{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/106/1060281.htm","path":"chr/ecf/106/1060281.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/106/1060281.htm","text":"On the words of the Gospel, Luke xiv. 16, \u201cA certain man made a great supper,\u201d etc.\nDelivered in the basilica Restituta. 3472\n1. Holy lessons have been set forth before us, to which we should both give ear, and upon which by the Lord\u2019s help I would deliver some p. 447 observations. In the Apostolic lesson thanks are rendered unto the Lord for the faith of the Gentiles, of course, because it was His work. In the Psalm we have said, \u201cO God of hosts, turn us, and show us Thy Face, and we shall be saved.\u201d 3473 In the Gospel we have been called to a supper; yea, rather others have been called, we not called, but led; not only led, but even forced. For so have we heard, that \u201ca certain Man made a great supper.\u201d 3474 Who is this Man, but \u201cthe Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus\u201d? 3475 He sent that those who had been invited might come, for the hour was now come, that they should come. Who are they who had been invited, but those who had been called by the Prophets who were sent before? When? Of old, ever since the Prophets were sent, they invited to Christ\u2019s supper. They were sent then to the people of Israel. Often were they sent, often did they call men, to come at the hour of supper. But they received those who invited them, refused the supper. What means \u201cthey received those who invited them, refused the supper\u201d? They read the Prophets and killed Christ. But when they killed Him, then though they knew it not, they prepared a Supper for us. When the Supper was now prepared, when Christ had been offered up, when the Supper of the Lord, which the faithful know, had been set forth after the resurrection of Christ, and established by His Hands and Mouth, were the Apostles sent to them, to whom the Prophets had been sent before. \u201cCome ye to the supper.\u201d\n2. They who would not come made excuses. And how did they excuse themselves? There were three excuses: \u201cOne said, I have bought a farm, 3476 and I go to see it; have me excused. Another said, I have bought five pairs of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. A third said, I have married a wife, have me excused; I cannot come.\u201d 3477 Do we suppose that these are not the excuses, which hinder all men, who decline to come to this supper? Let us look into them, discuss, find them out; but only that we may beware. In the purchase of the farm, the spirit of domination is marked out; therefore pride is rebuked. For men are delighted to have a farm, to hold, to possess it, to have men in it under them, to have dominion. An evil vice, the first vice. For the first man wished to have dominion, in that he would not that any should have dominion over him. What is to have dominion, but to take pleasure in one\u2019s own power? There is a greater power, let us submit ourselves to it, that we may be able to be safe. \u201cI have bought a farm, have me excused.\u201d Having discovered pride, he would not come.\n3. \u201cAnother said, I have bought five pairs of oxen.\u201d Would it not have been enough, \u201cI have bought oxen\u201d? Something beyond doubt there is, which by its very obscurity challenges us to seek out, and understand; and in that it is shut, He exhorteth us to knock. The five pairs of oxen are the senses of this body. There are numbered five senses of this body, as is known to all; and they who, it may be, do not consider it, will doubtless perceive it on being reminded of it. There are then found to be five senses of this body. In the eyes is the sight, the hearing in the ears, the smell in the nose, the taste in the mouth, the touch in all the members. We have perception of white and black, and things coloured in whatever way, light and dark, by the sight. Harsh and musical sounds, we have perception of by the hearing. Of sweet and offensive smells, we have perception by the smell. Of things sweet and bitter by the taste. Of things hard and soft, smooth and rough, warm and cold, heavy and light, by the touch. They are five, and they are pairs. Now that they are pairs, is seen most easily in the case of the three first senses. There are two eyes, two ears, two nostrils; see three pairs. In the mouth, that is in the sense of taste, a certain doubling is found, because nothing affects the taste, unless it is touched by the tongue and the palate. The pleasure of the flesh which pertains to the touch, has this doubling in a less obvious way. For there is both an outer and an inner touch. And so it too is double. Why are they called pairs of oxen? Because by these senses of the body, earthly things are sought for. For oxen turn up the earth. So there are men far off from faith, given up to earthly things, occupied in the things of the flesh; who will not believe anything but what they attain to by the five senses of their body. In those five senses do they lay down for themselves the rules of their whole will. \u201cI will not believe,\u201d says one, \u201canything but what I see. See, here is what I know, and am sure of. Such a thing is white, or black, or round, or square, or coloured so and so; this I know, am sensible of, have a hold of; nature itself teaches it me. I am not forced to believe what you cannot show me. Or it is a voice: I perceive that it is a voice; it sings well, it sings ill, it is sweet, it is harsh. I know, I know this, it has come to me. There is a good or a bad smell: I know, I perceive it. This is sweet, this is bitter; this is salt, this insipid. I know not what you would tell me more. By the touch I know what is hard, what is soft; what is smooth, what is rough; what is warm, and what cold. What more would you show me?