{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/112/1120025.htm","path":"chr/ecf/112/1120025.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/112/1120025.htm","text":"Am I not an Apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?\nInasmuch as he had said, \u201cIf meat make my brother to stumble I will eat no flesh forever;\u201d a thing which he had not yet done, but professed he would do if need require: lest any man should say, \u201cThou vauntest thyself at random, and art severe in discourse, and utterest words of promise, a thing easy to me or to any body; but if these sayings come from thy heart, shew by deeds something which thou hast slighted in order to avoid making thy brother stumble:\u201d for this cause, I say, in what follows he is compelled to enter on the proof of this also, and to point out how he was used to forego even things permitted that he might not give offence, although without any law to enforce his doing so.\nAnd we are not yet come to the admirable part of the matter: though it be admirable that he abstain even from things lawful to avoid offence: but it is his habit of doing so at the cost of so much trouble and danger 100 . \u201cFor why,\u201d saith he, \u201cspeak of the idol sacrifices? Since although Christ had enjoined that those who preach the Gospel should live at the charge of their disciples, I did not so, but chose, if need were, to end my life with famine and die the most grievous of deaths, so I might avoid receiving of those whom I instruct.\u201d\nNot because they would otherwise be made to stumble, but because his not receiving would edify them 101 : a much greater thing for him to do. And to witness this he summons themselves, among whom he was used to live in toil and in hunger, nourished by others, and put to straits, in order not to offend them. And yet there was no ground for their taking offence, for it would but have been a law which he was fulfilling. But for all this, by a sort of supererogation 102 he used to spare them.\nNow if he did more than was enacted lest they should take offence, and abstained from permitted things to edify others; what must they deserve who abstain not from idol sacrifices? and that, when many perish thereby? a thing which even apart from all scandal one ought to shrink from, as being \u201cthe table of demons.\u201d\nThe sum therefore of this whole topic is this which he works out in many verses. But we must resume it and make a fresh entrance on what he hath alleged. For neither hath he set it down thus expressly as I have worded it; nor doth he leap at once upon it; but begins from another topic, thus speaking;\n[2.] \u201cAm I not an Apostle?\u201d For besides all that hath been said, this also makes no small difference that Paul himself is the person thus conducting himself. As thus: To prevent their alleging, \u201cYou may taste of the sacrifices, sealing 103 at the same time:\u201d for a while he withstands not that statement, but argues, \u201cThough it were lawful, your brethren\u2019s harm should keep you from doing so;\u201d and afterwards he proves that it is not even lawful. In this particular place, however, he establishes the former point from circumstances relating to himself. And intending presently to say that he had received nothing from them, he sets it not down at once, but his own dignity is what he first affirms: \u201cAm I not an Apostle? am I not free?\u201d\nThus, to hinder their saying, \u201cTrue; thou didst not receive, but the reason thou didst not was its not being lawful;\u201d he sets down therefore first the causes why he might reasonably have received, had he been willing to do so.\nFurther: that there might not seem to be any thing invidious in regard of Peter and such as Peter, in his saying these things, (for they did not use to decline receiving;) he first shows that they had authority to receive, and then that no one might say, \u201cPeter had authority to receive but thou hadst not,\u201d he possesses the hearer beforehand with these encomiums of himself. And perceiving that he must praise p. 119 himself, (for that was the way to correct the Corinthians,) yet disliking to say any great thing of himself, see how he hath tempered both feelings as the occasion required: limiting his own panegyric, not by what he knew of himself, but by what the subject of necessity required. For he might have said, \u201cI most of all had a right to receive, even more than they, because \u2018I labored more abundantly than they.\u2019\u201d But this he omits, being a point wherein he surpassed them; and those points wherein they were great and which were just grounds for their receiving, those only he sets down: as follows:\n\u201cAm I not an Apostle? am I not free?\u201d i.e. \u201chave I not authority over myself? am I under any, to overrule me and forbid my receiving?\u201d\n\u201cBut they have an advantage over you, in having been with Christ.\u201d\n\u201cNay, neither is this denied me.\u201d With a view to which he saith,\n\u201cHave I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?\u201d For \u201clast of all,\u201d (c. 1 Cor. 15.8.) saith he, \u201cas unto one born out of due time, He appeared unto me also.\u201d Now this likewise was no small dignity: since \u201cmany Prophets,\u201d (S. Matt. xiii. 17.) saith He, \u201cand righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen them:\u201d and, \u201cDays will come when ye shall desire to see one of these days.