Treatises & Letters 14 part 7/8

'If I, your master and lord, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet; for I have given you an example, that as I have done, you also should do to others.' THAT WE MUST WORK NEITHER BOASTFULLY NOR WITH FUSS. In the Gospel according to Matthew: 'Let not your left hand know what your right hand does, that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you.' Likewise there: 'When you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the streets and synagogues, that they may be glorified by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.' THAT WE MUST NOT SPEAK FOOLISHLY AND SCURRILOUSLY. The Apostle Paul to the Ephesians: 'Let foolish talking and buffoonery that is not fitting not even be named among you.'

THAT FAITH PROFITS WHOLLY, AND THAT WE CAN DO AS MUCH AS WE BELIEVE. In Genesis: 'And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.' Likewise in Isaiah: 'And if you will not believe, neither will you understand.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?' Likewise there: 'If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: Pass from here to there, and it shall pass, and nothing shall be impossible to you.' Likewise according to Mark: 'All things whatsoever you pray and ask, believe that you shall receive, and they shall be yours.' Likewise there: 'All things are possible to him who believes.' Likewise in Habakkuk: 'But the just lives by My faith.' Likewise in Daniel, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, believing, were delivered from the flame.

THAT HE WHO HAS TRULY BELIEVED CAN AT ONCE OBTAIN. In the Acts of the Apostles: 'See, here is water; what hinders me from being baptized? Then Philip said: If you believe with your whole heart, it is permitted.' THAT BELIEVERS DISPUTING AMONG THEMSELVES OUGHT NOT TO SEEK A GENTILE JUDGE. The Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, first epistle: 'Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?' Likewise there: 'Now indeed there is altogether a fault in you, in that you have lawsuits one with another. Why do you not rather suffer wrong? Why do you not rather endure to be defrauded? But you do wrong and defraud, and that to your brethren. Or do you not know that the unjust shall not obtain the kingdom of God?'

THAT THERE IS HOPE OF THINGS TO COME, AND THEREFORE THAT FAITH CONCERNING THE THINGS PROMISED OUGHT TO BE PATIENT. The Apostle Paul to the Romans: 'By hope we are saved. But hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees, why does he hope for? But if we hope for that which we do not see, we wait for it with patience.' THAT A WOMAN OUGHT TO KEEP SILENCE IN THE CHURCH. The Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, first epistle: 'Let your women keep silence in the churches. But if any wish to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home.' Likewise to Timothy: 'Let a woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to have authority over her husband, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not seduced, but the woman was seduced.'

THAT IT IS BY OUR OWN FAULT AND DESERT THAT WE TOIL, AND DO NOT IN ALL THINGS PERCEIVE THE HELP OF GOD. In Hosea: 'Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel; for the Lord has a controversy against the inhabitants of the land, because there is neither mercy nor truth nor knowledge of God upon the earth. Cursing and lying and slaughter and theft and adultery are spread abroad over the earth; they mingle blood with blood. Therefore the land shall mourn with all its inhabitants, with the beasts of the field, with the serpents of the earth, with the birds of heaven; and the fishes of the sea shall fail, so that no one judges, no one rebukes.' Likewise in Isaiah the prophet: 'Is not the hand of the Lord strong enough to save, or has He made His ear heavy that He cannot hear?

but your sins separate between you and God, and because of your sins He has turned His face from you, that He might not have mercy. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquities; your lips have spoken wickedness, and your tongue meditates injustice. No one speaks the truth, nor is there true judgment. They trust in vanities and speak empty things; they conceive sorrow and bring forth wickedness.' Likewise in Zephaniah: 'Let it utterly fail from the face of the earth, says the Lord. Let man and cattle fail, let the birds of heaven and the fishes of the sea fail; and I will take away the wicked from the face of the earth.' THAT WE MUST NOT LEND AT USURY. In Psalm 14: 'He who has not given his money at usury, and has not taken bribes against the innocent;

he who does these things shall never be moved.' Likewise in Ezekiel: 'But the man who shall be just will not oppress a man, but will restore the debtor's pledge, and will not seize by robbery; he will give his bread to the hungry, and will cover the naked, and will not give his money at usury.' Likewise in Deuteronomy: 'You shall not lend to your brother at usury of money or usury of food.' THAT ENEMIES TOO MUST BE LOVED. In the Gospel according to Luke: 'If you love those who love you, what thanks have you? For even sinners love those who love them.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew:

