Sermons & Tracts 1 part 20/37

for they had not yet believed in Christ, nor were they fighting against that common grace. But the Apostle Paul, I believe, does not pray for Alexander for this reason: because he was a brother, and had sinned unto death, that is, by assailing the brotherhood with envy. Yet for those who had not broken off love, but had yielded through fear, he prays that they may be forgiven. For thus he said: 'Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will render to him according to his works; whom you also avoid, for he greatly withstood our words.' Then he adds those for whom he prays, saying thus: 'At my first defense no one stood by me, but all forsook me: may it not be charged against them' (2 Timothy 4:14-16). And note that the Apostle does not say, 'Let Him render';

but, 'The Lord will render to him according to his works': which word is that of one foretelling, not of one imprecating; just as concerning that hypocrisy of the Jews, whose overthrow he perceived to be imminent, it was said, 'God shall strike you, you whitewashed wall' (Acts 23:3). 4. What the saints pray who ask for vengeance. How the kingdom of sin is to be overthrown. Now it is asked how this precept, by which we are commanded, 'Pray for those who persecute and calumniate you,' is not contradicted by what is read in the Apocalypse, that the martyrs pray to God that they may be avenged (Revelation 6:10). But this ought to move no one. For who would dare to affirm, when those holy ones clad in white asked to be avenged, whether they asked it against the men themselves, or against the kingdom of sin?

For this itself is the sincere vengeance of the martyrs, full of justice and mercy: that the kingdom of sin be overthrown, under whose reign they suffered so much. To the overthrow of which the Apostle strives, saying: 'Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body' (Romans 6:12). And the kingdom of sin is destroyed and overthrown, partly by the correction of men, that the flesh may be made subject to the spirit; partly by the condemnation of those persevering in sin, that they may be so ordered that they cannot be troublesome to the just who reign with Christ. Who therefore proves the saints not to have besought from the Lord such vengeance as this? 5. Who are the sons of God. As to what is consequently set down, 'That you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven':

it is to be understood from that rule by which John says, 'He gave them power to become sons of God' (John 1:12). For there is one Son by nature, who knows not how to sin at all: but we, having received power, are made sons, insofar as we fulfill the things which are commanded by Him. Hence the apostolic teaching calls it 'adoption,' by which we are called to the eternal inheritance, that we may be able to be co-heirs of Christ (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:5). We are therefore made sons by spiritual regeneration, that we may be adopted into the Kingdom of God, not as strangers, but as made and created by Him. And so He does not say, 'Do this, you who are sons': but, 'Do this, that you may be sons of your Father.'

But we, when we suffer at the hands of enemies, ought to cry out this: 'Father, forgive them.' For they are frenzied, possessed by a contrary spirit, that they may persecute us; and they suffer a greater persecution from the devil. 'Who makes His sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust.' It is written, 'Unto you who fear the name of the Lord shall the sun of righteousness arise' (Malachi 4:2), so that you may also receive fuller watering of the doctrine of truth; for He appeared to both the good and the evil, and Christ was preached as good news to both good and evil. Or if you prefer to take that sun as brought forth not only to the bodily eyes of men, but also of the cattle; and that rain by which are produced the fruits that are given for the refreshment of the body:

which I judge to be the more probable interpretation: so that that spiritual sun rises only upon the good and the holy; for this is the very thing which the wicked lament in that book which is ascribed to the Wisdom of Solomon, 'And the sun has not risen upon us' (Wisdom 5:6); and that spiritual rain waters only the good; for the wicked were signified by the vineyard concerning which it was said, 'I will command My clouds that they rain no shower upon it' (Isaiah 5:6). 6. Who are the tax collectors, the heathen. Enemies are more to be loved than friends. 'For if you love those who love you, what reward shall you have?' The robber loves his children and parents, the lion also loves, the dragon also loves, the bears also love, the wolves also love.

