Part 38

36. And we ought to wonder at the greatness of the commendation of it which the Prophet, or rather Christ in the person of the Prophet, has expressed in one short verse. _A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed._ Christ says this to the Church, whom He would have _a virgin without spot or wrinkle_. Virginity is a fertile _garden_, which bears many fruits of a good odour; _a garden inclosed_ because it is surrounded on all sides with the wall of chastity; _a fountain sealed_, in that virginity is the fountain and source of modesty, and that which keeps unbroken the seal of purity; that fountain wherein is reflected the image of God, since with chastity of body accords likewise holy simplicity.

Sidenote: 2 Cor. xi. 2.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. vii.

37. Nor can any one doubt that the Church herself is a virgin, whom even at Corinth the Apostle Paul espoused, that he _might present her a chaste virgin to Christ_. Thus in his first Epistle he gives counsel and sets a high value on the gift of virginity, for that it is not disquieted by the needs of this present world, nor defiled by its corruptions, nor agitated by its storms. In the latter he espouses the Corinthians to Christ, that so, in the purity of that people, he may ratify the virginity of the Church.

Sidenote: Ib. 26.

Sidenote: Ib. 32.

Sidenote: Ib. 34.

Sidenote: Ib. 35.

38. Answer me now, O Paul, in what way _for the present distress_ dost thou give counsel? _He that is unmarried_, thou sayest, _careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord_, adding further, _the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord_, that she may be holy both in body and spirit. She has therefore a bulwark against the storms of this world, and thus shielded and fortified by the Divine protection she is disquieted by none of the blasts of this world. Counsel then is good, because therein lies profit, but in commandment is a bond[268]. Counsel leads forward the willing, commandment binds the reluctant. So that if any follow this counsel, and repent not, she hath profited; on the other hand, if she change her purpose, she hath no ground to accuse the Apostle, for she ought to have judged better of her own weakness, and thus she is responsible to herself for her own choice, for she has bound herself by a bond and knot heavier than she can bear.

Sidenote: Rom. xiv. 2.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. vii. 37–40.

39. Wherefore, as a good physician, who desires both to preserve for the strong the stability of their virtue, and to restore health to the weak, he gives to the one counsel, to the other a remedy; _Whoso is weak, let him eat herbs_; let him take a wife; he that is stronger, let him use the strong meat of continence. And he well adds; _He that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well. So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well, but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better. The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord. But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment, and I think also that I have the Spirit of God._ Now having the counsel of God consists in examining all things diligently, in urging what is best, and pointing out what is safest.

40. A careful guide points out many ways, that each person may walk on which he will, and which he finds suitable for himself: provided only he lights on one which will lead him into the camp. Good is the way of virginity, but, being lofty and steep, it requires the stronger sort. Good too is the way of widowhood, not so difficult as the former, but, being rocky and rough, it requires the more cautious sort. Good too is the way of matrimony, but, being smooth and direct, it arrives by a longer circuit at the camp of the faithful, and this way is trodden by the larger number. We have therefore the rewards of virginity, the merits of widowhood, there is also a place for conjugal chastity. They are the degrees and advances of several virtues.

Sidenote: Exod. iii. 5.

Sidenote: Deut. v. 31.

41. Stand stedfast therefore in your hearts, that no man may unsettle or overthrow you. The Apostle has taught us what ‘to stand’ signifies, that is, what was said to Moses, _For the place whereon thou standest is holy ground_; for no one stands but he who stands by faith, who stands firm in the resolution of his heart. In another place too we read, _But as for thee, stand thou here by Me_. Both are addressed to Moses by the Lord, both _the place whereon thou standest is holy ground_, and _stand thou here by Me_, that is to say, ‘thou standest with Me, if thou standest in the Church. For the place itself is holy, the land itself bears the fruit of holiness, and is rich with the haunts of virtue.’

42. ‘Stand therefore in the Church, stand where I appeared to thee, there I am with thee. For where the Church is, there is the most secure resting-place for thy soul; there is the support of thy mind, when I appeared to thee out of the bush. Thou art the bush, I am the fire: the fire in the bush, and I in the flesh. And therefore am I the fire, that I may give thee light, that I may burn up thy thorns, that is, thy sins, and discover to thee My grace.’

Sidenote: Ps. xxvi. 4.

