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| Ephesians 6:5-8
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Homily XXII.
Ephesians vi. 5–8
“Servants, be obedient
unto them that, according to the flesh, are your masters, with fear and
trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not in the way
of eye-service, as men-pleasers: but as servants of Christ, doing the
will of God from the heart; with good-will doing service, as unto the
Lord, and not unto men: knowing that whatsoever good thing each one
doeth, the same shall he receive again from the Lord, whether he be
bond or free.”
Thus then it is not husband only, nor wife, nor children, but virtuous
servants also that contribute to the organization and protection of a
house. Therefore the blessed Paul has not overlooked this department
even. He comes to it, however, in the last place, because it is last in
dignity and rank. Still he addresses much discourse also to them, no
longer in the same tone as to children, but in a far more advanced way,
inasmuch as he does not hold out to these the promise in this world,
but in that which is to come. “Knowing,” saith he,
“that whatsoever good or evil452
| 452 [The
words, “or evil,” ἢκακόν, are not
in the text of this passage at all, though Chrysostom has them.
Chrysostom and the Patristic writers in general often quote the New
Testament without exactness. They quote often from memory, and are
seldom critical. Cf. Schaff, Companion to Greek Testament, p.
164.—G.A.] | thing each one
doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord,” and thus at once
instructs them to love wisdom. For though they be inferior to the
children in dignity, still in mind they are superior to
them.
“Servants,” saith
he, “be obedient to them that, according to the flesh, are your
masters.”
Thus at once he raises up, at
once soothes the wounded soul. Be not grieved, he seems to say, that
you are inferior to the wife and the children. Slavery is nothing but a
name. The mastership is “according to the flesh,” brief and
temporary;453
| 453 [“Wrong. It means those who are ‘your human
masters,’ in distinction from Christ, the ‘divine’
master.”—Meyer.—G.A.] | for whatever is of the flesh, is
transitory.
“With fear,” he
adds, “and trembling.”454
| 454 [“With fear and trembling, i.e. with that zeal which is ever
keenly apprehensive of not doing
enough.”—Meyer.—G.A.] |
Thou seest that he does not
require the same fear from slaves as from wives: for in that case he
simply said, “and let the wife see that she fear her
husband”; whereas in this case he heightens the expression,
“with fear,” he saith, “and trembling, in singleness
of your heart, as unto Christ.” This is what he constantly says.
What meanest thou, blessed Paul? He is a brother, or rather he has
become a brother, he enjoys the same privileges, he belongs to the same
body. Yea, more, he is the brother, not of his own master only, but
also of the Son of God, he is partaker of all the same privileges; yet
sayest thou, “obey your masters according to the flesh, with fear
and trembling”? Yes, for this very reason, he would say, I say
it. For if I charge free men to submit themselves one to another in the
fear of God,—as he said above, “submitting yourselves one
to another in the fear of Christ”;—if I charge moreover the
wife to fear and reverence her husband, although she is his equal; much
more must I so speak to the servant. It is no sign of low
birth, rather it is the truest nobility, to understand how to lower
ourselves, to be modest and unassuming, and to give way to our
neighbor. And the free have served the free with much fear and
trembling.
“In singleness of
heart,” he says.
And it is well said, since it is
possible to serve with fear and trembling, and yet not of good will,
but in just any way that may be possible. Many servants in many
instances secretly cheat their masters. And this cheating accordingly
he does away, by saying, “in singleness of your heart as unto
Christ, not in the way of eye-service as men-pleasers, but as servants
of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good-will doing
service, as unto the Lord, and not unto men.” Seest thou how many
words he requires, in order to implant this good principle, “with
goodwill,” I mean, and “from the heart”? That other
service, “with fear and trembling” I mean, we see many
rendering to their masters, and the master’s threat goes far to
secure that. But show, saith he, that thou servest as “the
servant of Christ,” not of man. Make the right action your own,
not one of compulsion. Just as in the words which follow, he persuades
and instructs the man who is ill-treated by another to make the right
action his own, and the work of his own free choice. Because inasmuch
as the man that smites the cheek, is not supposed to come to that act
in consequence of any intention in the person struck, but only of his
own individual malice, what saith He? “Turn to him the other
also” (Matt. v. 39.); to show him that in
submitting to the first thou wert not unwilling. For he that is lavish
in suffering wrong, makes that his own which is not his own act, by
suffering himself to be smitten on the other cheek also, and not merely
by enduring the first blow. For this latter will have perhaps the
appearance even of cowardice; but that of a high philosophy.—Thus
thou wilt show that it was for the sake of wisdom that thou didst bear
the first blow also. And so in the present case, show here too, that
thou bearest this slavery also willingly. The man-pleaser then is no
servant of Christ. The servant of Christ is not a man-pleaser.
