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| Chapter IX.—That It is the Prerogative of the Same Power to Be Beneficent and to Punish Justly. Also the Manner of the Instruction of the Logos.
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Chapter IX.—That It is the Prerogative of the Same Power to Be Beneficent and to Punish Justly. Also the Manner of the Instruction of the Logos.
With all His power, therefore, the Instructor of
humanity, the Divine Word, using all the resources of wisdom, devotes
Himself to the saving of the children, admonishing, upbraiding, blaming,
chiding, reproving, threatening, healing, promising, favouring; and as
it were, by many reins, curbing the irrational impulses of humanity. To
speak briefly, therefore, the Lord acts towards us as we do towards
our children. “Hast thou children? correct them,” is the
exhortation of the book of Wisdom, “and bend them from their
youth. Hast thou daughters? attend to their body, and let not thy face
brighten towards them,”1210
—although we love our children
exceedingly, both sons and daughters, above aught else whatever. For
those who speak with a man merely to please him, have little love for him,
seeing they do not pain him; while those that speak for his good, though
they inflict pain for the time, do him good for ever after. It is not
immediate pleasure, but future enjoyment, that the Lord has in view.
Let us now proceed to consider the mode of His loving
discipline, with the aid of the prophetic testimony.
Admonition, then, is the censure of loving care,
and produces understanding. Such is the Instructor in His admonitions,
as when He says in the Gospel, “How often would I have gathered
thy children, as a bird gathers her young ones under her wings,
and ye would not!”1211
And again, the Scripture admonishes, saying,
“And they committed adultery with stock and stone, and burnt
incense to Baal.”1212
For it is a very
great proof of His love, that, though knowing well the shamelessness of
the people that had kicked and bounded away, He notwithstanding exhorts
them to repentance, and says by Ezekiel, “Son of man, thou dwellest
in the midst of scorpions; nevertheless, speak to them, if peradventure
they will hear.”1213
Further, to Moses He says, “Go and
tell Pharaoh to send My people forth; but I know that he will not
send them forth.”1214
For He shows both things: both His divinity
in His foreknowledge of what would take place, and His love in affording
an opportunity for repentance to the self-determination of the soul. He
admonishes also by Esaias, in His care for the people, when He says,
“This people honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far
from Me.” What follows is reproving censure: “In vain do
they worship
Me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men.”1215
Here His loving care, having shown their sin,
shows salvation side by side.
Upbraiding is censure on account of what is base,
conciliating to what is noble. This is shown by Jeremiah: “They
were female-mad horses; each one neighed after his neighbour’s
wife. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a
nation as this?”1216
He everywhere interweaves fear, because
“the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of sense.”1217
And again, by Hosea, He says,
“Shall I not visit them? for they themselves were mingled with
harlots, and sacrificed with the initiated; and the people that understood
embraced a harlot.”1218
He
shows their offence to be clearer, by declaring that they understood,
and thus sinned wilfully. Understanding is the eye of the soul; wherefore
also Israel means, “he that sees God”—that is, he that
understands God.
Complaint is censure of those who are regarded as
despising or neglecting. He employs this form when He says by Esaias:
“Hear, O heaven; and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have begotten and
brought up children, but they have disregarded Me. The ox knoweth his
owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel hath not known
Me.”1219
For how shall we not regard it fearful, if he that knows
God, shall not recognise the Lord; but while the ox and the ass, stupid
and foolish animals, will know him who feeds them, Israel is found to be
more irrational than these? And having, by Jeremiah, complained against
the people on many grounds, He adds: “And they have forsaken Me,
saith the Lord.”1220
Invective1221
is a reproachful upbraiding, or chiding
censure. This mode of treatment the Instructor employs in Isaiah,
when He says, “Woe to you, children revolters. Thus saith
the Lord, Ye have
taken counsel, but not by Me; and made compacts, but not by My
Spirit.”1222
He uses the very bitter mordant
of fear in each case repressing1223
| 1223 Lowth conjectures ἐπιστομῶν
or ἐπιστομίζων,
instead of ἀναστομῶν. |
the people, and at the same time turning them to salvation; as also wool
that is undergoing the process of dyeing is wont to be previously treated
with mordants, in order to prepare it for taking on a fast colour.
