哥林多前書講道集 第 7 章

'Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect;

yet a wisdom not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, that come to nought;

but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the ages unto our glory.'

Darkness seems more suitable than light to those whose eyes are diseased;

and for this reason they rather flee to a shadowed little room.

This also has happened in the case of spiritual wisdom;

the wisdom of God seemed to be folly to those outside, while their own wisdom, being in truth folly, was reckoned by them to be wisdom.

And the same thing happened as if a man, endowed with the pilot's skill, should promise to cross a boundless sea without a ship and without sails, and then should attempt by arguments to establish that this is possible;

while another man, wholly inexperienced in all these things, having entrusted himself to a ship and a pilot and sailors, so sailed in safety.

For indeed the seeming ignorance of the latter was wiser than the wisdom of the former.

For the pilot's art is a good thing, but when it promises things too great for it, it is a kind of folly;

and every art that is not content with its own limits would be the same.

So also the wisdom from without would have been wisdom, if it had made use of the Spirit;

but since it committed everything to itself, and thought it had no need at all of that help, it became folly, even though it seemed to be wisdom.

Wherefore, having first convicted it by the facts, he then called it folly;

and having first called the wisdom of God folly according to their verdict, he then shows it to be wisdom (for after the proofs it is most possible to put to shame those who contradict).

'Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect.'

For when I, who am reputed foolish and to preach foolish things, prevail over the wise man, it is not by a foolish wisdom that I prevailed,

but by a more perfect wisdom, and one so great and so much greater, that that other appears as folly.

For this reason, having first so called it, as they then named it, and having shown the victory from the facts, and having declared them to be exceedingly foolish, he then rendered to it the name that befits it, saying:

'Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect.'

By 'wisdom' he means the preaching and the manner of salvation, the being saved by the cross;

and by 'the perfect' he means those who have believed.

For those are perfect who know that human things are exceedingly weak, and who despise them, being persuaded that they contribute nothing to them—such as the faithful have become.

'Yet a wisdom not of this age.'

For where is the wisdom from without useful, since it comes to an end here and advances no further, and

not even here is able to profit at all those who possess it? And by 'the rulers of this age' he does not here mean certain demons, as some suspect;

but those in dignities, those in positions of power, those who deemed the matter worth contending for—philosophers and rhetoricians and speech-writers;

for indeed they held sway, and often became leaders of the people.

And he called them 'rulers of this age,' since their rule does not extend beyond the present age;

disparaging it both from its own nature and from those who employ it.

For having shown that it is false, that it is foolish, that it can discover nothing, that it is weak, he shows that it is also short-lived.

'But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.'

In what mystery? And yet Christ says:

'What ye have heard in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops.'

How then does he call it a mystery? Because neither angel nor archangel nor any other created power knew it before it came to pass.

Wherefore he says, 'To the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the Church the manifold wisdom of God.'

And this God did, honoring us, so that together with us they might hear the mysteries.

For we too, whenever we make certain people our friends, declare this to be the proof of our friendship toward them: that we tell no one before them the things that are secret.

Let those hear this who parade the preaching abroad,

and who without discrimination display to all the pearls and the doctrine, casting the holy things to dogs and swine and to superfluous reasonings.

For the mystery needs no elaborate embellishment, but is proclaimed simply for what it is, being only that.

For it will not be a divine and complete mystery, whenever you add something also of your own.

And in another sense too it is called a mystery, because we do not believe the things we see, but we see one thing and believe another.

For such is the nature of our mysteries.

At any rate, I and the unbeliever are differently disposed concerning these things.

I hear that Christ was crucified, and I straightway marvel at His love for mankind;

that man hears it, and reckons it weakness.

I hear that He became a servant, and I marvel at His tender care;

that man hears it, and counts it dishonor.

I hear that He died, and I am amazed at His power, that having come to be in death He was not held fast by it, but even loosed death;

that man hears it, and suspects powerlessness.

That man, when he hears of the resurrection, says the thing is a fable;

but I, having received the proofs that come through the events themselves, worship the divine economy of God.

That man, when he hears of the washing, reckons it to be mere water;

but I do not simply look at what is seen, but at the cleansing of the soul that comes through the Spirit.

That man supposes only that my body has been washed;

but I have believed that the soul also has become pure and holy, and I reckon the tomb, the resurrection, the sanctification, the righteousness, the redemption, the adoption, the inheritance, the kingdom of heaven, the supply of the Spirit.