\u201d (S. Luke xvii. 22.)\n\u201cWhat then, though thou be \u2018an Apostle,\u2019 and \u2018free,\u2019 and hast \u2018seen Christ,\u2019 if thou hast not exhibited any work of an Apostle; how then can it be right for thee to receive?\u201d Wherefore after this he adds,\n\u201cAre not ye my work in the Lord?\u201d For this is the great thing; and those others avail nothing, apart from this. Even Judas himself was \u201can Apostle,\u201d and \u201cfree,\u201d and \u201csaw Christ;\u201d but because he had not \u201cthe work of an Apostle,\u201d all those things profited him not. You see then why he adds this also, and calls themselves to be witnesses of it.\nMoreover, because it was a great thing which he had uttered, see how he chastens it, adding, \u201cIn the Lord:\u201d i.e., \u201cthe work is God\u2019s, not mine.\u201d\n1 Cor. 9.2. \u201cIf to others I am not an Apostle, yet at least I am to you.\u201d\nDo you see how far he is from enlarging here without necessity? And yet he had the whole world to speak of, and barbarous nations, and sea and land. However, he mentions none of these things, but carries his point by concession, and even granting more than he need. As if he had said, \u201cWhy need I dwell on things over and above, since these even alone are enough for my present purpose? I speak not, you will observe, of my achievements in other quarters, but of those which have you for witnesses. Upon which it follows that if from no other quarter, yet from you I have a right to receive. Nevertheless, from whom I had most right to receive, even you whose teacher I was, from those I received not.\u201d\n\u201cIf to others I am not an Apostle, yet at least I am to you.\u201d Again, he states his point by concession. For the whole world had him for its Apostle. \u201cHowever,\u201d saith he, \u201cI say not that, I am not contending nor disputing, but what concerns you I lay down. \u2018For the seal of mine Apostleship are ye:\u2019\u201d i.e., its proof. \u201cShould any one, moreover, desire to learn whence I am an Apostle, you are the persons whom I bring forward: for all the signs of an Apostle have I exhibited among you, and not one have I failed in.\u201d As also he speaks in the Second Epistle, saying, (2 Cor. xii. 12.) \u201cThough I am nothing, truly the signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works. For what is there wherein ye were made inferior to the rest of the Churches?\u201d Wherefore he saith, \u201cThe seal of mine Apostleship are ye.\u201d \u201cFor I both exhibited miracles, and taught by word, and underwent dangers, and shewed forth a blameless life.\u201d And these topics you may see fully set forth by these two Epistles, how he lays before them the demonstration of each with all exactness.\n[3.] 1 Cor. 9.3. \u201cMy defence to them that examine me is this.\u201d What is, \u201cMy defence to them that examine me is this?\u201d \u201cTo those who seek to know whereby I am proved to be an Apostle, or who accuse me as receiving money, or inquire the cause of my not receiving, or would fain shew that I am not an Apostle: to all such, my instruction given to you and these things which I am about to say, may stand for a full explanation and defence.\u201d What then are these?\n1 Cor. 9:4, 5. \u201cHave we no right to eat and to drink? Have we no right to lead about a wife that is a believer?\u201d Why, how are these sayings a defence? \u201cBecause, when it appears that I abstain even from things which are allowed, it cannot be just to look suspiciously on me as a deceiver or one acting for gain.\u201d\nWherefore, from what was before alleged and from my having instructed you and from this which I have now said, I have matter sufficient to make my defence to you: and all who examine me I meet upon this ground, alleging both what has gone before and this which follows: \u201cHave we no right to eat and to drink? have we no right to lead about a wife that is a believer? \u201cYet for all this, having it I abstain?\u201d\nWhat then? did he not use to eat or to drink? p. 120 It were most true to say that in many places he really did not eat nor drink: for (c. 1 Cor. 5.11.) \u201cin hunger,\u201d saith he, \u201cand in thirst, and in nakedness\u201d we were abiding.\u201d Here, however, this is not his meaning; but what? \u201cWe eat not nor drink, receiving of those whom we instruct, though we have a right so to receive.\u201d\n\u201cHave we no right to lead about a wife that is a believer, even as the rest of the Apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?\u201d Observe his skilfulness. The leader of the choir stands last in his arrangement: since that is the time for laying down the strongest of all one\u2019s topics. Nor was it so wonderful for one to be able to point out examples of this conduct in the rest, as in the foremost champion and in him who was entrusted with the keys of heaven. But neither does he mention Peter alone, but all of them: as if he had said, Whether you seek the inferior sort or the more eminent, in all you find patterns of this sort.\nFor the brethren too of the Lord, being freed from their first unbelief (vid. S. John vii. 5.), had come to be among those who were approved, although they attained not to the Apostles. And accordingly the middle place is that which he hath assigned to them, setting down those who were in the extremes before and after.