Reproof is the bringing forward of sin, laying
it before one. This form of instruction He employs as in the highest
degree necessary, by reason of the feebleness of the faith of many. For
He says by Esaias, “Ye have forsaken the Lord, and have provoked the Holy One of
Israel to anger.”1224
And He says also by Jeremiah: “Heaven was
astonished at this, and the earth shuddered exceedingly. For My people
have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living
waters, and have hewn out to themselves broken cisterns, which will not be
able to hold water.”1225
And again, by the same: “Jerusalem
hath sinned a sin; therefore it became commotion. All that glorified
her dishonoured her, when they saw her baseness.”1226
And He uses the bitter and biting1227
| 1227 H. reads δηκτικόν,
for which the text has ἐπιδεικτικόν. |
language of reproof in His consolations by Solomon, tacitly
alluding to the love for children that characterizes His instruction:
“My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him:
for whom the Lord loveth
He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth;”1228
“For a man who is a sinner escapes reproof.”1229
Consequently, therefore, the Scripture says, “Let the righteous
reprove and correct me; but let not the oil of the sinner anoint
my head.”1230
Bringing one to
his senses (φρένωσις)
is censure, which makes a man think. Neither from this form of
instruction does he abstain, but says by Jeremiah, “How long shall
I cry, and you not hear? So your ears are uncircumcised.”1231
O
blessed forbearance! And again, by the same: “All the heathen are
uncircumcised, but this people is uncircumcised in heart:”1232
“for
the people are disobedient; children,” says He, “in whom
is not faith.”1233
Visitation is severe rebuke. He uses this species in
the Gospel: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets,
and stonest them that are sent unto thee!” The reduplication
of the name gives strength to the rebuke. For he that knows God,
how does he persecute God’s servants? Wherefore He says,
“Your house is left desolate; for I say unto you, Henceforth ye
shall not see Me, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the
name of the Lord.”1234
For if you do not receive His love,
ye shall know His power.
Denunciation is vehement speech. And He employs
denunciation as medicine, by Isaiah, saying, “Ah, sinful
nation, lawless sons, people full of sins, wicked seed!”1235
And in the
Gospel by John He says, “Serpents, brood of vipers.”1236
Accusation is censure of wrong-doers. This mode of
instruction He employs by David, when He says: “The people whom
I knew not served me, and at the hearing of the ear obeyed me. Sons
of strangers lied to me, and halted from their ways.”1237
And by Jeremiah: “And I gave her a writing of divorcement, and
covenant-breaking Judah feared not.”1238
And again: “And
the house of Israel disregarded Me; and the house of Judah lied to
the Lord.”1239
Bewailing one’s fate is latent censure,
and by artful aid ministers salvation as under a veil. He made use
of this by Jeremiah: “How did the city sit solitary that was
full of people! She that ruled over territories became as a widow;
she came under tribute; weeping, she wept in the night.”1240
Objurgation is objurgatory censure. Of this help
the Divine Instructor made use by Jeremiah, saying, “Thou
hadst a whore’s forehead; thou wast shameless towards all;
and didst not call me to the house, who am thy father, and lord of
thy virginity.”1241
“And a fair and graceful harlot skilled
in enchanted potions.”1242
With consummate art, after applying to the
virgin the opprobrious name of whoredom, He thereupon calls her back to
an honourable life by filling her with shame.