For I do not judge the things that appear by sight, but by the eyes of the understanding.

I understand what is said in one way, the unbeliever in another.

And just as little children, when they look at books, do not know the power of the letters, nor do they know what they see—indeed, even a man unskilled in letters will experience the same thing—

but the man who is skilled will discover much power laid up in the letters, whole lives and histories;

and when the unskilled man receives a letter, he will consider it to be paper and ink;

but the skilled man will both hear a voice and converse with the one who is absent, and will say again through the letters whatever he wishes;

so also it happens in the case of the mystery;

the unbelievers, though indeed they hear, do not seem to hear;

but the faithful, having the experience that comes through the Spirit, behold the power of the things laid up within.

This very thing, then, Paul was making clear when he said:

that even now what is preached is hidden;

for to those who are perishing, he says, it is veiled.

And in another way too he shows the paradoxical character of the preaching.

For thus is Scripture wont to call the things that come to pass beyond hope and above human understanding.

Wherefore also elsewhere it says, 'My mystery is for Me and for My own;'

and again Paul says, 'Behold, I tell you a mystery:'

'we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.'

But if it is preached everywhere, how is it thus a mystery?

For just as we were commanded to speak upon the housetops the things we heard in the ear, so also we were charged not to give the holy things to the dogs, nor to cast the pearls before the swine.

For some are natural men, and do not understand;

and others have a veil upon their heart, and do not see.

Therefore this is most especially a mystery, which is preached everywhere, yet is not recognized by those who do not have a right disposition of mind;

and it is revealed not from wisdom, but from the Holy Spirit, so far as it is possible for us to receive it.

Wherefore one would not err in calling it, even after this, an ineffable mystery;

for not even to us who are faithful has all clearness and exactness been entrusted.

We know in part, and we prophesy in part.

For now we see through a mirror, as in a riddle, but then face to face.

For this reason he said, 'We speak wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the ages unto our glory.'

'Hidden'—that is, either because no one before us among the powers above learned it, or because not even the many now know it.

For this is what the phrase 'He foreordained unto our glory' makes plain;

for He accounts our salvation to be His own glory, just as indeed He also calls it His own riches, although He Himself is the wealth of good things, and needs nothing in order to be rich.

'He foreordained,' he says, thereby showing forth His care concerning us.

For those are thought most of all both to honor and to love us, who from the beginning have been prepared to do us good;

which is exactly what fathers do in the case of their children;

for even if they give the money later, yet from the beginning and from the first they have purposed this.

This also is what Paul is now eager to show, that God always loved us, even from the beginning, when we had not yet come into being.

For unless He had loved us, He would not have foreordained the riches for us.

Do not, then, dwell in your mind upon the enmity that arose in the meantime;

for the friendship was older than it.

And the phrase 'before the ages' denotes that which is eternal;

for elsewhere too he speaks thus.

The Son too, then, will be found to be thus eternal.

For concerning Him also he says that through Him He made the ages, which is to exist before the ages.

For it is quite evident that the Maker is before the things made.

'Which none of the rulers of this age has known;'

'for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.'

Are they not, then, worthy of blame, if indeed they did not know, and yet crucified Him?

And if they did not know, how did He say to them, 'You both know Me, and know where I am from?' For concerning Pilate the Scripture says that he did not know;

and it is likely that neither did Herod know.

These one might say are called the rulers of this age.

And if one were to say that this is spoken also concerning the Jews and concerning the priests, he would not err;

for to those also He says, 'You know neither Me, nor My Father.'

How then does He say above, 'You both know Me, and know whence I am'? But what is the manner of this reading and what of that has already been told in the commentaries on the Gospels;

and, so as not to be continually turning over the same matter, we there refer our readers to that place.

What then? Was the sin committed at the cross, one says, forgiven them? For indeed He said so;

for indeed Paul, who cast stones at Stephen with ten thousand hands and persecuted the Church, became the Church's champion.

So then it was forgiven those also who were willing to repent;

which indeed Paul too proclaimed aloud, saying,

'Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid.'

And again, 'Has God cast away His people whom He foreknew? God forbid.'

Then, showing that repentance was not shut off from them, he brought forward his own conversion as proof, saying,

'For I also am an Israelite.'

But the phrase 'They knew not' seems to me here to be spoken not concerning Christ, but concerning the very dispensation of the matter itself;

that is, what the death and the cross were meant to accomplish, they did not know.