(Gal.
i. 10.) For who that is the servant of God, makes it his object to
please men? And who that pleases men, can be a servant of
God?
“From the heart,”455
| 455 [“From the heart” (ἐκ
ψυχῆς) is joined by
Chrysostom with what follows. (So Westcott and Hort.) But as
μετ᾽
εὐνοίας expresses the well-meaning disposition, it already includes the
sense of ἐκ
ψυχῆς. So that
ἐκ
ψυχῆς belongs to what
precedes. So Meyer, Ellicott, and Rev. Ver.—G.A.] | saith he, “with good-will doing
service.” For since it is possible to do service even with
singleness of heart and not wrongfully, and yet not with all
one’s might, but only so far as fulfilling one’s bounden
duty, therefore he says, do it with alacrity, not of necessity, upon
principle, not upon constraint. If thus thou do service, thou art no
slave; if thou do it upon principle, if with good-will, if from the
heart, and if for Christ’s sake. For this is the servitude that
even Paul, the free man, serves, and exclaims, “For we preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus, as Lord, and ourselves as your servants
for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Cor. iv. 5.) Look how he
divests thy slavery of its meanness. For just in the same way as the
man who has been robbed, if he gives still more to him who has taken,
is not ranked among those robbed, but rather amongst liberal givers;
not amongst those who suffer evil, but amongst those who do good; and
rather clothes the other with disgrace by his liberality, than is
clothed with disgrace by being robbed,—so, I say, in this case,
by his generosity he will appear at once more high-minded, and by
showing that he does not feel the wrong,456
will put the other to shame.
Let us then do service to our
masters for Christ’s sake, “knowing,” he continues,
“that whatsoever good thing each one doeth, the same shall he
receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.” For inasmuch as
it was probable that many masters, as being unbelievers, would have no
sense of shame, and would make no return to their slaves for their
obedience, observe how he has given them encouragement, so that they
may have no misgiving about the remuneration, but may have full
confidence respecting the recompense. For as they who receive a
benefit, when they make no return, make God a debtor to their
benefactors; so, I say, do masters also, if, when well-treated by thee,
they fail to requite thee, requite thee the more, by rendering God thy
debtor.
Ver.
9.
“And ye masters,” he continues, “do the same things
unto them.”
The same things. What are these?
“With good-will do service.” However he does not actually
say, “do service,” though by saying, “the same
things,” he plainly shows this to be his meaning. For the master
himself is a servant. “Not as men-pleasers,” he means,
“and with fear and trembling”: that is, toward God, fearing
lest He one day accuse you for your negligence toward your
slaves.
“And forbear
threatening;” be not irritating, he means, nor
oppressive.
“Knowing that both their
Master and457
| 457 [The
second καὶ (καὶ
αὐτῶν καὶ
ὑμῶν) is omitted in
Chrysostom’s text of this passage, and in the textus
receptus, so that it does not appear in the Authorized English
Version. The Revised Version has it, however, and correctly
so.—G.A.] | yours is in Heaven.”458
| 458 [Meyer quotes Seneca, Thyest. 607:—
Quicquid a vobis minor
extimescit
Major hoc vobis dominus
minatur.
Omne sub regno graviore
regnum est.—G.A.] |
Ah! How mighty a Master does he
hint at here! How startling the suggestion! It is this. “With what
measure thou metest, it shall be measured unto thee again”
(Matt.
vii. 2.); lest thou hear the sentence, “Thou wicked servant. I
forgave thee all that debt.” (Matt. xviii.
