No More Learning

" What is this fasting," he con tinued, "which you are observing? " "As I have been accus tomed, sir," I reply, "so I fast. " "You do not know," he says, " how to fast unto the Lord : this useless fasting which you observe to Him is of no value. " " Why, sir," I answered, "do you say this? " "I say to you," he continued, "that the fasting which you think you observe is not a fasting. But I will teach you what is a full and acceptable fasting to the Lord. Listen," he continued : " God does not desire such an empty fasting. For fasting to God in this way you will do nothing for a righteous life ; but offer to God a fasting of the following kind : Do no evil in your life, and serve the Lord with a pure heart : keep His commandments, walking in His precepts, and let no evil desire arise in your heart ; and believe in God. If you do these things, and fear Him, and abstain from every evil thing, you will live unto God ; and if you do these things, you will"keep a great fast, and one acceptable before God.
Hear the similitude which I am about to narrate to you relative to fasting. A certain man had a field and many slaves, and he planted a certain part of the field with a vine yard, and selecting a faithful and beloved and much valued slave, he called him to him, and said, 'Take this vineyard which I have planted, and stake it until I come, and do noth ing else to the vineyard ; and attend to this order of mine, and you shall receive your freedom from me. ' And the master of the slave departed to a foreign country. And when he was gone, the slave took and staked the vineyard; and when he
VOL. VII. —9
130 TRUE FASTING, AND PURITY OF BODY.
had finished the staking of the vines, he saw that the vineyard was full of weeds. He then reflected, saying, 'I have kept
I will
this order of my master :
yard, and it will be more beautiful when dug up ; and being free of weeds, it will yield more fruit, not being choked by them. ' He took, therefore, and dug up the vineyard, and rooted out all the weeds that were in it. And that vineyard became very beautiful and fruitful, having no weeds to choke it. And after a certain time the master of the slave and of the field returned, and entered into the vineyard. And seeing that the vines were suitably supported on stakes, and the ground, moreover, dug up, and all the weeds rooted out, and the vines fruitful, he was greatly pleased with the work of his slave. And calling his beloved son who was his heir, and his friends who were his councilors, he told them what orders he had given his slave, and what he had found performed. And they rejoiced along with the slave at the testimony which his master bore to him. And he said to them, 'I promised this slave freedom if he obeyed the command which I gave him, and he has kept my command, and done besides a good work to the vineyard, and has pleased me exceedingly. In return, therefore, for the work which he has done, I wish to make him coheir with my son, because, having good thoughts, he did not neglect them, but carried them out. ' With this resolution of the master his son and friends were well pleased, viz. that the slave should be coheir with the son. After a few days the master made a feast, and sent to his slave many dishes from
dig
up the rest of this vine
the table. And the slave receiving the dishes that were sent him from his master took of them what was sufficient for him self, and distributed the rest among his fellow-slaves. And his fellow-slaves rejoiced to receive the dishes, and began to pray for him, that he might find still greater favor with his master for having so treated them. His master heard all these things that were done, and was again greatly pleased with his conduct. And the master again calling together his friends and his son, reported to them the slave's proceeding with regard to the dishes which he had sent him. And they were still more satis fied that the slave should become coheir with his son. "
I said to him, " Sir, I do not see the meaning of these simili tudes, nor am I able to comprehend them, unless you explain them to me. " " I will explain them all to you," he said, " and whatever I shall mention in the course of our conversations I
TRUE FASTING, AND PURITY OF BODY. 131
