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| He Argues Against the Same as to the Reason of Offences.
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Chapter VIII.—He Argues Against
the Same as to the Reason of Offences.
15. Can it at any time or place be an
unrighteous thing for a man to love God with all his heart, with
all his soul, and with all his mind, and his neighbour as
himself?250
Therefore
those offences which be contrary to nature are everywhere and at
all times to be held in detestation and punished; such were those
of the Sodomites, which should all nations commit, they should all
be held guilty of the same crime by the divine law, which hath not
so made men that they should in that way abuse one another. For
even that fellowship which should be between God and us is
violated, when that same nature of which He is author is polluted
by the perversity of lust. But those offences which are contrary to
the customs of men are to be avoided according to the customs
severally prevailing; so that an agreement made, and confirmed by
custom or law of any city or nation, may not be violated at the
lawless pleasure of any, whether citizen or stranger. For any part
which is not consistent with its whole is unseemly. But when God
commands anything contrary to the customs or compacts of any nation
to be done, though it were never done by them before, it is to be
done; and if intermitted it is to be restored, and, if never
established, to be established. For if it be lawful for a king, in
the state over which he reigns, to command that which neither he
himself nor any one before him had commanded, and to obey him
cannot be held to be inimical to the public interest,—nay, it
were so if he were not obeyed (for obedience to princes is a
general compact of human society),—how much more, then, ought we
unhesitatingly to obey God, the Governor of all His creatures! For
as among the authorities of human society the greater authority is
obeyed before the lesser, so must God above all.
16. So also in deeds of violence, where there
is a desire to harm, whether by contumely or injury; and both of
these either by reason of revenge, as one enemy against another; or
to obtain some advantage over another, as the highwayman to the
traveller; or for the avoiding of some evil, as with him who is in
fear of another; or through envy, as the unfortunate man to one who
is happy; or as he that is prosperous in anything to him who he
fears will become equal to himself, or whose equality he grieves
at; or for the mere pleasure in another’s pains, as the
spectators of gladiators, or the deriders and mockers of others.
These be the chief iniquities which spring forth from the lust of
the flesh, of the eye, and of power, whether singly, or two
together, or all at once. And so do men live in opposition to the
three and seven, that psaltery “of ten strings,”251
| 251 Ps. cxliv. 9. “St. Augustin (Quæst in
Exod. ii. qu. 71) mentions the two modes of dividing the ten
commandments into three and seven, or four and six, and gives what
appear to have been his own private reasons for preferring the
first. Both commonly existed in his day, but the Anglican mode
appears to have been the most usual. It occurs in Origen, Greg.
Naz., Jerome, Ambrose, Chrys. St. Augustin alludes to his division
again, Serm. 8, 9, de x.Chordis, and sec. 33
on this psalm: ‘To the first commandment there belong three
strings because God is trine. To the other, i.e., the love
of our neighbour, seven strings. These let us join to those three,
which belong to the love of God, if we would on the psaltery of ten
strings sing a new song.’”—E.B.P. | Thy ten
commandments, O God most high and most sweet. But what foul
offences can there be against Thee who canst not be defiled? Or
what deeds of violence against thee who canst not be harmed? But
Thou avengest that which men perpetrate against themselves, seeing
also that when they sin against Thee, they do wickedly against
their own souls; and iniquity gives itself the lie,252
either by
corrupting or perverting their nature, which Thou hast made and
ordained, or by an immoderate use of things permitted, or in
“burning” in things forbidden to that use which is against
nature;253
or when
convicted, raging with heart and voice against Thee, kicking
against the pricks;254
or when, breaking through the pale
of human society, they audaciously rejoice in private combinations
or divisions, according as they have been pleased or offended. And
these things are done whenever Thou art forsaken, O Fountain of
Life, who art the only and true Creator and Ruler of the universe,
and by a self-willed pride any one false thing is selected
therefrom and loved. So, then, by a humble piety we return to Thee;
and thou purgest us from our evil customs, and art merciful unto
the sins of those who confess unto Thee, and dost “hear the
groaning of the prisoner,”255
and dost loosen us from those
fetters which we have forged for ourselves, if we lift not up
against Thee the horns of a false liberty,—losing all through craving
more, by loving more our own private good than Thee, the good of
all.
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