\n1 Cor. 9.6. \u201cOr I only and Barnabas, have we not a right to forbear working?\u201d\n(See his humility of mind and his soul pure from envy, how he takes care not to conceal him whom he knew to be a partaker with himself in this perfection.) For if the other things be common, how is not this common? Both they and we are apostles and are free, and have seen Christ, and have exhibited the works of Apostles. Therefore we likewise have a right both to live without working and to be supported by our disciples.\n[4.] 1 Cor. 9.7. \u201cWhat soldier ever serveth at his own charges?\u201d For since, which was the strongest point, he had proved from the Apostles that it is lawful to do so, he next comes to examples and to the common practice; as he uses to do: \u201cWhat soldier serveth at his own charges?\u201d saith he. But do thou consider, I pray, how very suitable are the examples to his proposed subject, and how he mentions first that which is accompanied with danger; viz. soldiership and arms and wars. For such a kind of thing was the Apostolate, nay rather much more hazardous than these. For not with men alone was their warfare, but with demons also, and against the prince of those beings was their battle array. What he saith therefore is this: \u201cNot even do heathen governors, cruel and unjust as they are, require their soldiers to endure service and peril and live on their own means. How then could Christ ever have required this?\u201d\nNor is he satisfied with one example. For to him who is rather simple and dull, this also is wont to come as a great refreshment, viz. their seeing the common custom also going along with the laws of God. Wherefore he proceeds to another topic also and says, \u201cWho planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof?\u201d For as by the former he indicated his dangers, so by this his labor and abundant travail and care.\nHe adds likewise a third example, saying, \u201cWho feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk thereof?\u201d He is exhibiting the great concern which it becomes a teacher to show for those who are under his rule. For, in fact, the Apostles were both soldiers and husbandmen and shepherds, not of the earth nor of irrational animals, nor in such wars as are perceptible by sense; but of reasonable souls and in battle array with the demons.\nIt also must be remarked how every where he preserves moderation, seeking the useful only, not the extraordinary. For he said not, \u201cWhat soldier serveth and is not enriched?\u201d but, \u201cWhat soldier ever serveth at his own charges?\u201d Neither did he say, \u201cWho planteth a vineyard, and gathereth not gold, or spareth to collect the whole fruit?\u201d but, \u201cWho eateth not of the fruit thereof?\u201d Neither did he say, \u201cWho feedeth a flock, and maketh not merchandize of the lambs?\u201d But what? \u201cAnd eateth not of the milk thereof?\u201d Not of the lambs, but of the milk; signifying, that a little relief should be enough for the teacher, even his necessary food alone. (This refers to those who would devour all and gather the whole of the fruit.) \u201cSo likewise the Lord ordained,\u201d saying, \u201cThe laborer is worthy of his food.\u201d (St. Matt. x. 10.)\nAnd not this only doth he establish by his illustrations, but he shows also what kind of man a priest ought to be. For he ought to possess both the courage of a soldier and the diligence of a husbandman and the carefulness of a shepherd, and after all these, to seek nothing more than necessaries.\n[5.] Having shewn, as you see, both from the Apostles, that it is not forbidden the teacher to receive, and from illustrations found in common life, he proceeds also to a third head, thus saying,\n1 Cor. 9.8. \u201cDo I speak these things after the manner of men? or saith not the law also the same?\u201d\nFor since he had hitherto alleged nothing out of the Scriptures, but put forward the common custom; \u201cthink not,\u201d saith he, \u201cthat I am confident in these alone, nor that I go to the opinions of men for the ground of these enactments. For I can shew that these things are p. 121 also well-pleasing to God, and I read an ancient law enjoining them.\u201d Wherefore also he carries on his discourse in the form of a question, which is apt to be done in things fully acknowledged; thus saying, \u201cSay I these things after the manner of men?\u201d i.e. \u201cdo I strengthen myself only by human examples?\u201d \u201cor saith not the law also the same?\u201d\n1 Cor. 9.9. \u201cFor it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.\u201d\nAnd on what account hath he mentioned this, having the example of the priests? Wishing to establish it far beyond what the case required. Further, lest any should say, \u201cAnd what have we to do with the saying about the oxen?\u201d he works it out more exactly, saying, \u201cIs it for the oxen that God careth;\u201d Doth God then, tell me, take no care for oxen? Well, He doth take care of them, but not so as to make a law concerning such a thing as this. So that had he not been hinting at something important, training the Jews to mercy in the case of the brutes, and through these, discoursing with them of the teachers also; he would not have taken so much interest as even to make a law to forbid the muzzling of oxen.\nWherein he points out another thing likewise, that the labor of teachers both is and ought to be great.