32.)
“And there is no respect
of persons,” he saith, “with Him.”
Think not, he would say, that
what is done towards a servant, He will therefore forgive, because done
to a servant. Heathen laws indeed as being the laws of men, recognize a
difference between these kinds of offenses. But the law of the common
Lord and Master of all, as doing good to all alike, and dispensing the
same rights to all, knows no such difference.
But should any one ask, whence
is slavery, and why it has found entrance into human life, (and many I
know are both glad to ask such questions, and desirous to be informed
of them,) I will tell you. Slavery is the fruit of covetousness, of
degradation, of savagery; since Noah, we know, had no servant, nor had
Abel, nor Seth, no, nor they who came after them. The thing was the
fruit of sin, of rebellion against parents. Let children hearken to
this, that whenever they are undutiful to their parents, they deserve
to be servants. Such a child strips himself of his nobility of birth;
for he who rebels against his father is no longer a son; and if he who
rebels against his father is not a son, how shall he be a son who
rebels against our true Father? He has departed from his nobility of
birth, he has done outrage to nature. Then come also wars, and battles,
and take their prisoners.459
Well, but Abraham,
you will say, had servants. Yes, but he used them not as
servants.
Observe how everything depends
upon the head; the wife, by telling him “to love her”; the
children, by telling him “to bring them up in the chastening and
admonition of the Lord”; the servants, by the words,
“knowing that both their Master and yours is in Heaven.”
So, saith he, ye also in like manner, as being yourselves servants,
shall be kind and indulgent. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and
in the strength of His might.”
But if, before considering this
next, ye have a mind to hearken, I shall make the same remarks
concerning servants, as I have also made before concerning children.
Teach them to be religious, and everything else will follow of
necessity. But now, when any one is going to the theater, or going off
to the bath, he drags all his servants after him; but when he goes to
church, not for a moment; nor does he compel them to attend and hear.
Now how shall thy servant listen, when thou his master art attending to
other things? Hast thou purchased, hast thou bought thy slave? Before
all things enjoin him what God would have him do, to be gentle towards
his fellow-servants, and to make much account of virtue.
Every one’s house is a
city; and every man is a prince in his own house. That the house of the
rich is of this character, is plain enough, where there are both lands,
and stewards, and rulers over rulers. But I say that the house of the
poor also is a city. Because here too there are offices of authority;
for instance, the husband has authority over the wife, the wife over
the servants, the servants again over their own wives; again the wives
and the husbands over the children. Does he not seem to you to be, as
it were, a sort of king, having so many authorities under his own
authority? and that it were meet that he should be more skilled both in
domestic and general government than all the rest? For he who knows how
to manage these in their several relations, will know how to select the
fittest men for offices, yes, and will choose excellent ones. And thus
the wife will be a second king in the house, lacking only the diadem;
and he who knows how to choose this king, will excellently regulate all
the rest.
Ver.
10.
“Finally,” saith he, “be strong in the
Lord.”
Whenever the discourse is about
to conclude, he always employs this turn. Said I not well from the
first, that every man’s house is a camp in itself? For look,
having disposed of the several offices, he proceeds to arm them, and to
lead them out to war.460
| 460 [This
is very beautiful, but hardly correct exegesis. “The word
‘finally’ introduces a general, final exhortation, winding
up the whole parenetic portion of the epistle (iv. i–vi. 9.).”—Meyer.—G.A.] | If no one usurps the
other’s office, but every one remains at his post, all will be
well ordered.
“Be strong,” saith
he, “in the Lord, and in the strength of His
might.”
That is, in the hope which we
have in Him, by means of His aid. For as he had enjoined many duties,
which were necessary to be done, fear not, he seems to say, cast your
hope upon the Lord, and He will make all easy.
Ver.
11.
“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil.”
