羅馬書講道集 第 11 章

'For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.'

What I have said before, this I will say now also: that he continually passes over into moral discourse, not, as in the other Epistles, dividing them into two—assigning the first part to doctrines and the other to the care of morals;

but here it is not so; rather, throughout the whole of it he does this in a mixed way, so that the discourse may be readily received.

He says, then, that there are here two mortifications and two deaths;

and that the one has been effected by Christ in baptism, but the other must be brought about by us through the diligence that follows after.

For that former sins were buried was a matter of His gift;

but to remain dead to sin after baptism must be the work of our own diligence, even though here too we see God to a very great degree helping us.

For baptism has power not only to blot out former transgressions, but also to secure us against those to come.

As therefore in the case of those former sins you brought in faith, that they might be blotted out;

so also in the case of those that come after, show the change of your zeal, that you may not again defile yourself.

For it is counseling these things and such as these that he says:

'For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.'

Do you see how he lifted up the hearer, at once raising him up to his own Master, and being eager to show the great likeness? For this reason he did not even say 'To His death,' lest you should contradict, but 'To the likeness of His death';

for it was not the substance itself that died, but the man that is of sins—that is to say, wickedness.

And he did not say, 'For if we have shared in the likeness of His death';

but what? 'For if we have been planted together'—by the name of the planting hinting at the fruit that comes from it.

For just as His body, buried in the earth, brought forth as fruit the salvation of the whole world;

so also our own, buried in baptism, brought forth as fruit righteousness, sanctification, adoption as sons, and countless good things;

and it will bring forth later also the gift of the resurrection.

Since, then, we are buried in water, but He in earth, and we as regards sin, but He as regards the body, for this reason he did not say, 'Planted together in the death,' but, 'In the likeness of His death';

for both this and that are death, but not of the same subject.

'If, therefore,' he says, 'we have been planted together in the death, we shall be also in the resurrection';

meaning here by resurrection the one to come.

For since, having earlier discoursed concerning death and having said, 'Or know ye not, brethren, that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death?', he had said nothing clearly concerning the resurrection, but rather concerning the manner of life after baptism, having bidden us walk in newness of life;

for this reason, here taking up again the same subject, he now further proclaims to us that resurrection in advance.

And that you may learn that he speaks not concerning this resurrection which is from baptism, but concerning that other one;

having said, 'For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death,' he did not say, 'We shall be of the likeness of the resurrection,' but, 'And of the resurrection.'

For lest you should say, 'And how, if we have not died as He died, shall we rise as He rose?'—when he made mention of death, he did not say, 'Planted together in the death,' but, 'In the likeness of His death';

but when he made mention of the resurrection, he did not say, 'In the likeness of the resurrection,' but, 'Of the resurrection itself.'

And he did not say, 'We have become,' but, 'We shall be,' by this word again indicating that resurrection which has not yet come to pass, but is to come.

Then, wishing to make his argument worthy of belief, he shows that another resurrection has taken place here, prior to that one, so that from the present resurrection you may believe also in the one to come.

For having said that we shall be planted together in the likeness of his resurrection, he added:

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with;

at once setting down both the cause and the proof of the resurrection to come.

And he did not say 'He was crucified,' but 'He was crucified with him,' thus bringing baptism close to the cross.

Wherefore also above he said, We have become planted together in the likeness of his death, that the body of sin might be done away with — not calling this body of ours by that name, but all our wickedness.

For just as by 'the old man' he means the whole of vice, so also by 'the body' of that man he means once again the wickedness that is compounded of its various parts.

And that what has been said is no mere conjecture, hear how Paul himself interprets this very point in what follows.

For having said, That the body of sin might be done away with, he added:

That we should no longer be enslaved to sin.

For it is in this respect that I wish it to be dead — not so as to be abolished and to die, but so as not to sin.

And going forward he makes it yet clearer:

For he that is dead, he says, has been justified from sin.

He says this concerning every man, that just as one who is dead is henceforth freed from sinning, lying there a corpse, so also is he who has come up from baptism.

