Part 37

4. Make yourselves therefore worthy that Christ should stand in the midst of you; for wheresoever is peace there is Christ, for Christ is _Peace_; wheresoever is righteousness there is Christ, for Christ is _Righteousness_. Let Him stand in the midst of you, that you may see Him, that it be not said to you also, _There standeth One among you, Whom ye know not_. The Jews saw Him not, for they believed not on Him; we behold Him by devotion, and Him by faith.

Sidenote: Ps. xix. 1.

Sidenote: Acts vii. 56.

5. Let Him therefore stand in the midst of you, that you may have the _heavens_ which _declare the glory of God_, opened to you; that you may do His will and work His works. The heavens are opened to him who sees Jesus, as they were opened to Stephen, when he said, _Behold I see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God_. Jesus stood as an intercessor, He stood, as being eager to assist His soldier Stephen in his combat; He stood as being prepared to crown His martyr.

Sidenote: Dan. vii. 9, 10.

Sidenote: Ps. lxxxii. 1.

6. Let Him therefore stand in the midst of you, that you may not fear Him when seated on His throne, for seated thereon He will judge, according to the saying of Daniel, _I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the books were opened, and the Ancient of days did sit_. And in the 82nd Psalm it is written, _God standeth in the congregation of princes, He decideth among gods_. So then being seated He judges, standing He decides. He judges concerning them that are not perfected, He decides among the gods. Let Him stand for you as a Defender, as the good Shepherd, that cruel wolves may not attack you.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. ix. 27.

7. Nor is it without reason that my admonition directs itself to this point; for I hear that Sarmatio and Barbatianus[256] have come among you, vain boasters, who assert that there is no merit in abstinence, no grace in a strict life, none in virginity, that all are to be rated at one price, that they who chastise their flesh, in order to bring it into subjection to the body, are beside themselves. But had the Apostle Paul thought it a madness, he never would have practised it himself, nor written it for the instruction of others. Yet he thus glories, saying, _But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself be found a reprobate_[257]. So that they who chastise not their own bodies, yet would fain preach to others, are themselves accounted reprobates.

Sidenote: 1 S. John ii. 19.

8. For is there aught so reprobate[258] as that which excites us to impurity, to corruption, to wantonness? as the fuel of lust, the enticer to pleasure, the nurse of incontinence, the incentive of desire? What new school has sent forth these Epicureans? No school of philosophers, as they affirm, but of ignorant men who are setters forth of pleasure, who persuade to luxury, who hold chastity to be useless. _They were with us, but they were not of us_, for we blush not to say what the Apostle John said. It was when placed here that they first fasted, within the monastery they were under restraint; there was no room for licence, all opportunity of jesting and altercation was cut off.

9. This these men of delicacy could not bear. They departed, and when they desired to return were not received, for I had heard many things concerning them against which it behoved me to be on my guard; I admonished them, but in vain. Thus they began to boil over and spread abroad what might prove the miserable incentives of all kinds of vice. Thus they lost the fruits of their fasting, they lost the fruits of having contained themselves a little while. And now with Satanic malice they envy others those good works, the fruits of which they have themselves lost.

10. What virgin can hear without grieving that her chastity will have no reward? Far be it from her readily to give credence to this, still less let her lay aside her earnestness, or change the intention of her mind. What widow, were she to find her widowhood profitless, would choose to preserve inviolate her first marriage-vow, and live in sorrow, instead of allowing herself to be comforted? What wife is there who hearing that no honour is due to chastity, might not be tempted by unwatchful heedlessness of mind or body? And that is why the Church, in her sacred Lessons, in the discourses of her priests, daily sends forth the praises of chastity, the glory of virginity.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. v. 9.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. v. 10.

Sidenote: Ib. 11, 12.

Sidenote: Eph. v. 3.

Sidenote: Ib. 5.

Sidenote: Rom. vi. 3.

Sidenote: Ib. viii. 17.

11. Vainly then has the Apostle said, _I wrote to you in an Epistle not to company with fornicators_: and lest perhaps they should say, ‘We speak not of the fornicators of this world, but we say that he who has been baptized into Christ ought not to be deemed a fornicator, but whatever his life may be, it will be accepted by God,’ the Apostle has added; _Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world_, and below, _If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?_ And to the Ephesians, _But fornication, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not once be named among you, as becometh saints_, adding straightway, _For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God_. This, it is plain, is said of the baptized, for they receive an inheritance who are baptized into the death of Christ, and are _buried together with Him, that they may rise together with Him_. Wherefore they are _heirs of God_, and _joint-heirs with Christ_, heirs of God because the Grace of God is conveyed to them, and coheirs of Christ because they are renewed according to His life; heirs also of Christ because by His Death He grants to them as Testator His inheritance.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. x. 7. Exod. xxxii. 6.