He saith not, against the
fightings, nor against the hostilities, but against the
“wiles.” For this enemy is at war with us, not simply, nor
openly, but by “wiles.” What is meant by wiles? To use
“wiles,” is to deceive and to take by artifice or
contrivance; a thing which takes place both in the case of the arts,
and by words, and actions, and stratagems, in the case of those who
seduce us. I mean something like this. The Devil never proposes to us sins in
their proper colors; he does not speak of idolatry, but he sets it off
in another dress, using “wiles,”461
that is, making his discourse plausible, employing disguises. Now
therefore the Apostle is by this means both rousing the soldiers, and
making them vigilant, by persuading and instructing them, that our
conflict is with one skilled in the arts of war, and with one who wars
not simply, nor directly, but with much wiliness. And first then he
arouses the disciples from the consideration of the Devil’s
skill; but in the second place, from his nature, and the number of his
forces. It is not from any desire to dispirit the soldiers that stand
under him, but to arouse, and to awaken them, that he mentions these
stratagems, and prepares them to be vigilant; for had he merely
detailed their power, and there stopped his discourse, he must have
dispirited them. But now, whereas both before and after this, he shows
that it is possible to overcome such an enemy, he rather raises their
courage; for the more clearly the strength of our adversaries is stated
on our part to our own people, so much the more earnest will it render
our soldiers.
Ver.
12.
“For our wrestling is not,” saith he, “against flesh
and blood,462
| 462 [“Flesh and blood, i.e. ‘feeble men,’ just as
in Gal. i. 16; and Matt.
xvi. 17. The word πάλη, which means
nothing else than a ‘wrestling,’ is specially chosen by the
Apostle (who elsewhere uses ἀγών or μάχη), in order
to bring out the more strongly in connection with πρὸς αἷμα
καὶ σάρκα the contrast between this less perilous form of contest and that
which follows.”—Meyer.—G.A.] | but against the principalities,
against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against
the spiritual hosts of wickedness, in the heavenly
places.”
Having stimulated them by the
character of the conflict, he next goes on to arouse them also by the
prizes set before them. For what is his argument? Having said that the
enemies are fierce, he adds further, that they despoil us of vast
blessings. What are these? The conflict lies “in the
heavenlies”;463
the struggle is
not about riches, not about glory, but about our being enslaved. And
thus is the enmity irreconcilable. The strife and the conflict are
fiercer when for vast interests at stake; for the expression “in
the heavenlies”464
is equivalent to,
“for the heavenly things.” It is not that they may gain
anything by the conquest, but that they may despoil us. As if one were
to say, “In what does the contract lie?” In gold. The word
“in,” means, “in behalf of”; the word
“in,” also means, “on account465
| 465 [“The word ἐν does not mean
‘for’ or ‘on account of,’ and the phrase is
here local (i.
3.).”—Meyer.—G.A.] |
of.”466
| 466 τὸ ἐν ὑπέρ
ἐστι, καὶ τὸ
ἐν, διά
ἐστιν. | Observe how the power of the enemy
startles us; how it makes us all circumspection, to know that the
hazard is on behalf of vast interests, and the victory for the sake of
great rewards. For he is doing his best to cast us out of
Heaven.
He speaks of certain
“principalities, and powers, and world-rulers of this
darkness.” What darkness? Is it that of night? No, but of
wickedness. “For ye were,” saith he, “once
darkness” (Eph. v. 8.); so naming that
wickedness which is in this present life; for beyond it, it will have
no place, not in Heaven, nor in the world to come.
“World-rulers”467
he calls them, not as having the mastery
over the world, but the Scripture is wont to call wicked practices
“the world,” as, for example, where Christ saith,
“They are not of this world, even as I am not of the
world.” (John xvii. 16.) What then, were they
not of the world? Were they not clothed with flesh? Were they not of
those who are in the world? And again; “The world hateth Me, but
you it cannot hate.” (John vii. 7.) Where again He
calls wicked practices by this name. Thus the Apostle here by the world
means wicked men, and the evil spirits have more especial power over
them. “Against the spiritual hosts of wickedness,” saith
he, “in the heavenly places.” “Principalities, and
powers,” he speaks of; just as in the heavenly places there are
“thrones and dominions, principalities and powers.”
(Col.
i. 16.)
Ver.
13.
“Wherefore,” saith he, “take up the whole armor of
God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done
all, to stand.”
