哥林多前書講道集 第 33 章

'Love suffereth long, is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.'

For since he had declared that, in the absence of this, there is no great profit in faith, or knowledge, or prophecy, or tongues, or gifts, or healings, or a perfect life, or martyrdom, he necessarily proceeds next to sketch her ineffable beauty, adorning her image as it were with certain colours, namely the several parts of virtue, and composing all her members with exactness.

But do not run past what is said, beloved, but examine each of these things with much diligence, that thou mayest know both the treasure of the thing itself and the art of the painter.

Consider, then, whence he straightway began, and what he set down first as the cause of all good things.

And what is this? Long-suffering;

this is the root of all true wisdom.

'A man that is long-suffering aboundeth in prudence, but he that is faint-hearted is mightily foolish.'

And comparing it with a city, and that a strong one, he declared it to be safer than that city.

For it is a weapon invincible, and a tower that cannot be broken, easily beating off all painful things.

And just as a spark, falling into the deep, does the deep no harm at all, but is itself easily quenched;

so whatsoever of unexpected things falls into a long-suffering soul, this indeed is easily made to vanish, but does not trouble the soul.

For indeed long-suffering is firmer than all things;

though you should name armies, though money, though horses, though walls, though weapons, though anything whatsoever, you will name nothing equal to long-suffering.

For he that is compassed about with those things, being oftentimes overcome by wrath, is turned upside down like a worthless stripling, and fills all with tumult and storm;

but this man, as though seated in a harbour, enjoys a deep calm;

though thou surround him with loss, thou hast not moved the rock; though thou bring insult upon him, thou hast not shaken the tower; though thou inflict blows, thou hast not smitten the adamant;

for indeed he is called long-suffering for this reason, because he has a soul that is long and great;

for that which is long is also called great.

But this good thing springs from love, providing much benefit both to those who possess it and to those who enjoy its effects.

For do not tell me of the desperate, who, doing evil and not suffering evil, become worse.

For here this comes to pass not through the long-suffering of the one, but through those men who do not use it as they ought.

Do not therefore tell me of these, but of the more reasonable, who gain great things thereby.

For when, having done evil, they suffer no evil, then, admiring the meekness of the one who suffered, they reap thence a most excellent teaching of true wisdom.

But he does not even stop at this point, but proceeds to add her other excellences, saying:

For since there are some who use long-suffering not for their own true wisdom, but for the

vengeance upon those who have provoked them, tearing themselves asunder, he says that neither does love have this defect.

Wherefore he also added, 'is kind.'

For they do not use their moral character to kindle a flame among those already inflamed by anger, but to soothe and quench it;

and not only by bearing nobly, but also by tending and comforting, do they heal the sore and cure the wound of wrath;

For it is possible for one to be both long-suffering and spiteful, and by this that good deed is corrupted.

But love has escaped even this.

That is to say, it is not rash;

for indeed it makes the one who loves discerning, weighty, and steadfast.

For this defect is peculiar to those who love in a shameful manner;

but he who knows this love is set free from all these things most of all.

For when there is no wrath within, then all rashness and insolence is done away.

For indeed, like some most excellent husbandman, love, seated within the soul, permits none of these thorns to spring up.

For indeed we see many priding themselves greatly upon these very good deeds, as, for instance, that a man is not spiteful, nor wicked, nor faint-hearted, nor rash.

For neither do these evils attend upon wealth and poverty alone, but also upon those things that are by nature good.

But love with exactness purges away all these things.

The long-suffering man is not by all means also kind;

and if he be not kind, the matter becomes wickedness, and he is in danger of falling into rancour.

Wherefore this love, having given the remedy—I mean kindness—keeps the virtue pure.

Again, the kindly man often becomes easygoing to a fault; but this too love sets right.

For 'Love,' he says, 'vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.'

The kindly and longsuffering man is often given to boasting;

but this vice too love does away with.

And observe how it adorns love not only from what it possesses, but also from what it does not possess.

For it both brings in virtue, he says, and cuts off vice; or rather, it does not even suffer vice to spring up at the outset.

For he did not say, 'It envies indeed, but gets the better of envy,' nor, 'It is puffed up indeed, but chastens the passion,' but that 'It envies not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up';

which indeed is most wonderful of all, that it achieves what is good even without toil, and sets up its trophy without war and without battle array.

