calling of the Gentiles, O Jew! God said to Abraham himself, "Through Isaac shall your descendants be named," adding that he has set Abraham as a father of many nations. But the phrase "through Isaac" means "according to promise." He is set, therefore, as a father of many nations by faith, that is to say, in Christ. As can be seen, the blessed Baptist called them stones, because they as yet did not know the one who is by nature God. They were in error and in their great folly worshiped the creation instead of the Creator. But they were called and became the sons of Abraham and, by believing in Christ, acknowledged him who is by nature God.

For what profits the nobleness we inherit through the flesh, unless it be supported by kindred feelings in us? It is folly then to boast of our worthy ancestors, and fall away from their virtues.

(non occ.) So then having foretold the casting away of the Jews, He goes on to allude to the calling of the Gentiles, whom He calls stones. Hence it follows, For I say unto you, &c.

But because we have already sinned, because we are entangled by the habit of evil custom, let him say what we must do in order to be able to flee from the wrath to come. There follows: "Therefore bring forth fruits worthy of repentance." In these words it should be noted that the friend of the bridegroom admonishes that not only fruits of repentance should be brought forth, but fruits worthy of repentance. For it is one thing to bring forth a fruit of repentance, another to bring forth a fruit worthy of repentance. For to speak according to fruits worthy of repentance, it must be known that whoever has committed no unlawful things, to him it is rightly granted to use lawful things; and so let him do works of piety, yet if he does not wish, he need not abandon the things that are of the world. But if anyone has fallen into the sin of fornication, or perhaps, what is more serious, into adultery, he ought to cut off from himself lawful things to the same degree that he remembers having perpetrated unlawful things. For the fruit of good work ought not to be equal for him who has sinned less and him who has sinned more, or for him who has fallen into no crimes and him who has fallen into some crimes, and him who has fallen into many. Therefore by what is said, "Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance," the conscience of each person is addressed, so that one may seek greater gains of good works through repentance to the same degree that one has brought upon oneself greater losses through sin.

But the Jews, glorying in the nobility of their lineage, were unwilling to acknowledge themselves as sinners for this reason: that they had descended from the stock of Abraham. To them it is rightly said: "And do not begin to say, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." For what were the stones but the hearts of the Gentiles, insensible to the understanding of Almighty God? As it is also said to certain ones among the Jews: "I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh." Nor is it undeserved that the Gentiles were signified by the name of stones, because they worshipped stones. Whence it is written: "Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them." From these stones, indeed, children of Abraham were raised up, because when the hard hearts of the Gentiles believed in the seed of Abraham, that is, in Christ, they became children of him to whose seed they were united. Whence also it is said to these same Gentiles through the outstanding preacher: "But if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed." If therefore we, through faith in Christ, are now the seed of Abraham, the Jews on account of their unbelief have ceased to be children of Abraham. That indeed on that day of the dreadful judgment good parents cannot benefit wicked children, the prophet testifies who says: "If Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst of them, as I live, says the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter, but they themselves shall deliver their own souls by their righteousness." And again, that good children profit wicked parents nothing, but rather the goodness of children increases the guilt of wicked parents, the Truth Himself says to the unbelieving Jews: "If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges."

(ubi sup.) But because he cannot then flee from the wrath of God, who now has not recourse to the sorrows of repentance, it is added, Bring forth therefore fruits.

(ubi sup.) He warns them that they must bring forth not only the fruits of repentance, but fruits worthy of repentance. For he that has violated no law, to him it is permitted to use what is lawful, but if a man has fallen into sin, he ought so to cut himself off from what is lawful, as he remembers to have committed what is unlawful. For the fruit of good works ought not to be equal in the man who has sinned less, and the man who has sinned more, nor in him who has fallen into no crimes, and him who has fallen into some. In this way it is adapted to the conscience of each man, that they should seek for so much the greater blessing on good works through repentance, as they have by guilt brought on themselves the heavier penalties.

(ubi sup.) But the Jews glorying in their noble birth were unwilling to acknowledge themselves sinners, because they were descended from the stock of Abraham. So then it is rightly said, And begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham for our father.

If, then, God promised him the inheritance of the land, yet he did not receive it during all the time of his sojourn there, it must be, that together with his seed, that is, those who fear God and believe in Him, he shall receive it at the resurrection of the just. For his seed is the Church, which receives the adoption to God through the Lord, as John the Baptist said: "For God is able from the stones to raise up children to Abraham." Thus also the apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians: "But ye, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of the promise." And again, in the same Epistle, he plainly declares that they who have believed in Christ do receive Christ, the promise to Abraham thus saying, "The promises were spoken to Abraham, and to his seed. Now He does not say, And of seeds, as if [He spake] of many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." And again, confirming his former words, he says, "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore, that they which are of faith are the children of Abraham. But the Scripture, fore-seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, declared to Abraham beforehand, That in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham." Thus, then, they who are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham, and these are the children of Abraham.

(ubi sup.) For it is not sufficient for the penitent to leave off his sins, he must also bring forth the fruits of repentance, as it is in the Psalms, depart from evil and do good, (Ps. 34:14.) just as in order to heal, it will not do to pluck out the arrow only, but we must also apply a salve to the wound. But he says not fruit, but fruits, signifying abundance.

(ubi sup.) Not meaning thereby that they had not descended in their natural course from Abraham, but that it avails them nothing to have Abraham for their father, unless they observed the relationship in respect of virtue. For Scripture is accustomed to entitle laws of relationship, such as do not exist by nature, but are derived from virtue or vice. To whichsoever of these two a man conforms himself, he is called its son or brother.

(ubi sup.) As if He said, Think not that if you perish the Patriarch will be deprived of sons, for God even from stones can produce men unto him, and prolong the line of his descendants. For so has it been from the beginning, seeing that for men to be made from stones unto Abraham is but equivalent to the coming forth of a son from the dead womb of Sarah.

(lib. Ascet.) The fruit of repentance is an equanimity of soul, which we do not fully obtain, as long as we are at times affected by our passions, for not as yet have we performed the fruits worthy of repentance. Let us then repent truly, that being delivered from our passions we may obtain the pardon of their sins.

To you who are coming to baptism, Scripture says, "Bear fruits that befit repentance." Do you want to know what fruits befit repentance? Love is a fruit of the Spirit. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. So are peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control, and the others of this sort. If we have all of these virtues, we have produced "fruits that befit repentance." … John, the last of the prophets, prophesies the expulsion of the first nation and the call of the Gentiles. To those who were boasting about Abraham he says, "Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for a father.' " And again he speaks about the Gentiles, "For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham."From what stones? Surely he was not pointing to irrational, material stones but to people who were uncomprehending and sometimes hard.

It is enough for me that even John, when "strewing the Lord's ways," was the herald of repentance no less to such as were on military service and to publicans, than to the sons of Abraham. The Lord Himself presumed repentance on the part of the Sidonians and Tyrians if they had seen the evidences of His "miracles.

For, in coming to the High Priest of the Father-Christ-all impediments must first be taken away, in the space of a week, that the house which remains, the flesh and the soul, may be clean; and when the Word of God has entered it, and has found "stains of red and green," forthwith must the deadly and sanguinary passions "be extracted" and "cast away" out of doors-for the Apocalypse withal has set "death" upon a "green horse," but a "warrior" upon a "red" -and in their stead must be under-strewn stones polished and apt for conjunction, and firm,-such as are made (by God) into (sons) of Abraham, -that thus the man may be fit for God.

"Worthy fruits of repentance" consist not only in departing from evil, but also in the practice of good; for the doing of good is truly the fruit and offspring of repentance. Do not begin to say within yourselves that you are of good lineage, and, hoping in your fathers, do not neglect virtue. God is able even from "these stones... to raise up children" to the patriarch; for something almost like this He did before as well. The womb of Sarah, though it was harder than stones, nevertheless received the grace of childbearing (Gen. 17:17).

The ax is already laid at the root of the tree. The tree of this world is the entire human race. The ax, however, is our Redeemer, who is held, as it were, by a handle and iron from humanity, but cuts from divinity. This ax is already laid at the root of the tree, because although He awaits patiently, it is evident what He is about to do.

Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. For every perverse person quickly finds the prepared burning of hell, who here scorns to bear the fruit of good work. It should be noted that the ax is said to be laid not next to the branches, but at the root. For when the children of the wicked are taken away, what else is it but the branches of the unfruitful tree being cut off? But when the whole progeny is taken away together with the parent, the unfruitful tree is cut off at the root, so that there no longer remains any source from where the wicked offspring could sprout again. In these words of John the Baptist, it is evident that the hearts of the listeners are disturbed, when it is immediately added:

For now the axe is laid to the root of the tree. Here thirdly is added a threat, which is twofold, namely concerning the present and concerning the future. — As to the threat concerning the present it is said: For now the axe is laid to the root of the tree. Whence the Gloss: "The axe is the judicial severity for utterly uprooting fruitless trees, insofar as they are fruitless"; of which it is said in the Epistle of Jude: "Autumn trees, fruitless, twice dead." And such were signified by that fig tree which the Lord withered, Matthew twenty-one, where he says that "he cursed the fig tree, and immediately it withered"; and the reason for this was that he did not find fruit in it. And yet another Evangelist, namely Mark eleven, says that "it was not the time of figs"; in which he intimates that at all times God requires fruit from us: Galatians last chapter: "And let us not grow weary in well doing: for in due season" etc.

But as to the threat concerning the future it is added: Every tree not bearing good fruit, that is, every unprofitable man without respect of persons: Proverbs six: "The jealousy and fury of a man will not spare in the day of vengeance, nor will he relent" etc. Shall be cut down, through death: below in chapter thirteen: "Cut it down; why does it even occupy the ground?" And Daniel four: "Cut down the tree and lop off its branches, shake off its leaves and scatter its fruits." The tree therefore is cut down not only for lack of fruit, but also of good fruit. — And shall be cast into the fire, namely through eternal damnation: John fifteen it is said of the fruitless branch: "They shall gather it and cast it into the fire" etc.: Matthew twenty-five: "Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire"; and Isaiah last chapter: "Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched."