By “evil day” he
means the present life,468
| 468 [“The use of ἡμέρᾳ, rather
than αἰ&
242·νι (Gal. i. 4.) is opposed to
the interpretation of Chrysostom. Still more untenable is the view of
Meyer, that Paul is here specifying the day when the last great Satanic
outbreak was to take place. Paul has at heart what he knew was much
more present and more constantly impending, namely, the day of violent
temptation.”—Ellicott.—G.A.] | and calls it too
“this present evil world” (Gal. i. 4.), from the evils
which are done in it. It is as much as to say, Always be armed. And
again, “having done all,” saith he; that is, both passions,
and vile lusts, and all things else that trouble us. He speaks not
merely of doing the deed, but of completing it,469
| 469 Not ἐργασάμενοι, but κατεργασάμενοι. | so
as not only to slay, but to stand also after we have slain. For many
who have gained this victory, have fallen again. “Having
done,” saith he, “all”; not having done one, but not
the other. For even after the victory, we must stand. An enemy may be
struck, but things that are struck revive again if we do not stand. But
if after having fallen they rise up again, so long as we stand, they
are fallen. So long as we waver not, the adversary rises not
again.
“Let us put on the whole
armor of God.” Seest thou how he banishes all fear? For if it be
possible “to do all, and to stand,” his describing in detail the
power of the enemy does not create cowardice and fear, but it shakes
off indolence. “That ye may be able,” he saith, “to
withstand in the evil day.” And he further gives them
encouragement too from the time; the time, he seems to say, is short;470
so that ye must needs stand; faint not when
the slaughter is achieved.
Moral.
If then it is a warfare, if such are the forces arrayed against us, if
“the principalities” are incorporeal, if they are
“rulers of the world,” if they are “the spiritual
hosts of wickedness,” how, tell me, canst thou live in
self-indulgence? How canst thou be dissolute? How if we are unarmed,
shall we be able to overcome? These words let every one repeat to
himself every day, whenever he is under the influence of anger, or of
lust, whenever he is aiming, and all to no profit, after this languid
life. Let him hearken to the blessed Paul, saying to him, “Our
wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the
principalities, against the powers.” A harder warfare this than
that which is matter of sense, a fiercer conflict. Think how long time
this enemy is wrestling, for what it is that he is fighting, and be
more guarded than ever. “Nay,” a man will say, “but
as he is the devil, he ought to have been removed out of the way, and
then all had been saved.”471
| 471 [This entire sentence and the preceding one, though attested by
three mss. and read by Savile, are wanting in
the text of Field, who has, in their stead, Νῦν οὖν ἦλθε,
φησὶν, ἐμοὶ
παλαῖσαι, “Now then,” says some one, “he has come to
wrestle with me,” which seems to leave the sense incomplete, and
does not suit the following sentence. See note on page
82.—G.A.] | These are the
pretenses to which some of your indolent ones in self-defense give
utterance. When thou oughtest to be thankful, O man, that, if thou hast
a mind, thou hast the victory over such a foe, thou art on the contrary
even discontented, and givest utterance to the words of some sluggish
and sleepy soldier. Thou knowest the points of attack,472
if thou choosest. Reconnoiter on all
sides, fortify thyself. Not against the devil alone is the conflict,
but also against his powers. How then, you may say, are we to wrestle
with the darkness? By becoming light. How with the “spiritual
hosts of wickedness”? By becoming good. For wickedness is
contrary to good, and light drives away darkness. But if we ourselves
too be darkness, we shall inevitably be taken captive. How then shall
we overcome them? If, what they are by nature, that we become by
choice, free from flesh and blood, thus shall we vanquish them. For
once it was probable that the disciples would have many persecutors,
“imagine not,” he would say, “that it is they who war
with you. They that really war with you, are the spirits that work in
them. Against them is our conflict.” Two things he provides for
by these considerations; he renders them in themselves more courageous
and he lets loose their wrath against those who war against them. And
wherefore is our conflict against these? Since we have also an
invincible ally, the grace of the Spirit. We have been taught an art,
such as shall enable us to wrestle not against men, but against
spirits. Nay, if we have a mind, neither shall we wrestle at all; for
it is because we choose it, that there is a struggle, since so great is
the power of Him that dwelleth in us, as that He said, “Behold, I
have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over
all the power of the enemy.” (Luke x. 19.) All power hath
He given us, both of wrestling and of not wrestling. It is because we
are slothful, that we have to wrestle with them; for that Paul wrestled
not, hear what he saith himself, “Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom. viii. 35.) And again hear
his words, “God shall bruise Satan under your feet
shortly.” (Rom. xvi. 20.) For he had him under
his subjection; whence also he said, “I charge thee in the name
of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” (Acts xvi. 18.) And this is not
the language of one wrestling; for he that wrestles has not yet
conquered, and he that has conquered no longer wrestles; he has
subdued, has taken his captive. And so Peter again wrestled not with
the devil, but he did that which was better than wrestling. In the case
of the faithful, the obedient, the catechumens, they prevailed over him
to vast advantage and over his powers. Hence too was it that the
blessed Paul said, “For we are not ignorant of his devices”
(2
Cor. ii. 11.), which was the way moreover in which he especially
overcame him; and again hear his words, “And no marvel—if
his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of
righteousness.” (2 Cor. xi. 14,
15.)