For since he died there once for all, he must remain forever dead to sin.

If therefore you died in baptism, remain dead;

for indeed everyone who has died can no longer sin;

but if you sin, you do outrage to the gift of God.

Having therefore required of us so great a philosophy of life, he quickly brought in the crown as well, saying:

Now if we died with Christ.

And yet this very thing, even before the crown, is itself the greatest crown — to have fellowship with the Master;

'nevertheless,' he says, 'I give you also another reward.'

And what then is this? Eternal life.

For we believe, he says, that we shall also live together with him.

And whence is this evident? Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more.

And consider again his earnest contention, and how he establishes his point from the very opposites.

For since it was likely that some were troubled on account of the cross and the death, he shows that for this very reason one ought henceforth to take courage.

'For do not,' he says, 'because he once died, suppose him to be mortal;'

for indeed on this very account he remains immortal;

for his death has become the death of death;

and because he died, for this very reason he dies no more;

for that death also he died to sin.

What is 'to sin'? That is, he was not liable to it either, but he died on account of our sin.

For in order that he might destroy it, and cut its sinews and all its power, for this cause he died.

Do you see how he inspired fear? For if he dies not a second time, neither is there a second washing;

and if there is no second washing, neither should you be prone to sin.

For all these things he says in opposition to that saying, Let us do evil, that good may come; and to that, Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Rooting out then such a supposition by the roots, he sets down all these things.

But in that he lives, he lives unto God, he says;

that is, indissolubly, so as to be no longer held fast by death.

For if even the former death he died though not liable to it, but on account of others' sin;

much more now will he not die, having destroyed it.

Which also in the Epistle to the Hebrews he said:

For once, he says, at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time without sin, unto salvation, to those who wait for him.

And he shows both the strength of the life that is according to God, and the power of sin;

of the life, that he dies no more;

and of sin, that if this made even the sinless one to die, how shall it not destroy those who are liable? Then, since he had discoursed concerning his life, lest someone should say, 'What then has what has been said to do with us?' he added:

So also do you reckon yourselves, he says, to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God.

Well did he say, 'Reckon,' since it is not yet possible to set before the eye what is spoken of.

And what do we reckon? he says. To be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord;

for he that so lives will lay hold of every virtue, having Jesus himself as his ally;

for this is what 'in Christ' means.

For if he raised us up when we were dead, much more will he be able to hold us fast when we are living.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so that you should obey it in its lusts.

He did not say, 'Let not the flesh live, nor let it be active,' but 'Let not sin reign;'

for he came not to destroy nature, but to set right the will's free choice.

Then, showing that we are not held by wickedness through force and necessity, but willingly, he did not say, 'Let it not tyrannize,' which would have implied necessity, but 'Let it not reign.'

For indeed it is absurd, when we are being led to the kingdom of heaven, to have sin as our queen, and when we are called to reign together with Christ, to choose to become captives of sin;

just as if a man, casting the diadem from his head, should wish to be a slave to a woman who is demon-possessed, a beggar, and clothed in rags.

Then, since to get the better of sin is a heavy thing, see how he also showed it to be light, and consoled the labor by saying, 'In your mortal body.'

For this shows that the contests are temporary, and quickly brought to an end;

and at the same time he reminds us both of our former evils, and of the root of death;

for it was from this that from the beginning it became mortal.

But it is possible, even having a mortal body, not to sin.

Do you see the abundance of Christ's grace? For Adam, though not yet mortal, slipped and fell;

but you, though having a body that is already liable even to death, will be able to be crowned.

And how then does sin reign? he says. Not from its own power, but from your slothfulness.

For this reason, having said, 'Let it not reign,' he also shows the manner of such a reign, adding and saying:

So that you should obey it in its lusts.

For it is no honor to be permitted to indulge oneself in all things with unbridled license, but rather the utmost slavery and the very height of dishonor.

For whenever a man does whatever he wishes, then it is that he is stripped of all freedom;

but whenever he is held in check, then above all does he preserve his own proper dignity.

'Neither present your members as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin, but as weapons of righteousness.'