12. Now such as these, who have somewhat to lose, ought more to take heed to themselves than they who have nothing. These ought to act with greater caution, to avoid the snares of vice and the incentives to sin, which chiefly arise out of meat and drink. _The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play._

Sidenote: Gen. iii. 1–4.

13. Even Epicurus himself, whose example these men prefer to that of the Apostles, he, the champion of pleasure, while he denies that it produces evil, denies not that certain consequences flow from it, from which evils are generated: he maintains too that not even the life of the licentious, which is filled with pleasures of this kind, can be said to be objectionable, unless it be assailed by the fear of pain or death. How far removed he is from the truth, may be discovered even from this, that he declares pleasure to be the work of God in man as its originator, as his follower Philomarus[259] maintains in his Epitomes, referring this opinion to the Stoics as its authors.

14. But this is refuted by holy Scripture, which teaches us that pleasure was instilled into Adam and Eve by the snares and enticements of the Serpent. For the Serpent itself is pleasure, and, in accordance with this, the passions of pleasure are various and slippery, and infected by the poison, so to speak, of corrupt enticement. Hence it is plain that Adam, deceived by the sensual appetite, fell from his obedience to God, and the reward of grace. How then can pleasure recal us to Paradise, when it alone cast us out of Paradise?

Sidenote: S. Matt. iv. 2.

Sidenote: Ib. 3.

Sidenote: Ib. 4.

Sidenote: Ib. xvii. 21.

15. Wherefore the Lord Jesus, willing to strengthen us against the temptations of the Devil, fasted before His combat, to teach us that otherwise we cannot conquer the snares of evil. Moreover, the Devil himself employed the force of pleasure in launching the first dart of his temptations, saying, _If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread_. To which the Lord replies, _Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God_; nor would He do it, although within His power, that He might teach us by this wholesome precept to attend rather to love of reading, than to pleasure. Now seeing they deny that we ought to fast, let them be prepared with some reason why Christ fasted, unless it were that His fast might be an example to us. Lastly in a subsequent instance He has taught us that except by fasting evil cannot easily be conquered. These are His words, _This kind of evil spirits goeth not out but by prayer and fasting_.

Sidenote: Acts x. 10.

Sidenote: Exod. xxxiv. 28.

Sidenote: Dan. vi. 22.

Sidenote: Ib. ix. 2.

Sidenote: Tobit xii. 8, 9.

16. Or what can be the meaning of Scripture which teaches that Peter fasted, and that it was while he was fasting and praying that the mystery of the baptism of the Gentiles was revealed to him? what but to convince us that the Saints themselves by fasting are advanced in virtue? It was while fasting that Moses received the Law, and in like manner, Peter, while fasting, was taught the grace of the New Testament. To Daniel also it was vouchsafed through fasting to stop the mouths of the lions, and to behold the events of times to come. Lastly, what hope of salvation can there be for us, unless by fasting we wash away our sins, since Scripture says, _Fasting and alms purge away sin_?

Sidenote: 1 Cor. xv. 32.

17. Who then are these new teachers who deny the merit of fasting? Are they not heathen words which say, _Let us eat and drink_? And well does the Apostle tell them, saying, _If after the manner of men I have fought with the beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die_. That is to say, What did it profit me to contend even unto death, save that I might redeem my body? For in vain is it redeemed if there is no hope of the resurrection. If therefore all hope of this is to be abandoned, let us eat and drink, let us not lose the fruit of things present, seeing that future things are not within our grasp. It is for those then to indulge in meat and drink, who have nothing to hope for after death.

18. Lastly, the Epicureans, the champions of pleasure, assert that death is nothing to us: what is dissolved, they say, is insensible, and what is insensible is nothing to us. By this they show plainly that they live by the body only and not by the mind, and do not perform the functions of the soul but of the body only, in that by separation of soul and body they deem all their vital functions to be dissolved, the merits of their virtues and all vigor of their souls to perish, that with his bodily senses the whole man fails, and that, though the body itself is not immediately dissolved, the mind leaves not a relic behind it. Then they would have the soul perish sooner than the body, whereas even according to their own opinion they ought to remember that the flesh and bones remain after death; and, would they abide by the truth, they ought not to deny the grace of the resurrection.

Sidenote: Ib. 33, 34.