So well knew he every part of the conflict, and nothing escaped him.
Again, “For the mystery of lawlessness,” saith he,
“doth already work.” (2 Thess. ii.
7.)
But against us is the struggle;
for hearken again to him, saying, “I am persuaded, that neither
angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the
love of Christ.” (Rom. viii. 38.) He saith not
simply, “from Christ,” but, “from the love of
Christ.”473
For many there are who are united
forsooth to Christ, and who yet love Him not. Not only, saith he, shalt
thou not persuade me to deny Him, but, not even to love Him less. And
if the powers above had not strength to do this, who else should move
him? Not, however, that he saith this, as though they were actually
attempting it, but upon the supposition; wherefore also he said,
“I am persuaded.” So then he did not wrestle, yet
nevertheless he fears his artifices; for hear what he saith, “I
fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness,
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is toward
Christ.” (2 Cor. xi. 3.) True, you will say,
but he uses this word touching himself also, where he saith, “For
I fear474
| 474 [The words, “I fear,” φοβοῦμαι
γὰρ, are not in the text
of 1
Cor. ix. 27. See note 1 on page 157.—G.A.] | lest, by any means, after that I have
preached to others, I myself should be rejected.” How then art
thou “persuaded that no one shall separate thee”?
Perceivest thou that the expression is that of lowliness and of
humility? For he already dwelt in Heaven. And hence also it was that he
said, “For I know nothing against myself” (1 Cor. iv.
4.);
and again, “I have finished the course.” (2 Tim. iv.
7.)
So that it was not with regard to these matters that the devil placed
obstacles in his way, but with reference to the interests of the
disciples. And why forsooth? Because in these points he was not himself
sole master, but also their own will. There the devil prevailed in some
cases; nay, neither there was it over him that he prevailed, but over
the indolence of persons who took no heed. If indeed, whether from
slothfulness, or anything else of the sort, he had failed to fulfill
his own duty, then had the devil prevailed over him; but if he himself
on his part did all he could, and they obeyed not it was not over him
he prevailed, but over their disobedience; and the disease prevailed
not over the physician, but over the unruliness of the patient; for,
when the physician takes every precaution, and the patient undoes all,
the patient is defeated, not the physician. Thus then in no instance
did he prevail over Paul. But in our own case, it is matter for
contentment that we should be so much as able to wrestle. For the
Romans indeed this is not what he asks, but what? “He shall
bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. xvi. 20.) And for these
Ephesians he invokes, “Him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think.” (Eph. iii. 20.) He that
wrestles is still held fast, but it is enough for him that he has not
fallen. When we depart hence, then, and not till then, will the
glorious victory be achieved. For instance, take the case of some evil
lust. The extraordinary thing would be, not even to entertain it, but
to stifle it. If, however, this be not possible, then though we may
have to wrestle with it, and retain it to the last, yet if we depart
still wrestling, we are conquerors. For the case is not the same here
as it is with wrestlers; for there if thou throw not thy antagonist,
thou hast not conquered; but here if thou be not thrown, thou hast
conquered; if thou art not thrown, thou hast thrown him; and with
reason, because there both strive for the victory, and when the one is
thrown, the other is crowned; here, however, it is not thus, but the
devil is striving for our defeat; when then I strip him of that upon
which he is bent, I am conqueror. For it is not to overthrow us, but to
make us share his overthrow that he is eager. Already then am I
conqueror, for he is already cast down, and in a state of ruin; and his
victory consists not in being himself crowned, but in effecting my
ruin; so that though I overthrow him not, yet if I be not overthrown, I
have conquered. What then is a glorious victory? It is, over and above,
to trample him underfoot, as Paul did, by regarding the things of this
present world as nothing. Let us too imitate him, and strive to become
above them, and nowhere to give him a hold upon us. Wealth,
possessions, vain-glory, give him a hold. And oftentimes indeed this
has roused him, and oftentimes exasperated him. But what need is there
of wrestling? What need of engaging with him? He who is engaged in the
act of wrestling has the issue in uncertainty, whether he may not be
himself defeated and captured. Whereas he that tramples him under foot,
has the victory certain.