will show you. [Keep the commandments of the Lord, and you will be approved, and inscribed amongst the number of those who observe His commands. ] And if you do any good beyond what is commanded by God, you will gain for yourself more abundant glory, and will be more honored by God than you would otherwise be. If, therefore, in keeping the com mandments of God, you do, in addition, these services, you will have joy if you observe them according to my command. " I said to him, " Sir, whatsoever you enjoin upon me I will ob serve, for I know"that you are with me. " "I will be with you," he replied, because you have such a desire for doing good ; and I will be with all those," he added, " who have such a desire. This fasting," he continued, " is very good, provided the commandments of the Lord be observed. Thus, then, shall you observe the fasting which you intend to keep. First of all, be on your guard against every evil word, and every evil desire, and purify your heart from all the vanities of this world. If you guard against these things, your fasting will be perfect. And you will do also as follows. Having fulfilled what is written, in the day on which you fast you will taste nothing but bread and water ; and having reckoned up the price of the dishes of that day which you intended to have eaten, you will give it to a widow, or an orphan, or to some person in want, and thus you will exhibit humility of mind, so that he who has received benefit from your humility may fill his own soul, and pray for you to the Lord. If you observe fasting, as I have commanded you, your sacrifice will be acceptable to God, and this fasting will be written down : and the service thus performed is noble, and sacred, and acceptable to the Lord. These things, there fore, shall you thus observe with your children, and all your house, and in observing them you will be blessed ; and as many as hear these words and observe them shall be blessed ; and whatsoever they ask of the Lord they shall receive. "
I prayed him much that he would explain to me the simili tude of the field, and of the master of the vineyard, and of the slave who staked the vineyard, and of the stakes, and of the weeds that were plucked out of the vineyard, and of the son, and of the friends who were fellow-councilors, for I knew that all these things were a kind of parable. And he answered me, and said : " You are exceedingly persistent with your questions. You ought not," he continued, " to ask any questions at all ; for if it is needful to explain anything, it will be made known
132 TRUE FASTING, AND PURITY OF BODY.
to you. " I said to him, "Sir, whatsoever you show me, and do not explain, I shall have seen to no purpose, not understand ing its meaning. In like manner also, if you speak parables to me, and do not unfold them, I shall have heard your words in vain. " And he answered me again, saying, "Every one who is the servant of God, and has his Lord in his heart, asks of Him understanding, and receives it, and opens up every para ble ; and the words of the Lord become known to him which are spoken in parables. But those who are weak and slothful in prayer, hesitate to ask anything from the Lord ; but the Lord is full of compassion, and gives without fail to all who ask Him. But you, having been strengthened by the holy Angel, and having obtained from Him such intercession, and not being slothful, why do you not ask of the Lord understand ing and receive it from Him ? " I said to him, " Sir, having, you with me, I am necessitated to ask questions of you, for you show me all things, and converse with me ; but if I were to see or hear these things without you, I would then ask the Lord to explain them. "
" I said to you a little ago," he answered, " that you were cunning and obstinate in asking explanations of the parables ; but since you are so persistent, I shall unfold to you the mean ing of the similitudes of the field, and of all the others that follow, that you may make them known to every one. Hear now," he said, " and understand them. The field is this world ; and the Lord of the field is He who created, and perfected, and strengthened all things ; [and the son is the Holy Spirit ;] and the slave is the Son of God ; and the vines are this people, whom He Himself planted ; and the stakes are the holy angels of the Lord, who keep His people together; and the weeds that were plucked out of the vineyard are the iniquities of God's servants ; and the dishes which He sent him from His table are the commandments which He gave His people through His Son ; and the friends and fellow-councilors are the holy angels who were first created; and the Master's absence from home is the time that remains until His appear ing. " I said to him, " Sir, all these are great, and marvelous, and glorious things. Could I, therefore," I continued, " under stand them ? No, nor could any other man, even if exceedingly wise. Moreover," I added, " explain to me what I am about to ask you. " " Say what you wish," he replied. " Why, sir," I asked, "is the Son of God in the parable in the form of a slave ? "
TRUE FASTING, AND PURITY OF BODY. 133
