and the sense is: Do such works as have perfect understanding, namely that they be done with good intention. 'Walk rightly,' he says; and let not commendation grow the more, but rather let it raise you up to the state of uprightness. He commands to lift up the hands which hang down and the loosened knees, as Isaiah enjoins, saying: 'Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees, that no one halting may go astray': that is, that no one wavering in faith and good works may stray from the way of uprightness: but rather that we may be healed from sins by rightly believing in God; as if he said: He who does not believe rightly, it is better that he believe more firmly and more tenaciously, so that in all ways he may find the medicine of his soul.
By these words he touches upon their waverings, to the end that they might believe in him without any doubting. 'Follow peace with all men.' Understand: with the good. 'And holiness, without which no man shall see God.' There are indeed very many things that show the form and distinguishing mark of Christianity: but above all and better than all is the affection of mutual charity and peace, which unites the hearts of men. Wherefore Truth itself says: 'Peace I leave with you'; and again: 'In this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.' Therefore the Apostle also says: 'Follow peace with all good men.' Now by the name of peace is to be understood love and concord. And holiness is called the chastity of mind and body:
as if he said: So love all the good as yourselves; and let there be in you chastity, or purity of mind and body: since without peace and holiness no man shall see God. 'For blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.' 'Looking diligently lest any man be wanting to the grace of God.' In that he says 'Looking'—that is, diligently attending and considering—lest any of you be wanting to the grace of God. He speaks with them as with travellers who traverse long journeys in a company and band: to whom he who is in charge is wont to say: 'See that no one remain behind who does not go on with you,' as if he said:
I do not require only this, that you alone obtain grace and enter the heavenly fatherland: but also that you look to the others. By 'grace' he means faith, hope and charity, through which a man deserves to find the grace of God: because with these he has also the rest of the virtues. Or by 'the grace of God' he means the remission of sins, which is freely given to us in baptism, or through perfect faith and the other virtues. 'Lest any root of bitterness springing up do hinder, and by it many be defiled.' By 'root of bitterness' he means the evil will and depraved intention, whence proceeds the sin of bitterness; for as a bitter root cannot bring forth sweet fruits, but such as are like itself, that is, bitter:
and a sulphurous spring cannot yield waters fit for drinking: so an evil will and depraved intention send forth from themselves evil work and the sin of bitterness, by which the way of ascending to the heavenly fatherland is hindered: and through that evil will, from which proceed the seeds of wickedness, many are defiled: because 'a little leaven corrupts the whole lump,' and by the one sin of unbelief all works that could be good are corrupted, and by one sinner many are defiled: for by 'root of bitterness' he especially wished the sin of unbelief to be understood, although it may also, as we have said, be referred to the evil will and intention. And fittingly he said that sin is bitter: since nothing is more bitter than it, after it has been committed:
which those know by experience who, after committing an offence, are worn down by the sorrow of conscience, and are consumed by a bitterness dire enough, so much so that the bitterness of the offence itself sometimes overthrows the very understanding and the very reason, as we read concerning Cain, who rushed into despair. 'Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person as Esau, who for one mess sold his own first birthright.' Esau is called a fornicator, because against the will of his father and mother he took foreign wives. And 'profane' is properly said of the irreligious man, as it were 'porro,' that is, far from the shrine (fanum) and temple of God. But here it is put for the glutton (gastrimargus), or for him who sells the useful for the useless:
which well suits Esau, who was a glutton and greedy, selling his birthright for cheap food, namely for the red lentils. Now the 'birthright' in this place means the honour and dignity of the priesthood: for before the priesthood of Aaron, which was established by God in the law, all the firstborn were priests: as was Shem, who is also Melchizedek, the firstborn of Noah. For it was a great dignity to possess the birthright: since he took the greater portion both of the substance and of the paternal inheritance, and, adorned with garments, he shone forth the richer.