The body, then, stands midway between vice and virtue, just as weapons also do;

and each of the deeds comes to pass according to him who uses it.

It is just as if both a soldier contending for his fatherland, and a robber arming himself against the inhabitants, were to be equipped with the very same weapons;

for the blame lies not with the full suit of armor, but with those who use it for evil.

This same thing may also be said of the flesh, since both this and that come to pass according to the resolve of the soul, and not according to its own nature.

For if you should busy yourself with a beauty that is not your own, the eye has become a weapon of unrighteousness — not because of its own proper working (for it belongs to the eye to see, not to see wickedly), but because of the wickedness of the reasoning that gave the command;

but if you bridle it, it has become a weapon of righteousness.

So too with the tongue, so too with the hands, and with all the other members.

And well did he call sin 'unrighteousness';

for he who sins wrongs either himself or his neighbor — rather, himself before his neighbor.

Having therefore led them away from wickedness, he leads them toward virtue, saying:

'But present yourselves unto God, as those alive from the dead.'

See how he exhorts by the bare names alone: there naming 'sin,' but here 'God.'

For having shown how great is the distance between the two that reign, he cast the soldier out of all pardon — the soldier who had forsaken God, yet desired to be marshaled under the kingdom of sin.

And not by this alone, but also through what follows he establishes this, saying, 'As those alive from the dead.'

both the ruin of that former state, and the greatness of the gift of God.

'For consider,' he says, 'what you were, and what you have become.'

What, then, were you? Dead and lost, with a destruction that could in no way be set right from any quarter;

for there was no one able to help.

And what have you become out of those dead ones? Living with an immortal life.

And through whom? Through God who is able to do all things.

It is right, therefore, to be marshaled under Him with as great an eagerness as befits those who have become living from the dead.

'And your members as weapons of righteousness unto God.'

The body, then, is not evil, if indeed it is possible for it to become a weapon of righteousness.

And by saying 'weapon,' he made plain that a grievous war also is at hand.

Wherefore we also have need of strong armor, and of a noble resolve well acquainted with these wars, and above all of a commander.

But the Commander stands at hand, ever ready for the alliance, and remaining unconquerable; and He has furnished us with strong weapons too. What remains is a purpose that wields them for what is needful, so as both to obey the Commander and to bear arms on behalf of the fatherland.

Having therefore charged us with such great things, and having reminded us of weapons and battle and wars, see how again he emboldens the soldier and anoints his eagerness, saying:

'For sin shall no longer have dominion over you;

for you are not under law, but under grace.'

If, then, sin no longer has dominion over us, for what reason do you give so many charges, saying:

'Let not sin reign in your mortal body';

and, 'Neither present your members as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin'? What, then, is meant by this? He casts down here a certain seminal word, which he intends afterward to unfold and to work out with much elaboration.

What, then, is this word? Before the coming of Christ our body was easily mastered by sin.

For after death a great swarm of passions also came in upon it;

wherefore it was not at all nimble for the race in behalf of virtue.

For neither was the Spirit present to help, nor baptism able to mortify; but like some hard-mouthed horse, it ran indeed, yet often went astray, since the law told out what things ought to be done and what ought not, but contributed nothing more than exhortation by words to those who contended;

but since Christ has come, the wrestlings have thereafter become easier.

Wherefore also greater arenas have been set before us, inasmuch as we have partaken of greater help.

Wherefore Christ also said:

'Unless your righteousness abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.'

But this he says more plainly in what follows; for the present he hints at it briefly here, showing that unless we humble ourselves greatly, sin will not be overcome by us.

For it is not a law that merely commands, but grace also — grace that both remits the former things and secures us against those to come.

For the one promised the crowns after the toils, but the other crowned us first, and then drew us into the contests.

But to me it seems that he here hints not even at the whole life of the believer, but makes a comparison of baptism and the law;

which very thing he says elsewhere also, that 'The letter kills, but the spirit gives life.'

For the law convicts of the transgression, but grace looses the transgression.