" Hear," he answered, " the Son of God is not in the form of a slave, but in great power and might. " " How so, sir? " I said; "I do not understand. " " Because," he answered, " God planted the vineyard, that is to say, He created the people, and gave them to His Son ; and the Son appointed His angels over them to keep them ; and He Himself purged away their sins, having suffered many trials and undergone many labors, for no one is able to dig without labor and toil. He Himself, then, having purged away the sins of the people, showed them the paths of life by giving them the law which He received from His Father. [You see," he said, " that He is the Lord of the people, having received all authority from His Father. ] And why the Lord took His Son as councilor, and the glorious angels, regarding the heirship of the slave, listen. The holy, preexistent Spirit, that created every creature, God made to dwell in flesh, which He chose. This flesh, accordingly, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt, was nobly subject to that Spirit, walking religiously and chastely, in no respect defiling the Spirit ; and accordingly, after living excellently and purely, and after laboring and cooperating with the Spirit, and hav ing in everything acted vigorously and courageously along with the Holy Spirit, He assumed it as a partner with it. For this conduct of the flesh pleased Him, because it was not defiled on the earth while having the Holy Spirit. He took, there fore, as fellow-councilors His Son and the glorious angels, in order that this flesh, which had been subject to the body with out a fault, might have some place of tabernacle, and that it might not appear that the reward [of its servitude had been lost] ; for the flesh has been found without spot or defilement, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt [will receive a reward]. You now have the explanation of this parable also. "
" I rejoice, sir," I said, " to hear this explanation. " " Hear," again he replied : " Keep this flesh pure and stainless, that the Spirit which inhabits it may bear witness to it, and your flesh may be justified. See that the thought never arise in your mind that this flesh of yours is corruptible, and you misuse it by any act of defilement. If you defile your flesh, you will also defile the Holy Spirit ; and if you defile your flesh [and spirit], you will not live. "
134 THE CONSERVATISM OP HEATHENDOM.
THE CONSERVATISM OF HEATHENDOM. By CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.
[Titus Flavius Clemens, " Alexandrinus," one of the chief and earliest philosophers who constructed the metaphysical bases of historic Christian doc trine, enrolled as a saint until Benedict XIV. struck his name off the calendar, flourished about a. d. 200. He was a pagan, converted to Christianity. His birth place is uncertain, but he became presbyter of the church of Alexandria. Origen was his pupil. Nothing is known of his further fortunes or time of death. He was a man of immense learning, both in Greek literature and philosophy and Christian speculation, and of the loftiest life. ]
But you say it is not creditable to subvert the customs handed down to us from our fathers. And why, then, do we not still use our first nourishment, milk, to which our nurses accustomed us from the time of our birth? Why do we increase or dimin ish our patrimony, and not keep it exactly the same as we got it? Why do we not still vomit on our parents' breasts, or still do the things for which, when infants, and nursed by our moth ers, we were laughed at, but have corrected ourselves even if we did not fall in with good instructors ? Then, if excesses in the indulgence of the passions, though pernicious and dangerous, yet are accompanied with pleasure, why do we not in the conduct of life abandon that usage which is evil, and provocative of pas sion, and godless, even should our fathers feel hurt, and betake ourselves to the truth, and seek Him who is truly our Father, rejecting custom as a deleterious drug ? For of all that I have undertaken to do, the task I now attempt is the noblest, viz. to demonstrate to you how inimical this insane and most wretched custom is to godliness. For a boon so great, the greatest ever given by God to the human race, would never have been hated and rejected, had not you been carried away by custom, and then shut your ears against us ; and just as unmanageable horses throw off the reins, and take the bit between their teeth, you rush away from the arguments addressed to you, in your eager desire to shake yourselves clear of us, who seek to guide the chariot of your life, and, impelled by your folly, dash towards the precipices of destruction, and regard the holy word of God
as an accursed thing. The reward of your choice, therefore, as described by Sophocles, follows : —
The mind a blank, useless ears, vain thoughts.