For it does not permit the one who has it to sweat and so to receive the crown, but bestows the prize on him without labor.

For where there is no passion to oppose the temperate mind, what toil could there be? It behaveth not itself unseemly.

For why do I say, he means, that it is not puffed up, when it is so far removed from that passion that even when it suffers the uttermost for the one it loves, it does not so much as reckon the matter a disgrace? He did not say again that 'It is put to shame, but bears the shame nobly,' but that it does not even take any perception of the shame at all.

For if those who are lovers of money, enduring all the reproachful things involved in petty trading for the sake of that gain, are not only not ashamed but even exult in it, much more will he who has this praiseworthy love decline nothing whatever for the safety of those he loves; and not only will he not decline it, but he will not even be ashamed while suffering.

But that we may not draw our example from an evil thing, let us examine this very point in the case of Christ, and then we shall see the power of what has been said.

For our Lord Jesus the Christ was both spat upon and buffeted by wretched slaves;

and not only did He not think it a disgrace, but He even exulted, and called the thing His glory;

and bringing a robber and murderer into paradise with Himself before all others, and conversing with a harlot, and that while all the bystanders were finding fault, He did not think the thing shameful, but even allowed her to kiss His own feet, and to bathe His body with her tears, and to wipe them with her hair;

and this in the very midst of a theatre of His enemies and foes.

For love behaveth not itself unseemly.

For this reason fathers too, even though they be more philosophical and more eloquent than all men, are not ashamed to lisp along with their little children;

and none of those who see it finds fault, but the thing seems so good that they even applaud it.

And should the children in turn become wicked, these fathers still remain, correcting them, caring for them, drawing a veil over their reproaches, and are not ashamed.

For love behaveth not itself unseemly, but as with certain golden wings it covers over all the sins of those who are loved.

Thus too did Jonathan love David, and when he heard his father saying, 'Son of maidens who have deserted, reared as a woman,' he was not ashamed, although indeed the words are full of much reproach.

For what he means is this:

'Son of little harlots raving mad after men, running out to those who pass by; you unnerved and soft one, having nothing of a man about you, but living to the shame of yourself and of the mother who bore you.'

What then? Did he grieve at these things, and hide his face, and forsake the one he loved? On the very contrary, he even gloried in the affection;

and this though at that time the one was a king, and Jonathan a king's son, while David was a fugitive and a wanderer.

But not even so was he ashamed of his friendship;

for love behaveth not itself unseemly.

For this indeed is the wonderful thing about it, that it not only does not suffer the one who is insulted to grieve or be stung, but even makes him rejoice.

For this very reason that man too, after all these things, as though wreathed with a crown, thus went off and threw himself upon David's neck.

For love does not so much as know what shame ever is;

and for this reason it even takes pride in those things at which another hides his face.

For the shame is not to know how to love, but not that one who loves should risk danger and endure all things for those he loves.

But when I say 'all things,' do not think that I mean even things hurtful, as if one should say to assist a young man toward a mistress, or if one should deem it right to accomplish some other harmful thing.

And this I showed you the other day from the case of the Egyptian woman.

For that man alone is the one who loves, who seeks the things that are profitable for the one he loves;

so that if anyone does not pursue this good, even though he should say ten thousand times that he loves, he is more hostile than all enemies.

Thus too Rebecca once, since she was exceedingly attached to her son, both wrought a deception and was not ashamed lest she be caught, nor was she afraid;

and indeed the danger was no ordinary one;

but even when her son argued precisely with her, she said, 'Upon me be thy curse, my child.'

Do you see, even in a woman, an apostolic soul? For just as Paul chose (if one may compare a small thing to a great) to become accursed for the Jews' sake, so she too, that her son might be blessed, chose even to be cursed.

And to him she yielded the good things;

for she was not, of course, going to be blessed along with him;

but the evil things she prepared to endure by herself alone;

yet nevertheless she rejoiced and hastened, and this though so great a danger lay before her, and she was vexed at any delay of the matter.

For she feared lest Esau, forestalling her, might make her wisdom of no effect.

Wherefore she both cuts short her words and urges on the youth, and forbearing to make any reply to what he had said, she utters a reasoning sufficient to persuade him.

For she did not say, 'You speak these things in vain and fear without cause, since your father has grown old and is deprived of the keenness of his perception,' but what? 'Upon me be thy curse, my child;'

only do not you spoil the drama, nor lose the prey, nor betray the treasure.