'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, who makes His sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust.' THAT THE SACRAMENT OF FAITH MUST NOT BE PROFANED. In Solomon, in Proverbs: 'Say nothing in the ears of the imprudent, lest when he hears he mock your wise words.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: 'Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turning, rend you.' THAT NO ONE OUGHT TO BE EXALTED IN HIS OWN WORK. In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: 'Do not exalt yourself in doing your work.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke:

'Which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes from the field: Come at once and recline at table? But does he not say to him: Prepare something for me to dine on, and gird yourself and serve me until I eat and drink, and afterward you shall eat and drink? Does he have any thanks to that servant because he did what was commanded him? So likewise you also, when you have done what was commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we ought to do.' THAT THE FREEDOM OF BELIEVING OR NOT BELIEVING IS PLACED IN OUR OWN CHOICE. In Deuteronomy: 'Behold, I have set before your face life and death, good and evil. Choose life, that you may live.' Likewise in Isaiah: 'And if you are willing and hear Me, you shall eat the good things of the land;

but if you are unwilling and will not hear Me, the sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke: 'The kingdom of God is within you.' THAT THE SECRETS OF GOD CANNOT BE PENETRATED, AND THEREFORE OUR FAITH OUGHT TO BE SIMPLE. The Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, first epistle: 'We see now through a glass in a riddle, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, even as I am known.' Likewise in Solomon, in Wisdom: 'And in simplicity of heart seek God.' Likewise by the same: 'He who walks in simplicity walks confidently.' Likewise there: 'Be not overly wise, and do not argue more than is fitting.' Likewise by the same: 'Seek not the things that are too high for you, and search not the things that are too strong for you.'

Likewise in Isaiah: 'Woe to them that are crafty in their own eyes.' Likewise in the Maccabees: Daniel in his simplicity was delivered from the mouth of the lions. Likewise the Apostle Paul to the Romans: 'O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgments and His ways past tracing out! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has first given to Him, that it should be recompensed to him? For of Him and through Him and in Him are all things; to Him be glory unto the ages of ages.' Likewise to Timothy: 'But avoid foolish and unlearned questions, knowing that they breed strife. But the servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all.' THAT NO ONE IS WITHOUT FILTH AND WITHOUT SIN. In Job:

'For who is clean from filth? Not even one, even if his life upon earth be of a single day.' Likewise in Psalm 50: 'Behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother bring me forth.' Likewise the Apostle John: 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.' THAT WE MUST PLEASE NOT MEN BUT GOD. In Psalm 52: 'They who please men are confounded, because God has brought them to nothing.' Likewise the Apostle Paul to the Galatians: 'If I wished to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.' THAT NOTHING IS HIDDEN FROM GOD OF THE THINGS THAT WE DO. In the Wisdom of Solomon: 'In every place the eyes of God behold the good and the evil.' Likewise in Jeremiah: 'I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off.

If a man hides himself in secret, shall I then not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth, says the Lord?' Likewise in the first book of Kingdoms: 'Man looks on the face, but God on the heart.' Likewise in the Apocalypse: 'And all the churches shall know that I am the searcher of the reins and the heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.' Likewise in Psalm 18: 'Who understands his faults? Cleanse me from my hidden sins, O Lord.' Likewise the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, second epistle: 'We must all be made manifest before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may receive the things proper to his body according to what he has done, whether good or evil.' THAT THE BELIEVER IS AMENDED AND RESERVED. In Psalm 117: 'The Lord has chastened me severely, but has not delivered me over to death.'