\u201d\n4. By such an impediment was our Apostle Thomas held back, who as to the Lord Christ, the resurrection that is of Christ, would not p. 448 believe even his own eyes only. \u201cUnless,\u201d says he, \u201cI put my fingers into the places of the nails and wounds, and unless I put my hand into His side, I will not believe.\u201d 3478 And the Lord who could have risen again without any vestige of a wound, kept the scars, that they might be touched by the doubting Apostle, and the wounds of his heart be healed. And yet as designing to call to His supper others, against the excuse of \u201cthe five pairs of oxen,\u201d He said, \u201cBlessed they who do not see, and believe.\u201d 3479 We, my Brethren, who have been called to this supper, have not been kept back by \u201cthese five pairs.\u201d For we have not in this age desired to see the Face of the Lord\u2019s Body, nor have we longed to hear the Voice proceeding out of the mouth of that Body; we have not sought in Him for any passing 3480 odour. A certain \u201cwoman anointed Him with most costly ointment,\u201d that \u201chouse was filled with the odour;\u201d 3481 but we were not there; lo, we did not smell, yet we believe. He gave to the disciples the Supper consecrated by His Own Hands; but we did not sit down at that Feast, and yet we daily eat this same Supper by faith. And do not think it strange that in that supper which He gave with His Own Hand, one was present without faith: the faith that appeared, afterwards was more than a compensation for that faithlessness then. Paul was not there who believed, Judas was there who betrayed. How many now too in this same Supper, though they saw not then that table, nor beheld with their eyes, nor tasted with their mouths, the bread which the Lord took in His Hands, yet because it is the same as is now prepared, how many now also in this same Supper, \u201ceat and drink judgment to themselves\u201d? 3482\n5. But whence arose an occasion, so to say, to the Lord, to speak of this supper? One of them that sat at meat with Him (for He was at a feast, whither He had been invited), had said, \u201cBlessed are they who eat bread in the kingdom of God.\u201d 3483 He sighed as though after distant things, and the Bread Himself was sitting down before him. Who is the Bread of the kingdom of God, but He who saith, \u201cI am the Living Bread which came down from heaven\u201d? 3484 Do not get thy mouth ready, but thine heart. On this occasion it was that the parable of this supper was set forth. Lo, we believe in Christ, we receive Him with faith. In receiving Him we know what to think of. We receive but little, and we are nourished in heart. It is not then what is seen, but what is believed, that feeds us. Therefore we too have not sought for that outward sense; nor have we said, \u201cLet them believe who have seen with their eyes, and handled with their hands the Lord Himself after His resurrection, if what is said be true; we do not touch Him, why should we believe?\u201d If we were to entertain such thoughts, we should be kept back from the supper by those \u201cfive pairs of oxen.\u201d That ye may know, Brethren, that not the gratification of these five senses, which softens and ministers pleasure, but a kind of curiosity was denoted, He did not say, \u201c\u2018I have bought five pairs of oxen,\u2019 and I go to feed them;\u201d but, \u201cI go to prove them.\u201d He who wishes to \u201cprove\u201d by \u201cthe pairs of oxen,\u201d does not wish to be in doubt, just as St. Thomas by these \u201cpairs\u201d did not wish to be in doubt. \u201cLet me see, let me touch, let me put in my fingers.\u201d \u201c\u2018Behold,\u2019 saith the Lord, \u2018put in thy fingers along My Side, and be not unbelieving.\u2019 3485 For thy sake have I been slain; at the place which thou wishest to touch, have I shed My Blood, that I might redeem thee; and dost thou still doubt of Me, unless thou touch Me? Behold, this too I grant; behold, this too I show thee; touch, and believe; find out the place of My wound, heal the wound of thy doubting.\u201d\n6. \u201cThe third said, I have married a wife.\u201d This is the pleasure of the flesh, which is a hindrance to many: and I would that it were so only without, and not within! There are men who say, \u201cThere is no happiness for a man, if he have not the pleasures of the flesh.\u201d These are they whom the Apostle censures, saying, \u201c\u2018Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die.\u2019 3486 Who hath risen to this life from the other? Who hath ever told us what goes on there? We take away with us, what in the time present makes our happiness.\u201d He that speaks thus, \u201chas married a wife,\u201d attaches himself to the flesh, places his delight in the pleasures of the flesh, excuses himself from the supper; let him look well to it that he die not by an inward famine. Attend to John, the holy Apostle and Evangelist; \u201cLove not the world, neither the things that are in the world.\u201d 3487 O ye who come to the Supper of the Lord, \u201cLove not the world, neither the things that are in the world.\u201d He did not say, \u201cHave not;\u201d but, \u201cLove not.\u201d Thou hast had, possessed, loved. The love of earthly things, is the bird-lime of the spirit\u2019s wings. Lo, thou hast desired, thou hast stuck fast. \u201cWho will give thee wings as of a dove?