\nAnd again another thing. What then is this? That whatever is said by the Old Testament respecting care for brutes, in its principal meaning bears on the instruction of human beings: as in fact do all the rest: the precepts, for example, concerning various garments; and those concerning vineyards and seeds and not making the ground bear divers crops, 104 and those concerning leprosy; and, in a word, all the rest: for they being of a duller sort He was discoursing with them from these topics, advancing them by little and little.\nAnd see how in what follows he doth not even confirm it, as being clear and self-evident. For having said, \u201cIs it for the oxen that God careth?\u201d he added, \u201cor saith he it altogether for our sake?\u201d Not adding even the \u201caltogether\u201d at random, but that he might not leave the hearer any thing whatever to reply.\nAnd he dwells upon the metaphor, saying and declaring, \u201cYea for our sakes it was written, because he who ploweth ought to plow in hope;\u201d i.e., the teacher ought to enjoy the returns of his labors; \u201cand he that thresheth ought to thresh in hope of partaking.\u201d And observe his wisdom in that from the seed he transferred the matter to the threshing floor; herein also again manifesting the many toils of the teachers, that they in their own persons both plough and tread the floor. And of the ploughing, because there was nothing to reap, but labor only, he used the word, \u201chope;\u201d but of treading the floor he presently allows the fruit, saying, \u201cHe that thresheth is a partaker of his hope.\u201d\nFurther, lest any should say, \u201cIs this then the return for so many toils,\u201d he adds, \u201cin hope,\u201d i.e., \u201cwhich is to come.\u201d No other thing therefore doth the mouth of this animal being unmuzzled declare than this; that the teachers who labor ought also to enjoy some return.\n[6.] 1 Cor. 9.11. \u201cIf we sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?\u201d\nLo, he adds also a fourth argument for the duty of yielding support. For since he had said, \u201cWhat soldier ever serveth at his own charges?\u201d and, \u201cwho planteth a vineyard?\u201d and, \u201cwho feedeth a flock?\u201d and introduced the ox that treadeth the corn; he points out likewise another most reasonable cause on account of which they might justly receive; viz. having bestowed much greater gifts, no more as having labored only. What is it then? \u201cif we sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?\u201d Seest thou a most just allegation and fuller of reason than all the former? for \u201cin those instances,\u201d says he, \u201ccarnal is the seed, carnal also is the fruit; but here not so, but the seed is spiritual, the return carnal.\u201d Thus, to prevent high thoughts in those who contribute to their teachers, he signified that they receive more than they give. As if he had said, \u201cHusbandmen, whatsoever they sow, this also do they receive; but we, sowing in your souls spiritual things, do reap carnal.\u201d For such is the kind of support given by them. Further, and still more to put them to the blush.\n1 Cor. 9.12. \u201cIf others partake of this right over you, do not we yet more?\u201d\nSee also again another argument, and this too from examples though not of the same kind. For it is not Peter whom he mentions here nor the Apostles, but certain other spurious ones, with whom he afterwards enters into combat, and concerning whom he says, (2 Cor. xi. 20.) \u201cIf a man devour you, if he take you captive, if he exalt himself, if he smite you on the face,\u201d and already he is sounding the prelude 105 to the fight with them. Wherefore neither did he say, \u201cIf others take of you,\u201d but pointing out their insolence and tyranny and trafficking, he says, \u201cif others partake of this right over you,\u201d i.e., \u201crule you, exercise authority, use you as servants, not taking you captive only, but with much authority.\u201d Wherefore he added \u201cdo not we yet more?\u201d which he would not have said if p. 122 the discourse were concerning the Apostles. But it is evident that he hints at certain pestilent men, and deceivers of them. \u201cSo that besides the law of Moses even ye yourselves have made a law in behalf of the duty of contribution.\u201d\nAnd having said, \u201cdo not we yet more?\u201d he does not prove why yet more, but leaves it to their consciences to convince them of that, wishing at the same time both to alarm and to abash them more thoroughly.\n[7.] Nevertheless, we did not use this right;\u201d i.e., \u201cdid not receive.\u201d Do you see, when he had by so many reasons before proved that receiving is not unlawful, how he next says, \u201cwe receive not,\u201d that he might not seem to abstain as from a thing forbidden? \u201cFor not because it is unlawful,\u201d saith he, \u201cdo I not receive; for it is lawful and this we have many ways shown: from the Apostles; from the affairs of life, the soldier, the husbandman, and the shepherd; from the law of Moses; from the very nature of the case, in that we have sown unto you spiritual things; from what yourselves have done to others.