哥林多前書講道集 第 34 章

Whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Having shown the surpassing excellence of love from the fact that both the spiritual gifts and the right achievements of life have need of it, and from having enumerated all its virtues and set it forth as a theme of exact philosophy, Paul now again, from yet a third head, demonstrates its worth.

And he does this, wishing on the one hand to persuade those who seemed to be inferior that it is possible for them to possess the sum of the signs, and that they will have nothing less than those who possess the gifts, if they have this love—nay, rather far more;

and on the other hand, being earnest to humble those who possess the great gifts and are for this reason lifted up, and to show that they have nothing, unless they have this love.

to love one another—envy and pride being thereby taken away—and, loving one another, they again drove these passions yet farther off;

For love envies not, is not puffed up.

So that from every side he threw around them an unbreakable wall, and a manifold concord that took away all their maladies and thereby again became yet stronger.

For this reason also he stirred up countless considerations able to console their despondency.

For, he says, it is the same Spirit that gives, and gives with a view to what is profitable, and divides as He wills, and divides bestowing as a favor, not as owing a debt.

And even if you receive a small gift, you belong to the body in like manner, and thus you enjoy great honor too;

and he who has the greater gift has need of you who have the lesser;

and that the greatest gift and the way that is beyond comparison is love.

And these things he said, binding them fast to one another in a twofold manner: both by their not thinking themselves inferior so long as love is present, and by their running to it and laying hold of it, and so no longer suffering anything human, since they have the root of the spiritual gifts, and are no longer able—even if they had nothing—to be contentious.

For he who has once been captured by love is set free from contentiousness.

Wherefore also, showing them how many good things they will reap from it, he sketched out its fruits, by its praises quieting their maladies.

For each one of the things spoken was a remedy sufficient to meet their wounds.

Wherefore also he said, 'Love suffers long,' with a view to those who were contending with one another;

'It is kind,' with a view to those who were at variance and full of hidden rancor;

'It envies not,' with a view to those who bore ill-will against those who excelled;

'It vaunts not itself,' with a view to those who were torn asunder;

'It is not puffed up,' with a view to those who lorded it over them;

'It does not behave itself unseemly,' with a view to those who would not condescend to others;

'It seeks not its own,' with a view to those who despised the rest;

'It is not provoked, it thinks no evil,' with a view to those who were being insulted;

'It rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth,' with a view again to those who bore ill-will;

'It bears all things,' with a view to those who were being plotted against;

'It hopes all things,' with a view to those who were in despair;

'It endures all things, it never fails,' with a view to those who were easily set at variance.

Since then he had from every side shown it to be great with all excess, he does this again from another and very great head, exalting its dignity by yet another comparison, and speaking thus:

Whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease.

For if both these were introduced for the sake of faith, then, once this has been everywhere disseminated, the need of them is henceforth superfluous.

But loving one another shall not cease; rather it shall increase yet more, both here and in the age to come, and then even more than now.

For here there are many things that enfeeble love—money, affairs, bodily passions, maladies of the soul;

But that prophecies and tongues should be done away is nothing marvelous;

but that knowledge should be done away—this is the thing that causes the perplexity;

for indeed he added this too, saying, 'Whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.'

What then? Are we to live in ignorance in that day? Away with the thought!

for indeed it is likely that knowledge will then above all be intensified.

Wherefore also he said, 'Then shall I know, even as also I was known.'

For this very reason, that you may not suppose that this too, like prophecy and tongues, is done away.

Having said, 'whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away,' he did not remain silent, but added also the manner of its abolition, quickly subjoining the words, 'We know in part, and we prophesy in part.'

'But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.'

It is not, then, knowledge itself that is abolished, but the fact that our knowledge is partial;

for we shall no longer know only so much, but far more.

And that I may make this plain also by an example: now we know that God is everywhere present, but how, we know not.

That He made the things that are out of things that are not, we know;

that He was born of a Virgin, we know; but how, we know not.

But then we shall know something more, and clearer, concerning these things.

Then he shows also how great the interval is, and that what is lacking is no small thing, saying:

'When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child;'

'but when I became a man, I put away the things of the child.'

And by yet another example he again makes the same thing plain, saying:

'For now we see through a mirror.'

Then, since a mirror presents the thing seen after some sort, he added, 'in a riddle,' showing with utmost emphasis how very partial our present knowledge is.

'But then face to face;'

not as though God had a face, but that he might speak more clearly and more distinctly.