\u201d 3488 When wilt thou fly, whither thou mayest in deed, seeing thou hast perversely wished to rest here, where thou hast to thy hurt stuck fast? \u201cLove not the world,\u201d is the divine trumpet. By the voice of this trumpet unceasingly is it proclaimed to the compass of the earth, and to the whole world, \u201cLove not the world, neither the things that are in the world. p. 449 Whosoever loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of life.\u201d 3489 He begins at the last with which the Gospel ends. He begins at that, at which the Gospel made an end. \u201cThe lust of the flesh, I have married a wife. The lust of the eyes, I have bought five pairs of oxen. The ambition of life, I have bought a farm.\u201d\n7. Now these senses are denoted by the mention of the eyes only, the whole by a part, because the pre-eminence in the five senses belongs to the eyes. Wherefore though sight belongs peculiarly to the eyes, we are accustomed to use the word \u201cseeing\u201d through all the five senses. How? In the first place, in relation to the eyes themselves we say; \u201cSee how white it is, look and see how white it is:\u201d this has relation to the eyes. Hear and see how musical it is! Could we say conversely, \u201cHear and see how white it is\u201d? This expression, \u201csee,\u201d runs through all the senses; whereas the distinguishing expression 3490 of the other senses does not in its turn run through it. \u201cMark and see how musical; smell and see how agreeable it is; taste and see how sweet it is; touch and see how soft it is.\u201d And yet surely since they are senses, we should rather say thus; \u201cHear and be sensible how musical it is; smell and be sensible how agreeable it is; taste and be sensible how sweet it is; touch and be sensible how hot it is; handle and be sensible how smooth it is; handle and be sensible how soft it is.\u201d But we say none of these. For thus the Lord Himself after His resurrection when He appeared to His disciples, and when though they saw Him they still wavered in faith supposing that they saw a spirit, said, \u201cWhy do ye doubt, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My Hands and My Feet.\u201d It is not enough to say, \u201cSee;\u201d He saith, \u201cTouch, and handle, and see.\u201d 3491 \u201cLook and see, handle and see; with the eyes alone see, and see by all the senses.\u201d Because He was looking for the inner sense of faith, He offered Himself to the outward senses of the body. We have made no attainment 3492 in the Lord by these outward senses, we have heard with our ears, have believed with our heart; and this hearing not from His mouth, but from the mouth of His preachers, from their mouths who were already at the supper, and who by the pouring forth of what they there drunk in invited us.\n8. Let us away then with vain and evil excuses, and come we to the supper by which we may be made fat within. Let not the puffing up of pride keep us back, let it not lift us up, nor unlawful curiosity scare us, and turn us away from God; let not the pleasure of the flesh hinder us from the pleasure of the heart. Let us come, and be filled. And who came but the beggars, the \u201cmaimed,\u201d the \u201chalt,\u201d the \u201cblind\u201d? But there came not thither the rich, and the whole, who walked, as they thought, well, and saw acutely; who had great confidence in themselves, and were therefore in the more desperate case, in proportion as they were more proud. Let the beggars come, for He inviteth them, \u201cwho, though He was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we beggars through His poverty might be enriched.\u201d 3493 Let the maimed come, \u201cfor they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are in evil case.\u201d 3494 Let the halt come who may say to Him, \u201cSet in order my steps in Thy paths.\u201d 3495 Let the blind come who may say, \u201cEnlighten mine eyes, that I may never sleep in death.\u201d 3496 Such as these came at the hour, when those who had been first invited, had been rejected for their own excuses: they came at the hour, they entered in from the streets and lanes of the city. And the servant \u201cwho had been sent,\u201d brought answer, \u201cLord, it is done as Thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.\u201d \u201cGo out,\u201d saith He, \u201cinto the highways and hedges, and compel those whom thou shalt find to come in.\u201d 3497 Whom thou shalt find wait not till they choose to come, compel them to come in. I have prepared a great supper, a great house, I cannot suffer any place to be vacant in it. The Gentiles came from the streets and lanes: let the heretics come from the hedges, here they shall find peace. For those who make hedges, their object is to make divisions. Let them be drawn away from the hedges, let them be plucked up from among the thorns. They have stuck fast in the hedges, they are unwilling to be compelled. 3498 Let us come in, they say, of our own good will. This is not the Lord\u2019s order, \u201cCompel them,\u201d saith he, \u201cto come in.\u201d Let compulsion be found outside, the will arise within.\nPs. 55.6, Sept. (lv. 6, English version).\n449:3489\n1 John 2:15, 16, Vulgate.\n449:3490 449:3491\nLuke 24:38, 39.\n449:3492 449:3493 449:3494\nMatt. ix. 12, Vulgate.\n449:3495 449:3496 449:3497\nLuke 14:22, 23.\n449:3498\nThis alludes to the laws made against the Donatists by the Christian Emperors. See St. Augustin\u2019s Epis. 195, and especially \u00a7 24.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VI: Sermons on Selec...","type":"page"}