What he means by the axe in this passage is the sharp wrath which God the Father brought on the Jews for their wickedness towards Christ and brazen violence. The wrath was brought on them like an axe. To this you may also add the parable in the Gospels about the fig tree. As an unfruitful plant, no longer of the generous kind, it was cut down by God. John does not say, however, that the axe was laid into the root, but at the root, that is, near the root. The branches were cut off, but the plant was not dug up by its root. Thus the remnant of Israel was saved and did not perish utterly.

By the axe then he declares the deadly wrath of God, which fell upon the Jews on account of the impieties they practised against Christ; he does not pronounce the axe to be yet fixed to the root, (ad radicem) but that it was laid, i. e. near the root. For though the branches were cut down, the tree itself was not yet entirely destroyed. For a remnant of Israel shall be saved.

There follows: "For now the axe is laid to the root of the tree. For every tree not producing good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire." The tree of this world is the entire human race. The axe, however, is our Redeemer, who is held as if by a handle and iron through His humanity, but cuts through His divinity. This axe is now laid to the root of the tree because, although He waits through patience, it is nevertheless seen what He is about to do. "For every tree not producing good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire," because every perverse person more quickly finds the prepared burning of Gehenna who scorns to produce the fruit of good work here. And it should be noted that he says the axe is laid not beside the branches, but to the root. For when the children of the wicked are taken away, what else is done but the branches of an unfruitful tree are cut off? But when an entire lineage together with the parent is taken away, the unfruitful tree is cut off from the root, so that nothing may remain from which a wicked offspring might grow again.

(ubi sup.) Or we may take it in this way; The tree represents the whole human race in this world, but the axe is our redeemer, who by the handle and iron, as it were, is held indeed in the hand of man, but strikes by the power of God. Which axe indeed is now laid at the root of the tree; for although it waits patiently, yet it is plain what it is about to do. And we must observe that the said axe is to be laid not at the branches, but at the root. For when the children of the wicked are taken away, what is this but the cutting off of the branches of an unfruitful tree. But when the whole family together with the parent is removed, the unfruitful tree is cut off from the very root. But every hardened sinner finds the fire of hell the quicker prepared for him, as he disdains to bring forth the fruits of good works. Hence it follows, Every one then.

And this same (one) is styled also by the Phrygians "unfruitful." For he is unfruitful when he is carnal, and causes the desire of the flesh. This, he says, is what is spoken: "Every tree not producing good fruit, is cut down and cast into the fire." For these fruits, he says, are only rational living men, who enter in through the third gate. They say, forsooth, "Ye devour the dead, and make the living; (but) if ye eat the living, what will ye do? "They assert, however, that the living "are rational faculties and minds, and men-pearls of that unportrayable one cast before the creature below." This, he says, is what (Jesus) asserts: "Throw not that which is holy unto the dogs, nor pearls unto the swine." Now they allege that the work of swine and dogs is the intercourse of the woman with a man. And the Phrygians, he says, call this very one "goat-herd" (Aipolis), not because, he says, he is accustomed to feed the goats female and male, as the natural (men) use the name, but because, he says, he is "Aipolis"-that is, always ranging over,-who both revolves and carries around the entire cosmical system by his revolutionary motion. For the word "Polein" signifies to turn and change things; whence, he says, they all call the twos centre of the heaven poles (Poloi).

All things, therefore, he says, when unbegotten, are in us potentially, not actually, as the grammatical or geometrical (art). If, then, one receives proper instruction and teaching, and (where consequently) what is bitter will be altered into what is sweet,-that is, the spears into pruning-hooks, and the swords into plough-shares, -there will not be chaff and wood begotten for fire, but mature fruit, fully formed, as I said, equal and similar to the unbegotten and indefinite power. If, however, a tree continues alone, not producing fruit fully formed, it is utterly destroyed. For somewhere near, he says, is the axe (which is laid) at the roots of the tree. Every tree, he says, which does not produce good fruit, is hewn down and cast into fire.

It is elegantly said, that beareth not fruit, and it is added, good. For God created man an animal fond of employment, and constant activity is natural to him, but idleness is unnatural. For idleness is hurtful to every member of the body, but much more to the soul. For the soul being by nature in constant motion does not admit of being slothful. But as idleness is an evil, so also is an unworthy activity. But having before spoken of repentance, he now declares that the axe lies near, not indeed actually cutting, but only striking terror.

If the completion of all things had been then already begun, and the end of time close at hand, I should have no question but that the prophecy was given, because at that time it was to be fulfilled. But now that many ages have elapsed since the Spirit spoke this, I think it was prophesied to the people of Israel, because their cutting off was approaching. For to those that went out to him that they should be baptized, he gave this warning among others.

And He shall come of Whom it is said, "He holdeth His fan in His hand and He will purify His threshing-floors; and He will gather His wheat into the garner, but the straw He will burn up with unquenchable fire." And the Husbandman who planted in the world the tree of our mankind will shew Himself to be the Judge, and He will hold in His hand the axe for cutting down, and every tree which beareth not good fruit He will cut down and cast into the fire.

"The axe" is the divine judgment that uproots the unworthy from among the living. If, he says, you do not repent, you will be deprived of life. The axe lies "at the root of your trees." By "root" is meant life, as we have said. But by "root" one can also understand kinship with Abraham. From this kinship with Abraham, according to the apostle (Rom. 11:21–22), those who are unworthy to be his branches are cut off. The punishment is twofold, for the sinful and fruitless one is not only cut off from kinship with the righteous, but is also cast into fire.

The Baptist gave a fitting response to each kind of people. To the tax collectors he said that they should not exact payment beyond what was appointed. To the soldiers, that they should not make false accusations or rob anyone, by which he meant that their pay was fixed, so that wanting to have more, they could not resort to plunder. These and other precepts are appropriate for all occupations, and the practice of compassion is shared. Thus it is a common precept that the basic necessities of life must be provided for all occupations, all ages and all people. Neither the tax collector nor the soldier is exempted, neither the farmer nor the townsman, neither the rich man nor the pauper—all are commanded in common to give to the one who does not have. Compassion is the fullness of the virtues and therefore the form of the perfect virtue is placed before all. Neither should they spare their own food and clothing. Yet the measure of compassion is maintained in relation to the capacity of the human condition, so that each does not take all for himself but shares what he has with the poor.

And the crowds asked him, saying: What then shall we do? For they were struck with terror, seeking advice.

And the crowds asked him etc. After the Evangelist commended the preaching of the precursor in general, here he commends it in particular according to the instruction with respect to special persons of the people. Moreover his teaching is commended in this part: first, in comparison to the need of the people in administering sound doctrine; second, in comparison to the excellence of Christ in avoiding false glory, at that place: But the people thinking etc.; third, in comparison to the perfidy of the tyrant in enduring the punishment inflicted, at that place: Many things indeed and other things. In the first, John's prudence is commended; in the second, John's innocence; in the third, his patience.

As to the first point, it should be noted that according to the threefold difference of the persons hearing, he administers diverse instructions: first, to the crowds, who bear the person of subjects: second, to the tax collectors, who bear the person of ministers: third, to the soldiers, who bear the person of rulers or overseers. And in each of these parts, first the question is set forth, then the response is added.

First, therefore, to the crowds asking, he gives instruction concerning the giving of alms: on account of which it is said: And the crowds asked him, saying: What then shall we do? Since it is necessary to bring forth worthy fruits of penance, therefore teach us. The simple were more eager to learn than the wise of the world; whence John 7: "Has any of the rulers believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the Law, they are accursed." But although they are considered accursed and reprobate by men, it is the contrary way in the judgment of God: Matthew 11: "You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to little ones"; and Proverbs 3: "And his conversation is with the simple." Such ones were questioning John as a great prophet: Deuteronomy 32: "Ask your father, and he will tell you," etc.

THE blessed Luke has introduced three classes of men making inquiry of John,----the multitudes, the publicans, and, thirdly, the soldiers: and as a skilful physician applies to each malady a suitable and fitting remedy, so also the Baptist gave to each mode of life useful and becoming counsel, bidding the multitudes in their course towards repentance practise mutual kindness: for the publicans, he stops the way to unrestrained exactions: and very wisely tells the soldiers to oppress no one, but be content with their wages.

St. Luke has introduced three groups of people that ask John questions—the multitudes, the tax collectors and the soldiers. Just as a skillful physician applies to each sickness a suitable and fitting remedy, so also the Baptist gave to each group, representing a mode of life, useful and appropriate advice. He told the multitudes to practice mutual kindness as they strive for repentance. In the case of the tax collectors, he put an end to unrestrained taxation. Then, very wisely, he told the soldiers to oppress no one but be content with their wages.

From these words of John the Baptist it is clear that the hearts of the hearers were disturbed, since it is immediately added: "And the crowds asked him, saying: 'What then shall we do?'" For they had been struck with terror who were seeking counsel.

(ubi sup.) In the preceding words of John, it is plain that the hearts of his hearers were troubled, and sought for advice from him. As it is added, And they asked him, saying, &c.

Three classes of men are introduced as enquiring of John concerning their salvation, one which the Scripture calls the multitude, another to which it gives the name of Publicans, and a third which is noticed by the appellation of soldiers.

But this place admits of a deeper meaning, for as we ought not to serve two masters, so neither to have two coats, lest one should be the clothing of the old man, the other of the new, but we ought to cast off the old man, and give to him who is naked. For one man has one coat, another has none at all, the strength therefore of the two is exactly contrary, and as it has been written that we should cast all our crimes to the bottom of the sea, so ought we to throw from us our vices and errors, and lay them upon him who has been the cause of them.

John instructs three classes of people who came to him: the common class of people, tax collectors, and soldiers. He persuades the common class of people to be diligent in almsgiving, commanding that whoever has "two garments" should share with the one who has none. Some understand the command—that whoever has "two garments" should share with the one who has none—in a moral sense. Specifically, they say: the two garments signify the Spirit of Scripture and the letter; John urges the one who has both to impart them to the one who has absolutely nothing. For example, if someone understands Scripture in both respects, according to the letter and according to the spirit, let him pass it on to the one who has not, let him teach the one who does not know and give him at least the letter.

Now to the Publicans and soldiers he gives a commandment to abstain from evil, but the multitudes, as not living in an evil condition, he commands to perform some good work, as it follows, He that hath two coats, let him give one.