Whence it is read in Genesis, that Rebecca, taking Esau's very good garments, which she had with her at home, clothed Jacob with them, and thus brought him to his father, who, when he perceived the scent and fragrance of his garments, said: 'Behold the smell of my son is as the smell of a field.' Because therefore among the Jews there were certain followers of Esau in fornication and gluttony, the Apostle recalls to their memory the deed of Esau, exhorting them to beware of all those things, lest anyone become like him, who through love of temporal things went so far as to sell his own birthright: for by his own negligence and cupidity he sold the honour which he had received from God, and for a small thing lost a great glory: for he became last, who was first:
and because he was second, he remained first. 'For know ye that afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected.' Understand: by God. The history of Genesis relates that Esau, returning from the field, when he learned that he had been forestalled by his brother in the father's blessing, said with tears and a great cry: 'Hast thou but one blessing, father? bless me also.' To whom Isaac said: 'I have appointed him thy lord; and for thee, my son, what more shall I do?' At length Isaac, overcome by his cries, gave him a blessing in the riches of this age, and to abound in those things which the earth produces, saying: 'In the fatness of the earth and in the dew of heaven from above shall thy blessing be.'
It appears therefore that when he wished to inherit both the paternal blessing—namely to receive the dignity of the priesthood, which he had already lost—and also the holiness of the father together with the spirit of prophecy, his sins hindering him, he was brought to this: that he was rejected by God and defrauded by his brother of the paternal blessing; whence it also follows: 'For he found no place of repentance, although with tears he had sought it.' Why did he find no place of repentance, that is, pardon through repentance, which he sought with tears? Because he did not seek it as he ought: for those tears were rather of indignation at the lost honour and of rancour against his brother, than of humility and true repentance: whence he also said:
'The days of mourning for my father will come, and I will slay my brother Jacob.' Wherefore, although he had sought it with tears, he could not now attain to that place of blessing, as his brother did. For he ought so to have repented, as we read of Peter, that when he had denied the Lord, he went out and wept most bitterly: therefore so great a sin was remitted to him, because he did penance as he ought. 'For you are not come to a mountain that might be touched and to an approachable fire, and a whirlwind, and darkness, and storm, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words.' It is the manner of those who make a comparison, to depress and lessen the one part, that the matter of the other part may stand out:
so also the Apostle, from a comparison of those things which were in the Old Testament, would declare our things to be greater, clearer, gentler too, and better, and worthy of admiration: for he now makes a distinction between Christ and Moses, between the law and the Gospel, between heaven and Mount Sinai, between the sprinkling of the legal blood and the cleansing of the blood of Christ: for these things are much better than those had been: for there the shadow rested, but here the truth is held and laid open. 'For you are not come to a mountain that might be touched and to an approachable fire,' that is, you have not come to a visible and palpable light of fire, which could be handled by bodily sight, as we read concerning the old Jewish people;
but to the invisible and incomprehensible God. These things are related as having been done on Mount Sinai, when the law was given: fire, namely, and whirlwind and darkness, storm, the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words. 'The Lord was seen,' it says, 'on Mount Sinai.' A whirlwind is a strong wind, carrying off stubble, and wrapping up the lighter things with the dust of the earth. Very often it also lifts up things that are heavier. Darkness is the murkiness of smoke and fire. A storm is tempest and rain. Now these things were done when the law was being given, that the hearts of the Jews, prone to sinning, might be shaken, lest they should dare to transgress the law itself. Whence also an earthquake occurred there, that they, wholly struck with terror, might make a covenant with the God of heaven;
but the darkness, or gloom, signifies the obscurity of the law itself. The whirlwind, or commotion of the winds, signifies the threatening of the law itself, which says: 'If anyone shall do this or that, let him be put to death.' The storm signifies the vengeance itself. The sound of the trumpet, the presence and coming of almighty God. Whence the same Apostle elsewhere says: 'With commandment, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, he shall descend from heaven.' But by the trumpet is understood the very voice of the angels; for it is not to be thought that the angels sounded a trumpet of brass or of horn of God. The voice of words also is understood not of almighty God himself, but of the angels: for through a subject creature, that is, through an angel, God spoke to Moses:
for that it was not the voice of God, the Lord shows in the Gospel, speaking to the Jews: 'Neither have you heard his voice, nor seen his shape.' And that Moses spoke with an angel, not with the Lord, the blessed Stephen shows in his address which he had with the Jews: 'This is,' he says, 'Moses, who was with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai.' But the Gospel was not given in trembling, nor with threatening, but the Lord spoke to the faithful with paternal affection as to sons: for going up into the mountain, when among other precepts of life he set forth to them the eight beatitudes, they did not appear, nor were signs seen by which they might be terrified, as when the law was given. There follows: 'Which.' Understand: the voice of the trumpets and of the angels.