And this same Jacob—did he not serve his kinsman twice seven years? Did he not, along with his servitude, incur ridicule for that deception? What then? Did he perceive the ridicule? Did he think it a disgrace that, being free and of free parents and nobly reared, he underwent the lot of slaves among his own kindred?—which is wont to sting most of all, when one suffers reproachful things among his acquaintances.

But the cause was love, which made even the long time appear short.

'For they were,' it says, 'in his eyes as but a few days.'

So far was he from being stung or blushing at this servitude.

With good reason therefore did the blessed Paul say, 'Love behaveth not itself unseemly;

seeketh not its own, is not provoked.'

For having said that 'It behaveth not itself unseemly,' he shows also the manner by which it behaves not itself unseemly.

And what is the manner? That 'It seeketh not its own.'

For it reckons the one it loves to be everything, and it is then put to shame, when it is not able to deliver him.

So that if it be possible through its own unseemliness to benefit the one it loves, it does not even reckon the thing to be unseemliness;

for that other one is henceforth its very self.

For this is friendship: that the one who loves and the one who is loved should no longer be two divided, but one single man;

which comes about from no other source than from love.

Seek not therefore your own, that you may find your own.

For he who seeks his own does not find his own.

Wherefore Paul also said, 'Let no man seek his own, but each the things of his neighbor.'

For one's own advantage lies in the advantage of one's neighbor, and his in this.

As therefore, if someone had his own gold buried in his neighbor's house, if he should refuse to go there and seek and dig it up, he will never behold it;

so also here, he who is unwilling to seek his own advantage even in the benefit of his neighbor, will not attain the crowns that are given for this.

For God, for this very reason, so laid it up, that we might be bound together with one another.

And just as a man rousing a drowsy child to follow after his brother, when the child is unwilling to go of his own accord, places in the brother's hands the thing the child longs for and desires, so that by the longing to obtain it he may chase after the one who holds it, which is exactly what happens;

so also here God has given to each one's neighbour that which is profitable to himself, that from this we might run after one another and not be torn apart from each other.

And if you will, observe this even in our own case, in us who preach:

for what is profitable to me lies in you, and what is beneficial to you lies in me.

For it is profitable to you to be taught the things that are pleasing to God; but this task was entrusted to me, that from me you might receive it, and on this account be compelled to run to me.

And it is profitable to me that you should become better;

for on account of this I shall receive a great reward;

but this again lies in you, and on this account I am compelled to pursue you, that you may become better, and that I may receive from you what is profitable to me.

Therefore Paul also said, 'For what is my hope? Is it not even you?' And again, 'My hope, and my joy, and the crown of my glorying.'

So then, Paul's joy was his disciples, and they possessed his joy.

For this reason he also wept, whenever he saw any perishing.

Again, what was profitable to them lay in Paul:

'For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.'

And again, 'These things I suffer for the sake of the elect, that they may obtain eternal life.'

One might see this also in the affairs of everyday life:

'For the wife,' he says, 'has not authority over her own body, nor does the husband, but the wife has authority over the husband's, and the husband over the wife's.'

So also we, whenever we wish to bind certain persons together, do this:

we leave no one master of himself, but by stretching a chain between them we contrive that this one be held fast by that one, and that one by this.

Would you see this also in the case of rulers? He who judges does not sit passing sentence for himself, but seeking the profit of his neighbours.

The ruled, in turn, seek what is profitable to the ruler, through service, through ministry, through all the rest.

The soldiers take up arms on our behalf;

for on our account they face danger;

we, on their behalf, endure hardship;

for from us comes their sustenance.

But if you say that each one does this while seeking his own advantage, this too I affirm; yet the point is that one's own good is found through another's.

For the soldier, if he does not fight on behalf of those who feed him, has no one to minister to him for this;

and this same man in turn, if he does not feed the soldier, has no one to shield him.

Have you seen love everywhere extended and ordering all things? But do not grow weary, until you have learned this whole golden chain in its entirety.

For having said, 'It seeks not its own,' he goes on to state the good things that are born of this.

And what are these? 'It is not provoked, it thinks no evil.'

See again how it not only masters wickedness, but does not even permit it to arise in the first place.