Indignation is a rightful upbraiding; or
upbraiding on account of ways exalted above what is right. In this
way He instructed by Moses, when He said, “Faulty children, a
generation crooked and perverse, do ye thus requite the Lord? This people is foolish, and not wise. Is
not this thy father who acquired thee?”1243
He says also by Isaiah,
“Thy princes are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving
gifts, following after rewards, not judging the orphans.”1244
In fine, the system He pursues to inspire fear
is the source of salvation. And it is the prerogative of goodness to
save: “The mercy of the Lord is on all flesh, while He reproves,
corrects, and teaches as a shepherd His flock. He pities those who receive
His instruction, and those who eagerly seek union with Him.”1245
And with such guidance He guarded the six hundred thousand footmen
that were brought together in the hardness of heart in which they
were found; scourging, pitying, striking, healing, in compassion
and discipline: “For according to the greatness of His mercy,
so is His rebuke.”1246
For it is indeed noble not to sin; but it is
good also for the sinner to repent; just as it is best to be always in
good health, but well to recover from disease. So He commands by Solomon:
“Strike thou thy son with the rod, that thou mayest deliver his
soul from death.”1247
And again: “Abstain not from chastising
thy son, but correct him with the rod; for he will not die.”1248
For reproof and rebuke, as also the original term
implies, are the stripes of the soul, chastizing sins, preventing death,
and leading to self-control those carried away to licentiousness. Thus
also Plato, knowing reproof to be the greatest power for reformation,
and the most sovereign purification, in accordance with what has been
said, observes, “that he who is in the highest degree impure
is uninstructed and base, by reason of his being unreproved in those
respects in which he who is destined to be truly happy ought to be purest
and best.”
For if rulers are not a terror to a good
work, how shall God, who is by nature good, be a terror to him
who sins not? “If thou doest evil, be afraid,”1249
says the apostle. Wherefore the apostle himself also in every case
uses stringent language to the Churches, after the Lord’s example;
and conscious of his own boldness, and of the weakness of his hearers,
he says to the Galatians: “Am I your enemy, because I tell
you the truth?”1250
Thus also people in health do not require a
physician, do not require him as long as they are strong; but those
who are ill need his skill. Thus also we who in our lives are ill of
shameful lusts and reprehensible excesses, and other inflammatory effects
of the passions, need the Saviour. And He administers not only mild,
but also stringent medicines. The bitter roots of fear then arrest
the eating sores of our sins. Wherefore also fear is salutary, if
bitter. Sick, we truly stand in need of the Saviour; having wandered,
of one to guide us; blind, of one to lead us to the light; thirsty,
“of the fountain of life, of which whosoever partakes, shall no
longer thirst;”1251
dead, we need life; sheep, we need a shepherd;
we who are children need a tutor, while universal humanity stands in
need of Jesus; so that we may not continue intractable and sinners to
the end, and thus fall into condemnation, but may be separated from the
chaff, and stored up in the paternal garner. “For the fan is in
the Lord’s hand, by which the chaff due to the fire is separated
from the wheat.”1252
You may learn, if you will,
the crowning wisdom of the all-holy Shepherd and Instructor, of the
omnipotent and paternal Word, when He figuratively represents Himself
as the Shepherd of the sheep. And He is the Tutor of the
children. He says therefore by
Ezekiel, directing His discourse to the elders, and setting before
them a salutary description of His wise solicitude: “And that
which is lame I will bind up, and that which is sick I will heal,
and that which has wandered I will turn back; and I will feed them on
my holy mountain.”1253
Such are the promises of the good
Shepherd.
Feed us, the children, as sheep. Yea, Master,
fill us with righteousness, Thine own pasture; yea, O Instructor, feed
us on Thy holy mountain the Church, which towers aloft, which is above
the clouds, which touches heaven. “And I will be,” He says,
“their Shepherd,”1254
and will be near them, as the
garment to their skin. He wishes to save my flesh by enveloping it in the
robe of immortality, and He hath anointed my body. “They shall
call Me,” He says, “and I will say, Here am I.”1255
Thou
didst hear sooner than I expected, Master. “And if they pass over,
they shall not slip,”1256
saith the Lord. For we who are passing over to
immortality shall not fall into corruption, for He shall sustain us. For
so He has said, and so He has willed. Such is our Instructor, righteously
good. “I came not,” He says, “to be ministered unto,
but to minister.”1257
Wherefore He is introduced in the
Gospel “wearied,”1258
because toiling for us, and promising “to
give His life a ransom for many.”1259
For him alone who does so He
owns to be the good shepherd. Generous, therefore, is He who gives for
us the greatest of all gifts, His own life; and beneficent exceedingly,
and loving to men, in that, when He might have been Lord, He wished to
be a brother man; and so good was He that He died for us.
