Matthew § 95

[On the tendency to single out disreputable sins while ignoring weightier evils]

What Christian, in a society so worldly and cruel as that of Wyvern, would pick out the carnal sins for special reprobation? Cruelty is surely more evil than lust and the World at least as dangerous as the Flesh. The real reason for all the pother is, in my opinion, neither Christian nor ethical. We attack this vice not because it is the worst but because it is, by adult standards, the most disreputable and unmentionable, and happens also to be a crime in English law. The World will lead you only to Hell; but sodomy may lead you to jail and create a scandal, and lose you your job. The World, to do it justice, seldom does that.

[On the danger of elevating any single virtue to an absolute while neglecting justice]

The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them which will not make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide. You might think love of humanity in general was safe, but it is not. If you leave out justice you will find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials 'for the sake of humanity', and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man.

Though I have had to speak at some length about sex, I want to make it as clear as I possibly can that the centre of Christian morality is not here. If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred.

"O Pharisees, you demand," Jesus says, "perhaps the tithes of herbs and the smallest coins while you neglect the commandments, concerning which the violation is greater." And what kind of commandments are these? Justice, that is, to judge uprightly and blamelessly; mercy, that is, genuineness toward God. For justice and mercy and faith toward God are better than the tithe and firstfruits. Therefore the God of all things says through the prophet, "And now, Israel, what does the Lord require from you but to do justice and to love and seek mercy and to be prepared to follow the Lord your God." For the genuine faith of those being saved is seen in their exceeding readiness to follow.

A hermit was asked by a brother, 'How do I find God? With fasts, or labour, or vigils, or works of mercy?' He replied, 'You will find Him in all those, and also in discretion. I tell you many have been very stern with their bodies, but have gained nothing by it because they did it without discretion. Even if our mouths stink from fasting, and we have learnt all the Scriptures, and memorized the whole Psalter, we may still lack what God wants, humility and love.'

It is not in the least desirable that everybody should be earnest. It is highly desirable that everybody should be honest, but that is a thing that can go quite easily with a coarse and cheerful character. But the ineffectualness of most protests against the abuse of the Press has been very largely due to the instinct of democracy (and the instinct of democracy is like the instinct of one woman, wild but quite right) that the people who were trying to purify the Press were also trying to refine it; and to this the democracy very naturally and very justly objected. We are justified in enforcing good morals, for they belong to all mankind; but we are not justified in enforcing good manners, for good manners always mean our own manners.

But henceforward I shall always understand with a darker and more delicate charity those who take tythe of mint, and anise, and cumin, and neglect the weightier matters of the law; I shall remember how I was once really tortured with owing half a crown to a man who might have been dead.

Of all the marks of modernity that seem to mean a kind of decadence, there is none more menacing and dangerous than the exultation of very small and secondary matters of conduct at the expense of very great and primary ones, at the expense of eternal ties and tragic human morality. If there is one thing worse than the modern weakening of major morals, it is the modern strengthening of minor morals. Thus it is considered more withering to accuse a man of bad taste than of bad ethics. Cleanliness is not next to godliness nowadays, for cleanliness is made essential and godliness is regarded as an offence. A playwright can attack the institution of marriage so long as he does not misrepresent the manners of society, and I have met Ibsenite pessimists who thought it wrong to take beer but right to take prussic acid.

(Mor. i. 15.) Or otherwise; The gnat stings while it hums; the camel bows its back to receive its load. The Jews then strained off the gnat, when they prayed to have the seditious robber released to them; and they swallowed the camel, when they sought with shouts the death of Him who had voluntarily taken on Him the burden of our mortality.

What is lost is the hidden dimension of the evil will. These hidden things of the mind bring about these distortions of the law. The law prescribes that a tenth be given, so they measure out a tenth of a measure of mint and dill but only in order that they might be thought by other men to fulfill the law. They abandon mercy and justice, faith and every form of benevolence. Yet these are the true duties of man.

God laughs at the superficial diligence of those who measure cucumbers. God laughs at our attempts to swallow camels, as if the sins of avoidance were less serious than the sins of consumption.

And because it was much less guilt to omit the tithing of herbs than a duty of benevolence, the Lord derides them, Ye blind guides, which strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.

(Verse 23.) Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Many precepts are given in the law that foreshadow future events. But others are open, according to the Psalmist, saying: The commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes (Psalm 19:8), which are immediately to be desired. For example, thou shalt not commit adultery: thou shalt not steal: thou shalt not bear false witness, etc. But the Pharisees, because the Lord had commanded (let us for the present leave out the mystical understanding) tithes to be offered in the temple for the maintenance of the priests and Levites, whose portion was the Lord's, were studious in this one thing, that the commands should be observed: but as to the other matters, whether a man should do them or not, they made little account. And from this chapter it accuses them of greed, because they eagerly demand tithes even of cheap vegetables, and neglect justice in the handling of business disputes, and mercy towards the poor, orphans, and widows, and faith in God, which are great.