\u201d But as he had laid down these things, lest he should seem to put to shame the Apostles who were in the habit of receiving; abashing them and signifying that not as from a forbidden thing doth he abstain from it: so again, lest by his large store of proof and the examples and reasonings by which he had pointed out the propriety of receiving, he should seem to be anxious to receive himself and therefore to say these things; he now corrects it. And afterwards he laid it down more clearly where he says, \u201cAnd I wrote not these things, that it may be so done in my case;\u201d but here his words are, \u201cwe did not use this right.\u201d\nAnd what is a still greater thing, neither could any have this to say, that being in abundance we declined using it; rather, when necessity pressed upon us we would not yield to the necessity. Which also in the second Epistle he says; \u201cI robbed other Churches, taking wages of them that I might minister unto you; and when I was present with you, and was in want, I was not a burden on any man.\u201d (2 Cor. 11:8, 9.) And in this Epistle again, \u201cWe both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted.\u201d (1 Cor. iv. 11.) And here again he hints the same thing, saying, \u201cBut we bear all things.\u201d For by saying, \u201cwe bear all things,\u201d he intimates both hunger and great straits and all the other things. \u201cBut not even thus have we been compelled,\u201d saith he, \u201cto break the law which we laid down for ourselves. Wherefore? \u201cthat we may cause no hinderance to the Gospel of Christ.\u201d For since the Corinthians were rather weak-minded, \u201clest we should wound you,\u201d saith he \u201cby receiving, we chose to do even more than was commanded rather than hinder the Gospel,\u201d i.e., your instruction. Now if we in a matter left free to us, and when we were both enduring much hardship and having Apostles for our pattern, used abstinence lest we should give hindrance, (and he did not say, \u201csubversion,\u201d but \u201chindrance;\u201d nor simply \u201chindrance,\u201d but \u201cany\u201d hindrance,) that we might not, so to speak, cause so much as the slightest suspense and delay to the course of the Word: \u201cIf now,\u201d saith he, \u201cwe used so great care, how much more ought you to abstain, who both come far short of the Apostles and have no law to mention, giving you permission: but contrariwise are both putting your hand to things forbidden and things which tend to the great injury of the Gospel, not to its hindrance only 106 ; and not even having any pressing necessity in view.\u201d For all this discussion he had moved on account of these Corinthians, who were making their weaker brethren to stumble by eating of things sacrificed to idols.\n[8.] These things also let us listen to, beloved; that we may not despise those who are offended, nor, \u201ccause any hindrance to the Gospel of Christ;\u201d that we may not betray our own salvation. And say not thou to me when thy brother is offended, \u201cthis or that, whereby he is offended, hath not been forbidden; it is permitted.\u201d For I have something greater to say to thee: \u201calthough Christ Himself have permitted it, yet if thou seest any injured, stop and do not use the permission.\u201d For this also did Paul; when he might have received, Christ having granted permission, he received not. Thus hath our Lord in His mercy mingled much gentleness with His precepts that it might not be all merely of commandment, but that we might do much also of our own mind. Since it was in His power, had He not been so minded, to extend the commandments further and to say, \u201che who fasts not continually, let him be chastised; he who keeps not his virginity, let him be punished; he that doth not strip himself of all that he hath, let him suffer the severest penalty.\u201d But he did not so, giving thee occasion, if thou wilt, to be forward in doing more. Wherefore both when He was discoursing about virginity, He said, \u201cHe that is able to receive, let him receive it:\u201d and in the case of the rich man, some things He commanded, but some He left to the determination of his mind. For He said not, \u201cSell what thou hast,\u201d but, \u201cIf thou wilt be perfect, sell.\u201d\nBut we are not only not forward to do more, and to go beyond the precepts, but we fall very short even of the measure of things commanded. p. 123 And whereas Paul suffered hunger that he might not hinder the Gospel; we have not the heart even to touch what is in our own stores, though we see innumerable souls overthrown. \u201cYea\u201d saith one, \u201clet the moth eat, and let not the poor eat; let the worm devour, and let not the naked be clothed; let all be wasted away with time, and let not Christ be fed; and this when He hungereth.\u201d \u201cWhy, who said this?\u201d it will be asked. Nay, this is the very grievance, that not in words but in deeds these things are said: for it were less grievous uttered in words than done in deeds. For is not this the cry, day by day, of the inhuman and cruel tyrant, Covetousness, to those who are led captive by her? \u201cLet your goods be set before informers and robbers and traitors for luxury, and not before the hungry and needy for their sustenance.\u201d Is it not ye then who make robbers? Is it not ye who minister fuel to the fire of the envious? Is it not ye who make vagabonds and traitors, putting your wealth before them for a bait? What madness is this? (for a madness it is, and plain distraction,) to fill your chests with apparel, and overlook him that is made after God\u2019s image and similitude, naked and trembling with cold, and with difficulty keeping himself upright.