For indeed there too He did not say, 'They know Me not,' but, 'They know not what they do'—that is, they are ignorant of the dispensation being fulfilled and of the mystery.

They knew that the cross was thus to shine forth, that it becomes the salvation of the world and the reconciliation of God toward men, and that their city would be taken, and that they would undergo the utmost dreadful things.

And he calls both Christ, and the cross, and the preaching, 'wisdom.'

And seasonably he called Him 'the Lord of glory.'

For since the cross seems to be a thing of dishonor, he shows that the cross was a great glory.

But great wisdom was needed, not only to know God, but also to learn this dispensation of God;

and the outward wisdom became a hindrance not only to the former but also to this.

But, as it is written, 'Things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'

And where are these things written? For a thing is said to be written even when it is set down not in words but in the very deeds themselves, as in the case of the historical narratives;

or when the same thought is set down, though not in the very words, as here.

For the passage, 'They to whom it was not announced concerning Him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand'—

this is the same as, 'Things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard.'

Either therefore he means this, or it is likely that these things were actually written in books, and the books have been lost.

For indeed many books perished, and few were preserved, even at the time of the former captivity.

And this is plain in the books of Chronicles;

for indeed the Apostle says that 'From Samuel and the prophets that followed after, all have spoken concerning Him.'

And yet these things are not everywhere extant;

but Paul, being learned in the law and speaking by the Spirit, was likely to know all things with exactness.

And why do I speak of the captivity? For even before the captivity many books had perished, the Jews having run aground upon the extremity of impiety.

And this is plain from the end of the fourth book of Kingdoms;

for the book of Deuteronomy was scarcely found somewhere, buried in a dunghill.

In another way too, there are in many places double prophecies, easily grasped by the more intelligent, from which one may find the solution of many obscure passages.

What then? Did no eye see the things which God has prepared? No indeed;

for who among men saw the things that were to be brought to pass? Did then no ear hear them either, nor did they enter into the heart of man? And how so? For if the prophets spoke them, how, one asks, has ear not heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man? They did not enter;

for he speaks not concerning them alone, but concerning the whole of human nature.

What then? Did the prophets not hear? They did hear indeed, but the prophetic ear was not a man's ear;

for they heard not as men, but as prophets.

Wherefore he says, 'He added to me an ear to hear,' speaking of the addition that is from the Spirit.

Whence it is plain that before they heard, it had not entered into the heart of man.

For after the giving of the Spirit, the prophets' heart was no longer a man's heart, but a spiritual heart, even as he himself says:

Before enjoying the Spirit and learning the ineffable things, neither any of us nor any of the prophets conceived of them.

For how could they, where not even the angels knew them? For what need is there to speak, he says, concerning the rulers of this age, when no one of men understood these things, nor did the powers above? And what were these things? That through the seeming foolishness of the preaching He would master the world, and the nations would be brought in, and that there would be a reconciliation of God toward men, and that so great blessings would come to us.

How then did we come to know them? 'But to us,' he says, 'God has revealed them through His Spirit.'

Not through the outward wisdom;

for this, like some dishonored handmaid, was not permitted to enter within and peer into the Master's mysteries.

Do you see how great the interval between this wisdom and that? The very things which the angels knew not, these this wisdom has taught us.

But the outward wisdom did the contrary;

not only did it not teach, but it even hindered and walled off, and after the things had come to pass it cast a shadow over what had been done, making void the cross.

So then he shows the honor toward us, not merely by the fact that we have learned, and that we have learned along with the angels, but also by the fact that we have learned through His Spirit.

Then, showing the greatness, he says, that if the Spirit, who knows the ineffable things of God, had not revealed them, we should not have learned them.

The matter was to God an object of great earnestness, so as to be among the ineffable things.

Wherefore we also needed that Teacher who clearly knew these things.

'For the Spirit,' he says, 'searches all things, even the depths of God.'

'For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the things of God no one knows, save the Spirit of God.'

'But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God.'

For here the word 'searches' is indicative not of ignorance, but of exact knowledge.

At any rate, he uses this same expression concerning God also, saying:

'And He who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit.'

Then, having spoken with exactness concerning the knowledge of the Spirit, and having taught that it is thus equal to the knowledge of God, even as a man's own knowledge is equal to itself, and having shown that we learned all things from thence, and necessarily from thence, he added:

'Which things also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.'

Do you see to what a height he has raised us, from the dignity of our Teacher? For we are as much wiser than they, as is the interval between Plato and the Holy Spirit.

