使徒行傳講道集 第 31 章

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard it, they tore their garments and sprang out into the crowd, crying out and saying: Men, why do you do these things? We also are men of like passions with you, bringing you good tidings, that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all things that are in them.

Observe how the apostles do everything with vehemence.

They tore their garments, they leaped, they cried out—all from a disposition of the soul, turning away in horror from what was happening, and making signs of mourning.

For it was mourning, truly inconsolable mourning, if indeed they were about to be reckoned as gods, and to introduce that idolatry which they had come to abolish.

And this too was a contrivance of the devil.

They do not keep quiet, but what do they say? We also, they say, are men of like passions with you.

Straightway, from the very outset, they overturned the evil.

They did not say simply, Men, but, Men like yourselves.

Then, lest they should seem to honor the gods, hear what they add:

Bringing you good tidings, that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all things that are in them.

Observe that nowhere do they mention the prophets, nor do they say why He who is the Maker of all things left the nations to govern themselves. 'Who in generations past suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways.'

That He suffered it, he says; but why He suffered it, he does not yet add.

For the present he keeps to what is pressing, nowhere setting forth the name of Christ.

And yet He did not leave Himself without witness, doing good from heaven, giving us rains and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

See how he does not wish to heighten the charge against them, but rather trains them to refer everything to God.

For they had learned that one ought not so much to be eager to say something worthy of God, as to say what is profitable for the hearers.

See how imperceptibly he brings in the accusation.

And indeed, if He did this, they ought to have been punished, seeing that they enjoyed so many good things and did not so much as recognize Him as their nourisher.

But he does not say it openly; rather he hints at it, saying, 'giving us rains from heaven.'

'From the fruit of their grain and wine and oil they were multiplied.'

And in many places, when discoursing on the creation, he sets these things forth in the midst.

And Jeremiah too speaks first of the creation, and then of the providence exercised through the rains.

So that it is from that source that he, being schooled, discourses.

'Filling us,' he says, 'with food and gladness.'

The nourishment is given with liberality, not merely for sufficiency, nor merely for need.

And even while saying these things, they scarcely restrained the crowds from sacrificing to them.

And for this above all they were admired.

Do you see that they stood their ground to this end, namely to overthrow that madness? 'But there came Jews from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, and having stoned Paul, they dragged him outside the city, supposing him to be dead.'

Not only within their own cities, but even outside them they did these things, showing as much zeal to pull down the preaching as the apostles were pressing to establish it.

'And having persuaded the crowds,' he says, 'and having stoned Paul, they dragged him outside the city.'

Here is fulfilled the saying, 'My grace is sufficient for you.'

'For my power is made perfect in weakness.'

This is greater than raising up the lame man.

The heathen indeed accounted them as gods, but these men dragged him after persuading the crowds.

For it was not likely that all should admire them.

And observe: in the very city in which they were so admired, in that same city they suffer these dreadful things.

And this too profited those who beheld it.

And that it was also for this reason that he was permitted to suffer, hear him declaring this very thing and saying:

'Lest anyone should reckon of me above that which he sees me to be, or hears anything from me.'

'But when the disciples had gathered round about him, he rose up and entered into the city.'

Do you see his eagerness? Do you see his longing, seething and set aflame? Into the very city he entered again, so that it might be shown that if anywhere he even withdrew, it was because he desired to sow the word, and because there was no need to inflame their fury.

These things made them no less illustrious than the signs, and even more disposed them to rejoice.

Nowhere does he say that they returned rejoicing because they had wrought signs, but because they were counted worthy to be dishonored for His name.

For this too they had been taught by Christ, who said:

'Rejoice not that the demons are subject unto you.'

For this is the joy that is truly and unfeignedly such—to suffer something for Christ's sake.

Then they went over all the cities in which they had been in danger.

'And on the next day he went forth with Barnabas to Derbe; and when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.'

'Strengthening,' he says, 'the souls of the disciples.'

They foretold it, then, that they might not be caused to stumble.

And as it were on purpose the same thing happens, not only through the apostles, but also through the disciples;

that they might learn from the very outset both the power of the preaching, and that they too must suffer such things, and that they might stand nobly, not gaping merely after signs, but far more toward the trials.

For this reason he too used to say:

'Having the same conflict which you saw in me and heard of.'

Persecutions succeeded persecutions;

everywhere wars, fightings, stonings.

What sort of exhortation is this? How did they persuade them, speaking at the very outset of tribulations? Then there is also another consolation.

'And when they had ordained for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fastings, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.'