'They that heard excused themselves, that the word might not be spoken to them.' That is, that it might not speak to them. 'For they did not bear that which was said.' 'To them,' that is, they could not endure the voice of the angel for fear, whence they also said to Moses: 'Speak thou to us, let not the Lord speak to us, lest perhaps we die'; for they had been struck with exceeding fear, seeing the whole of Mount Sinai smoking, and the storms too and thunders, and the sounds of trumpets. 'And if so much as a beast shall touch the mount, it shall be stoned.' Understand: with stones of hail sent from heaven; for so the Lord had commanded: 'Let the children of Israel keep themselves far from the mount, for if a man or any beast approach the mount, it shall be killed with stones of hail.' And so terrible was that which was seen.
Understand: so that they dared neither to hear nor to approach the mount. For Moses said, 'I am frightened, and trembling.' If Moses was frightened, what is to be said of the others? 'But you are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.' These things depend on what precedes, where it was said: 'You are not come to a mountain that might be touched and to the approachable fire of Mount Sinai, but you are come to Mount Sion.' The rest has already been said part by part. Now by Sion, which is interpreted 'watchtower,' and by Jerusalem, which is called 'vision of peace,' he means the heavenly fatherland, namely the Church above, which consists of angels and just men, unto which one comes by faith and desire.
'You are come,' he says, 'to Mount Sion,' that is, to the city of the living God, 'the heavenly Jerusalem,' by faith and desire. 'And you are come to the multitude'—or the great number—'of many thousands of angels.' Associated with them in faith, to be associated again in glory. According to what the Lord says: 'The elect shall be as the angels of God in heaven.' 'And you are come to the church of the firstborn, who are written in the heavens.' By the church of the firstborn we ought to understand the apostles, who first believed, to whose faith those were joined by believing, and whose names are written in the memory of almighty God: according to what Truth itself said to them, 'Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.' 'And you are come to God the judge of all.'
That is, to the Lord Jesus, who says: 'The Father judgeth no man, but hath given all judgment to the Son.' For through him God the Father will judge not only the Jews, but all men. 'And you are come to the spirits of the just made perfect.' By 'the spirit of the perfect' he means the Holy Spirit, through whom all the just are called, receiving from him in baptism the remission of all their sins. And they are rightly justified, because they are then called just, when they are cleansed from all defilements. Or by 'the spirits of the just made perfect' he means the souls of the saints, who stood approved before God, to whom those were joined by faith and desire. 'And you are come also to Jesus the mediator of the New Testament.'
The Lord Jesus, through this, that he is at once both man and God, is our mediator, since, just as Moses was mediator between God and the people, referring the words of God to the people and again those of the people to God—according to what he himself says: 'I am your go-between and stand in the midst between God and you'—so also the Lord Jesus referred to us the words of God the Father, and now refers ours to him, continually interceding for us, and at the same time by his passion confirmed for us the New Testament. 'You are come also to the sprinkling of blood.' By the manner of the law's sprinkling he intimated the cleansing of the blood of Christ: since the cleansing which was done through blood was called a sprinkling.
They came therefore to the blood of Christ, or the cleansing, that is, to his passion, since they were cleansed by faith in his passion. Now the blood of Christ speaks better than the blood of Abel, because the blood of Abel demanded from God vengeance for the brother, but the blood of Christ implores life and pardon for his persecutors, as he said to the Father: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' Or certainly it speaks better, in that it makes us to speak, because the Lord himself is the Son of the living God, by whose passion we are redeemed, and by baptism washed, and because through his blood we have been made sons of God. 'See that you refuse not him that speaketh.' Which is to say:
Beware lest you despise Jesus speaking through His Gospel, since He is seated at the right hand of God, observing what each one of us does. For if those did not escape who refused Him that spoke upon the earth, much more shall not we, who turn ourselves away from Him that speaks to us from heaven. Understand: we shall not escape; as if He were saying: If your fathers did not escape the vengeance of almighty God, who transgressed His precepts by fashioning an idol — precepts which were given to them through Moses or through an angel, both of whom spoke upon the earth — much more shall we be unable to evade His vengeance, if we despise the precepts that were given through the Son. Those, he says, heard Him speaking on earth; we, from heaven.