And you know not that, of all truths, this is the truest, that the good and godly shall obtain the good reward, inasmuch as they
THE CONSERVATISM OF HEATHENDOM. 135
held goodness in high esteem ; while, on the other hand, the wicked shall receive meet punishment. For the author of evil, torment has been prepared ; and so the prophet Zecharias threat ens him : " He that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee ; lo, is not this a brand plucked from the fire ? " What an infatuated desire, then, for voluntary death is this, rooted in men's minds ! Why do they flee to this fatal brand, with which they shall be burned, when it is within their power to live nobly according to God, and not according to custom ? For God bestows life freely ; but evil custom, after our departure from this world brings on the sinner unavailing remorse with punishment. By sad experi ence, even a child knows how superstition destroys and piety saves. Let any of you look at those who minister before the idols, their hair matted, their persons disgraced with filthy and tattered clothes ; who never come near a bath, and let their nails grow to an extraordinary length, like wild beasts ; many of them castrated, who show the idol's temples to be in reality graves or prisons. These appear to me to bewail the gods, not to worship them, and their sufferings to be worthy of pity rather than piety. And seeing these things, do you still continue blind, and will you not look up to the Ruler of all, the Lord of the universe ? And will you not escape from those dungeons, and flee to the mercy that comes down from heaven? For God of His great love comes to the help of man, as the mother bird flies to one of her young that has fallen out of the nest ; and if a serpent open its mouth to swallow the little bird, " the mother flutters round, uttering cries of grief over her dear progeny ; " and God the Father seeks His creature, and heals his transgression, and pursues the serpent, and recovers the young one, and incites it to fly up to the nest.
Thus dogs that have strayed track out their master by the scent ; and horses that have thrown their riders come to their master's call if he but whistle. " The ox," it is said, " knoweth its owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel hath not known me. " What, then, of the Lord ? He remembers not our ill desert ; He still pities, He still urges us to repentance.
And I would ask you, if it does not appear to you monstrous, that you men who are God's handiwork, who have received your souls from Him, and belong wholly to God, should be subject to another master, and, what is more, serve the tyrant instead of the rightful King — the evil one instead of the good? For, in the name of truth, what man in his senses turns his back on good, and attaches himself to evil ? What, then, is he who flees
136 THE CONSERVATISM OF HEATHENDOM.
from God to consort with demons ? Who, that may become a son of God, prefers to be in bondage ? Or who is he that pur sues his way to Erebus, when it is in his power to be a citizen of Heaven, and to cultivate Paradise, and walk about in Heaven and partake of the tree of life and immortality, and, cleaving his way through the sky in the track of the luminous cloud, behold, like Elias, the rain of salvation? Some there are, who, like worms wallowing in marshes and mud, in the streams of pleas ure feed on foolish and useless delights — swinish men. For swine, it is said, like mud better than pure water, and, accord ing to Democritus, "doat upon dirt. "
Let us not then be enslaved or become swinish ; but, as true children of the light, let us raise our eyes and look on the light, lest the Lord discover us to be spurious, as the sun does the eagles. Let us therefore repent, and pass from ignorance to knowledge, from foolishness to wisdom, from licentiousness to self-restraint, from unrighteousness to righteousness, from god- lessness to God. It is an enterprise of noble daring to take our way to God ; and the enjoyment of many other good things is within the reach of the lovers of righteousness, who pursue eter nal life, especially those things to which God Himself alludes, speaking by Isaiah, " There is an inheritance for those who serve the Lord. " Noble and desirable is