Do you see that all men learn by degrees? 'Now I know in part, but then shall I know fully, even as also I was fully known.'

Do you see how with a twofold stroke he brought down their swelling pride? both that their knowledge is partial, and that not even this do they have of themselves.

'For it was not I that knew Him,' he says, 'but He that made me known.'

As therefore He knew me first now, and Himself ran toward me, so I too shall run toward Him then, far more than now.

For indeed he that sits in darkness, so long as he does not see the sun, does not himself run toward the beauty of its ray, but that ray shows itself, whenever it shines;

but when he has received its brightness, then he too from that point pursues the light.

This, then, is the meaning of 'even as also I was fully known;'

not that we shall know Him as He knows us, but that, even as He ran toward us now, so we too shall lay hold of Him then, and shall know many of the things now unspeakable, and shall enjoy that most blessed converse and wisdom.

For if Paul, who knew so much, was a child, consider how great those things are;

if these things are a mirror and a riddle, reckon for me again from this how great is that 'face.'

But that I may open to you a little of this difference, and let some faint ray of the thought sink into your soul, call to mind for me the things under the Law, now that grace has shone forth.

For indeed those things, before grace, appeared to be great and wonderful;

yet nevertheless hear what Paul says concerning them after grace: that 'even that which was made glorious has no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses.'

But that what I say may become even clearer, let us handle the argument with respect to some one of the rites then performed, and then you will see how great the interval is;

and, if you will, let us bring the Passover into the midst—that one and this one—and then you will know the surpassing greatness.

For the Jews too kept it, but they kept it thus, as in a mirror and in a riddle;

but these unspeakable mysteries they never so much as took into their mind, nor did they know what those things were which those rites were proclaiming beforehand;

but they saw a sheep being slain, and the blood of an irrational creature, and doorposts anointed with it;

but that the Son of God, having become flesh, should be slain, and should set free the whole inhabited world, and should give both to Greeks and to barbarians to taste of this blood, and should open heaven to all, and add the things there to the race of men, and taking the blood-stained flesh should set it above heaven, and the heaven of heaven, and simply all the hosts on high of angels and archangels and the other powers, and upon the very royal throne, at the right hand of the Father, should seat it, shining with unspeakable glory—this, indeed, neither any of those Jews, nor any other of men, ever either foreknew or was able to take into his mind.

These things, then, neither any of those, nor any other of men, ever either foreknew or was ever able to take into his mind.

But what do those who are altogether audacious say? That the words 'Now I know in part' were spoken concerning the dispensations;

for the knowledge concerning God, they say, he has in its completeness.

And how does he call himself a child? How does he see through a mirror? How in a riddle, if he has the whole of knowledge? And why does he assign this, as something special, to the Spirit, and to no other power of the creation, saying:

'For who among men knows the things of a man, save the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so also the things of God none knows, save the Spirit of God.'

And Christ again says that this belongs to Himself alone, speaking thus:

'Not that any man has seen the Father, save he that is from God, He has seen the Father;'

by 'seeing' meaning the knowledge that is most clear and complete.

But how shall he who knows the essence be ignorant of the dispensations? For that knowledge is greater than this.

'Are we then ignorant of God?' he says. Far from it;

but that He is, we know;

but what He is in His essence, we no longer know.

That you may know that it was not concerning the dispensations that he said 'Now I know in part,' hear what follows:

'But then shall I know fully, even as also I was fully known.'

Now surely he was not fully known by the dispensations, but by God.

Let no one, therefore, think this transgression to be small, nor simple, but rather twofold and threefold and many times over.

For this is not the only absurdity, that they boast to know these things which belong to the Spirit alone, and to the only-begotten Son of God; but also that, whereas not even this partial portion of knowledge could Paul learn apart from the revelation from above, they say that they have grasped the whole from their own reasonings.

For nowhere can they show us the Scripture discoursing to us concerning these matters.

But, leaving their madness, let us take hold of the words that follow, concerning love.

For neither was he content with these things, but he again subjoins, saying:

'But now abides faith, hope, love, these three;'

for faith and hope cease when the good things that were believed and hoped for are come to pass.

And declaring this, Paul said:

'For hope that is seen is not hope;'

'for who hopes for that which he sees?' And again, 'Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proving of things not seen.'

So that these indeed cease when those things have appeared;

but love is then most of all exalted, and becomes more vehement.

Here again is another commendation of love;

for he is not satisfied with what has gone before, but strives again to find yet another.