For other commands of duty have reference only to individuals, mercy has a common application. It is therefore a common commandment to all, to contribute to him that has not. Mercy is the fulness of virtues, yet in mercy itself a proportion is observed to meet the capacities of man's condition, in that each individual is not to deprive himself of all, but what he has to share it with the poor.

But we are hereby taught, that every thing we have over and above what is necessary to our daily support, we are bound to give to him who hath nothing for God's sake, who hath given us liberally whatever we possess.

And he answered them, saying: He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise. Because a tunic is more necessary for our use than a cloak, it pertains to the fruit worthy of repentance. That we ought not only to share our exterior and less necessary things but also those very necessary to us with our neighbors, namely either the food by which we live carnally or the tunic by which we are clothed. For it is written in the law: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Mark XII), he is convicted of loving his neighbor less who does not share with him in his necessity even in those things that are necessary to himself. Therefore, the command is given to share two tunics with a neighbor because this could not be said of one since if one tunic is divided, no one is clothed. For in a half tunic, both he who receives and he who gives remain naked. Among these things, it must be known how much the works of mercy avail, since they are particularly commanded as worthy fruits of repentance. Hence also Truth itself says: Give alms, and behold all things are clean for you.

And because they put forward a humble question, therefore they hear a useful response, when it is added: He who has two tunics, let him give one to him who has none. An excellent counsel, because, as the Savior says below in chapter eleven, "give alms, and behold, all things are clean for you." So did Job, chapter thirty-one: "If I have despised him who was passing by because he had no garment, and the poor man without covering: if his sides have not blessed me, and he was warmed with the fleece of my sheep," etc. — And note how discreetly he teaches, namely: He who has two tunics, that is, one necessary and the other superfluous — what is superfluous to himself, let him give to another, to whom it is necessary. Whence Bede: "The precept is given concerning the dividing of two tunics, because if one were divided, no one would be clothed: for both he who receives and he who gives would remain naked."

And what he said about clothing with respect to extrinsic deficiency, he said about food with respect to intrinsic deficiency; whence he also adds: And let him who has food do likewise, namely, if he has beyond necessity. Thus Job, chapter thirty-one: "If I have eaten my morsel alone"; and Tobit, chapter four: "Eat your bread with the hungry and the needy." — And concerning both of the aforesaid together, it is found in Isaiah, chapter fifty-eight: "Break your bread for the hungry," etc.; and afterward: "When you see the naked, cover him." — And note here that by tunic and food are understood all things from which alms ought to and can be given. Whence Jerome, to Hedibia: "Whatever can suffice for our body and succor human weakness is to be called one tunic. For nature brought us forth naked, and whatever is necessary in present nourishment is called one day's sustenance."

Note also that in his manner of teaching he expresses how alms ought to be given and what conditions they ought to have. — The first is that they be from one's own substance; on account of which he says: Who has: Proverbs, chapter three: "Honor the Lord from your own substance," etc. — The second is that they be from something somewhat necessary, not entirely superfluous; and therefore he says: Two tunics. Whence Bede: "By the fact that a tunic is more necessary for our use than a cloak, it pertains to a worthy fruit of penance that we divide not only whatever external and less necessary things, but even the very necessities of nature with our neighbors—such as the food by which we live and the tunic by which we are clothed." Whence that poor widow is praised in Mark, chapter twelve, who "cast all that she had, out of her want, into the treasury," but others gave "from that which abounded to them." — Third, note that it ought to be gratuitous, in that it says: Let him give one: Tobit, chapter four: "If you have much, give abundantly"; and Matthew, chapter ten: "Freely you have received, freely give." — Fourth, note that it is to be bestowed on the needy, when it adds: Let him give to him who has not: below, chapter fourteen: "When you make a feast, invite the poor," etc.

And note that the aforesaid word is said by some expositors to be a precept, and by some to be a counsel; and this because the superfluity indicated in the second tunic is twofold, namely, with respect to nature but not to one's station; and to give this is a matter of perfection and counsel. But what is superfluous to both nature and one's station, when the place and time are at hand, and one sees a person in need—unless one reserves it for someone more needy—to give this is a precept, according to that of First John, chapter three: "He who sees his brother having need," etc.

It follows: "But he answered and said to them: He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." By the fact that a tunic is more necessary for our use than a cloak, it pertains to fruit worthy of repentance that we ought to share with our neighbors not only whatever external and less necessary things we have, but even those things that are very necessary to us—namely, either the food by which we live bodily, or the tunic by which we are clothed. For since it is written in the law: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," he is proven to love his neighbor less who does not share with him even those things necessary to himself in his neighbor's time of need. Therefore the precept is given about dividing two tunics with one's neighbor, because this could not be said of one tunic, since if one is divided, no one is clothed. For with half a tunic, both he who receives remains naked and he who gave remains naked. But amid these things it should be known how greatly works of mercy avail, since for fruits worthy of repentance these are commanded above all others. Hence Truth also says through itself: "Give alms, and behold, all things are clean to you." Hence again he says: "Give, and it shall be given to you." Hence it is written: "Water extinguishes a burning fire, and almsgiving resists sins." Hence again it is said: "Store up almsgiving in the bosom of the poor, and it will pray for you." Hence a good father admonishes his innocent son, saying: "If you have much, give abundantly; if you have little, take care to impart even that little willingly."

But behold, no one persecutes us even unto death. How then can we prove whether we love our enemies? Yet there is something that ought to be done in the peace of holy Church, by which it may become clear whether we would be able to die for love in a time of persecution. Certainly the same John says: "He who has the substance of this world, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God remain in him?" Hence also John the Baptist says: "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none." Therefore, he who in a time of tranquility does not give his tunic for God, when will he give his life in persecution? Therefore, let the virtue of charity, that it may be unconquered in disturbance, be nourished through mercy in tranquility, so that one may first learn to spend one's possessions for almighty God, and afterward oneself.

(ubi sup.) Because a coat is more necessary for our use than a cloak, it belongs to the bringing forth of fruits worthy of repentance, that we should divide with our neighbours not only our superfluities but those which are absolutely necessary to us, as our coat, or the meat with which we support our bodies; and hence it follows, And he who has meat, let him do likewise.

(ubi sup.) For because it was written in the law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, he is proved to love his neighbour less than himself, who does not share with him in his distress, those things which are even necessary to himself. Therefore that precept is given of dividing with one's neighbour the two coats, since if one is divided no one is clothed. But we must remark in this, of how much value are works of mercy, since of the works worthy of repentance these are enjoined before all others.

And therefore has the Lord said: "Judge not, that ye be not judged: for with what judgment ye shall judge, ye shall be judged." [The meaning is] not certainly that we should not find fault with sinners, nor that we should consent to those who act wickedly; but that we should not pronounce an unfair judgment on the dispensations of God, inasmuch as He has Himself made provision that all things shall turn out for good, in a way consistent with justice. For, because He knew that we would make a good use of our substance which we should possess by receiving it from another, He says, "He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." And, "For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was naked and ye clothed Me." And, "When thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." And we are proved to be righteous by whatsoever else we do well, redeeming, as it were, our property from strange hands. But thus do I say, "from strange hands," not as if the world were not God's possession, but that we have gifts of this sort, and receive them from others, in the same way as these men had them from the Egyptians who knew not God; and by means of these same do we erect in ourselves the tabernacle of God: for God dwells in those who act uprightly, as the Lord says: "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that they, when ye shall be put to flight, may receive you into eternal tabernacles." For whatsoever we acquired from unrighteousness when we were heathen, we are proved righteous, when we have become believers, by applying it to the Lord's advantage.

To say that the person who has two coats should give one to someone who has none fits the apostles better than the crowd. To understand that this command fits the apostles more than the people, listen to what the Savior says to the apostles, "Do not take two coats on a journey." Therefore, there are two garments with which each one is clothed. The command is to "share with him who has none." This denotes an alternate meaning: just as we may not "serve two masters," the Savior does not want us to have two coats, or to be clothed with a double garment. Otherwise, one would be the garment of the old man, the other of the new man. On the contrary, he desires that we strip ourselves of the old man and put on the new man. Up to this point, the explanation is easy.

Who fears not to lose, finds it not irksome to give. Else how will one, when he has two coats, give the one of them to the naked, unless he be a man likewise to offer to one who takes away his coat his cloak as well? How shall we fashion to us friends from mammon, if we love it so much as not to put up with its loss? We shall perish together with the lost mammon.

But some one has observed that the two coats are the spirit and letter of Scripture, but John advises him that hath these two to instruct the ignorant, and give him at least the letter.

Then publicans also came to be baptized and said to him: Master, what shall we do? And he said to them: Do nothing more than what is appointed to you. The great power that the word of the blessed Baptist had and how much it stirred the minds of the hearers is proven here, as it compelled even the publicans and soldiers to seek counsel for their salvation. To whom he, no differently than to the crowds, advises the practice of mercy according to their appropriate situation. He commands the publicans not to exact more than what is prescribed. Publicans, as their name suggests, are those who collect public taxes, or who are contractors of the treasury's revenues or public properties. Additionally, those who pursue the profits of this world through trading are also so called. He restrains all of them equally in their respective statuses from engaging in fraud so that while first refraining from the desire for what belongs to others, they may at last reach the point of sharing their own goods with neighbors.

What great virtue there was in the discourse of the Baptist is manifested by this, that the Publicans, nay even the soldiers, he compelled to seek counsel of him concerning their salvation, as it follows, But the publicans came.

Secondly, to the publicans seeking instruction, he gives a lesson about keeping the laws, when it is added: And the publicans also came to him, to be baptized. "Publicans were those who collected public taxes, or who were contractors of the revenues of the treasury, or of public affairs," or who received the royal taxes in a lump sum. And these were already coming to John, as desiring salvation more than the scribes: Matthew twenty-one: "The publicans and harlots shall go before you into the kingdom of heaven." And their diligence is expressed when the question is added: And they said to him: Master, what shall we do? They did well indeed in this, according to the counsel of Isaiah one: "Cease to do perversely, learn to do well"; and according to that of Jeremiah six: "Stand upon the ways and ask about the ancient paths, which is the good way, and walk in it."