For they have the outward rhetoricians for teachers, but we have the Holy Spirit.

And what is, 'comparing spiritual things with spiritual'? When a thing is spiritual and hard to grasp, we bring our testimonies from the spiritual things.

For example, I say that Christ rose again, that He was born of a Virgin;

I bring forward testimonies and types and demonstrations: Jonah's sojourn in the whale and his subsequent deliverance, the childbearing of the barren women—of Sarah, of Rebecca, and of the rest—the sprouting of the trees in Paradise that came to pass without seeds being sown, without rains being sent down, without a furrow being cut open.

For the things to come were fashioned and delineated beforehand, as in a shadow, in the earlier things, that when they came to pass they might be believed.

And I show once more how man came from the earth, and how woman came from man alone, and nowhere is there any conjugal union; how the very earth came from nothing at all, since the power of the Creator suffices everywhere and for all things.

Thus do I compare spiritual things with spiritual, and nowhere have I any need of the wisdom that is from without, nor of reasonings, nor of elaborate preparations.

For those things both unsettle the feeble understanding and throw it into confusion, and they are unable to demonstrate clearly any of the things they assert; nay, they even do the very opposite.

They rather bring disturbance, and fill the soul with gloom and with much perplexity.

'Comparing spiritual things with spiritual.'

Do you see how he shows it to be superfluous? And not merely superfluous, but even contrary and harmful.

For in saying, 'Lest the cross of Christ should be made void,' and, 'That our faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,' this is what he made plain.

But here he shows that it is impossible, for those who trust in it and commit everything to it, to learn anything of what is profitable.

'For the natural man,' he says, 'receiveth not the things of the Spirit.'

It is necessary, then, that one first lay this wisdom aside.

What then? Is the wisdom that is from without, someone will say, thus condemned? And yet it too is a work of God.

Whence is this evident? For He did not Himself make it; rather, you devised it in addition.

For here by 'wisdom' he means the meddlesome curiosity of inquiry and the superfluous eloquence.

But if anyone should say that he means human understanding, then in this way too the blame is yours.

For it is you who defame it—you who have used it ill, who have turned it to harm and to opposition against God, who demand of it what it did not possess.

Since, therefore, you boast in it and war against God, He convicted it of its weakness.

For bodily strength too is a good thing;

but since Cain used it not for what he ought, God enfeebled him and made him to tremble.

But since the Jews enjoyed it without measure, God utterly forbade to the priests the use of the fruit.

Since, therefore, you too misused wisdom unto the setting aside of God, and demanded of it more than its own strength could yield, He, leading you away from human hope, showed its weakness.

For indeed he is 'natural' who gives the whole to cold reasonings and thinks he has need of no help from above—which is a mark of folly.

For God gave it in order that the soul might learn and receive what comes from Him, not that it should think itself sufficient unto itself.

For the eyes too are good and useful; but if they should wish to see without light, neither their beauty nor their own strength profits them at all—rather, it even does them harm.

In the same way, then, the soul also, if it should wish to see apart from the Spirit, becomes a hindrance even to itself.

'How then,' someone says, 'before this did it see all things of itself?' Never of itself, but it had the creation set before it in the midst, in place of a book.

But when, having forsaken to walk the road which God commanded them, and through the beauty of the things seen to know the Creator, they committed the sceptre of knowledge into the hands of reasonings, they, grown weak, sank into a sea of impiety, forthwith bringing in the abyss of evils.

And saying that nothing comes into being out of things that are not, but out of unbegotten matter, whence also they gave birth to ten thousand heresies;

and in things utterly absurd they were carried along together, while in the very things where they seemed to dream some sound thought, as it were amid shadows, they clashed against one another, so that on both sides they might be laughed to scorn.

For that out of things which are not nothing comes into being, almost all together said and wrote, and that with much diligence.

In the absurdities, then, the devil drove them on;

but in the useful things, wherein they seemed to find, even if but in a riddle, something of what was being sought, in these he set them at war against themselves.

As, for instance, that the soul is immortal, and that virtue needs none of the things from without, and that it is not by necessity nor by fate that men become good, or not such.

Do you see the malice of the devil? Wherever he saw them saying something corrupt, he made them all of one mind;

but wherever he saw them uttering something sound, he stirred up others against them;

so that the absurdities might not fall away, being confirmed by their agreement, while the useful things might be dissipated, being assailed in manifold ways.

See how everywhere the soul is powerless, and does not suffice for itself.

