{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/113/1130028.htm","path":"chr/ecf/113/1130028.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/113/1130028.htm","text":"\u201cLet all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice.\u201d\nAs bees 353 will never settle down in an unclean vessel,\u2014and this is the reason why those who are skilled in these matters sprinkle the spot with perfumes, and scented ointments, and sweet odors; and the wicker baskets also, in which they will have to settle as soon as they come out of the hives they sprinkle with fragrant wines, and all other sweets, that there may be no noisome smell to annoy them, and drive them away again,\u2014so in truth is it also with the Holy Spirit. Our soul is a sort of vessel or basket, capable of receiving the swarms of spiritual gifts; but if there shall be within it gall, and \u201cbitterness, and wrath,\u201d the swarms will fly away. Hence this blessed and wise husbandman well and thoroughly cleanses our vessels, withholding neither knife nor any other instrument of iron, and invites us to this spiritual swarm; and as he gathers it, he cleanses us with prayers, and labors, and all the rest. Mark then how he cleanses out our heart. He has banished lying, he has banished anger. Now, again, he is p. 122 pointing out how that evil may be yet more entirely eradicated; if we be not, saith he, \u201cbitter\u201d in spirit. For it is as is wont to happen with our bile, if there chance to be but little of it, there will be but little disturbance if the receptacle should burst: but if ever the strength and acridness of this quality becomes excessive, the vessel which before held it, containing it no longer, is as if it were eaten through by a scorching fire, and it is no longer able to hold it and contain it within its appointed bounds, but, rent asunder by its intense sharpness, it lets it escape and injure the whole body. And it is like some very fierce and frightful wild beast, that has been brought into a city; as long as it is confined in the cages made for it, however it may rage, however it may roar, it will be unable to do harm to any one; but if it is overcome by rage, and breaks through the intervening bars, and is able to leap out, it fills the city with all sorts of confusion and disturbance, and puts everybody to flight. Such indeed is the nature also of bile. As long as it is kept within its proper limits, it will do us no great mischief; but as soon as ever the membrane that incloses it bursts, and there is nothing to hinder its being at once dispersed over the whole system, then, I say, at that moment, though it be so very trifling in quantity, 354 yet by reason of the inordinate strength of its quality it taints all the other elements of our nature with its own peculiar virulence. For finding the blood, for instance, near to it, alike in place and in quality, and rendering the heat which is in that blood more acrid, and everything else in fact which is near it; passing from its just temperature it overflows its bounds, turns all into gall, and therewith at once attacks likewise the other parts of the body; and thus infusing into all its own poisonous quality, it renders the man speechless, and causes him to expire, expelling life. Now, why have I stated all these things with such minuteness? It is in order that, understanding from this bitterness which is of the body the intolerable evil of that bitterness which is of the soul, and how entirely it destroys first of all the very soul that engenders it, making everything bitter, we may escape experience of it. For as the one inflames the whole constitution, so does the other the thoughts, and carries away its captive to the abyss of hell. In order then that by carefully examining these matters we may escape this evil, and bridle the monster, or rather utterly root it out, let us hearken to what Paul saith, \u201cLet all bitterness be\u201d (not destroyed, but) \u201cput away\u201d from you. For what need have I of trouble to restrain it, what necessity is there to keep watch on a monster, when it is in my power to expel him from my soul, to remove him and drive him out, as it were, into banishment? Let us hearken then to Paul when he saith, \u201cLet all bitterness be put away from you.\u201d But, ah, the perversity that possesses us! Though we ought to do everything to effect this, yet are there some so truly senseless as to congratulate themselves upon this evil, and to pride themselves upon it, and to glory in it, and who are envied by others. \u201cSuch a one,\u201d say they, \u201cis a bitter man, he is a scorpion, a serpent, a viper.\u201d They look upon him as one to be feared. But wherefore, good man, dost thou fear the bitter person? \u201cI fear,\u201d you say, \u201clest he injure me, lest he destroy me; I am not proof against his malice, I am afraid lest he should take me who am a simple man, and unable to foresee any of his schemes, and throw me into his snares, and entangle us in the toils which he has set to deceive us.