\n\u201cBut he pretends,\u201d saith one, \u201cthis tremor and weakness.\u201d And dost thou not fear lest a thunderbolt from heaven, kindled by this word, should fall upon thee? (For I am bursting with wrath: bear with me.) Thou, I say, pampering and fattening thyself and extending thy potations to the dead of night and comforting thyself in soft coverlets, dost not deem thyself liable to judgment, so lawlessly using the gifts of God: (for wine was not made that we should be drunken; nor food, that we should pamper our appetites; nor meats, that we should distend the belly.) But from the poor, the wretched, from him that is as good as dead, from him demandest thou strict accounts, and dost thou not fear Christ\u2019s tribunal, so full of all awfulness and terror? Why, if he do play the hypocrite, he doth it of necessity and want, because of thy cruelty and inhumanity, requiring the use of such masks and refusing all inclination to mercy. For who is so wretched and miserable as without urgent necessity, for one loaf of bread, to submit to such disgrace, and to bewail himself and endure so severe a punishment? So that this hypocrisy of his goeth about, the herald of thine inhumanity. For since by supplicating and beseeching and uttering piteous expressions and lamenting and weeping and going about all day, he doth not obtain even necessary food, he devised perhaps even this contrivance also, the disgrace and blame whereof falls not so much on himself as on thee: for he indeed is meet to be pitied because he hath fallen into so great necessity; but we are worthy of innumerable punishments because we compel the poor to suffer such things. For if we would easily give way, never would he have chosen to endure such things.\nAnd why speak I of nakedness and trembling? For I will tell a thing yet more to be shuddered at, that some have been compelled even to deprive their children of sight at an early age in order that they might touch our insensibility. For since when they could see and went about naked, neither by their age nor by their misfortunes could they win favor of the unpitying, they added to so great evils another yet sterner tragedy, that they might remove their hunger; thinking it to be a lighter thing to be deprived of this common light and that sunshine which is given to all, than to struggle with continual famine and endure the most miserable of deaths. Thus, since you have not learned to pity poverty, but delight yourselves in misfortunes, they satisfy your insatiable desire, and both for themselves and for us kindle a fiercer flame in hell.\n[9.] And to convince you that this is the reason why these and such like things are done, I will tell you of an acknowledged proof which no man can gainsay. There are other poor men, of light and unsteady minds and not knowing how to bear hunger, but rather enduring every thing than it. These having often tried to deal with us by piteous gestures and words and finding that they availed nothing, have left off those supplications and henceforward our very wonder-workers are surpassed by them, some chewing the skins of worn-out shoes, and some fixing sharp nails into their heads, others lying about in frozen pools with naked stomachs, and others enduring different things yet more horrid than these, that they may draw around them the ungodly spectators. And thou, while these things are going on, standest laughing and wondering the while and making a fine show of other men\u2019s miseries, our common nature disgracing itself. And what could a fierce demon do more? Next, you give him money in abundance that he may do these things more promptly. And to him that prays and calls on God and approaches with modesty, you vouchsafe neither an answer nor a look: rather you utter to him, continually teazing you, those disgusting expressions, \u201cOught this fellow to live? or at all to breathe and see this sun?\u201d whereas to the other sort you are both cheerful and liberal, as though you were appointed to dispense the prize of that ridiculous and Satanic unseemliness. Wherefore with more propriety to those who appoint these sports and bestow nothing till they see others punishing themselves, might these words be addressed, \u201cOught p. 124 these men to live, to breathe at all, or see the sun, who transgress against our common nature, who insult God?\u201d For whereas God saith, \u201cGive alms, and I give thee the kingdom of heaven,\u201d thou hearest not: but when the Devil shews thee a head pierced with nails, on a sudden thou hast become liberal. And the contrivance of the evil spirit pregnant with so much mischief, hath wrought upon thee more than the promise of God bringing innumerable blessings. If gold were to be laid down to prevent the doing of these things or the looking upon them when done, there is nothing which thou oughtest not to practise and endure, to get rid of so excessive madness; but ye contrive every thing to have them done, and look on the doing of them. Still askest thou then, tell me, to what end is hell-fire? Nay, ask not that any more, but how is there one hell only? For of how many punishments are not they worthy, who get up this cruel and merciless spectacle and laugh at what both they and yourselves ought to weep over; yea, rather of the two, ye who compel them to such unseemly doings.