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| Of Blasphemy. One of St. Paul's Sayings.
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Chapter XIV.—Of
Blasphemy. One of St. Paul’s Sayings.
But, however, the majority (of Christians) have by
this time induced the belief in their mind that it is pardonable if at
any time they do what the heathen do, for fear “the Name be
blasphemed.” Now the blasphemy which must quite be shunned by us
in every way is, I take it, this: If any of us lead a heathen into
blasphemy with good cause, either by fraud, or by injury, or by
contumely, or any other matter of worthy complaint, in which “the
Name” is deservedly impugned, so that the Lord, too, be
deservedly angry. Else, if of all blasphemy it has been
said, “By your means My Name is blasphemed,”263
we all perish at once; since the whole
circus, with no desert of ours, assails “the Name” with
wicked suffrages. Let us cease (to be Christians) and it will not be
blasphemed! On the contrary, while we are, let it be blasphemed: in the
observance, not the overstepping, of discipline; while we are being
approved, not while we are being reprobated. Oh blasphemy, bordering on
martyrdom, which now attests me to be a Christian,264
| 264 [This play on the words
is literally copied from the original—“quæ tunc
me testatur Christianum, cum propter ea me
detestatur.”] | while for that very account it detests
me! The cursing of well-maintained Discipline is a blessing of the
Name. “If,” says he, “I wished to please men, I
should not be Christ’s servant.”265
But
the same apostle elsewhere bids us take care to please all: “As
I,” he says, “please all by all means.”266
No doubt he used to please them by
celebrating the Saturnalia and New-year’s day! [Was it so]
or was it by moderation and patience? by gravity, by kindness, by
integrity? In like manner, when he is saying, “I have become all
things to all, that I may gain all,”267
does
he mean “to idolaters an idolater?” “to heathens a
heathen?” “to the worldly worldly?” But albeit he
does not prohibit us from having our conversation with idolaters and
adulterers, and the other criminals, saying, “Otherwise ye would
go out from the world,”268
of course he does not
so slacken those reins of conversation that, since it is necessary for
us both to live and to mingle with sinners, we may be
able to sin with them too. Where there is the intercourse of
life, which the apostle concedes, there is sinning, which no one
permits. To live with heathens is lawful, to die with
them269
is
not. Let us live with all;270
| 270 There seems to be a play
on the word “convivere” (whence “convivium,”
etc.), as in Cic. de Sen. xiii. | let us be glad with
them, out of community of nature, not of superstition. We are peers in
soul, not in discipline; fellow-possessors of the world, not of
error. But if we have no right of communion in matters of this
kind with strangers, how far more wicked to celebrate them among
brethren! Who can maintain or defend this? The Holy Spirit upbraids the
Jews with their holy-days. “Your Sabbaths, and new moons, and
ceremonies,” says He, “My soul hateth.”271
By us, to whom Sabbaths are strange,272
| 272 [This is
noteworthy. In the earlier days sabbaths (Saturdays) were not
unobserved, but, it was a concession pro tempore, to Hebrew
Christians.] | and the new moons and festivals formerly
beloved by God, the Saturnalia and New-year’s and
Midwinter’s festivals and Matronalia are
frequented—presents come and go—New-year’s
gifts—games join their noise—banquets join their din! Oh
better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no
solemnity of the Christians for itself! Not the Lord’s day, not
Pentecost, even it they had known them, would they have shared with us;
for they would fear lest they should seem to be Christians. We
are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens! If any
indulgence is to be granted to the flesh, you have it. I will not say
your own days,273
| 273 i.e., perhaps your
own birthdays. [See cap. xvi. infra.] Oehler seems to
think it means, “all other Christian festivals beside
Sunday.” | but more too; for to
the heathens each festive day occurs but once annually:
you have a festive day every eighth day.274
| 274 [“An Easter
Day in every week.”—Keble.] | Call
out the individual solemnities of the nations, and set them out into a
row, they will not be able to make up a Pentecost.275
| 275 i.e., a space of
fifty days, see Deut. xvi. 10; and comp. Hooker, Ecc. Pol. iv.
13, 7, ed. Keble. | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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