\u201d Now I cannot but smile. And why forsooth? Because these are the arguments of children, who fear things which are not to be feared. Surely there is nothing we ought so to despise, nothing we ought so to laugh to scorn, as a bitter and malicious man. For there is nothing so powerless 355 as bitterness. It makes men fools and senseless.\nDo ye not see that malice is blind? Have ye never heard, that he that diggeth a pit for his neighbors, diggeth it for himself? How, it may be said, ought we not to fear a soul full of tumult? If indeed we are to fear the bitter in the same way as we fear evil spirits, and fools and madmen, (for they indeed do everything at random,) I grant it myself; but if we are to fear them as men skillful in the conduct of affairs, that never. For nothing is so necessary for the proper conduct of affairs as prudence; and there is no greater hindrance to prudence than wickedness, and malice, and hollowness. Look at bilious persons, how unsightly they are, with all their bloom withered away. How weak they are, and puny, and unfit for anything. So also are souls of this nature. What else is wickedness, but a jaundice of the soul? Wickedness then has no strength in it, indeed it has not. Have ye a mind that I again make what I am saying plain to you by an instance, by setting before you the portraits of a treacherous and a guileless man? Absalom was a treacherous man, and \u201cstole all men\u2019s hearts.\u201d (2 Sam. xv. 6.) And observe how great was his treachery. \u201cHe went about,\u201d it saith, \u201cand said, \u2018Hast thou no judgment?\u2019\u201d 356 wishing to p. 123 conciliate every one to himself. But David was guileless. What then? Look at the end of them both, look, how full of utter madness was the former! For inasmuch as he looked solely to the hurt of his father, in all other things he was blinded. But not so David. For \u201che that walketh uprightly, walketh surely\u201d (Prov. x. 9.); and reasonably; he is one that manages nothing over-subtilely, the man who devises no evil. Let us listen then to the blessed Paul, and let us pity, yea, let us weep for the bitter-minded, and let us practice every method, let us do everything to extirpate this vice from their souls. For how is it not absurd, that when there is bile within us (though that indeed is a useful element, for without bile a man cannot possibly exist, that bile, I mean, which is an element of his nature,) how then, I say, is it not absurd that we should do all we can to get rid of this, though we are so highly benefited by it; and yet that we should do nothing, nor take any pains, to get rid of that which is in the soul, though it is in no case beneficial, but even in the highest degree injurious. He that thinketh that he is \u201cwise among you,\u201d saith he, \u201clet him become a fool, that he may become wise.\u201d (1 Cor. iii. 18.) Hearken too again to what Luke saith, \u201cThey did take their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people.\u201d (Acts 2:46, 47.) Why, do we not see even now that the simple and guileless enjoy the common esteem of all? No one envies such an one when he is in prosperity, no one tramples upon him when he is in adversity, but all rejoice with him when he does well, and grieve with him in misfortune. Whereas whenever a bitter man fares prosperously, one and all lament it, as though some evil thing happened; but if he is unfortunate, one and all rejoice. Let us then pity them, for they have common enemies all over the world. Jacob was a guileless man, yet he overcame the treacherous Esau. \u201cFor into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter.\u201d (Wisd. i. 4.) \u201cLet all bitterness be put away from you.\u201d Let not even a remnant remain, for it will be sure, if stirred, as if from a smouldering brand, to turn all within to an entire blaze. Let us then distinctly understand what this bitterness is. Take, for example, the hollow-hearted man, the crafty, the man who is on the watch to do mischief, the man of evil suspicion. From him then \u201cwrath\u201d and \u201canger\u201d are ever produced; for it is not possible for a soul like this to be in tranquillity, but the very root of \u201canger\u201d and \u201cwrath\u201d is \u201cbitterness.\u201d The man of this character is both sullen, and never unbends his soul; he is always moody, always gloomy. For as I was saying, they themselves are the first to reap the fruit of their own evil ways.\nWhat now, and dost thou take away clamor also? Yes, for the mild man must needs be of such a character, because clamor carries anger, as a horse his rider; trip the horse, and you will throw the rider.