Did you see the fervor of Paul? 'Having prayed,' he says, 'with fastings, they commended them to the Lord.'

Observe: the ordinations are accompanied with fastings.

Again fasting, the purifier of our souls.

'And when they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia;'

'and when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.'

For in order that the minds of the disciples might not fall, seeing that those reputed to be gods suffered such things, they went in to them and discoursed.

First he goes out to Derbe, giving them room to breathe from their fury, and then again to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch—yielding to them while they were enraged, but pressing upon them once they had ceased.

Do you see that they ordered all things not by grace alone, but also by their own diligence? 'And thence they sailed to Antioch, whence they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.'

Why do they come again to Antioch? That they might report the things which had come to pass there.

And besides, a great matter is also providentially arranged from this occasion;

for it was now necessary to preach to the nations with boldness.

They come, therefore, reporting these things, that they might have full knowledge.

And it is providentially arranged that just then those who forbade converse with the nations should come down, so that henceforth, having obtained much liberty from Jerusalem, they might go their way with boldness.

Or in another way too, it shows that their character was not self-willed.

For they come, on the one hand displaying their boldness, in that even apart from those men they had preached to the nations, and on the other their obedience, in that they refer the matter back to them;

for they were not puffed up as though they had accomplished such great things.

'Whence they had been committed,' he says, 'to the grace of God.'

But he knows that what belongs to the Spirit belongs also to the Son;

for there is one authority, even as the nature both of the Son and of the Spirit is one.

'And when they had arrived, and had gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and how He had opened to the nations a door of faith.'

'And they abode there a long time with the disciples.'

for being a great city, it had need of teachers.

Let us then look once more at what has been said above.

By the very sight they struck them with awe, tearing their garments.

This too Joshua the son of Nun did over the defeat of the people.

Therefore do not think this unworthy of them, or beneath their steadfastness;

for in no other way could they have checked so great an impulse, in no other way could they have quenched the flame.

Whenever, then, some needful thing must be done, let us not shrink back either.

If, then, even after this they scarcely persuaded them, had they not acted thus, what would not have come to pass? For if they had not done so, they would somehow have been thought to be high-minded, and rather to be craving the honour.

And observe the speech, measured in its rebuke, and at once full of wonder and of reproof.

This above all restrained them, their saying, 'We also are men of like passions with you, bringing you good tidings, that you should turn from these vain things to God.'

'We are indeed men,' he says, 'but greater than these.'

Observe them not merely overturning error, but also teaching, and uttering nothing concerning things invisible.

'Who made,' he says, 'the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all things that are in them.'

He calls the years themselves as witnesses.

Oh, the madness of the Jews!

Against a populace that had so honoured the apostles, they dared

to come in and stone Paul.

And they dragged him outside the city, perhaps out of fear of that populace.

'And having prayed,' he says, 'with fastings, they commended them to the Lord.'

And they taught men to fast in temptations.

They did not tell all that they themselves had done, but all that God had done with them. It seems to me that they mean the temptations.

They did not come there merely, nor to take rest, but being led by the Spirit according to a divine ordering, so that the preaching to the Gentiles might be confirmed.

'And why,' someone asks, 'did they not appoint elders in Cyprus, nor in Samaria?' Because the former was near the apostles, while this was near Antioch, and the word prevailed there;

but here they needed much encouragement, and especially those from among the Gentiles, who had many things to be taught.

They came teaching that the elders had been rightly ordained by the Spirit.

He does not inquire whether one ought to speak to Gentiles, but straightway speaks;

'I conferred not with flesh and blood.'

Affliction is truly a great good, and belongs to a great soul, and is the achievement of a noble one.

How many believed after this, and yet none shone forth so brightly? Thus everywhere we need eagerness, much ardour, a soul arrayed for death;

for otherwise it is not possible to attain the kingdom, unless one be crucified.

For if in war it is not possible for one to be saved who lives in luxury and amasses wealth and trades and is slothful,

much more in this war.

Or do you not think there is now a war fiercer than all wars? 'For our wrestling is not,' he says, 'against blood and flesh.'

The enemy is present with us as we breakfast, and walk about, and bathe.

For he knows no season of truce, save only that of sleep;

and often even then he wages war, both casting in unclean thoughts, and working things more licentious by means of dreams.

But we, as though the matter for which he wages war were a small thing, are not vigilant, nor do we rouse ourselves, nor look to the multitude of the powers set against us;

we do not consider that this very thing is the greatest misfortune;

but, encircled by so many wars, we live in luxury as though in peace.