The Lord had commanded, that for the maintenance of the Priests and Levites, whose portion was the Lord, tithes of every thing should be offered in the temple. Accordingly, the Pharisees (to dismiss mystical expositions) concerned themselves about this alone, that these trifling things should be paid in, but lightly esteemed other things which were weighty. He charges them then with covetousness in exacting carefully the tithes of worthless herbs, while they neglected justice in their transactions of business, mercy to the poor, and faith toward God, which are weighty things.

The camel I suppose to mean the weighty precepts, judgment, mercy, and faith; the gnat, the tithing of mint, anise, and cummin, and other valueless herbs. The greater of God's commands we swallow and overlook, but show our carelessness by a religious scrupulousness in little things which bring profit with them.

Then He derides them for folly also, because they bade them disregard the greater commandments. And yet before He had said the opposite, that "they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne." But these things too they did again and were doing everything for the corruption of those who were subject to them, in little things requiring strictness, and despising the great.

"For ye pay tithe," He saith, "of mint and anise, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone."

Here then He naturally saith it, where it is tithe and almsgiving, for what doth it hurt to give alms? But not to keep the law; for neither doth it say thus. Therefore here indeed He saith, "These ought ye to have done;" but where He is speaking about clean and unclean, He no longer adds this, but makes a distinction, and shows that the inward purity is necessarily followed by the outward, but the converse is no longer so.

For where there is a plea of love to man, He passes it over lightly, for this very reason, and because it was not yet time expressly and plainly to revoke the things of the law. But where it is an observance of bodily purification, He overthrows it more plainly.

Then, to show that there is no harm arising from despising bodily cleansings, but very great vengeance from not regarding the purifications of the soul, which is virtue, He called these "a gnat," for they are small and nothing, but those other a camel, for they were beyond what men could bear. Wherefore also He saith, "Straining at the gnat, and swallowing the camel." For indeed the one were enacted for the sake of the other, I mean of mercy and judgment; so that not even then did they profit being done alone. For whereas the little things were mentioned for the sake of the great, and after that these last were neglected, and labor was spent on those alone, nothing was gained even then by this. For the greater followed not the lesser, but the lesser were sure to follow these greater.

But these things He saith to show, that even before grace was come, these were not among the principal things, or amongst those upon which men should spend their labor, but the matters required were different. But if before the grace they were so, much more when high commandments had come, were these things unprofitable, and it was not meet to practise them at all.

In every case then is vice a grievous thing, but especially when it does not so much as think it needs amendment; and it is yet more grievous, when it thinks itself sufficient even to amend others; to express which Christ calls them "blind guides." For if for a blind man not to think he needs a guide be extreme misery and wretchedness; when he wishes himself to guide others, see to what a gulf it leads.

But these things He said, by all intimating their mad desire of glory, and their exceeding frenzy concerning this pest. For this became a cause to them of all their evils, namely, that they did all things for display. This both led them away from the faith, and caused them to neglect what really is virtue, and induced them to busy themselves about bodily purifyings only, neglecting the purifications of the soul. So therefore to lead them into what really is virtue, and to the purifyings of the soul, He makes mention of mercy, and judgment, and faith. For these are the things that comprise our life, these are what purify the soul, justice, love to man, truth; the one inclining us to pardon and not suffering us to be excessively severe and unforgiving to them that sin (for then shall we gain doubly, both becoming kind to man, and hence meeting also ourselves with much kindness from the God of all), and causing us both to sympathize with them that are despitefully entreated, and to assist them; the other not suffering them to be deceitful, and crafty.

But neither when He saith, "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone," doth He say it as introducing a legal observance; away with the thought; neither with regard to the platter and the cup, when He said, "Cleanse that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also," doth He bring us unto the old regard for little things, but on the contrary indeed, He doth all things to show it to be superfluous. For He said not, Cleanse the outside of them also, but that which is within, and the outside is sure to follow.

Not only among the Jews but among ourselves as well, we find people sinning in these ways. They are swallowing camels. People of this type frequently show off their religion even in the smallest of things. They are rightly called hypocrites for wanting to exploit their religiosity before men but being unwilling to undertake that very faith which God himself has justified. Therefore the imitators of the scribes and Pharisees must be dislodged and sent away from us, lest a woe touches us in the same way it touches them. The scribes could be described as those who valued nothing found in the Scriptures except its plain sense interpreted legalistically. Meanwhile they condemn those who look into the very depths of God himself. Mint and dill and cummin are only spices for food but are not themselves substantial food. What substantive food would mean in conversion would be that which is necessary for the justification of our souls—faith and love—unlike these legalisms, which are more like condiments and flavorings. It is as if a meal might be thought to consist more of condiments and flavorings than the food itself. The seriousness of judgment is neglected while great attention is given to minor matters. Spiritual exercises which in and of themselves are hardly justice are spoken of as justice and compassion and faith. It is lacking in justice to treat these small parts as the whole. When we do not offer to God the observance of all that is necessary for worship, we fail altogether.