As, then, the former by convicting establishes sin, so the latter by pardoning does not suffer one to be under sin;

so that you are freed from this tyranny in a twofold manner: both by not being under law, and by having enjoyed grace.

Since, therefore, by these things he has caused the hearer to take breath, he again secures him, introducing an exhortation by way of contrast, and saying thus:

'What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid.'

For first he uses the prohibition, because the thing spoken of is exceedingly absurd;

then he leads the discourse on to exhortation as well, and shows that great is the ease of the contests, speaking thus:

'Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves as slaves unto obedience, his slaves you are whom you obey — whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto

righteousness?' 'I speak not yet,' he says, 'of hell, nor of that great punishment, but of the shame here — when you become slaves, and willing slaves, and slaves of sin, and that for such a wage, namely, to die again.'

For if before baptism it wrought bodily death, and the wound needed so great a healing that the Master of all had to descend into death and thus loose the evil, then after so great a gift and freedom, if it takes you willingly submitting yourself to it again, what will it not work? Do not, then, run into so deep a pit, nor willingly betray yourself.

For in wars soldiers are often given up even against their will;

but here, unless you yourself desert to the enemy, no one will overcome you.

Having therefore shamed them from the standpoint of what is fitting, he strikes fear from the standpoint of the rewards as well, and sets down the wages of both, righteousness and death;

and death not of that kind, but far more grievous.

For if Christ dies no more, who shall loose that death? No one.

It is necessary, therefore, to be chastised and punished throughout;

for no longer does a perceptible death come, as here, giving rest to the body and separating it from the soul;

'For the last enemy that is destroyed is death.'

Whence the punishment shall be immortal — yet not for those who obey God; but for these, righteousness and the good things that spring from it shall be the rewards. 'But thanks be to God, that though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that form of teaching to which you were delivered.'

Having shamed them from their slavery, having frightened and exhorted them from the rewards, he again raises them up by the remembrance of the benefits.

For by these words he shows both that they have been delivered from great evils, and that this came not from their own labors, and that the things to come are easier.

For just as one who has rescued a captive from a cruel tyrant, and, urging him not to run back to him, reminds him of that tyrant's grievous despotism;

so also Paul most vividly points out the past evils through the giving of thanks to God.

For it was not, he says, a matter of human strength to deliver us from all those things, but thanks be to God, who both willed and was able to accomplish so great things.

And he said well: 'You obeyed from the heart';

for you were neither compelled nor forced, but of your own accord and with eagerness you departed.

And this belongs at once to one who praises and to one who lays hold of them with reproof.

For you who came of your own accord, and endured no compulsion, what pardon could you have, what defense, if you run back to your former ways? Then, that you might learn that the whole thing came about not only through their own right disposition but also through the grace of God, having said, 'You obeyed from the heart,' he added, 'unto that form of teaching to which you were delivered.'

For the obedience that comes from the heart makes plain their free will, while the being delivered hints at the help of God.

And what is the form of the teaching? To live uprightly and with the best conduct.

'And having been set free from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.'

Here he shows two gifts of God: to set free from sin, and to enslave to righteousness, which is better than any freedom.

For God has done the very same as if one, having taken an orphan child carried off by barbarians into their own land, should not only deliver him from captivity, but also set himself over him as a caring father, and raise him to the highest dignity;

which indeed has happened in our case also.

For he not only set us free from the old evils, but also brought us into an angelic life, and cut out for us a road of the best conduct, delivering us over to the security of righteousness, and putting to death the old evils, and mortifying the old man, and leading us by the hand to the immortal life.

Let us therefore remain living this life;

for many of those who seem to breathe and to walk about are in a state more wretched than the dead.

For there are different modes of deadness;

and one is that of the body, according to which Abraham, though dead, was not dead;

for 'God,' it says, 'is not a God of the dead, but of the living';

another is that of the soul, which Christ, hinting at it, spoke of when he said,

'Let the dead bury their own dead';

another, which is even praiseworthy, the one that comes about through

the pursuit of wisdom, concerning which Paul says:

'Mortify your members which are upon the earth';

another again is that which has become the cause of this very one, the death that takes place at baptism;

for 'our old man,' it says, 'has been crucified,' that is, has been put to death.