For he did not say, 'It is provoked, yet prevails,' but 'It is not even provoked;'

and he did not say, 'It does not work evil,' but 'It does not even reckon it.'

For not only does it contrive nothing wicked, but it does not even suspect any evil against the one beloved.

How could she be provoked who does not even endure to admit a wicked suspicion? Whence springs the fountain of affection.

That is to say, 'It does not rejoice over those who suffer ill;'

and not only this, but what is far greater, 'It rejoices together with the truth.'

'It takes delight,' he says, 'with those who are of good repute;'

'to rejoice with those who rejoice, and to weep with those who weep.'

Hence it does not envy, hence it is not puffed up;

for indeed it deems the good things of others its own.

Have you seen how little by little love makes an angel of the one whom she nurtures? For when a man is free from anger, and pure from envy, and delivered from every tyrannical passion, consider that he has now been released even from human nature, and has been transferred to that very impassibility of the angels. And yet love is not content with these things, but has something still greater than these to declare;

for it sets down the stronger points last.

It comes from long-suffering, from kindness — even if the things be burdensome, even if grievous, even if insults, even if blows, even if death, even if anything whatsoever.

And this again it is possible to discern from the blessed David.

For what is more burdensome than to see a son rising up in rebellion and coveting tyranny and thirsting for his father's blood? Yet that blessed man bore even this, and not even so could he endure to utter a bitter word against the parricide, but leaving to his generals all the rest, he charged them earnestly concerning that son's safety;

for strong was the foundation of his love.

And its power he hints at from this, but its goodness through what follows;

'For it hopes all things,' he says, 'believes all things, endures all things.'

What is 'it hopes all things'? 'It hopes all good things,' he says; it does not despair of the one loved, but even if he be worthless, it remains with him, correcting, providing, taking care.

'For it does not simply hope,' he says, 'but also believes,' out of its intense love;

and even if these good things do not turn out according to its hope, but that man be yet more burdensome, it bears even these.

'For it endures all things,' he says.

'Love never fails.'

Have you seen at what point he placed the crowning summit, and what is above all the distinctive mark of this gift? For what is 'It does not fail'? It is not cut off, it is not dissolved by bearing;

for he who loves can never come to hate, whatever may happen;

for this is love's greatest good.

Wherefore he also said, 'If by any means I might provoke to jealousy them that are my flesh,' and he continued in hope.

And he exhorted Timothy, saying:

'The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle toward all men, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if perhaps God may give them knowledge of the truth.'

'What then,' one says, 'if they be enemies and pagans, ought one not to hate them?' Hate indeed, yet not them, but their doctrine; not the man, but the wicked deed, the corrupted purpose.

For the man is the work of God, but the error is the work of the devil.

Do not, then, mix together the things of God and the things of the devil;

since the Jews too were both blasphemers and persecutors and insolent men, and spoke countless evils against Christ;

Did Paul then hate them, he who of all men loved Christ the most? By no means, but he even loved them, and did all things on their behalf;

and now he says, 'My good will indeed and my prayer to God on their behalf is for their salvation;'

and again, 'I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for their sake.'

So also Ezekiel, seeing them being slaughtered, said, 'Alas, O Lord, wilt thou blot out the remnant of Israel?' And Moses, 'If thou wilt forgive them their sin, forgive.'

What then does David say? 'Those that hate thee, O Lord, have I hated, and over thine enemies have I pined away;'

'with perfect hatred did I hate them.'

In truth, not all the things said in the Psalms were spoken by David in his own person;

for this same one says, 'I have dwelt among the tents of Kedar';

and, 'By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept';

yet he neither saw Babylon nor the tents of Kedar.

But apart from this, more strictness of the higher philosophy is now demanded of us.

Wherefore also, when the disciples desired that fire should be brought down, as in the case of Elijah, Christ said, 'You do not know of what spirit you are.'

For at that time they were commanded to hate not only impiety, but the impious men themselves, lest friendship should become for them an occasion of transgression;

for this reason He cut off kinships and intermixings, and walled them off on every side;

but now, since He has led us to a greater philosophy, and made us higher than that harm, He also commands us both to receive and to exhort them.

For no harm comes to us from them, but benefit comes to them from us.

What then does he say? We must not hate, but have mercy.

For if you hate, how will you easily turn back the one who is straying? How will you pray for the unbeliever? That one ought indeed to pray, hear what Paul says:

'I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men.'