Likewise in Psalm 88: 'I will visit their iniquities with the rod, and their sins with stripes; but I will not turn My mercy away from them.' Likewise in Malachi: 'And He shall sit refining and purifying like gold and silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi.' Likewise in the Gospel: 'You shall not come out from there until you pay the last farthing.' THAT NO ONE OUGHT TO BE SADDENED BY DEATH, SINCE IN LIVING THERE IS TOIL AND PERIL, BUT IN DYING PEACE AND THE CERTAINTY OF RISING AGAIN. In Genesis: 'Then God said to Adam: Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of that tree, of which alone I had commanded you not to eat, the earth shall be cursed in all your works. In sorrow and groaning shall you eat of it all the days of your life.

Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field in the sweat of your brow. You shall eat your bread until you return to the earth from which you were taken; for earth you are, and to earth you shall go.' Likewise there: 'And Enoch pleased God, and was found no more, because God translated him.' Likewise in Isaiah: 'All flesh is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass. The grass has withered and the flower has fallen, but the word of the Lord abides forever.' Likewise in Ezekiel: 'They say: Our bones are become dry, our hope has perished, we are cut off. Therefore prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I open your tombs and will bring you out of your tombs, and lead you into the land of Israel. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live.

And I will place you in your own land, and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken and will do it, says the Lord.' Likewise in the Wisdom of Solomon: 'He was caught away, lest wickedness should change his understanding; for his soul was pleasing to God.' Likewise in Psalm 83: 'How lovely are Your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord.' Likewise the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians: 'We would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who sleep, that you be not grieved like the others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.' Likewise to the Corinthians, first epistle: 'Fool, that which you sow is not made alive unless it first dies.'

Likewise there: 'One star differs from another star in glory; so also is the resurrection. The body is sown in corruption, it rises without corruption; it is sown in dishonor, it rises in glory; it is sown in weakness, it rises in power; it is sown a natural body, it rises a spiritual body.' Likewise there: 'For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible shall have put on immortality, and this mortal shall have put on incorruption, then shall come to pass the word that is written: Death is swallowed up in conflict. Where is your sting, O death? Where is your strife, O death?' Likewise in the Gospel according to John:

'Father, those whom You have given Me, I will that where I am they also may be with Me, and may see My glory which You have given Me before the foundation of the world.' Likewise according to Luke: 'Now, O Lord, You dismiss Your servant according to Your word in peace, because my eyes have seen Your salvation.' Likewise according to John: 'If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I go to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.' CONCERNING THE IDOLS WHICH THE GENTILES SUPPOSE TO BE GODS. In the Wisdom of Solomon: 'They esteemed all the idols of the nations to be gods, which have neither the use of eyes to see, nor nostrils to draw breath, nor ears to hear, nor fingers on their hands to handle; their feet too are slow to walk.

For a man made them, and one who has borrowed his own spirit fashioned them. But no man can fashion a god like to himself; for since he is mortal, he fashions a dead thing with wicked hands. Yet he himself is better than these which he worships; for he indeed has lived, but they never.' Likewise there: 'Neither, by attending to the works, did they recognize who was the Artificer; but they supposed either fire, or spirit, or swift air, or the circle of stars, or the abundant water, or the sun, or the moon, to be the rulers of the world, gods. If, charmed by their beauty, they esteemed these to be gods, let them know how much more beautiful is the Lord than these; or if they marveled at their power and works, let them understand from these that He who established them, being mighty, is mightier than they.' Likewise in Psalm 134:

'The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. They have a mouth and shall not speak, they have eyes and shall not see, they have ears and shall not hear; neither is there any spirit in their mouth. Let all who make them become like to them, and all who trust in them.' Likewise in Psalm 95: 'For all the gods of the nations are demons; but the Lord made the heavens.' Likewise in Exodus: 'You shall not make for yourselves gods of gold, nor gods of silver.' And again: 'You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor the likeness of anything.' Likewise in Jeremiah: 'Thus says the Lord: Do not walk according to the ways of the nations, and fear not the signs of heaven, which they fear in their persons; for the ordinances of the nations are vain.

A tree cut from the forest, the work of the craftsman; gold and silver beautifully wrought and fitted together, fastened with hammers and nails so that they may not move, for they are riveted fast. Silver beaten thin is brought from Tharsis, gold comes from Moab, all the work of craftsmen. They clothe them with blue and purple. They take them up and carry them, for they cannot go forward. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and there is no good in them. Thus shall you say: Let the gods who made not heaven and earth perish from the earth and from under this heaven. At this the heaven shuddered, and shuddered far more vehemently, says the Lord. These evil things My people have done: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves broken cisterns that could not hold water.'