And this has come to pass with good reason.

For if, being such as it is, it contends that it has need of nothing and leads itself away from God, had it not been made such, into what depth of madness would it not have slipped? If, having taken a mortal body, from the false promise of the devil it expected things far greater—

'For ye shall be,' he says, 'as gods';

if it had received this immortal from the beginning, into what would it not have fallen? For even after that it declared itself to be unbegotten and of the very substance of God, through the putrid mouth of the Manichaeans;

and from this disease of a hypothesis they moulded the gods that are among the Greeks.

For this reason it seems to me that God also made virtue laborious, bending it and leading it to moderation.

And that you may learn that this is true—as one might conjecture great things from small—let us learn it from the Israelites.

These, then, when they lived not a laborious life but enjoyed ease, not bearing their prosperity, slipped away into impiety.

What then did God do after this? He laid on them a multitude of ordinances, restraining their licence.

And that you may learn that these ordinances contribute nothing to any virtue, but were given to them in place of a kind of bridle, furnishing an occasion of occupation, hear what the prophet says concerning them:

'I gave them statutes that were not good.'

And what is 'not good'? Contributing nothing great toward virtue.

'Ordinances whereby they shall not live in them.'

'But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit.'

For just as with these eyes no one could discern the things in the heavens,

so neither can the soul alone discern the things of the Spirit.

And why do I speak of the things in the heavens? Not even all the things upon the earth.

For indeed, seeing a square tower from afar, we suppose it to be round;

but the things of such a supposition are a deception of the eyes.

So then, when anyone judges the things far off from us by the understanding alone, much laughter will follow.

For not only will he fail to see them as they are, but he will even suppose them to be the contrary of what they are.

But this is not of the nature of the thing, but of the weakness of him who was not able to attain to their greatness through the eyes of the soul.

Then he also sets down the cause in turn, saying:

'Because he knoweth not that it is spiritually discerned.'

That is to say, because the things spoken have need of faith, and one cannot comprehend them by reasonings.

For their greatness far transcends, by a great abundance, the meanness of our understanding.

'But he that is spiritual discerneth all things, yet he himself is discerned of no man.'

For indeed he that sees discerns all things, both his own and those of him that sees not; but of that man's things none of those who see not can discern anything.

So also now: we ourselves know all things, both our own and those of the unbelievers; but they can no longer know our things.

For indeed we know what is the nature of things present, and what the worth of things to come, and what the world will one day become after these things, and what the sinners shall suffer, and what the righteous shall enjoy; and that things present are of no worth we both know and convict of their meanness (for to 'discern' is also to convict); and that the things to come are immortal and unmoved.

All these things the spiritual man knows: both what the natural man shall suffer when he has departed thither, and what the believer shall enjoy when he has journeyed hence—of which the natural man knows nothing.

Wherefore also, having brought forward a clear demonstration of the things said, he went on to say:

'For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he shall instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.'

That is: these things which are in the mind of Christ, these we know—even the very things that He wills and has revealed.

Then, since he had said that the Spirit revealed these things, lest anyone should thrust the Son aside, he adds that Christ also showed them to us;

not meaning by this that we know all that He knows, but that all we do know is not human—so as to fall under suspicion—but belongs to that Mind and is spiritual.

For the mind that we have concerning these matters is the mind of Christ;

that is, the knowledge which we have concerning the matters of the faith is spiritual, so that fittingly we are judged by no one.

For it is not possible for a natural man to know the things of God;

'For who has known the mind of the Lord?'—calling our mind concerning these things His mind.

And the phrase 'who shall instruct him' he did not add without purpose, but in reference to what he had already said, that 'the spiritual man no one judges.'

For if no one is able to know the mind of God, much less to teach and correct it;

for this is the meaning of 'who shall instruct him.'

Do you see how on every side he thrusts out the wisdom that is from without, and shows the spiritual man to know more and greater things? For since those reasons—such as, 'that no flesh should glory';

and that for this cause 'He chose the foolish things, that He might put to shame the wise';

and, 'lest the cross of Christ should be made void'—did not seem to the unbelievers to be very convincing, nor persuasive and necessary and useful, he next puts down the chief reason of all: that in this way especially are we able to see, and from it we shall be able to learn the lofty and unutterable things, even the things beyond us.

For indeed the word was being made void by our inability to grasp, through the wisdom that is from without, the things that are beyond us.