Sidenote: Ib. l. 20.

43. Stand firm therefore in your hearts, and drive away from the Church those wolves which seek to carry off prey. Let there be no sloth in you, nor an evil mouth or bitter tongue. Sit not with vain persons, for it is written, _I have not dwelt with vain persons_. Listen not to those who detract from their neighbours, lest, hearing others, ye be yourselves excited to do likewise, and it be said to each of you, _Thou satest and spakest against thy brother_.

Sidenote: Ps. cxxxiv. 1, 2.

44. Sitting we speak against others, but standing up we praise the Lord, as it is said; _Behold now, praise the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord; ye that stand in the house of the Lord_. He who sits, to speak of the habit of the body, is, as it were, dissolved by ease, and relaxes the energy of his mind. But the careful watchman, the unwearied scout, the wakeful sentinel who keeps the outposts of the camp, these stand. The brave warrior also, who would prevent the designs of his enemy, stands[269] ready in his rank ere he is looked for.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. x. 12.

Sidenote: Ps. xxvi. 5.

Sidenote: Ib. xxxvii. 1.

45. _Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall._ He who stands is free from detraction, for it is by the talk of the idle that slander is disseminated and rancour displayed. Wherefore the Prophet says, _I have hated the congregation of the wicked, and will not sit among the ungodly_. And in the 37th Psalm, which is full of moral precepts, he has placed in the very outset, _Be not malignant among them that are malignant, neither be thou envious against the evil-doers_. Malignity does more harm than malice, for its property is neither pure simplicity nor open malice; but a hidden malevolence, and it is more difficult to guard against what is concealed than against what is known; and so our Saviour bids us beware of evil spirits, for they captivate us by the outward show of charming pleasures, and the false show of other things, holding forth honour as a lure to ambition, wealth to riches, power to pride.

Sidenote: Prov. xiv. 30. LXX.

Sidenote: S. Matt. ix. 12.

46. Wherefore in every act, but especially in the search after a Bishop, by whose model the life of all is formed, malignity ought to be absent, that by a composed and peaceful exercise of judgment he may he preferred to all who is to be chosen from all and who may heal all. For _a gentle-minded man is the physician of the heart_, of that whereof our Lord also in the Gospel has professed Himself a Physician, _They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick_.

Sidenote: Heb. v. 5.

Sidenote: Ib. 7.

47. He is the good Physician, Who has taken upon Him our infirmities, Who has healed our sicknesses, and yet He, as it is written, _glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest_, but _He that said unto Him_, even the Father, _Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee, as He saith also in another place, Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck_. And as He was to be the type of all priests, He took upon Him our flesh, that _in the days of His flesh, He might offer up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto_ God the Father, _and though He were the Son_ of God, might even _learn obedience from the things He suffered_, in order to teach us, that He might become to us the Author of salvation. Finally, having accomplished His sufferings, and being Himself made perfect, He gave health to all, He bore the sin of all.

Sidenote: Numb. xvii. 8.

Sidenote: Heb. v. 2.

Sidenote: Ib. 4.

48. Thus He Himself chose Aaron the High Priest, that human ambition might not sway the choice, but the grace of God; no voluntary offering, nor taking upon himself, but a heavenly call, that he might offer gifts for sins, who could have compassion on sinners _for that he himself also_, it is written, _is compassed with infirmity_. A man should not _take this honour to himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron_; so also Christ did not assume but received His priesthood.

Sidenote: Ib. vii. 2, 3.

Sidenote: Rev. i. 8.

49. And further, since the succession derived by descent from Aaron produced heirs of his race rather than partakers of his righteousness, therefore there came the antitype of that Melchisedeck whom we read of in the Old Testament, the true Melchisedeck, the true King of Peace, the true King of Righteousness, for this is the interpretation of his name; being _without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life_, which also has reference to the Son of God, for in His Divine generation, He had no mother, and in His birth from the Virgin Mary He knew no father; Who, born of the Father alone before the world, and from the Virgin alone in the world, could have no beginning of days, for He _was in the beginning_. And how could He have any end to His life, Who is the Author of life to all? He is _the Beginning and the Ending_. But this is referred to also by way of example, that a Bishop ought to be without father and without mother, in that it is not nobility of birth, but holiness of life and preeminence in virtue that is chosen in him.

