Ephesians 4:31, 32. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and
anger, and clamor, and railing be put away from you, with all malice And
be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, even as
God also in Christ forgave you."
If we are to attain to the kingdom of Heaven, it is not enough to abandon
wickedness, but there must be abundant practice of that which is good also.
To be delivered indeed from hell we must abstain from wickedness; but to
attain to the kingdom we must cleave fast to virtue? Know ye not that even
in the tribunals of the heathen, when examination is made of men's deeds,
and the whole city is assembled, this is the case? Nay, there was an ancient
custom amongst the heathen, to crown with a golden crown,[1]--not the man
who had done no evil to his country, for this were in itself no more than
enough to save him from punishment;--rebut him who had displayed great
public services. It was thus that a man was to be advanced to this distinction.
But what I had especial need to say, had, I know not how, well nigh escaped
me. Accordingly having made some slight correction of what I have said,
I retract the first portion of this division.
For as I was saying that the departure from evil is sufficient to prevent
our falling into hell, whilst I was speaking, there stole upon me a certain
awful sentence, which does not merely bring down vengeance on them that
dare to commit evil, but which also punishes those who omit any opportunity
of doing good. What sentence then is this? When the day, the dreadful day,
He saith, was arrived, and the set time was come, the Judge, seated on
the judgment seat set the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the
left; and to the sheep He said, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was
an hungered, and ye gave me meat." (Matt. 25:34) So far, well. For it was
meet that for such compassion they should receive this reward. That those,
however, who did not communicate of their own possessions to them that
were in need, that they should be punished, not merely by the loss of blessings,
but by being also sent to hell-fire, what just reason, I say, can there
be in this? Most certainly this too will have a fair show of reason, no
less than the other case: for we are hence instructed, that they that have
done good shall enjoy those good things that are in heaven, but they, who,
though they have no evil indeed to be charged with, yet have omitted to
do good, will be hurried away with them that have done evil into hell-fire.
Unless one might indeed say this, that the very not doing good is a part
of wickedness, inasmuch as it comes of indolence, and indolence is a part
of vice, or rather, not a part, but a source and baneful root of it. For
idleness is the teacher of all vice. Let us not then foolishly ask such
questions as these, what place shall he occupy, who has done neither any
evil nor any good? For the very not doing good, is in itself doing evil.
Tell me, if thou hadst a servant, who should neither steal, nor insult,
nor contradict thee, who moreover should keep from drunkenness and every
other kind of vice, and yet should sit perpetually in idleness, and not
doing one of those duties which a servant owes to his master, wouldest
thou not chastise him, wouldest thou not put him to the rack? Tell me.
And yet forsooth he has done no evil. No, but this is in itself doing evil.
But let us, if you please, apply. this to other cases in life. Suppose
then that of an husbandman. He does no damage to our property, he lays
no plots against us, and he is not a thief, he only ties his hands behind
him, and sits at home, neither sowing, nor cutting a single furrow, nor
harnessing oxen to the yoke, nor looking after a vine, nor in fact discharging
any one of those other labors required in husbandry. Now, I say, should
we not punish such a man? And yet he has done no wrong to any one; we have
no charge to make against him. No, but by this very thing has he done wrong.
He does wrong in that he does not contribute his own share to the common
stock of good. And what again, tell me, if every single artisan or mechanic
were only to do no harm, say to one of a different craft,--nay, were to
do no harm, even to one of his own, but only were to be idle, would not
our whole life at that rate be utterly at an end and perish? Do you wish
that I yet further extend the discourse with reference to the body also?
Let the hand then neither strike the head, nor cut out the tongue, nor
pluck out the eye, nor do any evil of this sort, but only remain idle,
and not render its due service to the body at large; would it not be more
fitting that it should be cut off, than that one should carry it about
in idleness, and a detriment to the whole body? And what too, if the mouth,
without either devouring the hand, or biting the breast, should nevertheless
fail in all its proper duties; were it not far better that it should be
stopped up? If therefore both in the case of servants, and of mechanics,
and of the whole body, not only the commission of evil, but also the omission
of what is good, is great unrighteousness, much more will this be the case
in regard to the body of Christ.