(Hom. in Matt. 24.) Great is the force of virtue that makes the rich seek the way of salvation from the poor, from him that hath nothing.

"Tax collectors also came to be baptized." According to the simple interpretation, he teaches the tax collectors to seek "no more" than the law commands. Those who exact more transgress not John's commandment but that of the Holy Spirit, who spoke through John.…We said all this to show that John taught the tax collectors. Among them there were not only those who collected revenue for the state, but also those who were coming for repentance and were not literally tax collectors. And others were soldiers who were going out to the baptism of repentance.

But how will a Christian man war, nay, how will he serve even in peace, without a sword, which the Lord has taken away? For albeit soldiers had come unto John, and had received the formula of their rule; albeit, likewise, a centurion had believed; still the Lord afterward, in disarming Peter, unbelted every soldier. No dress is lawful among us, if assigned to any unlawful action.

He persuades the tax collectors not to overcharge, that is, not to demand anything extra.

For I Matthew, one of those twelve which speak to you in this doctrine, am an apostle, having myself been formerly a publican, but now have obtained mercy through believing, and have repented of my former practices, and have been vouchsafed the honour to be an apostle and preacher of the word. And Zacchaeus, whom the Lord received upon his repentance and prayers to Him, was also himself in the same manner a publican at first. And, besides, even the soldiers and multitude of publicans, who came to hear the word of the Lord about repentance, heard this from the prophet John, after he had baptized them: "Do nothing more than that which is appointed you." In like manner, life is not refused to the heathen, if they repent and cast away their unbelief.

He commands them therefore that they exact no more than what was presented to them, as it follows, And he said unto them, Do no more than what is appointed to you. But they are called publicans who collect the public taxes, or who are the farmers of the public revenue or public property? Those also who pursue the gain of this world by traffic are denoted by the same titles, all of whom, each in his own sphere, he equally forbids to practise deceit, that so by first keeping themselves from desiring other men's goods, they might at length come to share their own with their neighbours.

And because they ask with discernment, therefore they are fruitfully instructed, when it is added: And he said to them: Do nothing more than what has been appointed for you — appointed, I say, according to divine law: Deuteronomy four: "You shall not add to the word that I speak to you, neither shall you diminish from it: keep the commandments of your God." Thus the Lord answered the rich young man: Matthew nineteen: "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments," because, according to that of the Psalm, "in keeping them there is great reward": Ecclesiastes eight: "He who keeps the commandment shall experience no evil." — And note his prudence, by which he commands each one according to his ability. For seeing them to be weak, he does not impose heavy burdens, but mitigates the load as much as he can, according to that of Romans fourteen: "Him that is weak in the faith, receive." Whence John, who was most rigorous with himself, became kind to the weak publicans, so that he could say that word of the Apostle, First Corinthians nine: "I became weak to the weak, that I might gain the weak. I became all things to all men," etc.

And note that here John seemed to uphold the office of the publicans, although below in chapter five concerning Matthew the publican that office is suggested to be disreputable. — And therefore it must be understood that for taxes to be duly collected, there is required due authority, due cause, and due measure: and this he indicates when he says: Nothing more — behold, measure; than what has been appointed — behold, authority; for you, that is, for the benefit of the community — behold, cause. And because these conditions are rarely observed, therefore such men were accustomed to be sinners and disreputable, not because that office could in no way be rightly performed, but because it is difficult and rare that they do not exceed what has been appointed.

(Hom. in Matt. 11.) But John's desire when he spoke to the Publicans and soldiers, was to bring them over to a higher wisdom, for which as they were not fitted, he reveals to them commoner truths, lest if he put forward the higher they should pay no attention thereto, and be deprived of the others also.

Teaching thereby that wages were affixed to military duty, lest men seeking for gain should go about as robbers.

If a soldier come, let him be taught to "do no injustice, to accuse no man falsely, and to be content with his allotted wages:" if he submit to those rules, let him be received; but if he refuse them, let him be rejected.

For if the Christian religion condemned wars of every kind, the command given in the gospel to soldiers asking counsel as to salvation would rather be to cast away their arms, and withdraw themselves wholly from military service; whereas the word spoken to such was, "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages,"—the command to be content with their wages manifestly implying no prohibition to continue in the service.

(cont. Faust. lib. xxii c. 74.) For he knew that soldiers, when they use their arms, are not homicides, but the ministers of the law; not the avengers of their own injuries, but the defenders of the public safety. Otherwise he might have answered, "Put away your arms, abandon warfare, strike no one, wound no one, destroy no one." For what is it that is blamed in war? Is it that men die, who some time or other must die, that the conquerors might rule in peace? To blame this is the part of timid not religious men. The desire of injury, the cruelty of revenge, a savage and pitiless disposition, the fierceness of rebellion, the lust of power, and such like things are the evils which are justly blamed in wars, which generally for the sake of thereby bringing punishment upon the violence of those who resist, are undertaken and carried on by good men either by command of God or some lawful authority, when they find themselves in that order of things in which their very condition justly obliges them either to command such a thing themselves, or to obey when others command it.

But soldiers also questioned him, saying: What shall we do? And he said to them: Do not accuse anyone falsely, etc. The most just teacher, of exceptional moderation, advises that they should not extort money by falsely accusing those they ought to benefit by defending. He teaches that the wages of military service are therefore established so that one does not become a plunderer while seeking sustenance. No office, no type of activity should be exempt from showing mercy, which is the fullness of virtues, and alone liberates from death and confers eternal life. The judge himself attests, who promised to say: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom. For I was hungry, and you gave me food, etc.

It follows, But the soldiers also asked him. In the justest manner he advises them not to seek gain by falsely accusing those whom they ought to benefit by their protection. Hence it follows, And he says unto them, Strike no one, (i. e. violently,) nor accuse any falsely, (i. e. by unjustly using arms,) and be content with your wages.

Third, to the soldiers who were inquiring, he gives instruction about avoiding plunder, as is added: And the soldiers also asked him, saying: What shall we also do? And rightly so, according to the counsel of Tobit chapter four: "Always seek counsel from a wise person." And in this a great power appears in John's preaching, that he draws to himself men who seem most worldly. Whence the Gloss: "Great is the force in John's speech, which compels even tax collectors and soldiers to seek counsel for their salvation." And note that they ask: What shall we do? according to the words of the young man, below in chapter eighteen: "Master, what shall I do to possess eternal life?" Not so the Pharisees, but they inquire out of curiosity; John chapter one: "The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to John, to ask him: Who are you?" and afterwards: "Those who had been sent were of the Pharisees, and they asked him: Why then do you baptize?"

And since they were seeking salutary counsel, and the word is not to be withheld in the time of salvation, therefore they heard a saving response, as is added: And he said to them. In which instruction he forbids what is unlawful, when he says: Do violence to no man, that is, oppress no one through the force of power; neither calumniate any man, under the appearance of justice; Leviticus chapter nineteen: "You shall not calumniate your neighbor nor oppress him by force." On the contrary, the Lord threatens evil to the wicked in Isaiah chapter three: "Why do you crush my people, and grind the faces of the poor?" "The spoil of the poor is in your house." In this soldiers are accustomed to sin: and therefore he teaches them to avoid it as unlawful.

But lest this should seem burdensome to them, therefore he grants what is lawful, when he adds: And be content with your pay: your pay, that is, the revenues established by your superiors for the defense of the commonwealth, because such a man is acceptable to God; Ezekiel chapter eighteen: "If a man be just and has not grieved anyone, has restored the pledge to the debtor, has taken nothing by violence, etc., he shall surely live." For such a man is content with his pay. But such are not the exactors, of whom Isaiah chapter three says: "My people, their exactors have despoiled them." And therefore Augustine in On the Words of the Lord: "Whoever uses the belt of his military service and receives the pay publicly decreed for him: if he seeks more, he is as a calumniator and an extortioner. For military pay was established for soldiers lest, while gain is sought, the plunderer should run rampant."

And note that blessed John seems here to approve the office of military service, even though it seems to conflict with the commandments by which it is commanded that one should in no way avenge oneself nor repel injury: indeed it is said in Matthew 5: "Whoever strikes you on your right cheek, offer him the other also." — And therefore note that the practice of military service can be licit and illicit: but for the licit use, there must concur a fitting person and cause: namely the person declaring war, in whom it is required that he have authority: likewise the person waging war, who ought to be a layman and secular, not a cleric or religious: likewise the person suffering, who should be of such insolence that they must be restrained by war. — A fitting cause, moreover, exists when it is for the defense of the fatherland, or of peace, or of the faith. When therefore these concur, then it is licit to serve as a soldier; but when any of these is lacking, for instance because there is a defect on the part of the person or the cause: for instance when a cleric or a religious man, who ought to be perfect, wishes to wage war, or when it is for human glory or vengeance: then it is illicit. — But as to what is objected from the evangelical commandment, it must be said that it is understood concerning patience to be held in the soul, not concerning bodily display, as Augustine shows in The Lord's Sermon on the Mount. — Or say that this was said to the perfect, whose way is not "to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good"; it was also said to subjects, not to prelates or princes and their officials, because, since they are ministers of the law, it is not they who punish or kill, but the law.

It is no good quoting 'Thou shalt not kill.' There are two Greek words: the ordinary word to kill and the word to murder. And when Christ quotes that commandment He uses the murder one in all three accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And I am told there is the same distinction in Hebrew. All killing is not murder any more than all sexual intercourse is adultery. When soldiers came to St John the Baptist asking what to do, he never remotely suggested that they ought to leave the army: nor did Christ when He met a Roman sergeant-major—what they called a centurion. The idea of the knight—the Christian in arms for the defence of a good cause—is one of the great Christian ideas. War is a dreadful thing, and I can respect an honest pacifist, though I think he is entirely mistaken. What I cannot understand is this sort of semi-pacifism you get nowadays which gives people the idea that though you have to fight, you ought to do it with a long face and as if you were ashamed of it. It is that feeling that robs lots of magnificent young Christians in the Services of something they have a right to, something which is the natural accompaniment of courage—a kind of gaiety and wholeheartedness.

(Orat. 19.) For by wages he refers to the imperial pay, and the rewards assigned to distinguished actions.