But because it was possible that some, hearing the Lord speak thus, might thereupon neglect paying tithes of small things, He prudently adds, These things ought ye to have done, (i. e. justice, mercy, and faith,) and not to leave the others undone, i. e. the tithing of mint, anise, and cummin.

Now this is the first lust which conquered the world, and because of it the first transgression of the law took place. Through it the scribes and Pharisees received "Woe" from our Redeemer, because it had taught them to keep festival, and Sabbath, and to pay tithe of cummin. For the lust of the belly is the captain of the host of the left side, and to it are fettered all the hosts of sin.

Or, because these covetous Priests, when any one did not bring his tithes of the smallest thing, made it a matter of grave reprehension; but when one injured his neighbour or sinned against God, they were at no pains to reprove him, careful only of their own profit, neglecting the glory of God, and the salvation of men. For to observe righteousness, to do mercy, and to have faith, these things God commanded for His own glory; but the payment of tithes He established for the support of the Priests, so that the Priests should minister to the people in spiritual things, and the people supply the Priests with carnal things. Thus is it at this time, when all are careful of their own honour, none of God's honour; they jealously protect their own rights, but will not bestow any pains in the service of the Church. If the people pay not their tithes duly, they murmur; but if they see the people in sin, they utter not a word against them. But because some of the Scribes and Pharisees, to whom He is now speaking, were of the people, it is not unsuitable to make a different interpretation; and 'to tithe' may be used as well of him who pays, as of him who receives, tithes. The Scribes then and Pharisees offered tithes of the very best things for the purpose of displaying their righteousness; but in their judgments they were unjust, without mercy for their brethren, without faith for the truth.

In these words the Lord shows that all the commandments of the Law, greatest and least, are to be fulfilled. They also are refuted who give alms of the fruits of the earth, supposing that thus they cannot sin, whereas their alms profit them nothing unless they are careful to keep themselves from sin.

Again He reproaches them as foolish for disdaining the greater commandments while demanding strict observance of the lesser; nor do they overlook a tenth part of the cumin, but tithe that as well. And if anyone accused the Pharisees of nitpicking, they would cite the law in their defense. It would have been better and more God-pleasing if they had required discernment and mercy and faith from the people. What is discernment? To do nothing unjust or unreasonable, but rather to do everything with good judgement and with reason. Mercy follows immediately upon discernment. For he who does all things with discernment knows to whom one ought to give alms. And faith follows mercy, for he who is merciful and gives alms, has faith that he will lose nothing but will receive everything. Or, in another sense, one must show mercy but also believe in the true God. For there were many pagan Greeks who gave alms, but did not believe in the living God and did not have that faith that follows mercy. Every teacher, then, must tithe his people, that is, require from the ten senses, five bodily and five spiritual, the one tithe consisting of discernment, mercy, and faith. "These ought ye to have done," the Lord said, not to exhort them to tithe herbs, but so that He not appear to be in opposition to Moses. He calls them blind guides because by priding themselves in their teaching and extensive knowledge, they were of benefit to no one, but rather, they corrupted every one and cast them into the pit of unbelief. He says that they strain the gnat, meaning that they keep close guard over the slightest sin, while they swallow the camel, that is, disregard the great sins.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who tithe mint and anise and cummin. Here he rebukes them regarding tithes; and he does three things. First, he sets forth their custom; secondly, he introduces the teaching; thirdly, he sets forth a certain likeness. The second is at these things you ought to have done; the third is at blind guides, who strain out a gnat, etc. Hence he says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, and adds hypocrites, because the principal intention was pretense, who tithe mint, anise, and cummin. This can be understood either as "you give tithes" or "you who exact tithes"; hence very many were priests and Levites, to whom it pertained to exact the tithes that were owed them, as it says in Numbers 18:21 and Deuteronomy 14:22; therefore they were most diligent in exacting them, so that they exacted even down to the smallest things, such as cummin and anise. And have left the weightier things of the law: judgment, mercy, and faith. For certain things were owed to the priests for their own sake, as tithes, from which they were to live; but to certain things they were bound for God's sake, namely to exercise judgment and mercy; hence the Lord required these things of them, namely judgment and mercy; Psalm 100:1: mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord. Likewise, he wills faith for his own glory. Hence those things to which they were bound for God's sake they did not care about; hence he says: and have left the weightier things of the law: judgment, mercy, and faith. But regarding tithes, to which they were bound for their own sake, they took good care, according to that passage in Philippians 2:21: all seek the things that are their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's. Charity does the contrary, for it seeks not its own but the things that are Jesus Christ's, 1 Corinthians 13:5. Likewise, it can be said, woe to you, who give tithes, because you give from the least things, from mint and cummin and things of this sort, and this so that you may appear religious; but you do not care about interior things, because you love neither mercy, nor judgment, nor faith; above at 12:7: if you knew what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would never have condemned the innocent. Origen says that by mint and cummin, etc., certain things can be understood that pertain to the propriety of religion. Hence mercy, judgment, and faith are like foods, but the other least things are like seasoning. Hence just as they put more effort into the seasoning in preparing food than into the food itself, so also they put more effort into having knees bent before them than into the things that pertained to God. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone. Because he had said, woe to you who tithe, someone could say that the Lord was forbidding the giving of tithes; therefore he says that, on the contrary, when he says, these things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone; as if to say: you do not sin in these things, but in omitting those to which you are more bound. Therefore these things you ought to have done, i.e., to exact tithes, and those things, namely judgment, justice, and faith, not to leave undone. But here there can be a question about tithes. The Lord seems to set forth the necessity of paying tithes; hence in the whole New Testament no mention is made so expressly as here. But is it held by precept of the law? No: because in the law certain things are contained that are moral, certain things ceremonial, and certain things judicial. Moral precepts are to be observed at all times and by all; ceremonial precepts by certain men and at certain times, as circumcision, and these were only figurative; likewise, certain judicial precepts, as if someone stole a sheep, he should repay fourfold. Therefore the question is raised about tithes, whether tithes are a moral precept. And it seems not, because moral precepts are of the natural law. But only that is of the natural law which natural reason recommends. But reason does not recommend giving a tenth more than a ninth or an eleventh, etc. Therefore it is not of the natural law. Likewise, if tithes are ceremonial, then those who pay them sin. To this, those who came before us said that some things are purely moral, some purely ceremonial, and some have something of the moral and something of the ceremonial. You shall not kill is purely moral. Similarly, the Lord your God you shall adore, etc. If you say: on the fourteenth day of the moon at evening you shall offer a lamb, this is purely ceremonial. But if it is said: remember to keep holy the sabbath day, it has something natural, or moral, and something ceremonial. Moral, namely what natural reason suggests, namely that one should have some time in which one is free, or in which one is free to pray to God. But that it be on the sabbath day, or on Sunday, etc., is judicial. Hence they say that the precept about tithes is partly ceremonial and partly moral. For they are for the sustenance of the poor and of those who devote themselves to the service of God, or to preaching: for he who serves the community, it is fitting that he live from the community, and this is of the natural law; but that it be the tenth part, this is ceremonial. But are they obligatory now? I say that the determination belongs to whatever ruler has the power of establishing law; hence it is within the power of the Church to establish the tenth, or the ninth, or the like. Hence they are obligatory, not because it is of the natural law, but from the constitution of the Church.