Moral. And therefore the blessed Paul also, in leading us away from
sin, leads us on to virtue. For where, tell me, is the advantage of all
the thorns being cut out, if the good seeds be not sown? For our labor,
remaining unfinished, will come round and end in the same mischief. And
therefore Paul also, in his deep and affectionate anxiety for us, does
not let his admonitions stop at eradicating and destroying evil tempers,
put urges us at once to evidence the implanting of good ones. For having
said, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and clamor, and railing be put away
from you, with all malice," he adds, "And be[2] ye kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving each other." For all these are habits and dispositions.
And our abandonment of the one thing is not sufficient to settle us in
the habitual practice of the other, but there is need again of some fresh
impulse, and of an effort not less than that made in our avoidance of evil
dispositions, in order to our acquiring good ones. For so in the case of
the body, the black man, if he gets rid of this complexion, does not straightway
become white. Or rather let us not conduct our discourse with an argument
from physical subjects, but draw our example from those which concern moral
choice. He who is not our enemy, is not necessarily our friend; but there
is an intermediate state, neither of enmity nor of friendship, which is
perhaps that in which the greater part of mankind stand toward us. He that
is not crying is not therefore necessarily also laughing, but there is
a state between the two. And so, I say, is the case here. He that is not
"bitter" is not necessarily "kind," neither is he that is not "wrathful"
necessarily "tender-hearted"; but there is need of a distinct effort, in
order to acquire this excellence. And now look how the blessed Paul according
to the rules of the best husbandry, thoroughly cleans and works the land
entrusted to him by the Husbandman. He has taken away the bad seeds; he
now exhorts us to retain the good plants. "Be ye kind," saith he, for if,
when the thorns are plucked up, the field remains idle, it will again bear
unprofitable weeds. And therefore there is need to preoccupy its unoccupied
and fallow state by the setting of good seeds and plants. He takes away
"anger," he puts in "kindness"; he takes away "bitterness," he puts in
"tender-heartedness"; he extirpates "malice" and "railing," he plants "forgiveness"
in their stead. For the expression, "forgiving one another," is this; be
disposed, he means, to forgive one another. And this forgiveness is greater
than that which is shown in money-matters. For he indeed who forgives a
debt of money to him that has borrowed of him, does, it is true, a noble
and admirable deed, but then the kindness is confined to the body, though
to himself indeed he repays a full recompense by that benefit which is
spiritual and concerns the soul; whereas he who forgives trespasses will
be benefiting alike his own soul, and the soul of him who receives the
forgiveness. For by this way of acting, he not only renders himself, but
the other also, more charitable. Because we do not so deeply touch the
souls of those who have wronged us by revenging ourselves, as by pardoning
them, and thus shaming them and putting them out of countenance. For by
the other course we shall be doing no good, either to ourselves or to them,
but shall be doing harm to both by seeking ourselves for retaliation, like
the rulers of the Jews, and by kindling up the wrath that is in them; but
if we return injustice with gentleness, we shall disarm all his anger,
and shall be setting up in his breast a tribunal which will give a verdict
in our favor, and will condemn him more severely than we ourselves could.
For he will convict and will pass sentence upon himself, and will look
for every pretext for repaying the share of long-suffering granted him
with fuller measure, knowing that, if he repay it in equal measure, he
is thus at a disadvantage, in not having himself made the beginning, but
received the example from us. He will strive accordingly to exceed in measure,
in order to eclipse, by the excess of his recompense, the disadvantage
he himself sustains in having been second in making advances towards requital;
and the disadvantage again which accrues to the other from the time, if
he was the first sufferer, this he will make up by excess of kindness.
For men, if they are right-minded, are not so affected by evil as by the
good treatment they may receive at the hands of those whom they have injured.
For it is a base sin, and it is matter of reproach and scorn for a man
who is well-treated not to return it; whilst for a man who is ill-treated,
not to go about to resent it, this has the praise and applause, and the
good word of all. And therefore they are more deeply touched by this conduct
than any.