Then shall the holy angels run on their commission to gather together all the nations, whom that terrible voice of the trumpet shall awake out of sleep. And before the judgment-seat of Christ shall stand those who once were kings and rulers, chief priests and priests; and they shall give an account of their administration, and of the fold, whoever of them through their negligence have lost one sheep out of the flock. And then shall be brought forward soldiers who were riot content with their provision, but oppressed widows and orphans and beggars. Then shall be arraigned the collectors of tribute, who despoil the poor man of more than is ordered, and who make real gold like adulterate, in order to mulct the needy, in fields and in houses and in the churches. Then shall rise up the lewd with shame, who have not kept their bed undefiled, but have been ensnared by all manner of fleshly beauty, and have gone in the way of their own lusts. Then shall rise up those who have not kept the love of the Lord, mute and gloomy, because they contemned the light commandment of the Saviour, which says, Thou shalt love try neighbour as thyself. Then they, too, shall weep who have possessed the unjust balance, and unjust weights and measures, and dry measures, as they wait for the righteous Judge.

He persuades the soldiers not to plunder, but to be content with their wages, that is, the pay ordinarily given by the king. Notice how John persuades the common class of people, as being without malice, to do something good, that is, to share with others, while the tax collectors and soldiers he persuades to refrain from evil. For these were not yet capable, they could not accomplish anything good, and it was sufficient for them not to do evil.

Now what could be more absurd than that he who was fancied to be in another should not be believed in his own person? He whom they thought to have come by a woman, is not believed to have come by a virgin; while in fact the sign of the Divine coming was placed in the childbearing of a virgin, not of a woman.

(Metaphrastes.) And hence John gloried not in the estimation in which all held him, nor in any way seemed to desire the deference of others, but embraced the lowest humility. Hence it follows, John answered.

But as the people were expecting, and all were pondering in their hearts about John, whether perhaps he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying. How did he respond to those who were considering him, and secretly in their hearts were thinking that he might be Christ? Except that they not only were thinking but also, as another Evangelist declares, they sent priests and Levites to him to inquire if he was Christ. From this, it is evident that at that time the Jews were very much aware from the Scriptures that the time of the Lord's incarnation was at hand. But a marvelous blindness, that what they believed willingly in John, they did not believe in the Savior, approved by so many signs and virtues, and testified to by John himself.

But how could he answer them who in secret thought that he was Christ, except it was that they not only thought, but also (as another Evangelist declares) sending Priests and Levites to him asked him whether he was the Christ or not?

Now as the people were thinking etc. The preaching of John has been commended in comparison to the need of the people; here secondly it is commended in comparison to the excellence of Christ in this, that he does not usurp the glory owed to Christ. Whence just as above he administered sound doctrine, so here he avoids a glory that is not his own. For explaining this, three things are introduced: the first is the estimation of falsehood among the people; the second is the confession of truth in John; the third is the commendation of sublimity in the Savior.

Regarding the false estimation among the people, it is said: But as the people were thinking, and all were pondering in their hearts, with a false estimation and erroneous thought about John, whether perhaps he might be the Christ, namely the one promised in the Law — and not only thinking inwardly, but also inquiring outwardly, John 1: "The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to John, to ask him: Who are you?" And this, because they suspected that he was the Christ; whence above in chapter one: "What, do you think, will this child be?" But they ought not to have considered him the Christ, but rather his minister, according to that passage in 1 Corinthians 4: "Let a man so account of us as ministers of Christ," etc. And therefore in such thinking they were in error; whence Bede: "Wondrous is the blindness of the Jews, that what they willingly believed concerning John, this they do not believe concerning the Savior, though he was approved by so many signs and miracles, and even with John himself bearing witness." Whence not undeservedly they are called "blind and leaders of the blind," Matthew 15, who "made darkness light and light darkness"; whence John 1: "He was not the light."

IT is written, that "a just father will bring up (his children) excellently." For those who are clad in the glory of the righteousness that is by Christ, and are acquainted with His sacred commands, will train up excellently and piously those who are their sons in the faith, giving them not the material bread of earth, but that which is from above, even from heaven. Of which bread the admirable Psalmist also makes mention, where he says, "Bread establisheth man's heart, and wine rejoiceth man's heart." Let us therefore now also establish our hearts: let our faith in Christ be assured, as we correctly understand the meaning of those evangelic writings now read unto us. "For when the people, it says, were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts of John, whether he were not the Christ, he answered them in the words which we have just heard read." They had beheld with admiration the incomparable beauty of John's mode of life: the splendour of his conduct: the unparalleled and surpassing excellence of his piety. For so great and admirable was he, that even the Jewish populace began to conjecture whether he were not himself the Christ, Whom the law had described to them in shadows, and the holy prophets had before proclaimed. Inasmuch therefore as some ventured on this conjecture, he at once cuts away their surmise, declining as a servant the honours due to the Master, and transferring the glory to Him Who transcends all, even to Christ. For he knew that He is faithful unto those that serve Him. And what he acknowledges is in very deed the truth: for between God and man the distance is immeasurable. "Ye yourselves, therefore, he says, bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him." But where shall we find the holy Baptist thus speaking? In the Gospel of John, who has thus spoken concerning him; "And this is the testimony of John when the scribes and Pharisees at Jerusalem sent to ask him whether he were the Christ. And he confessed, and denied not, and said, that I am not the Christ, but am he that is sent before Him." Great therefore and admirable in very deed is the forerunner, who was the dawning before the Saviour's meridian splendour, the precursor of the spiritual daylight, beautiful as the morning star, and called of God the Father a torch. Having therefore thus declared himself not to be the Christ, he now brings forward proofs, which we must necessarily consider, and by which we may learn how immeasurable the distance evidently is between God and man, between the slave and the Master, between the minister and Him Who is ministered unto, between him who goes before as a servant, and Him Who shines forth with divine dignity. What, therefore, is the proof? "I indeed baptize in water: after me shall come He Who is mightier than I, Whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose." As I said, therefore, the difference is incomparable, the superiority immeasurable, if, as is the case, the blessed Baptist, being so great in virtue, declares that he is not worthy even, as it were, to touch His shoes. And his declaration is true: for if the rational powers above, principalities, and thrones, and lordships, and the holy Seraphim themselves, who stand around His godlike throne, holding the rank of ministers, unceasingly crown Him with praises as the Lord of all, what dweller upon earth is worthy even to be nigh unto God? For though He be loving unto man, and gentle, and mild, yet must we, as being of slight account, and children of earth, confess the weakness of our nature. And after this, he again brings forward a second proof, saying, "I indeed baptize you in water: but He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire." And this too is of great importance for the proof and demonstration that Jesus is God and Lord. For it is the sole and peculiar property of the Substance That transcends all, to be able to bestow on men the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and make those that draw near unto It partakers of the divine nature. But this exists in Christ, not as a thing received, nor by communication from another, but as His own, and as belonging to His substance: for "He baptizes in the Holy Ghost." The Word therefore That became man is, as it appears, God, and the fruit of the Father's substance. But to this, it may be, those will object who divide the one Christ into two sons,----those I mean who, as Scripture says, are "animal, and dividers, and having not the Spirit,"----that He Who baptizes in the Holy Ghost is the Word of God, and not He Who is of the seed of David. What answer shall we make, then, to this? Yes! we too affirm, without fear of contradiction, that the Word being God as of His own fulness bestows the Holy Ghost on such as are worthy: but this He still wrought, even when He was made man, as being the One Son with the flesh united to Him in an ineffable and incomprehensible manner. For so the blessed Baptist, after first saying, "I am not worthy to stoop down "and loose the thong of His shoes," immediately added, |40 "He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire;" plainly while having feet for shoes. For no one whose mind was awake would say, that the Word, while still incorporeal, and not as yet made like unto us, had feet and shoes, but only when He had become a man. Inasmuch, however, as He did not then cease to be God, He wrought even so works worthy of the Godhead, by giving the Spirit unto them that believe in Him. For He, in one and the same person, was at the same time both God and also man. But yes, he objects, the Word wrought the works of Deity by means of Him Who is of the seed of David. If so then thou arguest, we will repeat to thee in answer the words of John; for he somewhere said unto the Jews, "There cometh after me a man Who was before me, because He is before me: and I knew Him not, but He That sent me to baptize in water, He said unto me, Upon Whom thou seest the Spirit descending from heaven, and abiding upon Him, This is He That baptizeth in the Holy Ghost: and I saw, and bare witness, that This is the Son of God." Behold, therefore, while plainly calling Him a man, he says that He is prior to him, and was before him, in that He is first, evidently in His divine nature; according to what was plainly said by Himself to the Jewish populace, "Verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am." Next, he says as well, that the Spirit also came down from heaven upon Him. Do they pretend that the Holy Ghost came down upon the Word of God while still abstract and incorporeal? and represent Him Who bestows the Spirit as made partaker of His own Spirit? Or rather is this their meaning, that having received the Spirit in His human nature, He in His divine nature baptizes in the Holy Ghost? For He is Himself singly, and alone, and verily the Son of God the Father, as the blessed Baptist, being taught of God, himself bare witness, saying, "And I saw, and bare witness that This is the Son of God!" Wouldst thou have also a third proof, in addition to what have already been given? "His fan," he says, "is in His hand, and He shall purge His floor, and gather His wheat into His stores, but the chaff He shall burn with fire unquenchable." For he compares those upon earth to ears of corn, or rather to the threshingfloor and the wheat upon it: for each one of us has grown like an ear of corn. And our Lord once, when speaking to the holy Apostles, made a similar comparison of our state: "The harvest indeed is great: but the labourers are few: pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into His harvest." We therefore, who are upon the earth, are called ears of corn and wheat, and the harvest. And this harvest belongs to God over all: for He is Lord of all. But behold! says the blessed Baptist, the threshing floor belongs to Christ as its owner; for as such He purges it, removing and separating the chaff from the wheat. For the wheat is the just, whose faith is established and assured: but the chaff signifies those whose mind is weak, and their heart easy to be ensnared, and unsafe and timorous, and blown about by every wind. The wheat, then, he says, is stored up in the granary: is deemed worthy, that is, of safety at God's hand, and mercy, and protection and love: but the chaff, as useless matter, is consumed in the fire. In every way, therefore, we may perceive that the Word of God, even when He was man, nevertheless continued to be one Son. For He performs those works that belong to Deity, possessing the majesty and glory of the Godhead inseparable from Him. If so we believe, He will crown us with His grace: by Whom and with Whom to God the Father be glory and dominion with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever, Amen.