He said that it is a great gift and a way surpassing all these;

he said that without it the gifts profit nothing great, and he portrayed its image through many things;

he wishes yet again in another way to exalt it, and to show that it is great from its enduring;

wherefore also he said, 'But now abides faith, hope, love, these three;'

How, then, is love greater? By its passing beyond those others.

If, therefore, so great is the strength of love, with good reason he adds, saying, 'Follow after love.'

For indeed there is need of pursuit, and of a certain vehement running after it;

so far has it flown from us, and so many are the things that trip up our course toward that place.

Wherefore we also have need of much vehemence, so as to lay hold of it.

And Paul, indicating this very thing, did not say, 'Follow after love,' but 'Pursue it,' rousing us up and kindling us to lay hold of it.

For God from the beginning contrived countless means in order to implant this love in us;

for indeed He gave to all one head, Adam.

For why is it that we are not all made from the earth? Why are we not perfect, as he was? So that both births and the rearing of children, and our springing from one another, might bind us fast to one another.

For this reason neither did He make the woman from the earth.

For since it was not enough to move us alike toward concord, namely, that we are of the same substance, unless we should also have the same forefather, He devised this too.

For if now, being separated by places alone, we regard ourselves as strangers to one another;

had our race had two beginnings, much more would this have come to pass.

For this very reason then, as it were from one single head, He bound together the whole body of the human race.

And since from the beginning there seemed to be two, see how He again cements them together and gathers them into one through marriage;

for in place of this, He says, 'a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.'

And He did not say, 'The woman,' but 'The man,' since the desire is also greater in him.

For indeed He made it greater in him for this very cause, that the superior part might be bowed down by the tyranny of this love, and be made subject to the weaker.

And since a marriage also had to be introduced, He made him from whom she came to be the husband to the woman.

For with God all things are second to love.

For if, when things came to pass thus, the first man straightway raged so violently, and the devil sowed so great a strife and envy, what would he not have wrought, had they not sprung from one root? Then, in order that the one might be in subjection and the other might rule (for equality of honor often knows how to introduce strife),

He did not permit it to be a democracy, but

a kingdom; and just as in an army, one may see this ordering in each household.

At any rate, in the rank of a king is the husband, and in the rank of a prefect and general is the wife;

and the children too are allotted a third rule;

then after these there is a fourth rule, that of the household servants;

for these also rule over those inferior to them, and often some one is set over them all, keeping the rank of a master, save only that he is a servant.

And besides this again there is another rule, even among these, that of the women and that of the children; and among the children themselves again there is another rule, according to age and according to nature;

for not even among little children does the female rule in like manner.

And everywhere within a small compass God has made the rules also frequent, that all things might abide in concord and in much good order.

For this reason also, even before the race was multiplied into a great number, while only the first two existed, He commanded the one to rule and the other to be ruled.

And in order that she might not, as being the inferior, be despised and torn away, see how He both honored her and united her even before her creation.

For 'Let us make,' He says, 'a helper for him';

showing that she came into being for his need, and by this drawing him toward her who had come into being for his sake.

For indeed toward these things we are more intimately disposed, namely the things done for our sake.

And in order that she again might not be lifted up, as having been given for his help, and might break this bond, He makes her from his rib, showing that she is a part of the whole body.

And in order that the man might not on this account be lifted up, He no longer allows to be his alone what before was his alone, but wrought the contrary for him, by bringing in the procreation of children; wherein, though He preferred the husband, He did not indeed leave the whole to be his.

Do you see how many bonds of love God has wrought? But these pledges of concord He deposited from nature.

For indeed the being of the same substance leads to this;

for every living creature loves that which is like unto itself;

and the woman's being from the man, and the children's again being from them both.

Whence also many modes of affection spring up.

For the one we love as a father, the other as a grandfather;

and this one as a mother, that one as a nurse;

and the one as a son and grandson and again as descended from grandsons, the other as a daughter and granddaughter;

and the one as a brother, the other as a nephew;

and this one as a sister, that one as a niece.

And why need one recount all the names of kinship? He devised yet another occasion of affection also;

for having forbidden the marriages of kinsfolk, He led us forth to strangers, and again drew those strangers toward us.

For since from this natural kinship it was not possible for those others to be joined to us, He joined them again through marriage, gathering whole households by means of one bride, and mingling whole families with families.