So that if thou hast a wish to revenge thyself, revenge thyself in this
manner. Return good for evil, that thou mayest render him even thy debtor,
and achieve a glorious victory. Hast thou suffered evil? Do good; thus
avenge thee of thine enemy. For if thou shalt go about to resent it, all
will blame both thee and him alike. Whereas if thou shall endure it, it
will be otherwise. Thee they will applaud and admire; but him they will
reproach. And what greater punishment can there be to an enemy, than to
behold his enemy admired and applauded by all men? What more bitter to
an enemy, than to behold himself reproached by all before his enemy's face?
If thou shalt avenge thee on him, thou wilt both be condemned perhaps thyself,
and wilt be the sole avenger; whereas, if thou shalt forgive him, all will
be avengers in thy stead. And this will be far more severe than any evil
he can suffer, that his enemy should have so many to avenge him. If thou
openest thy mouth, they will be silent; but if thou art silent, not with
one tongue only, but with ten thousand tongues of others, thou smitest
him, and art the more avenged. And on thee indeed, if thou shalt reproach
him, many again will cast imputations (for they will say that thy words
are those of passion); but when others who have suffered no wrong from
him thus overwhelm him with reproaches, then is the revenge especially
clear of all suspicion. For when they who have suffered no mischief, in
consequence of thy excessive forbearance feel and sympathize with thee,
as though they had been wronged themselves, this is a vengeance clear of
all suspicion. "But what then," ye will say, "if no man should take vengeance?"
It cannot be that men will be such stones, as to behold such wisdom and
not admire it. And though they wreak not their vengeance on him at the
time; still, afterwards, when they are in the mood, they will do so, and
they will continue to scoff at him and abuse him. And if no one else admire
thee, the man himself will most surely admire thee, though he may not own
it. For our judgment of what is right, even though we be come to the very
depth of wickedness, remains impartial and unbiased. Why, suppose ye, did
our Lord Christ say, "Whosoever smiteth thee on the right cheek, turn to
him the other also"? (Matt. 5:39) Is it not because the more long-suffering
a man is, the more signal the benefit he confers both on himself and on
the other? For this cause He charges us to "turn the other also," to satisfy
the desire of the enraged. For who is such a monster as not to be at once
put to shame? The very dogs are said to feel it; for if they bark and attack
a man, and he throws himself on his back and does nothing, he puts a stop
to all their wrath.[1] If they then reverence the man who is ready to suffer
evil from them, much more will the race of man do so, inasmuch as they
are more rational.
However, it is right not to overlook what a little before came into
my recollection, and was brought forward for a testimony. And what then
was this? We were speaking of the Jews, and of the chief rulers amongst
them, how that they were blamed, as seeking retaliation. And yet this the
law permitted them; "eye for eye, and tooth for tooth." (Lev. 24:20) True,
but not to the intent that men should pluck out each other's eyes, but
that they should check boldness in aggression, by fear of suffering in
return, and thus should neither do any evil to others, nor suffer any evil
from others themselves. Therefore it was said, "eye for eye," to bind the
hands of the aggressor, not to let thine loose against him; not to ward
off the hurt from thine eyes only, but also to preserve his eyes safe and
sound.
But, as to what I was enquiring about,--why, if retaliation was allowed,
were they arraigned who practiced it? Whatever can this mean? He here speaks
of vindictiveness; for on the spur of the moment he allows the sufferer
to act, as I was saying, in order to check the aggressor; but to bear a
grudge he permits no longer; because the act then is no longer one of passion,
nor of boiling rage, but of malice premeditated. Now God forgives those
who may be carried away, perhaps upon a sense of outrage, and rush out
to resent it. Hence He says, "eye for eye"; and yet again, "the ways of
the revengeful lead to death."[2] Now, if, where it was permitted to put
out eye for eye, so great a punishment is reserved for the revengeful,
how much more for those who are bidden even to expose themselves to ill-treatment.
Let us not then be revengeful, but let us quench our anger, that we may
be counted worthy of the lovingkindness, which comes from God ("for with
what measure," saith Christ, "ye mete, it shall be measured unto you, and
with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged") (Matt. 7:2), and that
we may both escape the snares of this present life, and in the day that
is at hand, may obtain pardon at His hands, through the grace and loving-kindness
of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy
Ghost, be glory, power, honor, both now and forever and ever. Amen.