(Verse 24) Blind leaders, straining out a gnat but swallowing a camel. I believe the camel refers to the understanding of the present situation, the magnitude of the teachings, judgment, mercy, and faith. The gnat, on the other hand, represents the tithing of mint, dill, cumin, and other cheap herbs. We devour and neglect these great commandments of God, while showing diligence in matters of religion that bring profit and have little importance.

Or, straining out a gnat, that is, putting from them small sins; swallowing a camel, that is, committing great sins, which He calls camels, from the size and distorted shape of that animal. Morally, The Scribes are those who think nothing else contained in Scripture than the bare letter exhibits; the Pharisees are all those who esteem themselves righteous, and separate themselves from others, saying, 'Come not nigh me, for I am clean.' Mint, anise, and cummin, are the seasoning, not the substantial part of food; as in our life and conversation there are some things necessary to justification, as judgment, mercy, and faith; and others which are like the seasoning of our actions, giving them a flavour and sweetness, as abstinence from laughter, fasting, bending the knee, and such like. How shall they not be judged blind who see not that it is of little avail to be a careful dispenser in the least things, if things of chief moment are neglected? These His present discourse overthrows; not forbidding to observe the little things, but bidding to keep more carefully the chief things.

Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. In this part he sets forth a likeness; hence he says, who strain out a gnat. He who strains swallows with difficulty. Hence he means to say that they put great care into the smallest things and little care into great things. Or by the gnat the smallest sins are understood, and by the camel, great sins; hence they make an issue of small sins; and this is what he says, but swallowing a camel.

The law of Moses taught through the use of symbols how to maintain purity throughout life's activities. It was the custom of the Jews, passed on to them from their ancient traditions, to wash carefully their cups and the dish that contained their food. They observed these practices to maintain their purity and to avoid contact with "sinful people." Their aim was that they might flee from fellowship with sinners.… How much more through such practices were they preparing themselves to flee from sin itself. And yet those who were carefully observing these practices were themselves acting like robbers and violently making a profit, becoming loathsome by doing so. Therefore Jesus says this: "Flee unrighteousness, O blind Pharisee. For you fail to perceive how you are acting. For what is in the cup and dish are clean if they are not gained in an unrighteous manner. Righteousness cleanses the vessel much better than water."

(Mor. i. 15.) Or otherwise; The gnat stings while it hums; the camel bows its back to receive its load. The Jews then strained off the gnat, when they prayed to have the seditious robber released to them; and they swallowed the camel, when they sought with shouts the death of Him who had voluntarily taken on Him the burden of our mortality.