For 'Do not marry,' He says, 'thy sister, nor thy father's sister, nor any other maiden possessing such kinship toward thee as hinders marriage,' setting down by name the kinds of such kinsfolk.

It suffices thee, for affection toward those, that thou hast loosed the same birth-pangs, and that the others belong to thee in another way.

Why do you straiten the breadth of love? Why do you superfluously expend upon it an occasion of friendship, through which you are able to procure another occasion of friendship as well, by bringing in a wife from outside, and through her a whole string of kinsfolk, a mother, a father, brothers, and their connections? Do you see in how many ways He has bound us together? But not even these sufficed Him, but He also caused us to have need of one another, that thus also He might gather us together, since it is chiefly needs that make friendships.

For this very reason then He did not allow all things to be produced everywhere, that from this too He might compel us to mingle with one another.

And having established us in need of one another, He again made the intercourse easy;

since, if this were not so, the matter would have settled into another disgust and difficulty.

For if, when one had need of a physician or a carpenter or some other craftsman, he had to set out on a long journey abroad, the whole thing would have been ruined.

For this very reason then He also established cities, and gathered all together in one place.

And in order that we might easily resort even to those afar off, He spread out the sea in the midst, and gave swiftness to the winds, making the passages thence easy.

And at the beginning He gathered all together in one region, and did not scatter them abroad sooner, until the first who received the gift used their concord unto evil;

but from every side He gathered us together, both from nature and from kinship and from tongue and from place.

And just as He did not wish us to fall out of paradise (for had He wished it, He would not even have placed there the man whom He made at the beginning), but he who disobeyed was the cause;

so neither did He will us to be of different tongues;

for else He would have done this from the beginning;

but now the whole earth was one lip, and one speech to all.

For this very reason too, not even when the earth had to be blotted out, not even then did He make us from other material, nor did He translate the righteous man, but leaving him in the midst of the surge, as it were a certain spark of the inhabited world, He rekindled thence our race anew from the blessed Noah.

And at the beginning He made one rule, setting the man over the woman;

but when our race ran aground into much disorder, He established others also, those of masters, those of rulers;

for since wickedness is a thing that dissolves and destroys our race, He seated in the midst of the cities, as it were certain physicians, those who give judgment, that, driving away wickedness like a certain plague by means of love, they might gather all into one.

And in order that there might be much concord not only in the cities but also in each household, having honored the man with rule and pre-eminence, and armed the woman with desire, and having deposited the gift of procreation in the midst for both, He also devised other things besides these that gather love together.

For He neither entrusted all things to the man, nor all things to the woman, but divided these too to each, committing to her the house, and to him the market-place; and to him the nourishing, for he tills the ground;

and to her the clothing, for the loom and the distaff belong to the woman.

For He Himself gave to the woman the wisdom of weaving.

But away with the love of money, which does not allow this distinction to appear!

For the effeminacy of the many has brought even men into the workshops of the loom, and has put into their hands the shuttle, the woof, and the warp.

Yet even so the providence of the divine economy shines forth.

For indeed we have great need of the woman in other and more necessary matters, and we require the lesser things in those that hold our life together;

and so great is the constraint of this need, that even if a man be richer than all men, not even so is he released from this fellowship and from needing the one who is poorer.

For it is not only that the poor have need of the rich, but the rich also of the poor—and these more than those, rather than those of these.

And that you may see this more clearly, let us, if you please, make two cities: the one of the rich only, the other of the poor;

and let there be no poor man in the city of the wealthy, nor any rich man in the city of the poor, but let us purge each one exactly, and see which of the two will be more able to suffice for itself.

For if we find that the city of the poor is able, it is quite plain that the rich have more need of these than the poor of them.

In that city of the well-to-do, then, there will be no craftsman, no builder, no carpenter, no shoemaker, no baker, no farmer, no coppersmith, no rope-maker, nor any other of such trades.

For which of the rich would ever choose to pursue these trades? Indeed, even those who do practice them, when they come into wealth, no longer endure the hardship that comes from these labors. How then shall this city of ours stand? By giving money, one says, the rich will buy these things from the poor.

Therefore they will not suffice for themselves, if indeed they have need of those others.

And how will they build their houses? Will they buy this too? But nature could not admit of that.

It is necessary, then, to call the craftsmen thither, and to destroy the law which we laid down at the beginning when we founded the city;

for you remember that we said, Let there be no poor man within.

But behold, need itself, even against our will, has called them and brought them in.

Whence it is plain that it is impossible for a city to be constituted without the poor.