\nMoral. This let women above all attend to, them who on every occasion cry aloud and bawl. There is but one thing in which it is useful to cry aloud, in preaching and in teaching. But in no other case whatever, no, not even in prayer. And if thou wouldest learn a practical lesson, never cry aloud at all, and then wilt thou never be angry at all. Behold a way to keep your temper; for as it is not possible that the man that does not cry out should be enraged, so is it not that the man who does cry out should be otherwise than enraged. For tell me not of a man being implacable, and revengeful, and of pure natural bitterness, and natural choler. We are now speaking of the sudden paroxysm of this passion.\nIt contributes then no little to this end, to discipline the soul never to raise the voice and cry aloud at all. Cut off clamor, and thou wilt clip the wings of anger, thou dost repress the first rising of the heart. For as it is impossible for a man to wrestle without lifting up his hands, so is it not possible that he should be entangled in a quarrel without lifting up his voice. Bind the hands of the boxer, and then bid him strike. He will be unable to do so. So likewise will wrath be disarmed. But clamor raises it, even where it does not exist. And hence it is especially that the female sex are so easily overtaken in it. Women, whenever they are angry with their maid-servants, fill the whole house with their own clamor. And oftentimes too, if the house happens to be built along a narrow street, then all the passers-by hear the mistress scolding, and the maid weeping and wailing. What can possibly be more disgraceful than the sound of those wailings? 357 What in the world has happened there? All the women round immediately peep in and one of them says, \u201cSuch a one is beating her own maid.\u201d Whatever can be more shameless than this? \u201cWhat then, ought one not to strike at all?\u201d No, I say not so, (for it must be done,) but then it must be neither frequently, nor immoderately, nor for any wrongs of thine own, as I am constantly saying, nor for any little failure in her service, but only if she is doing harm to her own soul. If thou chastise her for a fault of this kind, all will applaud, and there will be none to upbraid thee; but if thou do it for any reasons of thine own, all will condemn thy cruelty and harshness. And what is more base than all, there are some so fierce and so savage as to lash them to such a degree, that p. 124 the bruises will not disappear with the day. For they will strip the damsels, and call their husbands for the purpose, and oftentimes tie them to the pallets. Alas! at that moment, tell me, does no recollection of hell come over thee? What? dost thou strip thy handmaid, and expose her to thy husband? And art thou not ashamed, lest he should condemn thee for it? And then dost thou exasperate him yet more, and threaten to put her in chains, having first taunted the wretched and pitiable creature with ten thousand reproachful names, and called her \u201cThessalian witch, 358 runaway, and prostitute\u201d?\nFor her passion allows her not to spare even her own mouth, but she looks to one single object, how she may wreak her vengeance on the other, even though she disgrace herself. And then after all these things forsooth, she will sit in state like any tyrant, and call her children, and summon her foolish husband, and treat him as a hangman. Ought these things to take place in the houses of Christians? \u201cAye\u201d say ye, \u201cbut slaves are a troublesome, audacious, impudent, incorrigible race.\u201d True, I know it myself, but there are other ways to keep them in order; by terrors, by threats, by words; which may both touch her more powerfully, and save thee from disgrace. Thou who art a free woman hast uttered foul words, and dost thou not disgrace thyself more than her? Then if she shall have occasion to go out to the bath, there are bruises on her back when she is naked, and she carries about with her the marks of thy cruelty. \u201cBut,\u201d say ye, \u201cthe whole tribe of slaves is intolerable if it meet with indulgence.\u201d True, I know it myself. But then, as I was saying, correct them in some other way, not by the scourge only, and by terror, but even by flattering them, and by acts of kindness. If she is a believer, she is thy sister. Consider that thou art her mistress, and that she ministers unto thee. If she be intemperate, cut off the occasions of drunkenness; call thy husband, and admonish her. Or dost thou not feel how disgraceful a thing it is for a woman to be beaten? They at least who have enacted ten thousand punishments for men,\u2014the stake, and the rack,\u2014will scarcely ever hang a woman, but limit men\u2019s anger to smiting her on the cheek; and so great respect have they observed towards the sex, that not even when there is absolute necessity have they often hung a woman, if she happen to be pregnant. For it is a disgrace for a man to strike a woman; and if for a man, much more for one of her own sex. It is moreover by these things that women become odious to their husbands. \u201cWhat then,\u201d ye may say, \u201cif she shall act the harlot?