And that not all at that time were believers, is surely evident to everyone.

And again, 'For kings, and for all who are in high position.'

And that these were impious and lawless, this too is likewise evident.

Then, stating also the cause of the prayer, he adds:

'For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who wills that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.'

For this reason, even if he finds a Greek (heathen) woman dwelling together with a believer, he does not sever the marriage;

and yet what is more intimate to a man than a woman? 'For the two,' he says, 'shall be one flesh';

and there the endearment is great and the desire is warm.

But if we are going to hate the impious and lawbreakers, as we go on we shall also hate sinners, and thus, advancing along this road, you will be torn away even from most of the brethren, or rather from all;

for there is not, there is not, anyone without sin.

For if we must hate the enemies of God, we ought to hate not only the impious, but sinners also;

and thus we shall be worse than wild beasts, turning away from everyone and puffed up with madness, just like that Pharisee.

But Paul did not command thus; rather how? 'Admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient toward all.'

What then does he mean when he says, 'If anyone does not obey our word by this epistle, mark that man, and do not associate with him'? This was said chiefly concerning brethren, yet not even this simply, but this too with gentleness.

For do not cut off what follows, but add also the words that come after these.

For having said, 'Do not associate with him,' he added, 'And do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.'

Do you see how he commanded to hate the evil deed, not the man? For it is the work of the devil to tear us away from one another, and he is exceedingly eager to destroy love, that he may cut off the road to correction, and keep the one man in error and you in enmity, and so wall off the road to that man's salvation.

For when the physician also hates the sick man and flees from him, and the sick man turns away from the physician, when will the ailing man ever recover, if neither the one calls him to himself, nor the other goes to him? And for what cause, tell me, do you turn away from and flee him? Because he is impious? Then for this very reason you ought to receive and to tend him, that you may raise up the ailing one.

But if his disease is incurable, still you were commanded to do your own part;

since Judas too was incurably diseased, and yet God did not cease from tending him.

Therefore neither must you grow weary.

For even if, after much effort, you do not deliver him from impiety, nevertheless you will receive the reward as though you had delivered him, and you will make him marvel at your gentleness, and thus all this glory will pass over to God.

For even if you work miracles, even if you raise the dead, even if you do anything whatever, the Greeks will never marvel at you so much as when they see you exhibiting a meek and gentle and sweet disposition.

And this is no small achievement;

for many will be completely delivered from their evil.

For nothing is able to draw men so much as love.

For on account of those things, I mean the signs and wonders, they will even envy you; but on account of this they will both marvel and love you;

and loving you, they will lay hold of the truth as they advance along the road.

But if he does not immediately become a believer, do not marvel, nor press him, nor seek all things at once;

rather, let him for the time praise and love, and by advancing along the road he will come to this also.

And that you may learn clearly how great this is, hear how Paul too, when coming before an unbelieving judge, made his defense.

'For I count myself blessed,' he says, 'that I am about to be judged before you.'

But he said these things not flattering him — far from it — but wishing through his gentleness to gain him.

And in part he did gain him, and the one who was for the time reckoned to be a condemned prisoner took the judge captive; and the very one who had been overcome confesses the victory with a clear voice in the presence of all, saying, 'In a little you persuade me to become a Christian.'

What then did Paul do? He spreads out his net still further, and says:

'I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except these bonds.'

What are you saying, O Paul? 'Except these bonds'? And what boldness of speech is left to you henceforth, if you are ashamed of these things and flee from them, and that too before so great a people? Do you not everywhere in your epistles boast in this very matter, and call yourself a prisoner, and everywhere carry about this chain for us in place of a diadem? What then has now happened, that you deprecate the bonds? 'I do not myself deprecate them,' he says, 'nor am I ashamed, but I condescend to their weakness;

for they are not yet able to receive my boast.'

And I have learned from my Lord not to put a piece of unshrunk cloth upon an old garment.

For as yet they are prejudiced against our teaching, and are disposed with hostility toward the cross.

If therefore I should add the bonds as well, the hatred becomes greater.

For this reason I put these things away, that that (message) might become readily acceptable.

For being bound seems to them for the present to be a reproach, since they have not yet tasted the glory that is among us.

It is necessary therefore to condescend.