For if, though loving, we do not love our children or parents, we are worse than lions or the aforementioned beasts. But if we return love in turn to those who love us, we still seem to differ in nothing from those beasts. Do not even the tax collectors do this? Tax collectors are those who pursue gains, and exact tributes through dealings, and frauds, and thefts, and crimes, and perjuries. 'And if you greet only your brethren, what more do you do? Do not even the heathen do this?' 'Heathen' is translated from Greek into Latin as 'Gentiles.' For 'ethnos' in Greek means 'nation.' If therefore, He says, even sinners, tax collectors, and heathen know by the guidance of nature to be beneficent toward those who love them;

how much more ought you, for whom, as the rank of profession is more eminent, so it is necessary that the care of truth be more abundant, to embrace with a broader bosom of love even those who do not love you? For God commands us to love enemies. And you, breaking the insolent impulses of human minds by the enticement of public charity, not only drive off anger from vengeance, but even soften it into love of the one who wronged you: for it belongs to the Gentiles to love those who love them, and it is common to love those who love. Enemies are more to be loved than friends. For those who are enemies oppose the body, and prepare eternal rewards for the soul: since those who plunder our carnal and earthly goods gather for us heavenly and spiritual ones.

Is not he who gives us eternal riches more to be loved than to be hated? But the friends of our flesh strive to persuade us to sweet things, which prepare eternal death for our soul. 7. The same argument is treated. 'Be therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.' And who does this, save one who is fully and perfectly merciful? By this one counsel misery is avoided, with the help of Him who says, 'I desire mercy rather than sacrifice' (Hosea 6:6). For the perfection of mercy, by which the greatest care is taken for the laboring soul, cannot be extended beyond love of enemies. And therefore it is thus concluded, 'Be you perfect, as also your Father is perfect':

yet in such a way that God is understood to be perfect as God, and the soul perfect as a soul. 8. The precepts are observed in a twofold way. 'Take heed that you do not do your righteousness before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.' Beware, He says, of doing your righteousness before men: that is, of living justly with this intent, and of placing your good in this, that men may see you. Otherwise you shall have no reward with your Father who is in heaven: not if you are seen by men, but if you live justly for this purpose, that you may be seen by men. For the Apostle also says, 'If I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ' (Galatians 1:10):

while in another place he says, 'As I also please all men in all things' (1 Corinthians 10:33). He removes all care for present things, and bids us be intent only on the hope of the future: neither to pursue the favor of men by an ostentation of goodness, nor a boasting of religion by an abundance of public prayer, but to contain the fruit of good work within the conscience of faith; for the pursuit of human praise will receive only that reward which it expects from men. Righteousness is nothing other than not to sin; and not to sin is to keep the precepts of the Law. And the observance of the precepts is contained under a twofold kind: that you do none of the things which are forbidden, and that you strive to fulfill all the things which are commanded.

For this is what the Psalmist says, 'Depart from evil, and do good' (Psalm 34:14). If you depart from evil, and do not do good, you are a transgressor of the Law: which is fulfilled not only in the abhorrence of evil acts, but in the perfection of good ones. Nor is this alone enjoined upon you, that you do not strip others of their own garments, but that you cover the stripped with your own. 9. The hypocrite. No one is without the stain of hypocrisy. 'When therefore you do alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and streets, that they may be honored by men.' 'Hypocrite' in Greek speech is translated 'pretender': one who, while inwardly evil, shows himself outwardly good.

The name 'hypocrite' was transferred from the appearance of those who advance in the theaters with their faces covered, marking out their countenance with blue and snowy color and other pigments, having likenesses of a face, linen daubed with gypsum and distinguished with various color, sometimes smearing their necks and hands with chalk, so that they might arrive at the color of the mask, and deceive the people while they performed in the shows, now in the appearance of a man, now in the form of a woman and with the rest of their tricks. This figure of the matter has been transferred to those who advance with a false countenance, and pretend what they are not. But to be without the stain of hypocrisy belongs to few or none. For whoever wishes to seem what he is not, is a hypocrite. [He who sounds the trumpet while giving alms is a hypocrite.

He who prays in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets, that he may be seen by men, is a hypocrite. He who, fasting, disfigures his face, to display the emptiness of his belly in his countenance, this man too is a hypocrite. From all of which it is understood that they are hypocrites who do anything whatever, that they may be glorified by men. It seems to me that he also is a hypocrite who says to his brother, 'Let me take out the mote from your eye': for he seems to do this for the sake of glory, that he himself may seem to be just. Whence it is said to him by the Lord, 'Hypocrite, first cast out the beam from your own eye' (Luke 6:42). Not virtue, therefore, but the cause of virtue, has reward with God.