\n\u201cBut I do not compel them,\u201d say you. What else but compelling is it, I should like to know? Those who are more modest and shed tears and invoke God, thou art impatient even of listening to; but for these thou both findest silver in abundance and bringest around thee many to admire them.\n\u201cWell, let us leave off,\u201d say you, \u201cpitying them. And dost thou too enjoin this?\u201d Nay, it is not pity, O man, to demand so severe a punishment for a few pence, to order men to maim themselves for necessary food and cut into many pieces the skin of their head so mercilessly and pitifully. \u201cGently,\u201d say you, \u201cfor it is not we who pierce those heads.\u201d Would it were thou, and the horror would not be so horrible. For he that slays a man does a much more grievous 107 thing than he who bids him slay himself, which indeed happens in the case of these persons. For they endure more bitter pains when they are bidden to be themselves the executors of these wicked commands.\nAnd all this in Antioch, where men were first called Christians, wherein are bred the most civilized of mankind, where in old time the fruit of charity flourished so abundantly. For not only to those at hand but also to those very far off, they used to send, and this when famine was expected.\n[10.] What then ought we to do? say you. To cease from this savage practice: and to convince all that are in need that by doing these things they will gain nothing, but if they modestly approach they shall find your liberality great. Let them be once aware of this, even though they be of all men most miserable, they will never choose to punish themselves so severely, I pledge myself; nay, they will even give you thanks for delivering them both from the mockery and the pain of that way of life. But as it is, for charioteers you would let out even your own children, and for dancers you would throw away your very souls, while for Christ an hungered you spare not the smallest portion of your substance. But if you give a little silver, you think as much of it as if you had laid out all you have, not knowing that not the giving but the giving liberally, this is true almsgiving. Wherefore also it is not those simply who give whom the prophet proclaims and calls happy, but those who bestow liberally. For he doth not say simply, He hath given, but what? (Ps. cxii. 8.) \u201che hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor.\u201d For what profit is it, when out of it thou givest as it were a glass of water out of the sea, and even a widow\u2019s magnanimity is beyond thy emulation? And how wilt thou say, \u201cPity me, O Lord, according to thy great pity, and according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out my transgression,\u201d thyself not pitying according to any great pity, nay, haply not according to any little. For I am greatly ashamed, I own, when I see many of the rich riding upon their golden-bitted chargers with a train of domestics clad in gold, and having couches of silver and other and more pomp, and yet when there is need to give to a poor man, becoming more beggarly than the very poorest.\n[11.] But what is their constant talk? \u201cHe hath,\u201d they say, \u201cthe common church-allowance.\u201d And what is that to thee? For thou wilt not be saved because I give; nor if the Church bestow hast thou blotted out thine own sins. For this cause givest thou not, because the Church ought to give to the needy? Because the priests pray, wilt thou never pray thyself? And because others fast, wilt thou be continually drunken? Knowest thou not that God enacted not almsgiving so much for the sake of the poor as for the sake of the persons themselves who bestow?\nBut dost thou suspect the priest? Why this thing itself, to begin with, is a grievous sin. However, I will not examine the matter too nicely. Do thou it all in thine own person, and so shalt thou reap a double reward. Since in fact, what we say in behalf of almsgiving, we say not, that thou shouldest offer to us, but that thou shouldest thyself minister by thine own hands. For if thou bringest thine alms to me, perhaps thou mayest even be led captive by vain-glory, and oftentimes likewise thou shalt go away offended through suspicion of something p. 125 evil: but if ye do all things by yourselves, ye shall both be rid of offences and of unreasonable suspicion, and greater is your reward. Not therefore to compel you to bring your money hither, do I say these things; nor from indignation on account of the priests being ill-reported of. For if one must be indignant and grieve, for you should be our grief, who say this ill. Since to them who are spoken ill of falsely and vainly the reward is greater, but to the speakers the condemnation and punishment is heavier. I say not these things therefore in their behalf, but in solicitude and care for you. For what marvel is it if some in our generation are suspected, when in the case of those holy men who imitated the angels, who possessed nothing of their own, I mean the Apostles, there was a murmuring in the ministration to the widows (Acts vi. 1.) that the poor were overlooked? when \u201cnot one said that aught of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things common?\u201d (Acts iv. 32.)