Believe me, it is possible now to suffer things harder than what Paul suffered.

Those men then pelted him with stones;

it is possible even now to be pelted with words harder than stones.

What then must we do? The very thing that he did;

for he did not hate those who pelted him, but when they had dragged him he went again into the city, to do good to those who had so wronged him.

If you too endure the insolent, the harsh man, the one who has unjustly done these things to you, you also have been stoned.

For do not say, 'I have done no wrong.'

For what wrong had Paul done, that he should be stoned? He proclaimed the kingdom, he led men away from error, he brought them to God;

these things are worthy of crowns, these of public proclamation, these of a thousand blessings, not of stones;

yet nevertheless he suffered the contrary.

And you too they often drag;

but be not angry, rather proclaim the word through gentleness.

Has one insulted you? Be silent, and bless if you can, and thus you too have proclaimed the word, you have taught gentleness, you have taught meekness.

I know many who are pained not so much by wounds, as by a blow inflicted through words;

for the one wound the body receives, but the other the soul.

But let us not be pained; or rather, being pained, let us endure.

Do you not see the boxers, who with heads gashed open and teeth clenched, bear their pains so calmly? But here there is no need to gnash the teeth, no need to bite.

Call to mind your Master, and straightway you have laid the remedy upon the memory;

consider that you, the one struck, have conquered, while he, the one who struck, is defeated, and you have healed the whole matter by this.

It is a matter of a moment: be not swept away, and straightway you have set all right;

be not moved, and you have quenched the whole.

It is a great consolation to suffer something for Christ's sake;

you do not proclaim the word of faith only, but you proclaim the word of true wisdom.

'But the more he sees the gentleness,' one says, 'the more does he press his attack.'

Do you then grieve for this, that he rather increases your rewards for you? 'But he becomes good for nothing,' he says.

In another way he becomes good for nothing, if you take vengeance.

If God had known that through not avenging oneself the unjust would become good for nothing, He would not have enjoined this, but would have said, 'Avenge yourself';

but He knows that thus one is rather benefited.

You are not better than He who made us.

'I return the insult, that he may not become good for nothing.'

Do you then care for him more than He does? These are the words of passion and harshness and arrogance, and of setting up a counter-law against God.

For even if he were harmed, ought you not to obey? When God commands anything, let us not set up a counter-law of our own.

'A soft answer,' he says, 'turns away wrath.'

So then, it does this by yielding, not by opposing.

If it profits you, it also profits him;

and if it harms you—you who are to set him right—then far more does it harm him.

'Physician, heal thyself.'

Has he spoken evil? Do you praise;

has he plotted against you? Do him good;

requite him with the opposite, if indeed you have any regard at all for his salvation, and do not wish to avenge your own passion.

'And yet,' one says, 'many a time, having enjoyed forbearance, a man has become worse.'

That is not owing to you, but to him.

Do you wish to learn what things God suffered? They razed His altars, they slew the prophets, and He bore it all.

Could He not have brought down a thunderbolt from on high? Nay, but when He had sent the prophets and they slew them, then He sent the Son;

when they had committed the greater impiety, then He bestowed the greater benefit. And you also, if you see a man growing harsh, then yield the more;

for this madness needs the greater consolation.

The more grievously he insults, the more gentleness he requires;

just as a fever, when it blows fiercely, then most of all needs what yields to it;

the wild beast, when it is most savage, then we all flee from it;

do not think this to be a mark of honour;

since we honour the wild beast too—do we then honour madmen when we turn aside from them? By no means;

this is dishonour and outrage;

or rather, not dishonour and outrage, but mercy and loving-kindness.

Do you not see the sailors, when the wind blows fiercely, lowering the sails, that the vessel may not sink? and the riders, when the horses carry off their rider, giving way with them and not pulling back, lest of itself the strength be spent? IV

Anger is a fire, it is a sharp flame that craves fuel;

do not supply nourishment to the fire, and you have quickly quenched the evil.

Anger has no strength in itself, unless there be another to feed it.

You have no excuse.

That man is held fast by madness, and knows not what he does;

but you, beholding him, when you fall into the same faults and are not even brought to your senses by his example, what pardon can there be? If a man at a banquet were to see someone in the porch drunk and behaving disgracefully, and then himself fell into the like, would he not, drunk after that man, be far more unpardonable? So too here;

let us not think it an excuse to say, 'It was not I who began.'

this tells against us, that we were not even brought to our senses by seeing him;

just as if one should say, 'It was not I who murdered first.'

For on this very account are you deserving of punishment, that not even upon seeing the example did you restrain yourself.