Oh then, let us trample under
foot the power of the devil; let us trample under foot our sins, I mean
everything that pertains to this life, wrath, lust, vain-glory, every
passion; that when we depart to that world, we may not be convicted of
betraying that power which God hath given us; for thus shall we attain
also the blessings that are to come. But if in this we are unfaithful,
who will entrust us with those things which are greater? If we were not
able to trample down one who had fallen, who had been disgraced, who
had been despised, who was lying beneath our feet, how shall the Father
give us a Father’s rewards? If we subdue not one so placed in
subjection to us, what confidence shall we have to enter into our
Father’s house? For, tell me, suppose thou hadst a son, and, that
he, disregarding the well-disposed part of thy household, should
associate with them that have distressed thee, with them that have been
expelled his father’s house, with them that spend their time at
the gaming table, and that he should go on so doing to the very last;
will he not be disinherited? It is plain enough he will. And so too
shall we; if, disregarding the Angels who have well pleased our Father
and whom He hath set over us, we have our conversation with the devil,
inevitably we shall be disinherited, which God forbid;
but let us engage in the war we have to wage with him.
If any one hath an enemy, if any
one hath been wronged by him, if any one is exasperated, let him
collect together all that wrath, all that fierceness, and pour it out
upon the head of the devil. Here wrath is a good thing, here anger is
profitable, here revenge is praiseworthy, for just as amongst the
heathen, revenge is a vice, so truly here is revenge a virtue. So then
if thou hast any failings, rid thyself of them here. And if thou art
not able thyself to put them away, do it, though with thy members
also.475
| 475 [We
have here followed the text of Savile (supported by three mss.), as follows: εἰ
δὲ μὴ δύνασαι
αὐτὸς
ἀποθέσθαι,
κἂν μετὰ τῶν
μελῶν τῶν
σῶν, in preference to the text
of Field, which has εἰ μὴ
δύνασαι αὐτὰ
ἀπθοέσθαι, ἢ
μετὰ τῶν
μελῶν τῶν
σῶν.—G.A.] | Hath any one struck thee? Bear malice
against the devil, and never relinquish thy hatred towards him. Or
again, hath no one struck thee? Yet bear him malice still, because he
insulted, because he offended thy Lord and Master, because he injures
and wars against thy brethren. With him be ever at enmity, ever
implacable, ever merciless. Thus shall he be humbled, thus despicable,
thus shall he be an easy prey. If we are fierce towards him, he shall
never be fierce towards us. If we are compliant, then he will be
fierce; it is not with him as it is with our brethren. He is the foe
and enemy, both of life and salvation, both ours and his own. If he
loves not himself, how shall he be able to love us? Let us then put
ourselves in array and wound him, having for our mighty confederate the
Lord Jesus Christ, who can both render us impregnable to his snares,
and worthy of the good things to come; which God grant that we may all
attain, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ,
with whom, together with the Holy Ghost, be unto the Father, glory,
might, and honor, now and ever, and throughout all ages.
Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