Knowing these things, then, let us flee that deadness according to which, even while living, we die;

but let us not dread this one, according to which the common death comes upon us.

But of the other two—of which one is the blessed, given by God, and the other the praiseworthy, wrought by us together with God—let us both choose them and be zealous for them.

Of these two, David pronounces one blessed, saying:

'Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven';

and the other Paul admires, writing to the Galatians, that 'those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh.'

But of the other pair, Christ says that the one is to be despised, saying:

'Fear not those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul';

but the other is fearful: 'Fear rather him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'

Therefore, fleeing this one, let us choose that deadness which is called blessed and admired, so that of the other two we may flee the one and fear the other.

For it is of no profit to us to behold the sun, and to eat and drink, unless the life that comes through good works be present.

For what profit is there, tell me, in a king who is clothed in purple and bears arms, but possesses no subject, and is exposed to all who wish to leap upon him and insult him? So too there will be no gain to a Christian who has faith and the gift that comes from baptism, but is subject to all the passions;

for thus the insult will be greater, and the shame more abundant.

For just as that man who is clothed with the diadem and the purple will not only gain nothing from this robe toward his own honor, but even dishonors it through his own disgrace;

so too the believer who lives a corrupt life will not only gain no reverence thereby, but will even become the more ridiculous.

'For as many,' it says, 'as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law;

and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law.'

And writing to the Hebrews, he said:

'A man who has set at nought the law of Moses dies without mercies on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Of how much worse punishment, do you think, shall he be counted worthy who has trampled underfoot the Son of God?' And very reasonably;

for I subjected all the passions to you, he says, through baptism.

What then has happened, that you have so outraged such a gift, and have become another instead of the one you were? I slew and buried your former transgressions, like worms;

why then have you begotten others? For sins are worse than worms;

for these injure the body, but those the soul, and make the stench greater.

But we do not perceive it;

and for this very reason we do not even hasten to cleanse it away.

For neither does the drunkard know how great is the loathsomeness of putrid wine, but he who is not drunk knows these things exactly.

So too in the case of sins: he who lives soberly knows with precision the mire of those sins and their stain;

but he who has given himself over to wickedness, as though stupefied by some drunkenness, does not even know this very thing, that he is diseased.

And this is the most grievous thing of all about vice, that it does not even allow those who have fallen into it to see the greatness of their own ruin, but, lying in the mire, they think they are enjoying perfumes;

and for this reason they cannot even be delivered, but full of worms, as though adorned with precious stones, so do they pride themselves.

For this reason they are not even willing to slay them, but even nourish and increase them within themselves, until they hand themselves over to the worms of the age to come.

For these are the procurers of those;

and not procurers only, but they are also fathers of those which never come to an end.

'For their worm,' it says, 'shall not die.'

These kindle the hell that is never quenched.

That these things, then, may not happen, let us take away the fountain of evils, and quench the furnace, and pull up from below the root of wickedness;

since even if you cut off a wicked tree from above, you have accomplished nothing more, so long as the root remains below and puts forth the same shoots.

What then is the root of evils? Learn it from the good husbandman, who knows such matters exactly, and tends the spiritual vine, and cultivates the whole inhabited world.

What then does he say is the cause of all evils? The desire for money.

'For the love of money,' he says, 'is the root of all evils.'

From this come fights and enmities and wars, from this contentions and revilings and suspicions and insults, from this murders and thefts and grave-robbings;

because of this, not only cities and countries, but also roads, and the inhabited world and the uninhabited, and mountains, and glens, and hills, and all things simply, are full of blood and slaughters.

Nor did this evil hold back even from the sea, but there too it burst in with great frenzy, as pirates besiege it on every side and devise some new mode of brigandage.

For the sake of this, the laws of nature have been overturned, the ordinances of kinship have been shaken, and the very rights of being have been corrupted.