this inheritance ; not gold, not silver, not raiment, which the moth assails, and things of earth which are assailed by the robber, whose eye is dazzled by worldly wealth ; but it is that treasure of salvation to which we must hasten, by becoming lovers of the Word. Thence praise worthy works descend to us, and fly with us on the wing of truth. This is the inheritance with which the eternal covenant of God invests us, conveying the everlasting gift of grace ; and thus our loving Father — the true Father — ceases not to exhort, admonish, train, love us. For He ceases not to save, and advises the best course : " Become righteous," says the Lord. "Ye that thirst, come to the water ; and ye that have no money, come, and buy and drink without money. " He invites to the laver, to salvation, to illumination, all but crying out and saying, " The land I give thee, and the sea, my child, and heaven too ; and all the living creatures in them I freely bestow upon thee. " Only, O child, thirst for thy Father; God shall be revealed to thee without price; the truth is not made merchandise of. He gives
thee all creatures that fly and swim, and those on the land. These the Father has created for thy thankful enjoyment. What
THE CONSERVATISM OF HEATHENDOM. 187
the bastard, who is a son of perdition, foredoomed to be the slave of mammon, has to buy for money, He assigns to thee as thine own, even to His own son who loves the Father; for whose"sake He still works, and to whom alone He promises, saying, The land shall not be sold in perpetuity," for it is not destined to corruption. " For the whole land is mine ; " and it is thine too, if thou receive God. Wherefore, the Scriptures, as might have been expected, proclaims good news to those who have believed. " The saints of the Lord shall inherit the glory of God and His power. " What glory, tell me, O blessed One, which " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man " ; and " they shall be glad in the kingdom of their Lord for ever and ever ! Amen. " You have, O men, the divine promise of grace ; you have heard, on the other hand, the threatening of punishment : by these the Lord saves, teaching men by fear and grace. Why do we delay ? Why do we not shun the punish ment ? Why do we not receive the free gift ? Why, in fine, do we not choose the better part, God instead of the evil one, and prefer wisdom to idolatry, and take life in exchange for death ? " Behold," He says, " I have set before your face death and life. " The Lord tries you, that " you may choose life. " He counsels you as a father to obey God. " For if ye hear me," He says,
" and be willing, ye shall eat the good things of the land : " this is the grace attached to obedience. " But if ye obey me not, and are unwilling, the sword and fire shall devour you : " this is the penalty of disobedience. For the mouth of the Lord — the law of truth, the word of the Lord — hath spoken these things. Are you willing that I should be your good counselor ? Well, do you hear. I, if possible, will explain. You ought, O men, when reflecting on the Good, to have brought forward a witness inborn and competent, viz. faith, which of itself, and from its own resources, chooses at once what is best, instead of occu
in painfully inquiring whether what is best ought to be followed. For, allow me to tell you, you ought to doubt whether you should get drunk, but you get drunk before
reflecting on the matter ; and whether you ought to do an injury, but you do injury with the utmost readiness. The only thing you make the subject of question is, whether God should be worshiped, and whether this wise God and Christ should be fol lowed : and this you think requires deliberation and doubt, and know not what is worthy of God. Have faith in us, as you have in drunkenness, that you may be wise ; have faith in us, as you
pying yourselves
138 THE CONSERVATISM OF HEATHENDOM.
have in injury, that you may live. But acknowledging the conspicuous trustworthiness of the virtues, you wish to trust them, come and will set before you in abundance materials of persuasion respecting the Word. But do you, — for your ances tral customs, by which your minds are preoccupied, divert you from the truth, — do you now hear what the real state of the case as follows.