He therefore is reproving those who, pursuing an ostentation of useless scrupulosity, neglected the discharge of useful morality. For it is the inside of the cup that is used; if that be foul, what profit is it to cleanse the outside? And therefore what is needed is purity of the inner conscience, that those things which are of the body may be clean without.

(Verse 25, 26.) Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and impurity. Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, so that the outside also may be clean. In different words, with the same meaning as above, Jesus accuses the Pharisees of hypocrisy and deceit, because they pretend one thing to others outwardly, but do something different at home. Not that their superstition delayed them in the cup and dish; but that they displayed holiness to others, in their attire, in their speech, in their phylacteries, in the fringes, in the length of their prayers, and other such things, while internally they were full of the filth of vices.

In different words, but to the same purport as before, He reproves the hypocrisy and dissimulation of the Pharisees, that they showed one face to men abroad, but wore another at home. He means not here, that their scrupulousness respecting the cup and the platter was of any importance, but that they affected it to pass off their sanctity upon men; which is clear from His adding, but inwardly ye are full of ravening and uncleanness.

So, therefore, while with respect to alms He saith, "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone," touching purifications He speaks not on this wise, but what? "Ye make clean," He saith, "the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full of extortion, and injustice. Cleanse that which is within the cup, that the outside may be clean also." And He took it from a thing confessed and manifest, from a cup and platter.

And besides, neither is it concerning a cup and platter he is speaking, but of soul and body, by the outside meaning the body, by the inside the soul. But if with regard to the platter there be need of that which is within much more with regard to thee.

But ye do the contrary, saith He, observing things trifling and external, ye neglect what are great and inward: whence very great mischief arises, for that thinking ye have duly performed all, ye despise the other things; and despising them, ye do not so much as strive or attempt to perform them.

This passage teaches us that we should hasten to be righteous, not merely to appear so. Whoever strives only to appear righteous will cleanse his exterior and will take great care of what can be seen by others but will neglect his heart and his conscience. He fails to realize that the one who is eager to purify his interior life and his thoughts will also naturally want to give a healthy outward appearance as well. Whoever works hard on the externals but neglects his interior life, however, will inevitably be filled with avarice, lust, malice, and many other kinds of evil. For the one who is solicitous of his own interior salvation also takes care of his external, public reputation. But not everyone who cares first about his public reputation is also solicitous of his interior salvation. In this connection, it is written that "whoever sees a woman and lusts after her has committed adultery with her in his heart." He who refrains from acts of fornication, therefore, but commits fornication by lusting in his heart is like the one who cleanses the outside of the cup and plate while the inside is left full of intemperance. Whoever performs acts of mercy for the purpose of earning human respect, doing his good deeds "to be seen by men," also seems to cleanse only the exterior of the cup and plate but is full of intemperance and lust for vainglory within.

If it is proper to regard everything in the gospel according to the moral sense … we can say that it is a sort of spiritual food and spiritual drink that we receive when we read the law and the prophets in Scripture. Indeed, the language through which we take our spiritual drink and the biblical narratives on which we are nourished are the plates and cups for our food and drink. This is why we are warned not to take as much care for their outside as we do for their inside, so that our hearts might be filled with pure understanding, not merely adorned with fine rhetoric and grammar. For "the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power." Whoever strives harder to dress his speech in elegant composition than to fill it with saving doctrine has cleaned only the outside, but the inside remains stained with vanity.…We can also say that the very words of the law and the prophets are the cups of spiritual drink for souls and that the plates or bowls of nourishing food for the faithful are their wise authors. The scribes and Pharisees work diligently at discerning only the external, literal meaning of these prophetic cups and plates and bowls, eager to demonstrate that the vessels themselves are pure and holy. The disciples of Christ … hasten to purify and sanctify the interior, spiritual meaning by means of knowledge and credible explanations, so that they might eat and drink the law and the prophets whose inside has been purified, desiring as they do to hear and understand the interior, mystical meaning and to go beyond the literal sense of the words.

This discourse instructs us that we should hasten to become righteous, not to seem so. For whoso seeks to be thought so, cleanses the outside, and has care of the things that are seen, but neglects the heart and conscience. But he who seeks to cleanse that which is within, that is, the thoughts, makes by that means the things without clean also. All professors of false doctrine are cups cleansed on the outside, because of that show of religion which they affect, but within they are full of extortion and guile, hurrying men into error. The cup is a vessel for liquids, the platter for meat. Every discourse then of which we spiritually drink, and all speech by which we are fed, are vessels for meat and drink. They who study to set forth well wrought discourse rather than such as is full of healthful meaning, are cups cleansed without; but within full of the defilement of vanity. Also the letter of the Law and the Prophets is a cup of spiritual drink, and a platter of necessary food. The Scribes and Pharisees seek to make plain the outward sense; Christ's disciples labour to exhibit the spiritual sense.