For when they have learned to practice the higher philosophy, then they will know also the beauty of this iron, and the splendor that comes from the bonds.

At any rate, when discoursing to others, he even calls the matter a grace, saying that 'It has been given to us by God not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake';

but for the present it was a welcome thing that those who heard should not be ashamed of the cross.

For neither does anyone, when leading someone into a palace, before he has beheld the outer gateways as he stands without, compel him to survey the things within;

for thus not even will they appear wonderful, unless one, having got within, learns all things thoroughly.

So then let us also approach the children of the Greeks with condescension, with love.

For this is a great teacher, and able both to lead men away from error, and to reform their manner of life, and to guide them by the hand toward the higher philosophy, and to make men out of stones.

And if you wish to learn its power, bring me a man who is cowardly and easily frightened by noises and trembling at shadows, and irascible and harsh, and a wild beast rather than a man, and lecherous and licentious, and having every vice, and hand him over into the hands of love, and lead him into this training-ground, and you will quickly see that cowardly and timid man becoming brave and magnanimous and daring all things with ease.

And the marvelous thing is that these things come to pass not by his nature being changed, but love displays her own power in that very cowardly soul;

and it comes to the same thing as if one, having made a sword of lead and not of iron, but remaining in the nature of lead, should cause it to accomplish the work of iron.

Jacob was guileless, dwelling in a house, and unpracticed in toils and dangers, living a certain relaxed and free life, and just as a virgin in her chamber, so also this man, sitting indoors, was for the most part constrained to keep the house, being freed from the market-place and from the tumults that come from the market-place and from all such things, and remaining continually in security and quiet.

What then? When the torch of love had kindled him, see how it made this guileless man who dwelt in a house into one who was enduring and fond of toil.

And hear these things not from me, but from the patriarch himself.

For, bringing a charge against his father-in-law, he says, 'These twenty years have I been with you.'

And how did those twenty years pass? For he adds this too: 'consumed

by the heat of the day and by the frost of the night, and sleep departed from my eyes.'

These are the words of that guileless man, who dwelt in a house and lived a life of ease.

And that he was also timid is plain from the fact that, when he expected to see Esau, he was half-dead with fear.

But observe how this same timid man again became, through love, bolder than a lion.

For, setting himself as a kind of bulwark before all the rest, he was ready to be the first to receive that savage man who, as he supposed, breathed slaughter, and to secure safety for the women by means of his own body;

and the man whom he had dreaded and shuddered at, he longed to be the first to see in the line of battle.

For his love for the women was stronger than this fear.

Have you seen how, being timid, he suddenly became daring, not by changing his disposition, but by being strengthened by love? For that even after this he was still timid is plain from his shifting from place to place.

But let no one suppose that what has been said is an accusation of the righteous man.

For to be timid is not a charge against him;

but to do, out of cowardice, any of the things one ought not to do.

For it is possible even for one who is timid by nature to become brave through godly reverence.

And what of Moses? Did he not flee in fear of a single Egyptian, and remove himself into exile? Yet nevertheless this same fugitive, who could not bear the threat of one man, once he had tasted the honey of love, nobly hastened—with none compelling him—to perish together with those he loved.

For 'if you will forgive their sin,' he says, 'forgive it;

but if not, blot me also out of your book which you have written.'

And that love makes the insolent gentle, and the licentious chaste, we no longer even need examples here;

for even if a man be fiercer than any wild beast, he becomes, through loving, tamer than any sheep.

For what was fiercer and more frenzied than Saul?

Yet when his daughter set his enemy free, he did not utter even one bitter word to her;

and he who had utterly slaughtered all the priests for David's sake, when he saw his daughter had let him escape from the house, was not angry with her even so far as a word, and that though so great a deceit had been contrived against him;

for he was held in check by the mightier bridle of love.

And just as love knows how to make men gentle, so also it knows how to make them chaste;

for if a man love his own wife thus, as he ought to love her, then though he be a thousand times licentious, he will not endure to look upon another, because of his longing for her.

'For love is strong,' it says, 'as death.'

So that licentiousness comes from nowhere else than from not loving.

Since then love is the maker of all virtue, let us with all diligence plant it in our own souls, that it may bring us many good things, and that we may continually possess its overflowing fruit, which ever flourishes and never withers.

For thus we shall also attain unto the eternal good things;

which may it be that we all attain, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.