19. Well therefore does the Apostle, confuting these persons, admonish us not to be overthrown by such opinions, saying, _Be not deceived, evil communications corrupt good manners. Be sober[260] unto righteousness and sin not; for some are ignorant of God._ To be sober then is good, for drunkenness is sin.

20. But to Epicurus, this advocate of pleasure, him of whom we make such frequent mention, in order to prove that these men are disciples of the heathens, and follow either the sect of the Epicureans or the man himself who was excluded even by philosphers from their company as the pattern of luxury, what if we can prove even him to be more tolerable than these men? Now he asserts, as Demarchus[261] tells us, that it is not drinking-bouts, nor banquettings, nor the birth of sons, nor the embraces of women, nor a large supply of fish and such delicacies provided for sumptuous feasts, it is not these which make life sweet, but sober discourse. He added also that they who are not excessive in seeking the dainties of the table, are moderate in the use of them. The man who cheerfully limits himself to the juices of plants and to bread and water, despises delicate feasts, for from these arise many evils. Elsewhere too they say that it is not excessive banquets and revels which make pleasure sweet, but a temperate life.

21. Seeing then that philosphy has renounced these men, shall not the Church exclude them? They themselves too, as is usual in a bad cause, often attack themselves by their own arguments. For although it be their main opinion, that there is no sweetness of pleasure but that which arises from eating and drinking; yet, perceiving that they cannot lay down so shameful a definition without the utmost disgrace, and that none stand by them, they have sought to disguise it under the gloss of colourable arguments, and thus one of them has said, In seeking pleasure by means of feasting and song, we have lost that which is derived from hearing that Word whereby alone we can be saved.

Sidenote: Acts xvii. 18.

22. Do we not then perceive in this complicated discussion how inconsistent and variable these men are? Scripture condemns them, for it has not passed over those whom the Apostles confuted, as Luke records in the Acts of the Apostles, which he has written in narrative style, _Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans[262], and of the Stoics encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods._

23. Yet not even from this number did the Apostle part devoid of success. For Dionysius the Areopagite, and Damaris his wife, with many others, believed. And thus by their acts this assembly of the learned and eloquent proved themselves vanquished by the simple discourse of the faithful. What then do these men mean by attempting to pervert those whom the Apostle has won, and Christ redeemed with His own blood, insisting that the baptized have no need to apply themselves to the exercise of virtue; that they are not injured by revellings, by excess of pleasure; that they who deprive themselves of such things are foolish; that virgins ought to marry and bear children; widows also ought to renew that carnal commerce which they had better never have known; and that although they might be able to contain themselves they are mistaken in refusing again to enter into the bond of marriage?

24. What then? Shall we put off the man and put on the beast? shall we strip off Christ, and be clothed over and over with the garments of Satan? The very heathen sages held that pleasure was not to be esteemed honourable, lest they should seem to couple men with brutes, and can we instil the habits of animals into the human breast, and engrave on the rational mind the irrational instincts of wild beasts?

25. Yet there are many kinds of animals, who when they have lost their mate, will no longer copulate, but lead, as it were, a solitary life. Many also feed on simple herbs and only quench their thirst in the pure stream; you may also often see dogs refuse food which they have been forbidden, and, if bid to refrain, close up their hungry jaws. Do men then require to be recalled from that in which even mute animals have learnt from man’s teaching not to transgress[263]?

26. But what is more excellent than abstinence, which makes even the years of youth to be old, and produces an old age of conduct? For as by excess of food and drunkenness even old age is inflamed, so on the other hand, the insolence of youth is restrained by sparing food and by the flowing stream. Fire without us is quenched by the pouring on of water, no wonder then if even internal heat is allayed by draughts from the brook; for the flame is nourished or fails, according as it is fed or not. As hay, stubble, wood, oil, and the like are the fuel of fire, and feed it, and if you withdraw or do not supply them the fire is quenched, so also the warmth of the body is nourished or diminished by food; by food it is excited and by food allayed. Gluttony therefore is the mother of lust.

Sidenote: Gen. ix. 20.

Sidenote: 1 Tim. v. 23.

27. And shall we not say that temperance is accordant with nature, and with that Divine law, which in the very origin of all things, gave us to drink of the fountains and to eat of the fruit of trees? After the flood the just man found himself tempted by wine. Wherefore let us use the natural drink of temperance, and would that we all could do so. But since we are not all strong, the Apostle says, _Use a little wine for thine often infirmities_. It is to be drunk then because of infirmity not for pleasure, and therefore as a remedy, sparingly, not as a luxury, profusely.

Sidenote: 1 Kings xix. 6.