Now on account of the unity of person which the Son of God has in two natures, He is said to speak to us from heaven. On earth indeed He seemed to speak through His humanity, yet He was at once on earth and in heaven through His divinity; whence He Himself says: No man has ascended into heaven, save He that descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven. Likewise, while the Gospel is preached on the earth, He too speaks to us from heaven. Wherefore He is to be heard much more than Moses. There follows: Whose voice then moved the earth. Understand: when the Law was given. But now He promises anew, saying: Yet once more, and I will move not only the earth, but also heaven.
He who then by His command moved Mount Sinai, and the earth round about it where the people stood, when He gave the Law to Moses, He now promises to move not a part of the earth, nor that whole earth only, but heaven also. And therefore, the greater the things He promises to bring to pass, the more is He to be feared. For although there have been earthquakes in divers places and in divers parts of the world, there has never been one so great throughout the whole world. And if the earth was moved, yet not heaven. Whence he rightly says that this shall come to pass once, on the day of judgement, showing that they shall never again be moved. Whence there follows: And in that He says, Yet once more, He signifies the removing of things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
This moving of heaven and earth pertains to their renewal and betterment. The earth indeed shall undergo a movement as the day of judgement draws near, but heaven and earth alike shall be renewed, and shall be moved from this present form into a better one; according to what the same Apostle says elsewhere: The fashion of this world passes away. When the fashion is changed, the substance shall remain, and thereafter there shall be a new heaven and a new earth. But understand here not the starry heaven, nor the ethereal, but this airy one, from which the birds also are called the birds of heaven. Therefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved — understand: now in hope, which we are to obtain in Thee — let us have grace, whereby we may serve God and please Him with fear and reverence.
The unshaken kingdom is the heavenly Church, which is composed of holy angels and righteous men. This Church is the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of the Church is almighty God. This kingdom we now receive in hope, but then we shall obtain it in reality, when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God the Father. And it is called unshaken because, if heaven and earth shall abide unshaken after their transformation, much more shall the elect, after the resurrection, unshakably receive immortality in the body and immutability in the soul, being destined to reign eternally with God; and they themselves shall be the unshaken kingdom of almighty God, and their kingdom shall be the contemplation of the holy Trinity.
And because we now receive this unshaken kingdom in hope, the Apostle exhorts us to have grace, whereby we may serve God and please Him. Now by grace he means right faith, sure hope, perfect charity together with holy action, whereby we ought to serve God with fear, dreading Him as God and Judge of all, and with reverence loving Him as a Father. For we ought to fear, both that we be not scourged here, and afterward be separated from rest. For indeed our God is a consuming fire. Almighty God is called a fire, not that He should consume the matter which He made, but that which a man draws to himself from without, namely the rust of sins; for He does not consume that which He Himself made, but that which the malice of men has introduced.
This fire does yet another thing, when namely it kindles the hearts of men to the love of God; concerning which fire the Truth says: I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? For by the earth are meant earthly hearts, which, while they are ever engaged in base thoughts and earthly desires, are trodden down by malignant spirits as it were earth. But the Lord sends fire upon the earth when, by the breathing of the Holy Spirit, He kindles the hearts of carnal men to the love of God and of neighbour. Behold why almighty God is called a fire, namely because He consumes the rust of sins and kindles the hearts of men to charity. But it may still be asked, why is He likened to fire? And to this the answer must be given:
Because just as fire lies hidden in flints and stones, so almighty God dwells within His creature; and yet He is not seen. Chapter XIII. Let brotherly love continue among you. Which is to say: Love all men even as your own selves, considering that you have one Father, almighty God, and one mother, the Church, or that you are all begotten of one father, Adam, and one mother. And be not forgetful of hospitality. He did not say, Be hospitable, but, Be not forgetful of hospitality. They had been sufficiently given to hospitality before they were utterly stripped of their goods.