\nLet us not then put forward these pretexts, nor account it an excuse that the Church is wealthy. But when you see the greatness of her substance, bear in mind also the crowds of poor who are on her list, the multitudes of her sick, her occasions of endless expenses. Investigate, scrutinize, there is none to forbid, nay, they are even ready to give you an account. But I wish to go much farther. Namely, when we have given in our accounts and proved that our expenditure is no less than our income, nay, sometimes more, I would gladly ask you this further question: When we depart hence and shall hear Christ saying, \u201cYe saw me hungry, and gave me no meat; naked, and ye clothed me not;\u201d what shall we say? what apology shall we make? Shall we bring forward such and such a person who disobeyed these commands? or some of the priests who were suspected? \u201cNay, what is this to thee? for I accuse thee,\u201d saith He, \u201cof those things wherein thou hast thyself sinned. And the apology for these would be, to have washed away thine own offences, not to point to others whose errors have been the same as thine.\u201d\nIn fact, the Church through your meanness is compelled to have such property as it has now. Since, if men did all things according to the apostolical laws, its revenue should have been your good will, which were both a secure chest and an inexhaustible treasury. But now when ye lay up for yourselves treasures upon the earth and shut up all things in your own stores, while the Church is compelled to be at charges with bands of widows, choirs of virgins, sojournings of strangers, distresses of foreigners, the misfortunes of prisoners, the necessities of the sick and maimed, and other such like causes, what must be done? Turn away from all these, and block up so many ports? Who then could endure the shipwrecks that would ensue; the weepings, the lamentations, the wailings which would reach us from every quarter?\nLet us not then speak at random what comes into our mind. For now, as I have just said, we are really prepared to render up our accounts to you. But even if it were the reverse, and ye had corrupt teachers plundering and grasping at every thing, not even so were their wickedness an apology for you. For the Lover of mankind and All-wise, the Only-Begotten Son of God, seeing all things, and knowing the chance that in so great length of time and in so vast a world there would be many corrupt priests; lest the carelessness of those under their rule should increase through their neglect, removing every excuse for indifference; \u201cIn Moses\u2019 seat,\u201d saith He, \u201csit the Scribes and the Pharisees; all things, therefore, whatsoever they bid you, these do ye, but do not ye after their works:\u201d implying, that even if thou hast a bad teacher, this will not avail thee, shouldest thou not attend to the things which are spoken. For not from what thy teacher hath done but from what thou hast heard and disobeyed, from that, I say, doth God pass his sentence upon thee. So that if thou doest the things commanded, thou shalt then stand with much boldness: but if thou disobey the things spoken, even though thou shouldest show ten thousand corrupt priests, this will not plead for thee at all. Since Judas also was an apostle, but nevertheless this shall never be any apology for the sacrilegious and covetous. Nor will any be able when accused to say, \u201cWhy the Apostle was a thief and sacrilegious, and a traitor;\u201d yea, this very thing shall most of all be our punishment and condemnation that not even by the evils of others were we corrected. For this cause also these things were written that we might shun all emulation of such things.\nWherefore, leaving this person and that, let us take heed to ourselves. For \u201ceach of us shall give account of himself to God.\u201d In order therefore that we may render up this account with a good defence, let us well order our own lives and stretch out a liberal hand to the needy, knowing that this only is our defence, the showing ourselves to have rightly done the things commanded; there is no other whatever. And if we be able to produce this, we shall escape those intolerable pains of hell, and obtain the good things to come; unto which may we all attain, by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom, to the Father and the Holy Ghost, be glory, power, and honor, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.\nThe reading here adopted is Savile\u2019s.\n118:101\nA slight transposition has been made here: the sense seeming to require it.\n118:102 118:103\ni.e. making the sign of the Cross: \u03c3\u03c6\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u03af\u03b6\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9.\n121:104\n\u03b4\u03b9\u03ac\u03c6\u03bf\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd \u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03b3\u1fc6\u03bd. See Deut. xxii. 9. LXX.\n121:105 122:106\nThe reading seems imperfect, and unintelligible: it is rendered as if it were, \u03bf\u1f50\u03ba \u1f10\u03c0\u1f76 \u03c4\u1ff7 \u1f10\u03b3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u1f74\u03bd \u03bc\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd \u03b4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9.\n124:107\n\u03c7\u03b1\u03bb\u03b5\u03c0\u03ce\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd; the sense seems to require \u201cless grievous:\u201d perhaps the negative has slipped out of the text.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. XII: Homilies on First Corinthians.: Homily XXI","type":"page"}