Do you see that it was also more expedient to learn thus from the Spirit? For indeed the teaching is both most easy and most clear.

'But we have the mind of Christ.'

That is, a spiritual mind, a divine one, having nothing human.

For it is not Plato's nor Pythagoras', but Christ who has placed His own things into our understanding.

Let us therefore be ashamed at this, beloved, and let us display a most excellent life;

since He Himself also makes this a proof of great friendship, namely, that He reveals to us the secret things, saying:

'No longer do I call you servants;

for you are all My friends, because all that I heard from the Father I have made known to you.'

But if this alone is a proof of friendship, to be bold and open;

when He appears not only to have boldly spoken the mysteries by words, but also to have graciously bestowed these very things on us through deeds, consider how great a love that is which comes to pass!

And even if there were to be for us no such great account of hell, yet let it be more fearful than hell to become ungrateful and thankless toward so great a Friend and Benefactor;

and let us not act as hired household slaves, but as sons and free men do all things for the sake of the Father's friendship, and let us at length cease from being nailed to the world, that we may also put the Greeks to shame.

For even now, though I wish to raise myself up against them, I draw back;

lest, while conquering them in words and in the truth of our doctrines, we should bring upon ourselves much ridicule from the comparison of our life;

when they, cleaving to error and persuaded of no such thing, hold fast to philosophy, while we do the very opposite.

For perhaps, perhaps by practising to contend against them, we shall strive in emulation to become better than they, even in our very life.

The other day I was saying that it would never have entered the apostles' minds to preach what they preached, had they not enjoyed divine grace;

and that not only did they not succeed by their own power, but they would not even have purposed anything of the kind;

come then, let us today also pursue this very point in our discourse, and show that it was impossible even to choose and to conceive this, unless they had Christ with them;

not because they were weak against the strong, not because they were few against many, not because they were poor against the rich, nor because they were unlearned who were arrayed against the wise, but because the strength of prejudice too was great.

For you know how nothing among men is so strong as the tyranny of ancient custom.

So that, even if they had not been only twelve, nor so mean and of such a kind, but had another whole world as great as this, and a multitude counterbalancing arrayed on their side, or even far more, still what was coming to pass was difficult.

For custom was working together with those others, while novelty was opposing these men.

For nothing so disturbs the soul, even if it comes about for some useful end, as to make some innovation and to bring in something strange, and especially when this happens concerning worship and concerning the glory of God.

And how great is the strength of this matter, I will now make plain, first having said this: that another difficulty besides was present with respect to the Jews.

For in the case of the Greeks, they were overthrowing both the gods and all their doctrines; but with the Jews they did not so discourse;

rather, of their doctrines they were putting many to an end, yet were bidding them worship the God who had given the Law;

and while saying that one ought to serve the Lawgiver, they were saying:

'Do not obey the Law in all things which was laid down by Him, such as in keeping the Sabbath, or observing circumcision, or offering sacrifices, or doing any other such thing.'

So that not only was the sacrifice a hindrance, but also the fact that, while bidding them worship God, they bade them dissolve many of His laws.

But in the case of the Greeks great was the tyranny of custom.

For even if it had been only for ten years, not to mention so long a time, and if it had been of few men, not to mention the whole world, that these men came against those who were forestalled by custom, even so the change was difficult;

but as it was, sophists and rhetoricians and fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and many yet earlier than these, were forestalled by error; and land and sea and mountains and glens, and all the nations of the barbarians and all the peoples of the Greeks, both wise and unlearned, both rulers and ruled, both women and men, both young and old, both masters and household servants, both husbandmen and craftsmen, and all who dwell in the cities and all who dwell in the countryside.

And it was likely that the catechumens would say:

'What in the world is this? Have all who dwell in the world been deceived—sophists and rhetoricians, philosophers and historians, both those now present and those who lived before them, the followers of Pythagoras and Plato, and generals and consuls and kings, and the citizens and founders of cities from the beginning, both barbarians and Greeks? And are the twelve fishermen and tentmakers and tax-collectors wiser than all those? And who could endure such a thing?' Yet nevertheless they did not say these things, they did not so think, but they bore with it, and recognized that these men were wiser than all;

And that you may learn how great is the strength of custom, it has often prevailed even over the commandments of God.

And why do I speak of commandments? Nay rather, even over the very benefits themselves.

For indeed the Jews, though they had manna, sought after garlic, and though they were enjoying freedom, kept remembering their bondage, and continually longed after Egypt because of custom.