But it is well to know, that the treasure which according to the promises are laid up for those who live honestly, are such as the words of man cannot express, as eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man to conceive. And the punishments which await sinners bear no proportion to any of those things which now affect the senses. And although some of those punishments are called by our names, yet their difference is very great. For when you hear of fire, you are taught to understand something else from the expression which follows, that is not quenched, beyond what comes into the idea of other fire.

The people, seeing that John the Baptist himself was endowed with wonderful holiness, believed him to be that singularly lofty and solid mountain of which it is written: "In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains." For they thought he was Christ, as it is said through the Gospel: "And as the people were in expectation, and all were reasoning in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he might be the Christ," whom they also sought out saying: "Are you the Christ?" But unless John had been a valley within himself, he would not have been filled with the spirit of grace.

It was meet that more deference should be paid to John than to other men, for he lived such as no other man. Wherefore indeed most rightly did they regard him with affection, only they kept not within due bounds; hence it is said, But while the people were expecting whether he were the Christ.

But love is dangerous when it is uncontrolled. For he who loves any one ought to consider the nature and causes of loving, and not to love more than the object deserves. For if he pass the due measure and bounds of love, both he who loves, and he who is loved, will be in sin.

The virtue of John was so great that everyone thought about him, whether he might be the Christ himself.

Or: John saw into the secrets of the heart; but let us remember by whose grace, for it is of the gift of God to reveal things to man, not of the virtue of man, which is assisted by the Divine blessing, rather than capable of perceiving by any natural power of its own. But quickly answering them, he proved that he was not the Christ, for his works were by visible operations. For as man is compounded of two natures, i. e. soul and body, the visible mystery is made holy by the visible, the invisible by the invisible; for by water the body is washed, by the Spirit the soul is cleansed of its stains. It is permitted to us also in the very water to have the sanctifying influence of the Deity breathed upon us. And therefore there was one baptism of repentance, another of grace. The latter was by both water and Spirit, the former by one only; the work of man is to bring forth repentance for his sin, it is the gift of God to pour in the grace of His mystery. Devoid therefore of all envy of Christ's greatness, he declared not by word but by work that he was not the Christ. Hence it follows, There cometh after me one mightier than I. In those words, mightier than I, he makes no comparison, for there can be none between the Son of God and man, but because there are many mighty, no one is mightier but Christ. So far indeed was he from making comparison, that he adds, Whose shoes latchet I am not worthy to unloose.

By the words, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, he shows that the grace of preaching the Gospel was conferred upon the Apostles, who were shod for the Gospel. (Eph. 6:15.) He seems however to say it, because John frequently represented the Jewish people.

(de Cons. Evang. lib. ii. 12.) Matthew says, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. If therefore it is worth while to understand any difference in these expressions, we can only suppose that John said one at one time, another at another, or both together, To bear his shoes, and to loose the latchet of his shoes, so that though one Evangelist may have related this, the others that, yet all have related the truth. But if John intended no more when he spoke of the shoes of our Lord but His excellence and his own humility, whether he said loosing the latchet of the shoes, or bearing them, they have still kept the same sense who by the mention of shoes have in their own words expressed the same signification of humility.

(lib. de Spir. Sanct. c. 12.) But because he says, He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, let no one admit that baptism to be valid in which the name of His Spirit only has been invoked, for we must ever keep undiminished that tradition which has been sealed to us in quickening grace. To add or take away ought thereof excludes from eternal life.

I indeed baptize you with water. However, one mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie. John does not baptize with the spirit, but with water, because he, being unable to absolve sins, washes the bodies of the baptized with water but does not wash the mind through forgiveness. So why does he baptize who does not remit sins through baptism? Except that by maintaining the order of his forerunning, he who was born before Christ by birth would also be a forerunner to the Lord by baptizing Him, and thus he who was made the forerunner of Christ by preaching would also become His forerunner by baptizing in imitation of the sacrament. It was a custom among the ancients that if anyone did not wish to take as his wife the one who was properly his to take, the one who came as a suitor by the right of kinship would untie his sandal. What, then, was Christ among men except the bridegroom of the holy Church? About whom the same John also says, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom" (John III). But because people thought John to be the Christ, which John himself denies, it is proper that he declares himself unworthy to untie His sandal strap. As if he said openly: I cannot lay bare the feet of the Redeemer, because I, unworthy, do not usurp the name of the bridegroom. However, this can be understood in another way: for who does not know that sandals are made from dead animals? When the Lord incarnate came, He appeared as if shod, who in His divinity assumed the mortality of our corruption. But the mystery of this incarnation the human eye is not able to penetrate. For it cannot at all be investigated how the Word is made flesh, how the supreme and life-giving Spirit is animated in the womb of the mother, how He who has no beginning both exists and is conceived. Therefore, the sandal strap is the binding of the mystery. Thus, John cannot untie the strap of His sandal, because the mystery of the incarnation he also cannot sufficiently investigate, he who recognized it through the spirit of prophecy.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. This is both the cleansing of sanctification and the testing of tribulation. However, the same Holy Spirit can also be understood as signified by the name of fire. Because He both enkindles through love and illuminates the hearts which He fills with wisdom. Hence, to those to whom it was said, "John indeed baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts XI), the same baptism of the spirit is perceived in the vision of fire. Some explain it in this way, that in the present we are baptized in the spirit, and in the future we will be baptized in fire. Namely, just as now we are reborn in the remission of all sins from water and the spirit, so also then, from certain light sins which have adhered to us as we go from here, we are cleansed by the baptism of purgatorial fire before the final judgment. As the Apostle says: "If anyone builds on this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will be made clear by fire. If anyone's work remains which he has built on it, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, though as through fire" (I Corinthians III). Although this can also be understood of the fire of tribulation applied to us in this life, yet if anyone takes this as referring to the fire of future purification, it should be carefully considered, because he said that he can be saved through fire, not someone who builds on the foundation of Christ with iron, bronze, or lead, that is, greater and harder sins which are already unresolvable, but with wood, hay, and straw, that is, the smallest and lightest sins, which fire easily consumes. Nevertheless, it should be known that no one will obtain any purification even from the smallest sins there, unless he has acted with good deeds in this life so that he may deserve to obtain it there.

The Holy Spirit also may be understood by the word fire, for He kindles with love and enlightens with wisdom the hearts which He fills. Hence also the Apostles received the baptism of the Spirit in the appearance of fire. There are some who explain it, that now we are baptized with the Spirit, hereafter we shall be with fire, that as in truth we are now born again to the remission of our sins by water and the Spirit, so then we shall be cleansed from certain lighter sins by the baptism of purifying fire.

Regarding the confession of truth in John, it is added: John answered, saying to all, that is, publicly, because all were in error: I indeed baptize you with water, and "only, as Ambrose says, I immerse bodies"; and therefore I am not the savior of souls, whom you think me to be. Whence he himself said, John 1: "Upon whom you shall see the Holy Spirit descending and remaining, he it is who baptizes in the Holy Spirit." Whence when the Jews asked who he was, according to what is said in John 1, "he confessed and did not deny, and he confessed: I am not the Christ." And therefore he could say that passage from 2 Corinthians 12: "But I forbear, lest anyone should think of me above that which he sees in me, or hears anything from me."

And note that there is the baptism of water, of the Spirit, and of blood. The baptism of water is twofold: one in water only, as that of blessed John, Acts 19: "In what were you baptized? And they said: In the baptism of John"; another in water and the Spirit, as the baptism of Christ, John 3: "Unless one is born again of water and the Holy Spirit," etc. — The baptism of the Spirit: one in the gift of grace, Acts 1: "John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit"; another in the word of doctrine, Song of Songs 4: "Your teeth are like flocks of shorn sheep, which have come up from the washing," by which we understand preachers; and John 15: "You are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." — The baptism of blood: one in tribulation, Isaiah 4: "If the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and shall have cleansed the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning"; another in death, Luke 12: "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished."

As for the commendation of sublimity in the Savior, there follows: But one mightier than I comes, etc. Now John commends Christ with respect to the mystery of the Incarnation, with respect to the Sacrament of reparation, and with respect to the judgment of retribution. In the first is the beginning of our salvation; in the second, its increase; in the third, its completion. As for the mystery of the Incarnation, he says: But one mightier than I comes, mightier, worthier, and more excellent; Isaiah 9: "His name shall be called Wonderful," because, First Corinthians 1, "the weakness of God is stronger than men"; and this indeed not slightly, but incomparably: on account of which there follows: Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to unfasten. According to the literal sense, this can mean that he so greatly humbles himself that he is not worthy to serve Him in the most lowly ministry: whence also Matthew 3: "Whose sandals I am not worthy to carry." — Or spiritually, by the sandal is understood the human nature assumed, according to that verse of the Psalm: "Over Edom will I extend my shoe." By the strap I understand the union itself. The sense therefore, according to Bede, is: Whose I am not worthy, etc., "that is, to explain the mystery of the Incarnation," because it is said in Apocalypse 5 that "no one was found worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof except the Lamb alone." — In another way it is understood according to a third manner thus: I am not worthy, etc., that is, to carry the evangelical preaching throughout the world: whence Bede: "The nuptial sandal is the evangelical preaching, with which the Apostles were shod"; Ephesians 6: "Your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace." — In yet another way it is expounded according to a fourth manner, so that the sense is: I am not worthy to unfasten, that is, to remove His sandal according to the custom of the Law and to take His bride to myself: whence John 3: "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom stands," etc. — But according to the first sense there seems to be greater testimony, in which the wondrous humility of blessed John is expressed, so that, while he is regarded by God as the greatest, he regards himself as the least, according to that verse of Ecclesiasticus 3: "The greater you are, humble yourself in all things, and you shall find grace before God."