For if the city should remain admitting none

of these, it will no longer be a city, but will perish.

Therefore it will not suffice for itself, unless it gather the poor to itself as, in a manner, certain saviors.

But let us also examine the city of the poor, to see whether it too will likewise be found in want when deprived of the rich.

And first let us purge wealth by our discourse, and show plainly what it is.

What then is wealth? Gold and silver, and precious stones, and garments of silk and purple and cloth of gold.

Since, then, it has appeared what wealth is, let us drive it out of the city of the poor, if we are to make a pure city of the poor; and let not gold even in a dream appear there, nor such garments;

and, if you will, neither silver, nor vessels made of silver.

What then? Will the affairs of this city on this account be lived out in want? Tell me. Not at all.

For if there is need to build, it is not gold and silver and pearls that are needed, but skill and hands—and hands not simply so, but calloused, with fingers hardened, and much strength, and timber and stones;

and again, if a garment is to be woven, again there is no need for us of gold and silver, but again of hands and skill and of women who labor.

And what if there is need to till and to dig the earth? Is there need of the rich or of the poor? It is quite plain to everyone that it is of the poor.

And when there is need to forge iron and to do any other such work, we have need most of all of this class of people.

Where, then, shall we henceforth have need of the rich?

Unless it be to demolish this city! For if, when those men have entered in and fallen into the lust for gold and pearls, these philosophers (for I call philosophers those who seek nothing superfluous), giving themselves over to idleness and luxury, will thereafter ruin everything.

And if wealth is not useful, one says, for what purpose has it been given by God? And whence is it plain that being rich comes from God? The Scripture says, Mine is the silver, and Mine is the gold, and to whomsoever I will, I will give it.

Here, were I not doing a shameful thing, I would even now have laughed a broad laugh, deriding those who say these things, because, like little children partaking of a royal table, they cast into their mouth, along with that food, everything that comes to hand;

so also do these men bring in their own inventions along with the divine Scriptures.

For the words, Mine is the silver, and Mine is the gold, I know were spoken by the prophet;

but the words, To whomsoever I will, I will give it, are no longer part of the text, but have been foisted in by these worthless fellows.

And I will tell why that other saying was spoken.

For the prophet Haggai, since he continually promised the Jews, after their return from Babylon, that he would show them the temple in its former form, and some disbelieved what was said, and thought it almost impossible that after ashes and dust such a house should appear again;

he, dissolving their unbelief, speaks these things in the person of God, as though He were saying:

Why are you afraid? Why do you disbelieve? Mine is the silver, and Mine is the gold, and I have no need, by borrowing from others, thus to adorn the house.

And that this is so, he added, And the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former.

Let us not, therefore, bring in spiders' webs into the royal robe.

For if, in a purple robe, one who is caught weaving in a spurious woof shall pay the extreme penalty, much more in spiritual matters;

for the sin that arises herein is no chance or trifling matter.

And why do I speak of addition and subtraction? By a single point of punctuation, and by a mere false intonation in the reading, many absurd notions have oftentimes been begotten.

Whence, then, come the rich? one says;

for it is said, Wealth and poverty are from the Lord.

Let us then ask those who bring this objection against us: Is it that all wealth and all poverty are from the Lord? And who would say this? For we see that from robbery, and from wickedness practiced about tombs, and from sorcery, and from other such pretexts, much wealth is gathered by many, and that those who possess it are not even worthy to live.

What then, tell me, shall we say that this wealth is from God? Away with the thought!

One grows rich by outraging his body; and often a comely youth, selling his bloom with shameful indecency, has gained gold; and the tomb-breaker, tearing open the graves, has amassed unjust wealth; and the robber, breaking through walls.

Is all wealth, then, from God? What then, one says, shall we say to this saying? Learn first that poverty also does not come from God, and then we will proceed to the saying itself.

For when some prodigal youth spends his wealth either upon harlots, or upon sorcerers, or upon certain other such lusts, and becomes poor, is it not quite plain that this has come not from God, but from his own profligacy? Again, if one become poor through idleness, if one be brought down to beggary through folly, if one through attempting dangerous and unlawful enterprises—is it not altogether plain that none of these and such persons has been brought down into that very beggary by God? Does the Scripture, then, lie? Far from it! Rather, those act senselessly who do not examine all that is written with the fitting exactness.

For if this too is agreed, that the Scripture does not lie, and this has been demonstrated, that not all wealth is from God, the difficulty belongs to the weakness of those who read without careful consideration.