But if you deviate even a little from the right path, it makes no difference whether you go to the right or to the left, when you have lost the true way. And He says pointedly, 'They have received their reward': that is, not God's, but their own.] For they were praised by men, for whose sake they exercised their virtues. 10. What is the left hand, what the right. Another explanation of right and left. 'But when you do alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does.' By the right hand is understood the love of God; by the left, the vanity or cupidity of the world. If you have given alms for human praise, the whole is the left hand: but if for the remission of sins, the whole the right hand does. What then is, 'Let not the left hand know what the right hand does';

except, 'Let not the vanity or cupidity of the world corrupt what the love of God does'? For if someone believes that this can be fulfilled according to the letter, what will he do? For if his right hand hurts, is he not to give alms with his left? In the foregoing He said, 'Beware that you do not do your righteousness before men': where He named righteousness generally, then follows it up particularly. For there is some part of righteousness which is the work done through almsgiving: and therefore He connects it by saying, 'When therefore you do alms, do not sound a trumpet before you.' To this He looks back which He said above, 'Beware of doing your righteousness before men,' namely, that you may be seen by them. And as to what follows,

'Amen I say to you, they have received their reward': this looks back to what He put above, 'Otherwise you shall have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.' Then follows, 'But when you do alms.' When He says, 'But you,' what else does He say than, 'Not as they do'? What then does He command me? 'You therefore,' He says, 'when you do alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does.' Therefore those men act in such a way that their left hand knows what their right hand does. What therefore was blamed in them, this you are forbidden to do. And in them this was blamed, that they act in such a way as to seek the praises of men. Wherefore nothing seems more fitting for the left hand to signify than that very delight in praise.

But the right hand signifies the intention of fulfilling the divine precepts. Let not the left hand therefore know what the right hand does: that is, let not the appetite for human praise mingle itself with your conscience, when in doing alms you strive to fulfill the divine precept. 'That your alms may be in secret.' What is 'in secret,' except in that very good conscience, which cannot be shown to human eyes, nor opened by words? Many do alms outwardly, and do not do it inwardly, who wish to seem merciful either from ambition, or for the sake of some temporal thing. 'And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.' Most rightly altogether and most truly.

For if you expect a reward from Him who is the inspector of the conscience, let the conscience itself suffice you for meriting God. 11. The inner chamber. The door. What are the wings of prayer. 'And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.' Neither here is it wrong to be seen by men: but rather to do these things in order to be seen, and that in them a fruit of pleasing men be expected. 'Streets' (plateae) are the perpetual and broader ways of cities, named according to the property of the Greek language from their breadth: for 'plate' in Greek means 'broad.' 'Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.'

And hereby the Lord shows that He forbids in this the seeking of that reward in which fools rejoice, when they are praised by men. 'But you, when you pray, enter into your chamber, and having shut the door, pray to your Father in secret.' The chamber which He names does not point to a hidden house, but to the secret place of our heart. Hence the Psalmist says, 'The things you say in your hearts, be pricked with remorse also in your chambers' (Psalm 4:5). And 'shutting the doors, pray,' He says, 'to your Father in secret.' It is little to enter into the chambers, if the door lie open to the importunate, through which door the things that are outside thrust themselves in shamelessly, and lay open our inner parts.

Now we say that all temporal and visible things are 'outside,' which through the door, that is, the carnal sense, penetrate into our thoughts, and by a crowd of vain phantasms disturb those who pray. The door is therefore to be shut, that is, the carnal sense is to be resisted; that spiritual prayer may be directed to the Father, which is made in the inmost part of the heart, where the Father is prayed to in secret. But he who wishes his prayer to fly to God, let him make for it two wings, that is, almsgiving and fasting, and it will ascend swiftly, and be heard. 'And your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.' And with such a conclusion it had to be ended. For He does not now admonish that we pray, but how we pray;