As for the Sacrament of reparation, he adds: He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit: Acts 1: "John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit"; otherwise, "unless one is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God"; and this indeed will be interior. And with fire, this is said as for the exterior sign: of which it is said in Acts 2 that "there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire"; and this, because the love of the Holy Spirit is rightly signified by fire, according to what is said below in chapter twelve: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth," etc. — Or with fire, namely of tribulation, purifying from the consequence of sin, according to that passage in Zephaniah 3: "In the fire of my zeal all the earth shall be devoured." — Or with fire, namely purgatorial, in which the dross of sin will be purged; 1 Corinthians 3: "He himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire." — Or in the fire of testing: Psalm: "You have tested me by fire, and no iniquity has been found in me."

As a witness for simplicity in shoes let John suffice, who avowed that "he was not worthy to unloose the latchet of the Lord's shoes." For he who exhibited to the Hebrews the type of the true philosophy wore no elaborate shoes.

This, then, is the type of "the law and the prophets which were until John;" while he, though speaking more perspicuously as no longer prophesying, but pointing out as now present, Him, who was proclaimed symbolically from the beginning, nevertheless said, "I am not worthy to loose the latchet of the Lord's shoe." For he confesses that he is not worthy to baptize so great a Power; for it behooves those, who purify others, to free the soul from the body and its sins, as the foot from the thong.

After this, John brings forward a second argument, saying, "I indeed baptize you in water. He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire." This too is of great importance for the proof and demonstration that Jesus is God and Lord. For it is the sole and peculiar property of the Substance that transcends all, to be able to bestow on people the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit and make those that draw near unto it partakers of the divine nature. But this exists in Christ, not as a thing received, nor by communication from another, but as his own and as belonging to his substance. He baptizes in the Holy Spirit.

John, filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, was sanctified for the purpose of baptizing the Lord. John himself did not impart the Spirit but preached the glad tidings of him who does. He says, "I indeed baptize you with water, for repentance. But he who is coming after me, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Why fire? Because the descent of the Holy Spirit was in fiery tongues. Concerning this the Lord says with joy, "I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it would be kindled!"

"I baptize in water; but there has stood in your midst one whom you do not know. He who comes after me was made before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie." John baptizes not with the Spirit, but with water, because, not being able to forgive sins, he washes the bodies of the baptized through water, but nevertheless does not wash the mind through pardon. Why then does he baptize who does not remit sins through baptism, unless, preserving the order of his role as precursor, he who had preceded by being born the one who was to be born, might also precede by baptizing the Lord who was to baptize; and he who by preaching became the precursor of Christ, might also become his precursor in baptizing through imitation of the sacrament?

To show what he was, he said: "There comes one mightier than I after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to loose." Behold, although he was such through his wonderful working of virtues that he was believed to be Christ, he not only answered that he was not Christ, but also declared that he was not worthy to loose the strap of his sandal, that is, to scrutinize the mystery of his incarnation.

(Hom. 7. in Evan.) But John denounces himself as unworthy to loose the latchet of Christ's shoes: as if he openly said, I am not able to disclose the footsteps of my Redeemer, who do not presume unworthily to take unto myself the name of bridegroom, for it was an ancient custom thata when a man refused to take to wife her whom he ought, whoever should come to her betrothed by right of kin, was to loose his shoe. Or because shoes are made from the skins of dead animals, our Lord being made flesh appeared as it were with shoes, as taking upon Himself the carcase of our corruption. The latchet of the shoe is the connection of the mystery. John therefore can not loose the latchet of the shoe, because neither is he able to fathom the mystery of the Incarnation, though he acknowledged it by the Spirit of prophecy.

What happened in the case of our Master's body also happens in the case of your own. Although John appeared to be holding his body by the head, it was the divine Word that led his body down into the streams of Jordan and baptized him. The Master's body was baptized by the Word, by the voice of his Father from heaven which said, "This is my beloved Son," and by the manifestation of the Holy Spirit which descended upon him. This also happens in the case of your body. The baptism is given in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore John the Baptist told us, for our instruction, that man does not baptize us but God: "There comes after me one who is mightier than I, and I am not worthy to loose the strap of his sandal. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."For this reason, when the priest is baptizing he does not say, "I baptize so-and-so," but "So-and-so is baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." In this way he shows that it is not he who baptizes but those whose names have been invoked, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

(ubi sup.) And having said that his own baptism was only with water, he next shows the excellence of that baptism which was brought by Christ, adding, He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and fire, signifying by the very metaphor which he uses the abundance of grace. For he says not, "He shall give you the Holy Spirit," but He shall baptize you. And again, by the addition of fire, he shows the power of grace. And as Christ calls the grace of the Spirit, water, (John 4:14; 7:38.) meaning by water the purity resulting from it, and the abundant consolation which is brought to minds which are capable of receiving Him; so also John, by the word fire, expresses the fervour and uprightness of grace, as well as the consuming of sins.

And as John was waiting by the river Jordan for those who came to his baptism, and some he drove away, saying, Generation of vipers, but those who confessed their sins he received, so shall the Lord Jesus stand in the fiery stream with the flaming sword, that whoever after the close of this life desires to pass over to Paradise and needs purification, He may baptize him with this laver, and pass him over to paradise, but whoso has not the seal of the former baptisms, him He shall not baptize with the laver of fire.

Dispelling such an opinion, he says: the difference between me and Christ is, first, that "I baptize... with water," but "He... with the Spirit... and fire," and the other is that "I am not worthy even to untie the strap of His sandal." What the words "baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" mean is perfectly clear, for He sent the Spirit to the apostles, and divided tongues of fire appeared over them (Acts 2:3–4). And the words "not worthy to untie the strap of His sandal" clearly mean that I am not worthy to count myself even among the least of His servants. In a more hidden sense, the sandals of both feet of the Lord are His appearing from heaven to earth and His descent from earth to Hades. The manner of these two appearings no one can explain, even if he were like John himself. For who can say how the Lord became incarnate, or how He descended into Hades?

Through the sign of the fan, the Lord is said to have the right to distinguish merits. When the grain is winnowed on the threshing floor, the full grain is separated from the empty, the fruitful is separated from the worthless, as if by a weighing of a blowing breeze. So through this comparison, the Lord is manifest, because on the day of judgment, he separates the merits and fruits of solid virtue from the unfruitful shallowness of worthless ostentation and inadequate deeds, before he establishes the people of perfect merit in a heavenly home. For he who has deserved to be like him is the perfect fruit. The Lord is like the grain of wheat that has died. So he confers very many fruits on us, hated by chaff and no friend to worthless merits. And therefore, a fire that is not harmful by its nature will burn before him. For he who burns up the evils of wickedness adds to the radiance of goodness.

By the sign of a fan then the Lord is declared to possess the power of discerning merits, since when the corn is winnowed in the threshing floor, the full cars are separated from the empty by the trial of the wind blowing them. Hence it follows, And he shall gather the wheat into his barn. By this comparison, the Lord shows that on the day of judgment He will discern the solid merits and fruits of virtue from the unfruitful lightness of empty boasting and vain deeds, about to place the men of more perfect righteousness in His heavenly mansion. For that is indeed the more perfect fruit which was thought worthy to be like to Him who fell as a grain of wheat, that He might bring forth fruit in abundance. (John 12:24.)

(ubi sup.) By these words then, He shall baptize with the Holy Spirit, He signifies the abundance of His grace, the plenteousness of His mercy; but lest any should suppose that while to bestow abundantly is both in the power and will of the Creator, He will have no occasion to punish the disobedient, he adds, whose fan is in his hand, showing that He is not only the rewarder of the righteous, but the avenger of them that speak lies. But the fan expresses the promptitude of His judgment. For not with the process of passing sentence on trial, but in an instant and without any interval he separates those that are to be condemned from the company of those that are to be saved.

(non occ.) But they are mixed up with those who are worthy of the kingdom of heaven, as the chaff with the wheat. This is not however from consideration of their love of God and their neighbour, nor from their spiritual gifts or temporal blessings.

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor. By winnowing fork, that is, openly, the discernment of just judgment is meant; by the threshing floor, the present Church is prefigured. In which undoubtedly, which is sorrowful enough, many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew XX). Few grains are to be received into the heavenly mansions, in comparison to the weeds, which are to be consigned to perpetual flames. The purification of this threshing floor is also carried out now individually, when any perverse person is either cast out from the Church by priestly censure for manifest sins, or condemned after death by divine strictness for hidden sins, and it will be universally completed in the end, when the Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all scandals. Therefore the Lord has the winnowing fork in hand, that is, the discernment of judgment in his power, because the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.

And he will gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. And the Lord himself ended the parable of the good seed, upon which the enemy man sowed tares, by saying: And in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers: Gather first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn; but gather the wheat into my barn (Matthew XIII). Clearly teaching that the impious and sinners will be delivered to the fire of Gehenna, while the holy will be crowned with heavenly glory. Indeed, this differs between the chaff and the tares: for the chaff comes forth from no other seed than the wheat, although it degenerates from the nobility of a good root. However, the tares differ not only by their fruit but are also generated from entirely different origins. The chaff are those who are imbued with the mystic rituals of the same faith as the elect, but they differ from their solid perfection, either by the lightness of their works or by the emptiness of their faithlessness. The tares, however, are those who are not even worthy to hear the words of faith, and thus, they are separated from the lot of the good, both in deeds and profession. And so, in this world's field, one is of the elect, and two are the fruits of the reprobate, since all that the enemy sows is subject to flames, and what is graver, many of those things which the good sower casts are either snatched by birds, dried out by the sun, choked by thorns, or certainly turned into chaff and perish. Only the wheat, created of good soil and proven worthy by patience, will be stored in the heavenly barn of the elect. Similarly, according to another parable, not only the fishes that decline the nets of Apostolic faith reside in the deep darkness of sinners, but many, dragged to the shore of extreme discretion among the good, then deserve to be sent to outer darkness because of their wickedness. He calls the fire of Gehenna unquenchable in two ways: that it can never be extinguished, nor will it ever cease to torment those whom it punishes, but will inflict (so to speak) an immortal death. This is in distinction to that most sacred fire, which he had earlier mentioned the elect of Christ would be baptized with. Concerning this, the Psalmist also says: You have tested us by fire, as silver is tested by fire (Psalm LXV). And a little later: We did not stay in that state forever, but we passed through fire and water, and you brought us into refreshment. I will enter into your house with burnt offerings (Ibid.), that is, the distresses of pressures conquered, I will penetrate the courts of your heavenly kingdom with thanksgiving.