Or, He means that the Jews whenever they were to enter the temple or to offer sacrifice, or on any festivals, used to wash themselves, their clothes, and their vessels, but none cleansed himself from his sins; but God neither commends bodily cleanliness, nor condemns the contrary. But suppose foulness of person or of vessels were offensive to God, which must become foul by being used, how much more does He not abhor foulness of conscience, which we may, if we will, keep ever pure?

This He speaks not of the cup and platter of sense, but of that of the understanding, which may be pure before God, though it have never touched water; but if it have sinned, then though the water of the whole ocean and of all rivers have washed it, it is foul and guilty before God.

But what reason is there in going to prayer with hands indeed washed, but the spirit foul?-inasmuch as to our hands themselves spiritual purities are necessary, that they may be "lifted up pure" from falsehood, from murder, from cruelty, from poisonings, from idolatry, and all the other blemishes which, conceived by the spirit, are effected by the operation of the hands. These are the true purities; not those which most are superstitiously careful about, taking water at every prayer, even when they are coming from a bath of the whole body.

Preserving the traditions of the elders, the Pharisees would wash the cups and the plates in which their food and drink were to be placed. But they drank wine and ate food gained by extortion, so they were all the more polluted. Therefore Christ says, do not obtain wine from injustice and the inside of the cup will be clean. Or, in another sense, He is speaking not of cups and plates, but of the bodily and external condition in contrast to the inner and spiritual. For, He says, you assume a most comely appearance on the outside of the cup, that is, in your external condition, while you are full of filth within, extorting and practicing injustice. But you must cleanse the inside, that is, the soul. For the radiance of a purified soul illumines the outward appearance of a man.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, who make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish. Above, the Lord rebuked the Pharisees for the pretense they outwardly displayed, which they did not have in their hearts, but twisted toward profit; here, for the pretense of purity which they outwardly showed. And this, first, with respect to the appetite for temporal goods, or with respect to carnal sins; secondly, with respect to spiritual sins. And first he treats of the first; secondly, of the second, at woe to you (...) because you are like whitened sepulchres. Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he rebukes their pretense; secondly, he sets forth the sound doctrine, at you blind Pharisee, etc. He says, then, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who make clean the outside of the cup, etc. Note that this can be understood in two ways. In one way, that it is a proper expression; and he means to touch upon the custom of the Pharisees, who put great care into cleaning the exteriors, as is said above, that they observed the cleanliness of cups and vessels; hence woe to you, who put great care into cleaning vessels, but not hearts. Hence it follows, but within, i.e., in the heart, you are full of rapine and uncleanness. Jerome holds that it is a figurative expression; hence he holds that all the cleanliness that is shown outwardly is to be understood. Food is served in the dish, drink in the cup. But man is called a dish; and the food in which God delights are the good works that he does; John 4:34: my meat is to do the will of my Father. It is evident that the use of the cup and dish is not on the outer surface but the inner. He therefore who cleans the cup outwardly is he who prepares his body outwardly. But you are of this sort: within you are full of rapine and uncleanness. And he sets forth two things, rapine and uncleanness, because there are two kinds of sins: carnal sins, which are consummated in the delight of the flesh, such as gluttony and lust; and others which are consummated in the delight of the spirit, such as pride and avarice, because avarice with respect to its object holds itself with carnal sin; but with respect to its completion, because it is completed in the delight of the mind, namely in the desire for money, it holds itself with spiritual sin. Hence he reproves avarice when he says rapine. Now rapine properly refers to when what belongs to another is taken; so properly the avaricious man withholds what belongs to another: hence it is opposed to justice; Isaiah 3:14: the spoil of the poor is in your house. Likewise, full of uncleanness, with respect to gluttony and lust. The soul is rendered impure by passion, and no passion so depresses reason as gluttony and lust; Ephesians 5:3: let not fornication and uncleanness, or covetousness, be so much as named among you, as becomes saints.

We are not washed in order that we may cease sinning, but because we have ceased, since in heart we have been bathed already.

Then he brings them to sound doctrine: you blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish. All exterior purity is from interior purity, as it says above at 6:22: if your eye be single, your whole body shall be lightsome, etc. Therefore he teaches that one should cleanse the heart, and so the whole will be clean. Hence he says, you blind Pharisee, etc. Wisdom 2:21: their own malice blinded them. Make clean the inside, because whatever is done outwardly, provided it is done from a good will, is entirely good; Proverbs 4:23: with all watchfulness keep your heart. Likewise, it can be explained of the word of a man: hence that which is interior can be understood as the understanding of sacred Scripture, Sirach 15:3: she fed him with the bread of life and understanding, in which wisdom is served. The bread of wisdom is the word of life. Hence some wish to adorn the word outwardly and do not care about the meaning. And these clean the outside.

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

It is very beautiful, and, as you say, it is very English. Charles Dickens, who was almost more English than England, wrote one of his rare poems about the beauty of ivy. Yes, by all means let us admire the ivy, so deep, so warm, so full of a genial gloom and a grotesque tenderness. Let us admire the ivy; and let us pray to God in His mercy that it may not kill the tree.