And indeed we ought to have left off at this point, having freed the Scripture from these accusations, so that you might thus pay us the penalty for your carelessness concerning the Scriptures;

but since I spare you greatly, and cannot bear to see you further troubled and disturbed, come, let us bring forward the solution as well, first stating who it was that spoke, and when it was spoken, and to whom.

For God does not converse with all alike, just as we ourselves do not deal in the same way with children and with grown men.

When, then, was it spoken, and by whom, and to whom? By Solomon, under the Old Covenant, to the Jews, who knew nothing other than things perceptible to the senses, and who from these tested the power of God.

For these are they who say:

Can He give bread also? and, What sign do You show us? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness.

Since, then, they tested Him from these things, he says to them that this too is possible for God, both to make men rich and to make them poor;

not that He altogether does this, but that He is able, whenever He wills;

just as when it says, He that threatens the sea and dries it up, and makes all the rivers a desert;

and yet this has never happened.

How, then, does the prophet say it? Not as something that always happens, but as something possible for Him to do.

What sort of poverty, then, does He give, and what sort of wealth? Call to mind the patriarch, and you will know the wealth that is given by God.

For God Himself made Abraham rich, and after him Job, even as he himself says:

If we have received good things from the Lord, shall we not endure the evil things? And the wealth of Jacob also had its beginning from thence.

And there is also from Him the praiseworthy poverty, such as He then procured for that rich man, saying:

'If you would be perfect, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and come, follow Me.'

And again, laying down a law for the disciples, He says, 'Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor two coats.'

Do not say, then, that God Himself gives all wealth;

for it has been shown that this wealth is often gathered together from murders, from rapine, and from countless other pretexts.

But once again our discourse comes back around to the former question.

For if the rich are of no use to us, why have they come to be? What, then, shall we say? That these men are not useful—those who have made themselves rich in this manner—whereas those who have become rich from God are indeed exceedingly useful.

And learn this from the very deeds that are done by those men.

For Abraham possessed his wealth for the sake of strangers and of all who were in need.

For when three men, as he supposed, had arrived, he slew a calf and kneaded three measures of fine flour, sitting by the door at the hour of noon. Consider with what lavishness and eagerness he spent his own goods upon all, offering along with his money the service of his own body as well—and that in so great an old age—being a very haven for strangers and for those in need.

—being such a shelter for those in need, and possessing nothing as his own, not even his own son;

for when God commanded, he gave up this one also;

and together with his son he gave up himself also and his whole household, when he hastened to snatch away his nephew.

And these things he did not for the sake of money, but out of love for mankind alone.

At any rate, when those who had been saved through him would have made him lord of the spoils, he thrust it all away, down to a thread and a shoe-latchet.

Such also was the blessed Job.

For 'My door,' he says, 'was open to everyone who came.'

'I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame;'

'and the stranger did not lodge outside;'

'and the helpless, if ever they had need, did not fail; nor did I suffer the helpless to go forth from my door with an empty bosom.'

And far more than these—that we may not now recount them all—he continued to do, spending all his wealth upon those in need.

Would you also see those who have become rich not from God, that you may learn how they use their wealth? Behold the man in the story of Lazarus, who would not share even the crumbs;

behold Ahab, who even seized the vineyard;

behold Gehazi; behold all such men.

For those who have gained their wealth righteously, inasmuch as they received it from God, spend it upon the commandments of God;

but those who in acquiring it have offended God, in spending it do the same, lavishing it upon harlots and parasites, or burying and locking it away, but spending nothing upon the poor.

And for what reason, one asks, does God permit such men to be rich? Because He is long-suffering; because He wishes to lead us to repentance; because He has prepared a hell; because He has appointed a day on which He is about to judge the world.

But if He immediately punished the rich who acted wickedly, Zacchaeus would not have had a set time for repentance, so as both to restore fourfold what he had seized and to add the half of his own possessions;

nor would Matthew have changed and become an apostle, had he been snatched away before the fitting season;

nor would many others of the same kind.

For these reasons He bears with all, calling them to repentance.

But if they be unwilling, and persist in the same courses, they shall hear Paul saying that, 'According to their hardness and impenitent heart they are treasuring up for themselves wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation and of the righteous judgment of God;'

and that we may flee this wrath, let us be rich in the wealth of heaven, and pursue that praiseworthy poverty.

For thus shall we also obtain the good things to come;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and love toward mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, dominion, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.