Sidenote: Heb. xi. 9.

Sidenote: Ps. xcix. 6.

50. Let him possess faith and ripeness of conduct, not one without the other, but let both continue in one, with good works and deeds. Wherefore the Apostle Paul wishes us to be imitators of those who _by faith and patience possess the promises_ of Abraham, of him who by patience was counted worthy to receive and possess the grace of the blessing promised to him. The prophet David has admonished us that we ought to be imitators of holy Aaron, for he has proposed him to us, among the saints of the Lord, as an example for our imitation, saying, _Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among such as call upon His Name_.

Sidenote: Numb. xvi. 48.

51. An example worthy to be followed by all truly was he, seeing that when death, owing to the rebels, was spreading among the people, he placed himself between the living and the dead, thereby to arrest death so that no more might perish. Of a priestly mind and temper truly was he, who thus with pious zeal offered himself, as a good Shepherd, for the Lord’s flock. Thus he broke the sting of death, checked its violence, refused to let it pass. Thus piety aided his services, because he offered himself for those who resisted.

Sidenote: Ib. 32.

Sidenote: Ib. 3.

52. Wherefore let those also who separate themselves learn to fear the anger of the Lord, and to appease His priests. What? did not the earth open and swallow up Dathan Korah and Abiram on account of their schism? For when Korah Dathan and Abiram stirred up two hundred and fifty men against Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from them, they rose up against them, saying, _Let it suffice for you that all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them_.

Sidenote: 2 Tim. ii. 19.

53. Wherefore the Lord was angry and spake to the whole congregation. _The Lord knoweth them that are His_, and hath drawn His saints to Himself; and those whom He hath not chosen, He has not so drawn to Himself. And the Lord commanded that Korah and all those who together with him had rebelled against Moses and Aaron, the priests of the Lord, should take censers, and put incense therein, that he who was chosen of the Lord, might be declared to be holy among the ministers of the Lord.

Sidenote: Numb. xvi. 8, 9.

Sidenote: Ib. 10, 11.

54. And Moses said unto Korah, _Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi, seemeth it but a small thing unto you that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord?_ and below, _Seek ye the priesthood also? for which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord: and what is Aaron that ye murmur against him?_

55. The whole people therefore, weighing the cause of offence, that these men, though unworthy, wished to fill the office of the priesthood, and therefore separated themselves, murmuring against the Lord, and censuring His judgment in the choice of their priests, were seized with great fear, and oppressed with apprehension of punishment. But at the general entreaty that all may not be involved in destruction through the insolence of a few, the guilty are marked out, and two hundred and fifty men with their leaders are separated from the rest, the earth quakes and is rent asunder in the midst of the people, a deep gulf is opened and swallows up the offenders, and thus they are removed from the pure elements of creation, so as neither to pollute the air by breathing it, nor the heavens by looking on them, nor the sea by their touch, nor the earth by their burial.

56. The punishment ceased, the wickedness ceased not; for owing to this very act a murmuring arose among the people that by means of the priests the people had perished. Indignant at this the Lord would have destroyed all, had He not first been moved by the prayers of Moses and Aaron, and afterwards, at the intercession of Aaron His priest, (in order to render their pardon more humiliating,) consented to spare their life at the prayer of those, whose prerogative they had denied.

Sidenote: Numb. xii. 1.

Sidenote: Ib. 10.

Sidenote: Rom. xi. 25.

57. Miriam the prophetess herself, she who with her brethren had crossed the straights of the sea dryshod, because, being still ignorant of the mystery of the Ethiopian woman, she had murmured against her brother Moses, became leprous white as snow, and even at the prayer of Moses was scarcely healed of this great plague. This her murmuring however is to be considered as a type of the Synagogue, which, uninstructed in the mystery of this Ethiopian woman, that is, of the Gentile Church, utters daily reproaches, and envies that people by whose faith she herself will also be relieved from the leprosy of her unbelief, according as we read, _that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in_.