For the tyranny of riches has armed such right hands not only against the living, but even against the dead;

and not even with death do they make peace toward them, but they break open tombs and stretch out their defiled hands against dead bodies, not even allowing him who has departed from life to be freed from their plotting.

And whatever evils you may find—whether in a household, or in the marketplace, or in the courts, or in the councils, or in the palaces, or anywhere at all—you will see them all springing up from this source.

For this it is, this is the evil that has filled all things with bloodshed and slaughter; this it is that has kindled the flame of Gehenna; this it is that has made the cities to be in no better state than the wilderness—nay, in a far worse one.

For those who lie in wait along the roads it is easy to guard against, seeing that they do not attack at all times;

but those who imitate them in the midst of the cities are so much worse than they, in as much as they are harder to guard against, and dare to do openly what the others do in secret.

For the very laws that are established for the destruction of their wickedness—these too they drag over to be their allies, and so have filled the cities with such murders and pollutions.

Or is it not murder, tell me, and worse than murder, to hand the poor man over to famine, and to cast him into prison, and along with the famine to give him over to tortures and countless outrages? For even if you yourself do not do these things, yet if you supply the cause of their happening, you work them more than those who carry them out.

For the murderer thrusts in the sword at once, and having grieved his victim but a short time, carries the torment no further;

but you, by your slanders, your insults, your plottings, making the light into darkness for him, and setting him in a longing to die ten thousand deaths, consider how many deaths you work in place of one.

And what is most grievous of all, you plunder and grasp at more, not driven by poverty nor compelled by famine, but so that the bridle of your horse may be overlaid with much gold, and the roof of your house, and the capitals of your columns.

And of how great a Gehenna would these things not be worthy, when you cast your brother—one who has shared with you in unspeakable good things, and has been so honored by your Master—into countless calamities, in order to adorn stones and floors and the bodies of irrational beasts that have no perception of this world? And the dog is kept with much care, while the man—nay rather, Christ—for the sake of a dog and all the things mentioned is shut up in extreme famine.

What is worse than this confusion? What is more grievous than this lawlessness? How many rivers of fire will suffice for such a soul? He that was made after the image of God stands disgraced because of your inhumanity;

while the faces of the mules that carry your wife shine with much gold, as do the hides and the timbers that frame that canopy;

and whether a throne is to be made, or a footstool, all are fashioned of gold and silver;

but the member of Christ, for whose sake He came from heaven and poured out His precious blood, does not enjoy even the necessary nourishment.

But the couches are on every side overlaid with silver, while the bodies of the saints are deprived even of the necessary covering;

and Christ has become to you less honorable than all things—than servants and mules and couch and throne and footstool.

For the vessels still more dishonorable than these I pass over, leaving them for you to know.

But if you shudder to hear these things, cease from doing them, and what has been said will do you no harm;

cease, and stand clear of this madness;

for this zeal about such things is manifest madness.

Wherefore, letting these things go, let us at length look up to heaven, let us call to mind the day that is coming, let us consider that fearful tribunal, and the scrupulous reckonings, and the incorruptible verdict;

let us reflect that God, though He sees all these things, does not send down thunderbolts from above;

and yet the things that are done are worthy not only of thunderbolts.

But neither does He do this, nor let loose the sea upon us, nor split the earth asunder in the midst, nor quench the sun, nor cast down the heaven with the stars, nor simply put all things out of the way, but suffers the whole creation to remain in its order and to minister to us.

Reflecting on these things, then, let us shudder at the greatness of His love for mankind, and let us return to our own nobility;

since as things now stand we are in no better condition than the irrational beasts—nay, in a far worse.

For they love their own kind, and are content with the fellowship of nature for their affection toward one another.

But you, who besides nature have ten thousand motives drawing you together and binding you fast to your own members—being honored with reason, partaking of true religion, sharing in countless good things—have become fiercer than they, showing much zeal indeed for senseless things, while overlooking the temples of God as they perish through famine and nakedness, and often even surrounding them with countless evils.

For if you do these things out of love for glory, much more ought you to tend your brother than your horse.