\u201d Marry her to a husband; cut off the occasions of fornication, suffer her not to be too high fed. \u201cWhat then, if she shall steal?\u201d Take care of her, and watch her.\u2014\u201cExtravagant!\u201d thou wilt say; \u201cWhat, am I to be her keeper? How absurd!\u201d And why, I pray, art thou not to be her keeper? Has she not the same kind of soul as thou? Has she not been vouchsafed the same privileges by God? Does she not partake of the same table? Does she not share with thee the same high birth? \u201cBut what then,\u201d ye will say, \u201cif she shall be a railer, or a gossip, or a drunkard?\u201d Yet, how many free women are such? Now, with all the failings of women God hath charged men to bear: only, He saith, let not a woman be an harlot, but every other failing besides bear with. Yea, be she drunkard, or railer, or gossip, or evil-eyed, or extravagant, and a squanderer of thy substance, thou hast her for the partner of thy life. Train and restrain her. Necessity is upon thee. It is for this thou art the head. Regulate her therefore, do thy own part. Yea, and if she remain incorrigible, yea, though she steal, take care of thy goods, and do not punish her so much. If she be a gossip, silence her. This is the very highest philosophy.\nNow, however, some are come to such a height of indecency as to uncover the head, and to drag their maid-servants by the hair.\u2014Why do ye all blush? 359 I am not addressing myself to all, but to those who are carried away into such brutal conduct. Paul saith, \u201cLet not a woman be uncovered.\u201d (1 Cor. xi. 5-15.) And dost thou then entirely strip off her headdress? Dost thou see how thou art doing outrage to thyself? If indeed she makes her appearance to thee with her head bare, thou callest it an insult. And dost thou say that there is nothing shocking when thou barest it thyself? Then ye will say, \u201cWhat if she be not corrected?\u201d Chasten her then with the rod and with stripes. And yet how many failings hast thou also thyself, and yet thou art not corrected! These things I am saying not for their sakes, but for the sake of you free-women, that ye do nothing so unworthy, nothing to disgrace you, that ye do yourselves no wrong. 360 If thou wilt learn this lesson in thy household in dealing with thy maid-servant, and not be harsh but gentle and forbearing, much more wilt thou be so in thy behavior to thy husband. For she who, though having authority, does nothing of the sort, will do it much less where there is a check. So that p. 125 the discipline employed about your maid-servants, will be of the greatest service to you in gaining the goodwill of your husbands. \u201cFor with what measure ye mete,\u201d He saith, \u201cit shall be measured unto you.\u201d (Matt. vii. 2.) Set a bridle upon thy mouth. If thou art disciplined to bear bravely with a servant when she answers back, thou wilt not be annoyed with the insolence of an equal, and in being above annoyance, wilt have attained to the highest philosophy. But some there are who add even oaths, but there is nothing more shocking than a woman so enraged. But what again, ye will say, if she dress gaily? Why then, forbid this; thou hast my consent; but check it by first beginning with thyself, not so much by fear as by example. Be in everything thyself a perfect pattern.\n\u201cAnd let railing,\u201d saith he, \u201cbe put away from you.\u201d Observe the progress of mischief. Bitterness produces wrath, wrath anger, anger clamor, clamor railing, that is, revilings; next from evil-speaking it goes on to blows, from blows to wounds, from wounds to death. Paul, however, did not wish to mention any of these, but only this, \u201clet this,\u201d saith he, \u201cbe put away from you, with all malice.\u201d 361 What is \u201cwith all malice\u201d? It ends with this. For there are some, like those dogs that bite secretly, which do not bark at all at those that come near them, nor are angry, but which fawn, and display a gentle aspect; but when they catch us off our guard, will fix their teeth in us. These are more dangerous than those that take up open enmity. Now since there are men too that are dogs, who neither cry out, nor fly in a passion, nor threaten us when they are offended, yet in secret are weaving plots, and contriving ten thousand mischiefs, and revenging themselves not in words but in deeds; he hints at these. Let those things be put away from you, saith he, \u201cwith all malice.\u201d Do not spare thy words, and then revenge thyself in acts. My purpose in chastising my tongue and curtailing its clamor, is to prevent its kindling up a more violent blaze. But if thou without any clamor art doing the same thing, and art cherishing the fire and the live coals within, where is the good of thy silence? Dost thou not know that those conflagrations are the most destructive of all which are fed within, and appear not to those that are without? And that those wounds are the deadliest which never break out to the surface; and those fevers the worst which burn up the vitals? So also is this anger the most dangerous that preys upon the soul. But let this too be put away from you, saith he, \u201cwith all malice,\u201d of every kind and degree, great and little. Let us then hearken to him, let us cast out all \u201cbitterness and all malice,\u201d that we \u201cgrieve not the Holy Spirit.