58. And that we may observe that it is Divine rather than human grace which operates in priests, of all those rods which Moses received from the tribes and laid by, the rod of Aaron alone budded, and thus the people perceived that the Divine commission is a gift which is to be looked for in a priest, and though they before thought that a similar prerogative belonged to themselves, they now ceased to claim the same privilege for a merely human election. But this rod, what else does it indicate, but that priestly grace never decays, and in the utmost lowliness has in the exercise of its functions the flower of strength committed to it, or because this also has reference to a mystery? Nor is it without a meaning that we deem this to have taken place near the end of the life of Aaron the priest. It appears to be intimated that the ancient Jewish people, decaying and worn away by the long-continued infidelity of their priesthood, will in the latter times be reclaimed to zealous faith and devotion by the example of the Church, and by the aid of reviving grace will again put forth the blossoms which have so long been dead.

Sidenote: Numb. xx. 26.

Sidenote: Heb. v. 1.

59. But what is signified by the fact that on the death of Aaron it was not to all the people, but to Moses alone, who is among the priests of the Lord, that God gave the command to invest with the garments of Aaron the priest Eleazar his son, what but to teach us that a priest ought to be consecrated by a priest, and clothed with his proper garments, that is, with priestly virtues; and then, when it appears that he lacks no part of his priestly array, but is complete in all things, that he should be brought near to the holy altars. For being about to offer for the people, he ought to be chosen by the Lord, and approved by the people; and this lest some grave cause of offence should be found in him whose duty it is to intercede for the sins of others. No ordinary degree of virtue befits a priest, for he ought sedulously to shun not only more heinous sins, but even the smallest; he ought to be open to compassion, not to revoke his promise, to raise the fallen, to sympathise with sorrow, to preserve meekness, to love piety, to drive away or stifle wrath, to be a trumpet to rouse the people to devotion, or to soothe them into tranquillity.

Sidenote: Prov. xv. 18.

Sidenote: Ps. iv. 4. Vulg. LXX.

60. It is an old saying; Accustom yourself to be single-minded that your life may be as a picture, and ever preserve the same stamp which it has received. How can he be one and the same, who at one time is inflamed with anger, at another, boils with bitter indignation, whose countenance burns and then changes to paleness, varying and changing colour every moment. But suppose that it is natural to be angry, or that for the most part there is cause to be so; it also is the part of a man to moderate his wrath, and to resist being carried away by brutal fury, so as not to know how to be appeased; it is his duty not to embitter family discord, for it is written, _A wrathful man diggeth up sin_. He is not one with himself who is double-minded, nor he who cannot restrain his wrath, of whom David says well, _Be ye angry, and sin not_. Such a one does not command his anger, but rather indulges his natural passions, which cannot indeed be prevented but may be moderated. Although then we are angry, let our passion admit only such emotion as is according to nature, not sin which is contrary to nature. For it is intolerable that he who undertakes to govern others should be unable to govern himself.

Sidenote: 1 Tim. iii. 2. Tit. i. 7.

61. And so the Apostle has given us a model, that it behoves a _Bishop_ to be _blameless_, as he also says elsewhere, _For a Bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre_. For how can the compassion of the almsgiver and the avarice of the coveter agree together?

Sidenote: Ib. 9.

Sidenote: Ib. 6.

62. I have set down those things which I have learnt are to be avoided; it is the Apostle who teaches what virtues are needed, and he tells us that the _gainsayers_ are to be _convinced_ with patience, and commands a Bishop to be _the husband of one wife_, and this not in order to exclude him from marriage, (for this is beyond the bounds of the precept,) but that by conjugal chastity he may preserve the grace of his Washing; nor again, that he may feel that he has the sanction of Apostolical authority for begetting children after he is a priest, for he speaks of one having children, not of one begetting them or marrying again.

63. And I have thought it better to touch upon this, because many persons argue as if the being _husband of one wife_ had reference to a man marrying once after Baptism, seeing that by Baptism all the sin which would interpose any obstacle is removed. True indeed it is that in Baptism all sins and offences are washed away, so that even to one who has polluted his body with many women not united to him by wedlock, all is remitted. But Baptism does not dissolve marriage, if a man has married again, for it is sin, not the Law, which is destroyed by the Bath, and in marriage there is no sin but a law. Being therefore a law it is not dissolved as if it were a fault, but retained, in that it is a law. Now the Apostle has laid down a rule saying, _If any be blameless, the husband of one wife_. So that if any man be blameless, the husband of one wife, he comes under the forms of the rule for undertaking the priestly office, but he who marries again incurs not indeed the sin of pollution, but loses the prerogative of a priest.