For by the floor is represented the present Church, in which many are called but few are chosen. The purging of which floor is even now carried on individually, when every perverse offender is either cast out of the Church for his open sins, (by the hands of the Priesthood,) or for his secret sins is after death condemned by Divine judgment. And at the end of the world it will be accomplished universally, when the Son of Man shall send His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom every thing that has offended.

As for the justice of retribution, he adds: Whose winnowing fan is in his hand. Here the justice of retribution is commended with respect to three things, namely with respect to the discerning judgment of merits, with respect to the rewarding of the good, and with respect to the punishment of the reprobate.

Therefore, as regards the discriminating judgment, it says: Whose winnowing fan is in his hand. He says this with respect to the judicial power by which the good are distinguished from the wicked, just as by the winnowing fan grain is purged from chaff: Jeremiah 15: "I will scatter them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land." And it says in his hand, that is, with full power, according to that passage in John 5: "The Father has given all judgment to the Son"; and therefore it says in 1 Peter 5: "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of visitation"; Malachi 3: "Behold, he comes, says the Lord of hosts, and who shall be able to think upon the day of his coming?" And since it belongs to the judicial power to separate the good from the wicked, so as to glorify the good and afflict the wicked, therefore, as regards the discrimination and separation, it says: And he will purge his threshing floor: Joel, last chapter: "I will cleanse their blood which I had not cleansed, and the Lord will dwell in Zion." Because the good are now intermixed with hidden evils, therefore it says in the Psalm: "Cleanse me from my hidden faults," in the person of the Church. This will happen when that passage of Isaiah 26 is fulfilled: "Let the wicked be taken away, lest he see the glory of God"; and elsewhere: "Outside are dogs, sorcerers, the unchaste, and those who serve idols." — And note that the Church Militant is understood by the little plot on account of the narrowness of humility: Song of Songs 6: "My beloved went down into his garden, to the bed of spices"; but by the threshing floor on account of the breadth of charity: Judges 6: "I will place this fleece on the threshing floor," etc. This is cleansed at the end, according to that passage in Matthew 13: "So shall it be at the consummation of the age: the Angels will go out and separate the wicked from the midst of the just."

But as regards the rewarding of the good, it says: And he will gather the wheat into his barn: and this is when the Saints in glory will be brought together into one: Isaiah 56: "Thus says the Lord, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: I will yet gather together his congregations." And rightly the elect are compared to wheat by reason of their fruitfulness, according to that passage in John 12: "Unless a grain of wheat falling into the ground dies," etc.; Job 5: "You shall enter the grave in abundance, as a heap of wheat is brought in at its time."

As for the punishment of the reprobate, it is added: But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. He calls the reprobate chaff, because they are the material of burning: Jeremiah twenty-three: "What is the chaff to the wheat? says the Lord." Whence Job twenty-one: "They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind and as a spark which the whirlwind scatters"; the Psalm: "O my God, make them like a wheel and like stubble before the face of the wind." And so the chaff serves as fuel for the eternal fire, which neither is extinguished nor extinguishes, according to that passage of Isaiah, the last chapter: "Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched"; and Deuteronomy thirty-two: "A fire is kindled in my fury and shall burn even to the lowest depths of hell." But this burning of the chaff shall be far from the gathered wheat, because the former shall be in hell, but the good in paradise, in which they shall be gathered in glory, because here they were gathered in grace.

On account of which it must be understood that there is a threefold gathering: for the pursuit of truth: Ecclesiasticus fifty-one: "Draw near to me, you unlearned, and gather yourselves into the house of discipline"; for the exercise of virtue; Joel two: "Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call an assembly, gather the people, sanctify the church," etc.; for the reward of happiness: the Psalm: "The princes of the peoples are gathered together with the God of Abraham." — For the exercise of virtue, namely in prayer: Acts four: "When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken"; in preaching: Acts one: "It is necessary that from these men who have been gathered with us"; and afterward: "one of these should be made a witness of his resurrection with us"; in common life: Matthew eighteen: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them." — For the pursuit of truth, to know the divine precepts: Deuteronomy four: "Gather to me the whole people, that they may hear my words"; the divine Sacraments: the Psalm: "Gather to him his saints, who set his covenant above sacrifices"; the divine promises: Genesis, the second to last chapter: "Gather yourselves to me, sons of Jacob, that I may announce to you what shall come upon you." — For the reward of happiness, through the bond of peace: Matthew twenty-four: "The Son of Man shall send his Angels"; and afterward: "And they shall gather his elect from the four winds," etc.; through the splendor of light: Isaiah sixty: "All these are gathered together, they have come to you"; through the harmony of praise: the Psalm: "Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name."

Sick, we truly stand in need of the Saviour; having wandered, of one to guide us; blind, of one to lead us to the light; thirsty, "of the fountain of life, of which whosoever partakes, shall no longer thirst;" dead, we need life; sheep, we need a shepherd; we who are children need a tutor, while universal humanity stands in need of Jesus; so that we may not continue intractable and sinners to the end, and thus fall into condemnation, but may be separated from the chaff, and stored up in the paternal garner. "For the fan is in the Lord's hand, by which the chaff due to the fire is separated from the wheat." You may learn, if you will, the crowning wisdom of the all-holy Shepherd and Instructor, of the omnipotent and paternal Word, when He figuratively represents Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep. And He is the Tutor of the children.

(non occ.) But it is well to know, that the treasures, which according to the promises are laid up for those who live honestly, are such as the words of man cannot express, as eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. And the punishments which await sinners bear no proportion to any of those things which now affect the senses. And although some of those punishments are called by our names, yet their difference is very great. For when you hear of fire, you are taught to understand something else from the expression which follows, that is not quenched, beyond what comes into the idea of other fire.

(Mor. 15. sup. Job 20.) The fire of hell is here wonderfully expressed, for our earthly fire is kept up by heaping wood upon it, and cannot live unless supplied with fuel, but on the contrary the fire of hell, though a bodily fire, and burning bodily the wicked who are put into it, is not kept up by wood, but once made remains unquenchable.

...all the prophets announced His two advents: the one, indeed, in which He became a man subject to stripes, and knowing what it is to bear infirmity, and sat upon the foal of an ass, and was a stone rejected by the builders, and was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and by the stretching forth of His hands destroyed Amalek; while He gathered from the ends of the earth into His Father's fold the children who were scattered abroad, and remembered His own dead ones who had formerly fallen asleep, and came down to them that He might deliver them: but the second in which He will come on the clouds, bringing on the day which burns as a furnace, and smiting the earth with the word of His mouth, and slaying the impious with the breath of His lips, and having a fan in His hands, and cleansing His floor, and gathering the wheat indeed into His barn, but burning the chaff with unquenchable fire.

They show, further, that that Horos of theirs, whom they call by a variety of names, has two faculties,-the one of supporting, and the other of separating; and in so far as he supports and sustains, he is Stauros, while in so far as he divides and separates, he is Horos. They then represent the Saviour as having indicated this twofold faculty: first, the sustaining power, when He said, "Whosoever doth not bear his cross (Stauros), and follow after me, cannot be my disciple;" and again, "Taking up the cross follow me;" but the separating power when He said, "I came not to send peace, but a word." They also maintain that John indicated the same thing when he said, "The fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge the floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable." By this declaration He set forth the faculty of Horos. For that fan they explain to be the cross (Stauros), which consumes, no doubt, all material objects, as fire does chaff, but it purifies all them that are saved, as a fan does wheat.

Or, because without the wind the wheat and chaff cannot be separated, therefore He has the fan in His hand, which shows some to be chaff, some wheat; for when you were as the light chaff; (i. e. unbelieving,) temptation showed you to be what you knew not; but when you shall bravely endure temptation, the temptation will not make you faithful and enduring, but it will bring to light the virtue which was hid in you.

And since the building itself is fixed in the ground every man can build and raise upon it whatsoever he pleaseth, until the day which shall decide is revealed, and He shall come of Whom it is said, "He holdeth His fan in His hand and He will purify His threshing-floors; and He will gather His wheat into the garner, but the straw He will burn up with unquenchable fire." And the Husbandman who planted in the world the tree of our mankind will shew Himself to be the Judge, and He will hold in His hand the axe for cutting down, and every tree which beareth not good fruit He will cut down and cast into the fire.

The words "His winnowing fan is in His hand" mean that although He baptizes you, do not think that you are already exempt from punishment; but if in the life that follows you do not keep yourselves blameless, He "will burn you with unquenchable fire." The chaff is the one who has a barren mind and devotes great care only to worldly matters.

Exhorting many other things indeed, he preached the good news, etc. Above he commended the preaching of John in comparison to the need of the people and the excellence of Christ; in this part he commends it in comparison to the perfidy of the tyrant, in which patience is praised, because, Proverbs nineteen, "the learning of a man is known through his patience." In this part, therefore, John is first introduced exhorting the obedient people; second, rebuking the transgressing ruler; third, enduring the persecuting adversary.

As regards, therefore, the exhortation of the obedient people, it is said: Exhorting many other things indeed, he preached the good news to the people; but nevertheless all things were ordered to the good: Second Corinthians six: "Helping, we exhort you that you receive not the grace of God in vain," etc.; and First Thessalonians two: "Our exhortation was not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in deceit, but as we were approved, that the Gospel should be entrusted to us." And therefore it is added: He preached the good news, that is, he announced good things: Isaiah fifty-two: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who announces and preaches peace, who announces good things, who preaches salvation," etc.

The one teaching the word of the Gospel does not evangelize one thing but many, for the proclamation has a mind that "many" things are evangelized. "Many other things" John also evangelized, but it is not written, because, since it was likely something greater than the writing, Luke remained silent.

John having announced the coming of Christ, was preaching the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the other things which the Gospel history has handed down to us. But besides these he is declared to have announced others in the following words, And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.

And as in the Gospel according to St. John it is related of Christ that He spoke many other things, so also in this place we must understand Luke to say the same of John the Baptist, since certain things are announced by John too great to be entrusted to writing.

Good teaching is truly consolation and is rightly called the Gospel.

For his exhortation was the telling of good things, and therefore is fitly called the Gospel.