Brave men are vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle. But these modern cowards are all crustaceans; their hardness is all on the cover and their softness is inside.

But the difference lies precisely in this--that the Christ of Mr. Kennedy's play insists on really knowing all the souls that he loves; he declines to conquer by a kind of supernatural stupidity. He pardons evil, but he will not ignore it. In other words, he is a Christian, and not a Christian Scientist. The distinction doubtless is partly explained by the problems severally selected. Mr. Jerome practically supposes Christ to be trying to save disreputable people; and that, of course, is naturally a simple business. Mr. Kennedy supposes Him to be trying to save the reputable people, which is a much larger affair. The chief characters in The Servant in the House are a popular and strenuous vicar, universally respected, and his fashionable and forcible wife. It would have been no good to tell these people they had some good in them--for that was what they were telling themselves all day long. They had to be reminded that they had some bad in them--instinctive idolatries and silent treasons which they always tried to forget. It is in connection with these crimes of wealth and culture that we face the real problem of positive evil. The whole of Mr. Blatchford's controversy about sin was vitiated throughout by one's consciousness that whenever he wrote the word "sinner" he thought of a man in rags. But here, again, we can find truth merely by referring to vulgar literature--its unfailing fountain. Whoever read a detective story about poor people? The poor have crimes; but the poor have no secrets. And it is because the proud have secrets that they need to be detected before they are forgiven.

(Mor. xxvi. 32.) But before their strict Judge they cannot have the plea of ignorance, for by assuming in the eyes of men every form of sanctity, they witness against themselves that they are not ignorant how to live well.

(Verse 27, 28.) Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful to people, but inside are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Just as he had shown with the cup and dish, that they were clean on the outside but dirty on the inside, he now repeats the same example with tombs: how tombs are whitewashed on the outside and decorated with marble and gold and different colors, but inside they are full of dead people's bones. This is how the perverse teachers, who teach one thing and do another, demonstrate cleanliness with their clothing and humility of speech, but inside they are full of all uncleanness and desire. Finally, this expresses more clearly the very thing itself, inferring: Thus you indeed appear just to men on the outside: but within, you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Sepulchres are whitened with lime without, and decorated with marble painted in gold and various colours, but within are full of dead men's bones. Thus crooked teachers who teach one thing and do another, affect purity in their dress, and humility in their speech, but within are full of all uncleanness, covetousness, and lust.

After this, He again derides them for vainglory, calling them "whited sepulchers" and unto all adding, "ye hypocrites;" which thing is the cause of all their evils, and the origin of their ruin. And He did not merely call them whited sepulchers, but said, that they were full of uncleanness and hypocrisy. And these things He spake, indicating the cause wherefore they did not believe, because they were full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

But these things not Christ only, but the prophets also constantly lay to their charge, that they spoil, that their rulers judge not according to the rule of justice, and every where you may find the sacrifices indeed refused, but these things required. So that there is nothing strange, nothing new, neither in the lawgiving, nor in the accusation, nay not even in the comparison of the sepulchre. For the prophet makes mention thereof, neither did he call them merely a sepulchre, "but their throat an open sepulchre."

Such are many men now also, decking themselves indeed outwardly, but full of iniquity within. For now too there is many a mode, and many a care for outward purifications, but of those in the soul not so much as one. But if indeed any one should tear open each man's conscience, many worms and much corruption would he find, and an ill savor beyond utterance; unreasonable and wicked lusts I mean, which are more unclean than worms.

But that "they" should be such persons is not "so" dreadful a thing (although it be dreadful), but that "you," that have been counted worthy to become temples of God, should of a sudden have become sepulchers, having as much ill savor, this is extreme wretchedness. He in whom Christ dwells, and the Holy Spirit hath worked, and such great mysteries, that this man should be a sepulchre, what wretchedness is this? What mournings and lamentations doth this call for, when the members of Christ have become a tomb of uncleanness? Consider how thou wast born, of what things thou hast been counted worthy, what manner of garment thou hast received, how thou wast built a temple without a breach! how fair! not adorned with gold, neither with pearls, but with the spirit that is more precious than these.

Consider that no sepulchre is made in a city, so then neither shalt thou be able to appear in the city above. For if here this is forbidden, much more there. Or rather even here thou art an object of scorn to all, bearing about a dead soul, and not to be scorned only, but also to be shunned. For tell me, if any one were to go round, bearing about a dead body, would not all have rushed away? would not all have fled? Think this now likewise. For thou goest about, bearing a spectacle far more grievous than this, a soul deadened by sins, a soul paralyzed.

Who now will pity such a one? For when thou dost not pity thine own soul, how shall another pity him that is so cruel, such an enemy to himself? If any one, where thou didst sleep and eat, had buried a dead body, what wouldest thou not have done? but thou art burying a dead soul, not where thou dinest, nor where thou sleepest, but in the members of Christ: and art thou not afraid lest a thousand lightnings and thunderbolts be hurled from above upon thine head?