Sidenote: Ib. 8.

Sidenote: Exod. xvii. 6.

Sidenote: Dan. i. 8; ♦xiv. 30; iii. 40.

28. Again, Elijah, when the Lord God was training him to the perfection of virtue, found _a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head; and in the strength of that meat he fasted forty days_. Our fathers, when they passed over the sea on foot, drank water, not wine. It was when fed on their homely food and drinking water, that Daniel repressed the rage of the lions, and the Hebrew children saw the fiery furnace playing round their limbs with harmless flames.

Sidenote: Judith xiii. 16.

Sidenote: Esther iv. 16; v. 2.

Sidenote: S. Luke ii. 37.

Sidenote: S. Matt. iii. 4.

29. And why should I speak of men only? Judith, in no wise moved by the luxurious banquet of Holofernes, won a triumph which men’s arms had found desperate, by the sole merit of her temperance, delivering her country from invasion, and slaying with her own hand the captain of the host: a manifest example both that this warrior dreaded by the people had become enervated by his luxury, and that temperance in food had made this woman stronger than men. It was not in her sex that she surpassed nature, but by her spare diet she conquered. Esther obtained favour from the proud king by her fasts. Anna, _a widow of about fourscore and four years_, serving in the temple _with fastings and prayers night and day_, came to the knowledge of Christ, and John the Teacher of abstinence, and, as it were, a new Angel upon earth, was His herald.

Sidenote: 2 Kings iv. 39.

Sidenote: Ezra viii. 2. Neh. viii. 2.

Sidenote: 2 Cor. xi. 27.

30. O foolish Elisha! to feed the prophets with wild and bitter gourds; O Ezra[264] unmindful of Scripture though from memory thou dost restore Scripture! O senseless Paul, to glory in fasting, if fasting avails nothing!

Sidenote: Is. lviii. 11.

Sidenote: Ps. xxiii. 5. Vulg.

31. But how can that not profit whereby our vices are purged? And if you offer it together with humility and mercy, then, as Isaiah has said by the Divine Spirit, _thy bones shall be made fat, and thou shalt be like a watered garden_! Thy soul then is fattened, and its virtues are enriched by the spiritual fat of fasting, and thy fruits are multiplied by the richness of thy mind, that thou mayest be made drunk, as it were, with soberness[265], as is that cup whereof the Prophet speaks, _And my cup which inebriateth me, how goodly is it_!

Sidenote: Ecclus. xviii. 30, 31.

Sidenote: Ib. xix. 2.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. vii. 4.

32. But not only is that temperance praiseworthy which is sparing in food, but that also which restrains desires. For it is written, _Go not after thy lusts, but refrain thyself from thine appetites. If thou givest thy soul the desires that please her, she will make thee a laughing stock to thine enemies_! and again, _Wine and women will make men of understanding to fall away_! Hence Paul teaches temperance even in marriage; for he who commits excess therein is, as it were, an adulterer, and violates the Apostolical law.

Sidenote: Col. ii. 9.

33. But how can I express the greatness of the grace of virginity, which was counted worthy to be chosen by Christ, to be the bodily temple of God, wherein dwelt, as we read, _the fulness of the Godhead bodily_! A virgin conceived the Saviour of the world, a virgin brought forth the Life of the universe. Ought not then virginity to be above all other states[266] which was profitable to all in Christ? A virgin bore Him Whom this world cannot contain or support. He, born of the womb of Mary, preserved inviolate her chastity, and the seal of her virginity. Therefore Christ found in the Virgin what He would take for His own, what the Lord of all would assume to Himself. By the woman and the man our flesh was cast out of Paradise, by the Virgin it was re-united to God.

Sidenote: Exod. xv. 20.

34. And what shall I say of the other Mary[267], the sister of Moses, who, leading the female band, passed on foot over the straights of the sea? By the same grace Thecla was reverenced even by lions, so that the unfed beasts, lying at the feet of their prey, underwent a holy fast, neither with wanton look nor sharp claw venturing to harm the virgin, for even by a look the sanctity of virginity is profaned.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. vii. 25.

35. Again, with what reverence has the holy Apostle spoken, _Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgement as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord_. Commandment he has not, but counsel; for that which is above the Law is not commanded, but counselled and advised. Nor is any authority assumed, but grace is shewn, and that not by any chance person, but by him who _hath obtained mercy of the Lord_. Are then the counsels of these men better than those of the Apostles? The Apostle says, _I give my counsel_, but they dissuade all from leading a virgin’s life.

Sidenote: Cant. iv. 12.

Sidenote: Eph. v. 27.