So tyrannical a thing is custom!

But if you wish to learn it also from those outside, Plato is said—although he knew accurately that what concerned the gods was a kind of error—

nevertheless to have gone along with the festivals and with all the other things, inasmuch as he had not the strength to war against custom, having learned this in very deed from his teacher.

For this man too, being suspected of some such innovation, was so far from accomplishing what he wished that he even lost his life, and that after having made his defense.

And how many men do we even now see held fast by prejudice in impiety, who have nothing reasonable to say when, being Greeks, they are called to account, but put forward their fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers? For this very reason some also of those outside called custom a second nature.

But when custom is also in matters of doctrine, it becomes more firmly rooted;

for one would more easily change anything else than the things concerning religion.

And the sense of shame, together with custom, was sufficient to hinder, as was also the seeming to relearn in extreme old age, and that from those less intelligent.

And why do you wonder if these things happen in the case of the soul, when even in the case of the body custom has great strength? But in the case of the apostles there was yet another and more powerful hindrance than these: not only to change a custom so old and ancient, but also to make the transition amid dangers.

For they were not simply drawing men from custom to custom, but from a custom that had security into affairs that brought about dangers.

For it was necessary that the one who believed should straightway have his goods confiscated, be driven out, fall from his fatherland, suffer the uttermost terrors, be hated by all, be a common enemy both to his own people and to strangers.

So that even if they had been calling men to a custom from novelty, even so the matter was difficult;

but where it was from custom to novelty, and these terrors besides were present, consider how great was the hindrance.

And again, another difficulty no less than those mentioned was added to these, which made the transition hard.

For besides the custom and the dangers, these injunctions too were more burdensome, while the things from which they were leading them away were easy and effortless.

For they called men from fornication to chastity, from drunkenness to fasting, from laughter to tears and compunction, from covetousness to the renunciation of possessions, from love of life to deaths, from security to dangers;

and through all things they were requiring the utmost strictness;

for 'filthiness,' he says, 'and foolish talking and jesting, let it not proceed out of your mouth.'

And these things they were saying to men who knew nothing else but to be drunk and to gorge themselves, to men who celebrated festivals put together from nothing else but filthiness and laughter and every kind of buffoonery.

So that it was not merely because these matters belonged to philosophy that the things spoken seemed burdensome, but also because they were spoken to men reared in ease and shamelessness and foolish talk and laughter and revelling.

For who among those who had lived in such a manner, on hearing that 'Whoever does not take up his own cross and follow me is not worthy of me,'

and that 'I came not to bring peace, but a sword, and to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother' — would not have shrunk back? And who, hearing that 'Unless a man forsakes both house and country and possessions, he is not worthy of me,' would not have hesitated, would not have refused? Yet nevertheless they not only did not shrink back, nor draw away on hearing these things, but ran forward and leaped upon the terrors, and seized eagerly upon what was enjoined.

But to hear that 'For every idle word we shall render account,'

and, 'Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart,'

and, 'Whoever is angry without cause shall fall into hell' — whom of those men of that time would this not have driven away? Yet nevertheless all ran to it, and many even leaped beyond the lists.

What then drew them on? Is it not perfectly clear that it was the power of what was preached? For if this were not so, but the very opposite were the case — that they were these and these were they — would it have been easy to hold and to draw those who were opposed? It cannot be said.

So that through all things it is shown that it was a divine power which set all things aright.

For otherwise, tell me, how did they persuade the slack and the dissolute, and lead them to a hard and rugged life? Such indeed were the precepts;

but let us see whether perhaps the doctrine itself was enticing.

And indeed even this was enough to turn men away.

For what did the preachers say? That one must worship the Crucified, and account as God this man who was born of a Jewish woman.

And who would have been persuaded of these things, had not a divine power gone before? For that he was crucified and buried, all saw;

but that he rose again and ascended, none but the apostles beheld.

'But they exalted them with promises,' he says, 'and deceived them with the sound of words.'

This very thing, then, above all — even apart from all that has been said — shows that our doctrines are no deception.

For all the hard things came to pass here in the present;

but the good things were to be promised only after the resurrection.

This very thing, then (for I shall say it again), shows that our preaching is divine.

For why did none of those who believed say, 'I will not join, nor will I endure it;'

you threaten me with hardships here, and promise the good things after the resurrection? For whence is it clear that there will be a resurrection? Who of the departed has come back? Who of those laid in the grave has risen? Who of these has told what shall be after our journeying hence?' Yet they thought none of these things, but even gave up their very souls for the Crucified.