For by how much the better is he that enjoys the benefaction, by so much the more splendid is the crown of such zeal woven for you;

whereas now, falling into the contrary, and drawing upon yourself ten thousand accusers, you do not perceive it.

For who will not speak ill of you? Who will not indict you for the utmost cruelty and hatred of mankind, seeing that you dishonor the race of men, but set that of the irrational beasts before men, and reckon your house and furniture together with the beasts? Have you not heard the apostles saying that those who first received the word sold both houses and lands, in order to feed the brethren? But you seize both houses and lands, in order to adorn a horse and timbers and hides, and walls and floors.

And what is yet more grievous is that not men only, but even women rave with this madness, and anoint their husbands to such vain toil, compelling them to spend everywhere rather than on the things that are needful;

and if anyone should call them to account for these things, they have practiced a defense full of much self-accusation.

For 'both these things and those are done,' she says.

What do you say? Are you not afraid, uttering such things, and reckoning Christ, who hungers, together with the horses and the mules, and the couches and the footstools? Nay rather, not even together with these, but assigning the greater part to them, and to Him scarcely a small part.

Do you not know that all things are His—both you and yours? Do you not know that He both fashioned your body and bestowed a soul, and apportioned to you the whole world? But you do not give Him back even a small return;

but if you let out even a little house, you demand the rent with much exactness, while, though you reap the whole of His creation and dwell in so great a world, you cannot bear to pay down even a little rent, but have given over both yourself and all that is yours to vainglory;

for it is from that source that all these things hang.

For neither would a horse become better in respect of its own excellence by having this adornment put upon it, nor the man who sits upon it, but sometimes he becomes even more dishonorable.

For many, leaving him that is mounted, turn their eyes to the adornment of the horse, and to the servants that follow behind and those that go before and those that clear the way;

but the man who is escorted by these as by a bodyguard, and

they hate, and turn away from as from a common enemy.

But when you adorn the soul, this does not happen; rather both men and angels, and the Master of the angels, all weave the crown for you.

So that, if you love glory, cease from these things which you now do, and adorn not your house but your soul, that you may become splendid and conspicuous;

since as things now are, nothing could be more worthless than you, having your soul desolate, while you put forward the beauty of your house.

But if you will not endure what is said by me, hear what one of those without did, and be ashamed at least before their philosophy.

For it is said that one of them, having entered into a splendid house, gleaming with much gold and dazzling with the beauty of its marbles and columns, when he saw the floor everywhere spread with carpets, spat into the face of the master of the house;

then, being called to account, he said that, because there was nowhere else in the house where it was permitted to do this, he had been compelled to affront that man's face.

Do you see how ridiculous is he that adorns the outward things, and how contemptible in the eyes of all who have understanding? And that with good reason.

For neither, if someone, leaving your own consort to be clad in rags and to be neglected, were to clothe the maidservants in a splendid robe, would you bear it meekly, but you would be provoked, and would declare the thing to be the utmost outrage.

This same thing, then, reckon also concerning the soul.

For when you adorn the walls and the floor and the furniture and all the rest, but do not furnish bountiful almsgiving, nor practice the other philosophy, you do nothing else than this—nay rather, something far more grievous.

For between the maidservant and the mistress there is no great gulf, but between the soul and the flesh there is a great difference;

and if you would prefer the flesh, much more the soul above the house, and the soul above the couch and the footstool.

What defense, then, could you be worthy of, when you surround all these things with much silver, but overlook her clad in rags, squalid, hungry, full of wounds, torn by ten thousand dogs, and after all this even think to be glorified by the adornment of the outward things laid around you? Which indeed is most of all the utmost derangement—to be laughed at and reproached, and to be disgraced and dishonored, and to be falling into the utmost

punishment, and yet still to pride yourself in these things.

Wherefore I beseech you, having considered all these things, let us at length come to our senses, and become our own selves, and transfer this adornment from the outward things to the soul.

For thus it both remains inviolable, and makes us equal to the angels, and will procure for us the good things that are immovable;

which may it be that we all attain, by the grace and love toward mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.