If you saw the drunkard vomiting, torn apart, bursting, his eyes strained, filling the table with filth, all men shunning him, and then you fell into the same, would you not be even more hateful? Such is the angry man too;

more than the vomiter he distends his veins, inflames his eyes, tears apart his inward parts, and vomits forth words far filthier than that food, uttering everything unchewed, nothing digested (for wrath allows it not);

but just as there an excess of humours, having troubled the stomach, casts everything out;

so also here an excess of heat, having troubled the soul, does not suffer it to keep back what it were good to keep silent, but utters things speakable and unspeakable, shaming not the hearers but himself.

As therefore we flee from those who vomit, so also from those who are angry.

Doing what? Let us cast dust upon their

vomit, keeping silent let us call the dogs, that they may devour the very things vomited up.

I know that you feel nausea in hearing this;

but when you see these things happening, I want you to feel this very thing, and not to take pleasure in the matter.

The reviler is more unclean than the dog that returns to its own vomit.

For if, having once vomited, he ceased, he would not be like that dog;

but if he vomits the same things again, it is plain that he has eaten the same things.

What then is more abominable than such a man? and what more unclean than that mouth which chews such food? And yet this is nature's work, but that is not;

or rather, both this and that are contrary to nature.

How so? For to revile without cause is not according to nature, but contrary to nature;

at any rate, he utters nothing as a man does, but some things as a wild beast, some as a madman.

As therefore the disease of the body is contrary to nature, so also is this.

And that it is contrary to nature—if he continue in it, he will perish little by little;

but continuing in that which is according to nature, he will not perish.

I would rather share a table with a man who feeds on filth than with one who utters such things.

Do you not see the swine chewing dung? So too are these men.

For what is more foul-smelling than the words which revilers utter? Their whole endeavour is to say nothing sound, nothing pure, but whatever is shameful, whatever is unseemly—this both to do and to utter;

and what is still more grievous, that while shaming themselves the more, they think they are shaming others.

For that they shame themselves is plain from this.

Do not speak to me of those who tell lies; but suppose there be some notorious harlot, or another from the stage, and let this one pick a quarrel with someone;

then let the one hurl these reproaches at him, and the other in turn do likewise;

which of the two is the more insulted by the words? For the former heard the things which really belonged to him, but the latter, the things which did not belong to him;

so that to the former there accrued nothing further in the way of shame, but to the latter a great addition of disgrace.

But suppose again there be certain deeds actually done, and the insulter alone knows of them;

then, having kept silent about it before, let him parade the outrage abroad;

and thus this man is the more insulted.

How? Having become a herald of wickedness, having gained the reputation of a faithless, unscrupulous conscience;

and you will see all men forthwith accusing him, and everywhere saying such things;

for if indeed he was privy to a murder, one says, he ought to have poured out everything;

and the one they turn away from as though he were not even a man, they hate him, they say he is a beast, savage and merciless;

but with this one they sympathize rather than with that one.

For we do not so hate those who have wounds, as those who force themselves to uncover and display them.

So too this man has insulted not that one alone, but also himself and the hearers and the common nature of mankind;

He has struck the hearer, yet he has accomplished nothing good.

For this reason Paul says:

'If any word be good for edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear.'

Let us acquire a tongue full of good report, that we may be longed for and beloved.

But indeed wickedness has advanced to such a pitch that many now glory in the very things over which they ought to hide their faces in shame.

For the sort of thing that most people threaten is this:

'My tongue cannot bear it,' he says.

These are the words of a woman, of a drunken old crone, of one who behaves indecently, of the sort who are dragged about in the marketplace, of a pander.

Nothing is more shameful than these words, nothing more unmanly, nothing more womanish—to have one's strength in the tongue, to pride oneself greatly on reviling, like those in the processions, like the mimes and the parasites and the flatterers.

Those who take pride in this are swine rather than men.

You ought rather to bury yourself; you ought, even if someone else bore this witness of you, to flee such testimony as hostile and unmanly;

but you have become a herald of insults.

Yet you will be able to do no harm to the one who is evilly spoken of.

Therefore I exhort you: considering how great the wickedness is, and that many even boast in it, let us come to our senses, let us set right those who are thus raving, let us do away with these gatherings out of the city, let us adorn our tongue, let us free it from all evil-speaking, that being cleansed from sins we may be able to draw down the good will from above, and to be counted worthy of the loving-kindness that comes from God, by the grace and mercies of His Only-begotten, with whom—

to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, glory, might, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.