'Your own apostasy has scourged you, and your wickedness shall accuse you. Know therefore and see that it is a bitter thing for you to have forsaken Me, says the Lord your God, and that you have not hoped in Me, says the Lord your God; for from of old you have broken your yoke and burst your bonds, and you said: I will not serve, but I will go upon every high mountain and upon every lofty hill and under every shady tree. There shall I be confounded in fornication. They said to the wood: You are my father, and to the stone: You have begotten me. And they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces.' In Isaiah: 'Bel has fallen, the dragon is destroyed. Their graven images have become like beasts and cattle.

You shall carry them away bound up like a burden, weary and hungry and powerless.' And again: 'Loosed together, they will not be able to be saved from the battle, but they themselves have been led away captive with you.' And again: 'To whom have you likened Me? See, consider, for you err in heart, you who pour out gold from the bag and weigh silver in the scale, hiring a craftsman by weight. They made things made by hand, and bowing down they worshiped it; they bear them on their shoulders and so walk. But if they set them down, they remain in their place and do not move; and if any cry out to them, they will not hear and will not save them from evils.' Likewise in Jeremiah:

'The Lord who made heaven and earth by His power set the world right in His prudence, and by His wisdom stretched out the heavens and the multitude of the waters in heaven; He brought up clouds from the ends of the earth, made lightnings into rain, and brought forth winds from His treasuries. Every man is made foolish by his own knowledge, every craftsman is confounded in his graven images, for what he has cast is false; there is no spirit in them. They are empty, deluded works; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.' And in the Apocalypse: 'And the sixth angel sounded the trumpet, and I heard one from the four corners of the golden altar which is before God saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: Loose the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.

And the four angels were loosed who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, to slay the third part of men. And the number of the cavalry armies was two myriads of myriads; I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those who sat upon them, having breastplates of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses, and out of their mouths went forth fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three plagues was the third part of men slain, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that went forth from their mouths; for the power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents, having heads, and with them they do harm.

And the rest of mankind, who were not slain by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols, that is, images of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which can neither see nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders, nor of their fornication, nor of their deeds.' Likewise there: 'And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice: If anyone worships the beast and its image, and has received its inscription on his forehead or upon his hand, he shall drink of the wine of His wrath, and shall be punished with fire and brimstone in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torments shall ascend unto the ages of ages.'

THAT EXCESSIVE LUST FOR FOOD IS NOT TO BE SOUGHT AFTER. In Isaiah: 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. This sin shall not be forgiven you until you die.' Likewise in Exodus: 'And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.' Likewise the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, first epistle: 'Food does not commend us to God; for if we eat, we shall not abound, nor if we eat not, shall we be in want.' Likewise there: 'When you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, that you may not come together for judgment.' Likewise to the Romans: 'The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.' Likewise in the Gospel according to John: 'I have food to eat that you do not know.'

'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.' THAT THE LUST OF POSSESSING AND OF MONEY IS NOT TO BE SOUGHT AFTER. In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: 'He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver.' Likewise in Proverbs: 'He who hoards up grain is cursed among the people, but blessing is upon the head of him who shares it.' Likewise in Isaiah: 'Woe to them who join house to house and lay field to field, that they may take something from their neighbor. Will you dwell alone upon the earth?' Likewise in Zephaniah: 'They shall build houses and not dwell in them, and shall plant vineyards and not drink their wine, for the day of the Lord is near.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke:

'For what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?' Likewise there: 'But God said to him: Fool, this night your soul is demanded of you; the things you have prepared, whose shall they be?' Likewise there: 'Remember that you received good things in your life, but Lazarus evil things; now he is comforted here, but you are tormented.' Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: 'But Peter said to him: Silver and gold indeed I have not; but what I have, this I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk. And taking him by his right hand, he raised him up.' Likewise to Timothy, first epistle: 'We brought nothing into this world, and truly we can carry nothing out. Having therefore food and clothing, with these let us be content.