Further, His righteousness cried, “If ye
come straight to me, I also will come straight to you but if ye walk
crooked, I also will walk crooked, saith the Lord of hosts;”1260
meaning by
the crooked ways the chastisements of sinners. For the straight and
natural way which is indicated by the Iota of the name of Jesus
is His goodness, which is firm and sure towards those who have believed
at hearing: “When I called, ye obeyed not, saith the Lord; but
set at nought my counsels, and heeded not my reproofs.”1261
Thus the Lord’s reproof is most beneficial. David also says of
them, “A perverse and provoking race; a race which set not their
heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful with God: they kept
not the covenant of God, and would not walk in His law.”1262
Such are the causes of provocation for which the
Judge comes to inflict punishment on those that would not choose a life
of goodness. Wherefore also afterwards He assailed them more roughly;
in order, if possible, to drag them back from their impetuous rush
towards death. He therefore tells by David the most manifest cause of
the threatening: “They believed not in His wonderful works. When
He slew them, they sought after Him, and turned and inquired early after
God; and remembered that God was their Helper, and God the Most High
their Redeemer.”1263
Thus He knew that they turned for
fear, while they despised His love: for, for the most part, that goodness
which is always mild is despised; but He who admonishes by the loving
fear of righteousness is reverenced.
There is a twofold species of fear, the one of
which is accompanied with reverence, such as citizens show towards
good rulers, and we towards God, as also right-minded children towards
their fathers. “For an unbroken horse turns out unmanageable,
and a son who is let take his own way turns out reckless.”1264
The other species of fear is accompanied with hatred, which slaves feel
towards hard masters, and the Hebrews felt, who made God a master, not
a father. And as far as piety is concerned, that which is voluntary and
spontaneous differs much, nay entirely, from what is forced. “For
He,” it is said, “is merciful; He will heal their sins,
and not destroy them, and fully turn away His anger, and not kindle
all His wrath.”1265
See how the justice of the Instructor,
which deals in rebukes, is shown; and the goodness of God, which
deals in compassions. Wherefore David—that is, the Spirit by
him—embracing them both, sings of God Himself, “Justice
and judgment are the preparation of His throne: mercy and truth shall
go before Thy face.”1266
He declares that it belongs to the same power
both to judge and to do good. For there is power over both together,
and judgment separates that which is just from its opposite. And He
who is truly God is just and good; who is Himself all, and all is He;
for He is God, the only God.
For as the mirror is not evil to an ugly man because
it shows him what like he is; and as the physician is not evil to the sick
man because he tells him of his fever,—for the physician is not
the cause of the fever, but only points out the fever;—so neither
is He, that reproves, ill-disposed towards him who is diseased in soul.
For He does not put the transgressions on him, but only shows the sins
which are there; in order to turn him away from similar practices. So
God is good on His own account, and
just also on ours, and He is just because He is good. And His justice
is shown to us by His own Word from there from above, whence the Father
was. For before He became Creator He was God; He was good. And therefore
He wished to be Creator and Father. And the nature of all that love was
the source of righteousness—the cause, too, of His lighting up
His sun, and sending down His own Son. And He first announced the good
righteousness that is from heaven, when He said, “No man knoweth
the Son, but the Father; nor the Father, but the Son.”1267
This
mutual and reciprocal knowledge is the symbol of primeval justice. Then
justice came down to men both in the letter and in the body, in the Word
and in the law, constraining humanity to saving repentance; for it was
good. But do you not obey God? Then blame yourself, who drag to yourself
the judge.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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