This discourse instructs us that we should hasten to become righteous, not to seem so. For whoso seeks to be thought so, cleanses the outside, and has care of the things that are seen, but neglects the heart and conscience. But he who seeks to cleanse that which is within, that is, the thoughts, makes by that means the things without clean also. All professors of false doctrine are cups cleansed on the outside, because of that show of religion which they affect, but within they are full of extortion and guile, hurrying men into error. The cup is a vessel for liquids, the platter for meat. Every discourse then of which we spiritually drink, and all speech by which we are fed, are vessels for meat and drink. They who study to set forth well wrought discourse rather than such as is full of healthful meaning, are cups cleansed without; but within full of the defilement of vanity. Also the letter of the Law and the Prophets is a cup of spiritual drink, and a platter of necessary food. The Scribes and Pharisees seek to make plain the outward sense; Christ's disciples labour to exhibit the spiritual sense.

Justly are the bodies of the righteous said to be temples, because in the body of the righteous the soul has dominion, as God in His temple; or because God Himself dwells in righteous bodies. But the bodies of sinners are called sepulchres of the dead, because the sinner's soul is dead in his body; for that cannot be deemed to be alive, which does no spiritual or living act.

But say, hypocrite, if it be good to be wicked, why do you not desire to seem that which you desire to be? For what it is shameful to seem, that it is more shameful to be; and what to seem is fair, that it is fairer to be. Either therefore be what you seem, or seem what you are.

Wherefore that also must be held to be the resurrection, when a man is reanimated by access to the truth, and having dispersed the death of ignorance, and being endowed with new life by God, has burst forth from the sepulchre of the old man, even as the Lord likened the scribes and Pharisees to "whited sepulchres." Whence it follows that they who have by faith attained to the resurrection, are with the Lord after they have once put Him on in their baptism.

This analogy, too, has the same meaning as that of the preceding. For they were eager to appear comely in their external condition, just like tombs that are whitened with lime and chalk, but within they are full of every uncleanness, and of dead and rotting works.

Woe to you, (...) because you are like whitened sepulchres. Here he rebukes them with respect to spiritual sins. And first he sets forth the likeness; secondly, he explains it. A sepulchre is where a dead body rests. The dead bodies of the saints are the temple of God, in which God dwells; 1 Corinthians 3:17: the temple of God is holy, which you are. The body is the dwelling of the soul, and the soul is the throne of God: so just as the body is the dwelling of the soul, so the soul is the dwelling of God; Psalm 10:5: God is in his holy temple, etc. But the body of a sinner is a sepulchre, because it contains a dead thing, since the soul dies through sin; therefore the wicked are called a sepulchre; Psalm 13:3: their throat is an open sepulchre. In a sepulchre there is a dead body within, but sometimes outwardly there is some image that seems to live in appearance; Apocalypse 3:1: you have the name of being alive, and you are dead. And therefore he says, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, on account of the beauty outwardly applied, but within are full of dead men's bones and of all filthiness, i.e., of all putrefaction and of all uncleanness.

As the scribes and Pharisees were previously called "full of robbery and intemperance," likewise here they are said to be "full of hypocrisy and iniquity" and are compared with "the bones of the dead and all uncleanness." Hypocrisy, because it is a counterfeit of the good, possesses nothing vital of the good it simulates, but is only its dead bones, so to speak.… If we listen with wisdom to what the present passage wants to tell us, we will understand that every simulated righteousness is a dead righteousness, hence no righteousness at all. Just as a dead man can still have the appearance of a man, even though he is in fact no longer a man, so also a dead chastity is no chastity. For any virtue is dead when it is not practiced for God but feigned on account of men. He who feigns righteousness can give the appearance of being righteous even though what he has is not righteousness at all but only a figment of righteousness, much like impersonators who can take on the appearance of another individual without thereby actually becoming the other person. The same is true concerning chastity. Because of this, men who do such things are appropriately compared with "whitewashed tombs which look beautiful from the outside," for they give every external appearance of righteousness, even though they are full of "the bones of the dead" within.

As above they are said to be full of extortion and excess, so here they are full of hypocrisy and iniquity, and are likened to dead men's bones, and all uncleanness.

For all feigned righteousness is dead, forasmuch as it is not done for God's sake; yea, rather it is no righteousness at all, any more than a dead man is a man, or an actor who represents any character is the man whom he represents. There is therefore within them so much of bones and uncleanness as are the good things that they wickedly pretend to. And they seem righteous outwardly, not in the eyes of such as the Scripture calls Gods, (Ps. 82:6.) but of such only as die like men.

After this he explains: so you also outwardly indeed appear to men just, i.e., men judge you to be just, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. He comprehends the carnal sins, avarice and gluttony, as was said above, under which vainglory is contained; John 12:43: they loved their own glory more than the glory of God. Likewise, under iniquity, all spiritual sins.