But those who wish to become rich fall into temptation and a snare of the devil, and into many harmful desires which plunge a man into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils, which some craving have made shipwreck of their faith and have entangled themselves in many sorrows.' THAT MARRIAGE IS NOT TO BE CONTRACTED WITH GENTILES. In Tobias: 'Take a wife from the seed of your fathers, and do not take a foreign wife who is not of the tribe of your fathers.' Likewise in Genesis Abraham sends his servant, that a wife, Rebecca, might be taken from his own seed for his son Isaac. Likewise in Ezra it was not enough for God, when the Jews were being laid waste, unless they had also forsaken their foreign wives, together with the children whom they had begotten of them.

Likewise the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, first epistle: 'The woman is bound as long as her husband lives; but if he has fallen asleep, she is set free; let her marry whom she wishes, only in the Lord. But she will be more blessed if she so remains.' Likewise to the Corinthians, first epistle: 'Do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid. Or do you not know that he who joins himself to a harlot is one body? For the two, He says, shall be in one flesh. But he who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit.' Likewise to the Corinthians, second epistle: 'Do not be joined with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness?' Likewise concerning Solomon in the third book of Kingdoms:

'And his foreign wives turned away his heart to follow after their gods.' THAT THE SIN OF FORNICATION IS A GRIEVOUS OFFENSE. The Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, first epistle: 'Every sin that a man commits is outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body. You are not your own, for you were bought with a great price. Glorify and bear the Lord in your body.' WHAT THINGS ARE CARNAL, WHICH BRING FORTH DEATH, AND WHAT ARE SPIRITUAL, WHICH LEAD TO LIFE. The Apostle Paul to the Galatians: 'For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary one to another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

But the works of the flesh are manifest, which are: adulteries, fornications, uncleannesses, filthiness, idolatry, sorceries, murders, enmities, contentions, jealousies, animosities, provocations, quarrels, dissensions, heresies, envyings, drunkennesses, revelings, and the like; they who do such things shall not possess the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, magnanimity, goodness, faith, meekness, continence, chastity. For they who are Christ's have crucified their flesh with its vices and lusts.' THAT ALL SINS ARE PUT AWAY IN BAPTISM. The Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, first epistle:

Neither fornicators, nor those who serve idols, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor those who lie with males, nor thieves, nor the fraudulent, nor drunkards, nor the abusive, nor robbers shall obtain the kingdom of God. And such indeed you once were; but you have been washed, but you have been sanctified, but you have been justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. THAT THE DISCIPLINE OF GOD IS TO BE OBSERVED IN THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH. In Jeremiah: And I will give you shepherds according to my own heart, and they will feed you, feeding you with discipline. Likewise in Solomon, in the Proverbs: My son, do not neglect the discipline of God, nor faint when you are rebuked by him; for whom God loves, he rebukes. Likewise in Psalm 2:

Lay hold of discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry and you perish from the just way; for when his wrath shall presently blaze forth, blessed are all they who trust in him. Likewise in Psalm 49: But to the sinner God says: Why do you declare my statutes and take up my covenant by your mouth? For you have hated discipline and have cast my words behind you. Likewise in Solomon: He who casts away discipline is unhappy. A PROPHECY THAT THEY WOULD SPURN SOUND DISCIPLINE. Paul the apostle, to Timothy, second epistle: The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires they will heap up to themselves teachers, having itching ears in hearing [scratching their ears].

And they will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned aside to fables. THAT ONE MUST WITHDRAW FROM HIM WHO LIVES DISORDERLY AND CONTRARY TO DISCIPLINE. Paul the apostle, to the Thessalonians: We charge you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from all the brethren who walk disorderly and not according to the tradition which they received from us. Likewise in Psalm 49: If you saw a thief, you ran along with him, and with adulterers you cast your portion. THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT IN THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD NOR IN ELOQUENCE, BUT IN THE FAITH OF THE CROSS AND IN VIRTUE OF CONDUCT. Paul the apostle, to the Corinthians, first epistle: Christ sent me to proclaim, not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ be made void.