But after they had been stripped of the greater part of their own substance, they became again exceedingly tenacious; wherefore the Apostle exhorts them to fulfil the duty of hospitality according to the measure of their ability, saying to them: Do not consign your former hospitality to oblivion. Now hospitality is to be exercised with a cheerful mind and a glad heart, according to what the blessed Peter says: Be hospitable one to another without murmuring. And elsewhere: For God loves a cheerful giver. There follows: For by this some have pleased God, having entertained angels. As Abraham, who was counted worthy to receive the promise, and Lot, who was delivered from the destruction of Sodom. Whence the Judge of all shall also say on the day of examination:
Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me. Remember them that are in bonds, as though bound with them. That is, as you would wish to be aided and remembered if you were bound in prison, so remember those who are held in bonds for the faith of Christ. And them that suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Which is to say: Since you are yet dwelling in the body, whereby you know from experience what is needful for those who labour, remember those who labour in doctrine and in holy work, by supplying them food and clothing, even as you would wish yourselves to be remembered, if you were labouring in like manner.
For inasmuch as you abide in a mortal body, even as they do, you prove by experience that the life of man upon the earth is a warfare, and that man is born to labour, and the bird to flight. Let marriage be honourable in all. Let it be so among you, if it please God. And the bed undefiled. Marriage (connubium) is so named from cohabiting (conhabendo). There were at that time certain persons who condemned marriage, saying that the conjugal union was unclean, and that one rising from the marriage-bed could not be clean; whence the blessed Apostle declares that lawful marriage, which is entered upon for the sake of the love of children and not to satisfy lust, is not only permitted, but he even says that it pleases God. For marriage is honourable, to take a wife lawfully for the love of children;
and to abstain from her at certain seasons, and not to have several wives; for in the beginning, as Scripture says, God created male and female, and said unto them: Increase and multiply. And in what follows it is likewise said that the two should be one flesh. A bed of this kind is undefiled, that is, a lawful embrace apart from the cause of fornication, and an undefiled couch, and undefiled also are they that rise therefrom, that is, drawing no stain of sin therefrom. Whence the blessed Matthew says in a certain place: That lawful wedlock and a lawful bed have, after a manner, some defilement in the mingling of seed, but they have not the stain of sin;
for it is better to take a lawful wife than to commit fornication with harlots, or even to violate the wives of others. But if the marriage be not lawful, and be not for the love of children but to satisfy lust, and there be several wives, then the marriage is not honourable, nor the bed undefiled. For God will judge fornicators and adulterers. To fornicate is to be defiled in whatever manner, and to satisfy lust; but to commit adultery is to violate another's bed; whence he is called an adulterer (adulter), as it were one who violates another's (alterius) bed. But will almighty God judge, that is, condemn, only fornicators and adulterers, passing over murderers, sacrilegious persons, thieves, and those entangled in divers other crimes? By no means.
Why then did the Apostle say that fornicators and adulterers in particular should be judged? Doubtless because concerning murderers, sacrilegious persons, robbers, parricides, and others weighed down with the burden of their sins, there is no hesitation but that they are to be condemned. But concerning fornicators and adulterers, there were at that time some who doubted, saying that males and females were made for this end, that they should come together; and therefore that it was no sin to lie with any woman whatsoever — which is altogether far from the truth. Whence the Apostle, when he had first said: Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled and pleasing to God, at once added: For God will judge fornicators and adulterers; showing that fornicators and adulterers are justly judged.
For if marriage has been granted, fornicators are justly afflicted with punishments, and adulterers are justly chastised. Let your manners be without covetousness, being content with what you have. Manners (mores) are the honesty of life and of living well. He did not say, Possess, but, Let your manners, that is, your life and conversation, be without covetousness. A covetous man (avarus) is called greedy for gold (avidus auri), namely one who is tenacious in giving and grasping in receiving, and who has a hand gathered in for giving and stretched out for receiving. Concerning whom a certain wise man altogether admonishes, saying: Let not your hand be stretched out to receive, and drawn in to give. Perhaps, after they had been stripped of their own means by unbelievers, they desired under the pretext of alms to gather riches again;