So that this very thing above all was the mark of great power: that men who had never heard anything of the kind should all at once be persuaded concerning matters so great, and be made ready to accept the hard things in actual experience, and to hold the good things in hope.

But if they had been deceiving, they would rather have done the very opposite;

they would have promised the good things here in the present, and kept silent about the fearful things, both those present and those to come.

For this is how deceivers and flatterers act;

they hold out nothing harsh, nor grievous, nor burdensome, but all the very opposite.

'But it was the folly of the multitude,' he says, 'that made them yield to what was spoken.'

What do you say? When they were under the Greeks, they were not foolish; but when they came over to us, then they became foolish? And yet it was not other men, nor from another world, that the apostles took and persuaded.

And moreover the things of the Greeks they held without any difficulty, whereas our things they accepted amid dangers;

so that if they had held those things by a superior reason, having been reared in them so long a time, they would not have departed from them — and especially when it was not even possible to depart without danger.

But since they knew, from the very nature of the matter, that those things were a laughing-stock and an error, therefore, even though deaths were threatened, they leaped away from their accustomed ways and deserted over to the new — inasmuch as this doctrine was according to nature, and that one contrary to nature.

'But it was slaves,' he says, 'who were persuaded, and women, and nurses, and midwives, and eunuchs.'

Well, first of all, it is not from these alone that our Church has been established, and this is plain to all;

but if it were from these, this is the very thing which makes the preaching wonderful — that fishermen, the most unlearned of all classes, were suddenly able to persuade men to accept such doctrines as Plato and those like him had no power at all even to conceive.

For if they had persuaded only the wise, the thing that came to pass would not have been so wonderful;

but since they brought slaves and nurses and eunuchs to so great a height of the higher life as to make them rivals of the angels, they afforded the greatest proof of the divine inspiration.

For if indeed they had enjoined some paltry things, there would perhaps have been reason to put forward the persuasion of these people as proof of the paltriness of what was spoken;

but if it was great and lofty things, well-nigh surpassing human nature and requiring a lofty mind, that they taught as their philosophy, then the more foolish you show those who were persuaded to be, so much the more do you prove those who persuaded them to be wise and full of divine grace.

'But it was by the excess of their promises,' he says, 'that they persuaded them.'

But this very thing, tell me, do you not marvel at — how they persuaded men to look for rewards and recompenses after death? For this very thing amazes me.

'But this too was through folly,' he says.

Of what folly, tell me, are these things — that the soul is immortal, and that an incorruptible tribunal will receive us after our life here, and that we shall render account of words and deeds and thoughts to God who knows the hidden things, and shall see the wicked being punished and the good being crowned? For these things

are not folly, but the very highest philosophy.

This very thing, then, tell me — to despise the things present, to reckon virtue a great thing, not to seek the prizes here but to press further on in hope, and to have a soul so vigorous and so faithful that it is hindered by none of the present terrors from the hopes that are to come — of how great a philosophy would this be? But would you also learn the power of the very promises and predictions, and the truth of the things before these and of the things after them? Behold with me a golden chain, wrought together in manifold fashion from the beginning.

He spoke to them certain things concerning himself, and concerning the Churches, and concerning matters yet to come; and while he spoke he worked wonders.

Therefore, from the outcome of the things spoken, it is plain that both the miracles were true, and the future things which were promised are sure.

And that what is said may become yet clearer, I will make it manifest from the very facts themselves.

He raised Lazarus by a bare word alone, and showed him living;

he said again that 'the gates of hades shall not prevail against the Church;'

and, that 'Whoever leaves father or mother shall receive a hundredfold in this age, and shall inherit eternal life.'

So then the miracle is one — that of Lazarus;

but the predictions are two: the one shown here in the present, the other in the age to come.

Consider then how all things are established one through another.

For if anyone should disbelieve that Lazarus rose, let him believe the miracle from the prediction spoken concerning the Church;

for what was spoken so many years before then came to pass and reached its fulfilment;

for the gates of hades did not prevail against the Church.

He, then, who spoke truly in the prediction, evidently also wrought the miracle;

and he who both wrought the miracle and brought to fulfilment the very things he had spoken, evidently speaks truly also in the prediction concerning the things to come, when he says that 'He who disregards the things present shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life.'

For the things that have already come to pass and been fulfilled he has given as the greatest pledges that the things to come will also come to pass.