nor, as above, that we give alms, but with what mind we give: since He commands concerning the cleansing of the heart, which nothing cleanses save a single intention toward eternal life, by the sole and pure love of wisdom. SERMON 63. On the words of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6:1-6, 'Let not your left hand know what your right hand does,' etc. 1. Alms given in public, and yet in secret. The Gospel reading, dearest brethren, which has just now been recited to us, seems to me such that it cannot be understood according to the letter: and therefore, with God's help, let us seek how we may be able to arrive at its spiritual sense. For thus says the Lord, 'Take heed that you do not do your righteousness before men, to be seen by them':

and again, 'When you do alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does; that your alms may be in secret.' How can we take this according to the letter, when the Lord Himself again says, 'So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven' (Matthew 5:16)? How does He here say, 'Let not your left hand know what your right hand does,' when elsewhere He says, 'So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works'? Attend diligently, brethren, and humbly and wisely seek the understanding of divine Scripture. For the Lord cannot be contrary to Himself in the Gospel reading.

For since He Himself said that alms are to be done also in secret, and Himself admonished that they be done in public, so that His precepts may not seem contrary to one another, He seeks a sober understanding. For he who does alms with this intent, that he may desire to be praised by men, even if he does it in secret, does it in public; because he seeks praise from men. But he who does alms for the sole love of God, that others may imitate him in the good work, and that not he, but the Lord may be praised, even if he does alms in public, does it in secret; because for that alms he desires not what is seen, but what is not seen; and wishes to receive not praise from men, but reward from God. 2. Fasting in public. What the right hand, what the left.

This too we ought to take concerning fasting. For since the Lord Himself says, 'Anoint your head, and wash your face, that you may not appear to men to be fasting' (Matthew 6:17): do we then act against Christ's precepts, we who publicly proclaim a fast, and, with the whole people watching, fast together with them? In this sense too it must be understood that no one should fast for human praise, but for the pardon of sins, or for divine mercy: and let each one question his own conscience; and if he does alms for God alone, let him do it securely and in public, that whoever see may imitate him. For that too which the Lord says, 'Let not your left hand know what your right hand does,' is recognized to pertain to what we said above.

For by the right hand is understood the love of God; by the left, the vanity or cupidity of the world. If you have given alms for human praise, the whole the left hand does, the right does nothing at all: but if you have given alms for the remission of sins and the love of eternal life, the whole the right hand does. What then is, 'Let not your left hand know what your right hand does,' except, 'Let not the vanity or cupidity of the world corrupt or destroy what the love of God does'? For if someone believes that this can be fulfilled according to the letter, what will he do, if his right hand hurts him? Can he not give alms with his left?

Or if he wishes to redeem a captive, how will he be able either to loose the purse, or to open the chest, if he does not join his left hand to his right? Or if he desires to receive a stranger, and according to the precept of the Lord to wash the feet of the saints, I do not see how this can be fulfilled with the left hand not knowing. 3. Public prayers. How they may be made with the door shut. In what place temporal things are to be asked for. To this pertains also what He said, 'When you pray, do not pray at the corners of the streets: but enter,' He says, 'into your chamber, and having shut the door, pray to your Father in secret.' Behold, you yourselves well recognize that this cannot always be fulfilled according to the letter. For we ourselves and the whole people pray not only in our chambers;

but also gather publicly at the church, and together with all the people bend our knees. And are we, in doing these things, contrary to the precepts of Christ, who said that we ought to pray in our chambers with the door shut? It is not so. Hence this sense too is in agreement with the foregoing sentence. In what manner therefore this ought to be understood, attend. If ever you pray to God, and ask of Him that which is seen, you pray publicly and with the door open; because you wish to receive from God that which is seen. But if you wish to supplicate for the pardon of sins and for eternal life, even if you pray in public, you pray with the door shut; because you ask not what is seen, but what is not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal;

...but the things that are not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). If you seek things temporal, then, as I have already said, you pray publicly and with the door open; but if you seek things eternal, your prayer is hidden, because you desire to receive not the things that are seen but the things that are not seen. Whoever, therefore, shall in truth have sought those things that are not seen shall also, by God's recompense, receive those things that are seen; for He does not lie who says, 'Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you' (Matt. 6:33). Nor do we say this in such a way that we should not pray to God for temporal things — that is, for the health of our bodies, or for peace in our times, or for an abundance of harvests. We ought indeed to ask these things of God, but in the second and third place;

so that in every aim of our prayer the love of the soul and the desire for eternal life may hold the first place. Let us therefore pray for the body, but let us make supplication for the soul beyond all comparison more. And so, most beloved, as often as this reading of the Gospel is read to you, you ought to receive its meaning in the order we have set forth above: so that whether in almsgiving, or in fasting, or in prayers, whether on the right hand or on the left, we may strive to keep this — that whatever we do, we may do it not for the vanity or lust of the world, but for the love of eternal blessedness. May He deign to grant this, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. Sermon 64.