\u201d Let us destroy all bitterness; let us cut it up by the very roots. Nothing good, nothing healthful, can ever come from a bitter soul; nothing but misfortunes, nothing but tears, nothing but weeping and wailing. Do ye not see those beasts that roar or cry out, how we turn away from them; the lion, for instance, and the bear? But not so from the sheep; for there is no roaring, but a mild and gentle voice. And so again with musical instruments, those which are loud and harsh are the most unpleasant to the ear, such as the drum and trumpet; whereas those which are not so, but are soothing, these are pleasant, as the flute and lyre and pipe. Let us then prepare our soul so as never to cry aloud, and thus shall we be enabled also to gain the mastery over our anger. And when we have cut out this, we ourselves shall be the first to enjoy the calm, and we shall sail into that peaceful haven, which God grant we may all attain, in Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom, together with the Holy Ghost, be unto the Father, glory, might, and honor, now, and ever, and throughout all ages. Amen.\n[Chrysostom seems to have observed everything, and he had the \u201chomiletical habit,\u201d as Dr. Shedd calls it (Hom. p. 108), in gathering material for illustration. What has been said of a great modern preacher, may be said of Chrysostom: \u201cHe watched ships and sailors; he acquainted himself with the customs, good and bad, of commercial life; he curiously inspected a great variety of mechanical processes; he closely observed agricultural operations, and the various phases of rural life; he constantly saw and heard what occurred in his own home and other homes; and always and everywhere he asked himself, What is this like? what will this illustrate?\u201d Dr. Broadus, in Preparation and Delivery of Sermons.\u2014G.A.]\n122:354\n[This seems to be in direct contradiction to what is said a few lines above, to wit, \u201cIf there chance to be but little of it, there will be but little disturbance if the receptacle should burst.\u201d The text in the former passage is in great uncertainty, however, and confusion. Field calls it a locus conclamatus. Perhaps, if the true text of that passage could be recovered, it would not be in conflict with the passage here.\u2014G.A.]\n122:355\n[Compare Prov. xxv. 28.\u2014G.A.]\n122:356\n[\u03bc\u1f74 \u1f14\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c3\u03bf\u03b9 \u03ba\u03c1\u03af\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2; but Sept. (2 Sam. xv. 3.) has \u1f41\u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03cd\u03c9\u03bd \u03bf\u1f50\u03ba \u1f14\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c3\u03bf\u03b9 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u1f70 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03bb\u03ad\u03c9\u03c2, which is well rendered by the Rev. Ver., \u201cBut there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.\u201d\u2014G.A.]\n123:357\n[We have here followed the text of three codices as against the emendations of Field, Savile, and the Benedictine ed.\u2014G.A.]\n124:358\nVid. Aristoph. Nub. 749, \u03b3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u1fd6\u03ba\u03b1 \u03c6\u03b1\u03c1\u03bc\u03b1\u03ba\u03af\u03b4\u1fbd \u03b5\u1f30 \u03c0\u03c1\u03b9\u03ac\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u0398\u03b5\u03c4\u03c4\u03b1\u03bb\u03ae\u03bd. Schol., \u03bc\u03ad\u03c7\u03c1\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bd\u1fe6\u03bd \u03c6\u03b1\u03c1\u03bc\u03b1\u03ba\u03af\u03b4\u03b5\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f31 \u0398\u03b5\u03c4\u03c4\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u1f76 \u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9. [What a fearful picture of the cruelties of the mistresses of Chrysostom\u2019s day!\u2014G.A.]\n124:359\n[This is direct preaching. Some would call it personal. But as Daniel Webster said of preaching, so ought we \u201cmake it a personal matter, a personal matter, a personal matter.\u201d\u2014G.A.]\n124:360\n[And what a graceful and conciliatory turn he gives his discourse here!\u2014G.A.]\n125:361\n[\u03ba\u03b1\u03ba\u03af\u03b1: \u201c\u2018Malice,\u2019 the genus to which all the above-mentioned vices belong, or rather the active principle to which they are all due,\u2014animi pravitas, humanitati et equitati opposita (Calvin).\u201d\u2014Ellicott.\u2014G.A.]","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. XIII: The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians.: Ephesians 4.31","type":"page"}