On the words of the Gospel of Matthew 6, 'When ye fast,' etc., and on the Lord's Prayer, chapter 6, verses 1-18. 1. Two things chiefly to be pondered by man. The fall to be bewailed. There are two things, most beloved, which human circumspection ought principally to attend to: both the dignity of its condition and the excellence of its reformation. The dignity of its condition, that it may fear to sin; the excellence of its redemption, that it may not prove ungrateful to the grace of the One who redeems. For by the will of the Redeemer alone was man raised up from the vileness of the earth and exalted, by the privilege of reason, to the likeness of God. This dignity wretched man lost when, seduced by the devil's persuasion, he in his pride departed from the ordinance of his Maker.

Considering this fall, the Psalmist said, as if lamenting: 'Man, when he was in honour, did not understand; he was compared to the senseless beasts, and became like unto them' (Ps. 48:13 [49:12]). Falling by his own choice from the loftiest height, he was justly condemned to the lowest dejection — he who by himself could fall, but by himself could not rise again. Human frailty must bewail this fall with daily lamentations, so that by daily lamenting it may return thither whence it fell through empty delights; and that which fell by the foot of pride may strive to rise again by the foot of obedience. Attending to this, the Psalmist said, 'Let not the foot of pride come to me'; and, 'There have they fallen who work iniquity;'

they have been cast out, and were not able to stand' (Ps. 35 [36]:12-13). They have been cast out from the innermost rest; and they were not able to stand, that is, to persevere, as through the same Psalmist it is said of them, 'For they are flesh, a spirit that goeth and returneth not' (Ps. 77 [78]:39). 2. The medicinal grace of the Redeemer is necessary. Christ taught by word and by example. For this return, then, or resurrection, the medicinal grace of the Redeemer was necessary, which by humility might heal what had been corrupted by the elation of pride. Therefore the Word of God took on the form of a servant, in which He could instruct His fellow-servants by word, and form them by the discipline of morals after the example of His own life.

For He instilled humility and obedience by word and example when, exhorting His disciples, He said: 'Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: for My yoke is sweet, and My burden is light' (Matt. 11:29-30). For His yoke of obedience is deservedly sweet, since to serve Him is to reign; and the burden of His precepts is light, which does not oppress by weighing down, but by grace helps in the fulfilling. He also instilled sobriety by word, where He said, 'Let not your hearts be weighed down with surfeiting and drunkenness' (Luke 21:34); and He taught it by example, who refreshed the crowd that accompanied Him not with costly delicacies, but with barley loaves (John 6:5-13).

He also taught us, directing our intention to inward goods, how we ought to fast, when He said, 'When ye fast, be not, like the hypocrites, of a sad countenance' — noting those who by mournful squalor feign the rigour of abstinence, that they may appear unto men to be fasting. He also would not pass over in silence how alms are to be given, where He said, 'When thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.' By this teaching He conveys that we are admonished to give alms and to do every work of mercy not from hunting after the praises of men, but on account of the intention of eternal life, which is signified by the right hand.

He also admonished how we are to pray, where He said, 'But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber' — that is, have a heart at peace, and free from every tumult of outward things; 'and having shut the door' — that is, with the crowd of phantasms excluded — 'pray to thy Father.' 3. A summary of whatever is to be sought. Three things are asked for eternal life, four for the temporal. It has now been shown how we are to pray; He adds also what is to be prayed for, subjoining thus: 'After this manner shall ye pray: Our Father, who art in heaven,' etc. This prayer, in compendious words — that is, in seven petitions — comprises all kinds of prayer by which we entreat God, whether for good things to be sought, or for evils to be avoided, or for sins committed to be blotted out.