And let not any shame of this name preoccupy you, which does great harm to men, and seduces them from salvation. Let us then openly strip for the contest, and nobly strive in the arena of truth, the holy Word being the judge, and the Lord of the universe prescribing the contest. For 'tis no insignificant prize, the guerdon of immortality which set before us. Pay no more regard then, you are rated by some of the low rab ble who lead the dance of impiety, and are driven on to the same pit by their folly and insanity, makers of idols and wor shipers of stones. For these have dared to deify men, ■— Alex ander of Macedon, for example, whom they canonized as the thirteenth god, whose pretensions Babylon confuted, which showed him dead. admire, therefore, the divine sophist. Theocritus was his name. After Alexander's death, Theoc ritus, holding up the vain opinions entertained by men respect ing the gods to ridicule before his fellow-citizens, said, " Men, keep up your hearts as long as you see the gods dying sooner than men. " And, truly, he that worships gods that are visible, and the promiscuous rabble of creatures begotten and born, and attaches himself to them, far more wretched object than the very demons. For God by no manner of means un
righteous as the demons are, but in the very highest degree righteous; and nothing more resembles God than one of us when he becomes righteous in the highest possible degree —
Go into the way, the whole tribe of you handicraftsmen,
Who worship Jove's fierce-eyed daughter, the working-goddess, With fans duly placed, fools that ye are,
fashioners of stones, and worshipers of them. Let your Phi dias and Polycletus, and your Praxiteles and Apelles too, come, and all that are engaged in mechanical arts, who, being them selves of the earth, are workers of the earth. " For then," says
certain prophecy, "the affairs here turn out unfortunately, when men put their trust in images. " Let the meaner artists, too, — for will not stop calling, — come. None of these ever
I
a
:
is is a
I
if
is
is
if,
I
THE CONSERVATISM OF HEATHENDOM. 139
made a breathing image, or out of earth molded soft flesh. Who liquefied the marrow ? or who solidified the bones ? Who stretched the nerves ? who distended the veins ? Who poured the blood into them? or who spread the skin? Who ever could have made eyes capable of seeing ? Who breathed spirit into the lifeless form? Who bestowed righteousness? Who promised immortality ? The Maker of the universe alone ; the Great Artist and Father has formed us, such a living image as man is. But your Olympian Jove, the image of an image, greatly out of harmony with truth, is the senseless work of Attic hands. For the image of God is His Word, the genuine Son of Mind, the Divine Word, the archetypal light of light; and the image of the Word is the true man, the mind which is in man, who is therefore said to have been made " in the image and likeness of God," assimilated to the Divine Word in the affections of the soul, and therefore rational ; but effigies sculp tured in human form, the earthly image of that part of man which is visible and earth-born, are but a perishable impress of humanity, manifestly wide of the truth. That life, then, which is occupied with so much earnestness about matter, seems to me to be nothing else than full of insanity.
And custom, which has made you taste bondage and unreasonable care, is fostered by vain opinion ; and ignorance, which has proved to the human race the cause of unlawful rites and delusive shows, and also of deadly plagues and hateful images, has, by devising many shapes of demons, stamped on all that follow it the mark of long-continued death. Receive, then, the water of the word ; wash, ye polluted ones; purify yourselves from custom, by sprinkling yourselves with the drops of truth. The pure must ascend to heaven. Thou art a man, if we look to that which is most common to thee and others — seek Him who created thee ; thou art a son, if we look to that which is thy peculiar preroga tive — acknowledge thy Father. But do you still continue in your sins, engrossed with pleasures ? To whom shall the Lord say, " Yours is the kingdom of heaven " ? Yours, whose choice is set on God, if you will ; yours, if you will only believe and comply with the brief terms of the announcement ; which the Ninevites having obeyed, instead of the destruction they looked for, obtained a signal deliverance. How, then, may I ascend to heaven, is it said ? The Lord is the way ; a strait way, but leading from heaven; strait in truth, but leading back to heaven ; strait, despised on earth ; broad, adored in heaven.
140 ON FREE WILL.
ON FREE WILL. Br ORIGEN.
[Origeves, one of the greatest of the founders of Christian theology, by some reckoned the very greatest and the real architect of its doctrinal frame work, and the one who did most to win it acceptance from the pagan world by reconciling it with ancient culture and science, was born of Christian parents at Alexandria, \. d, 185 or 186. Educated under Pantaenus and Clement, at the only school then existing which taught Greek science and Scripture at once, he showed remarkable early talents. His father was martyred in 202, and the fam ily beggared. The next year he became head of the school himself, at not over eighteen, and taught for twenty-eight years with enormous reputation ; living an ascetic life, at first copying manuscripts for a living ; studying philosophy and Hebrew, and writing textual and expository comments on the Scriptures, etc. , and taking many journeys for cultivation and ecclesiastical objects. The bishop of Alexandria was jealous of him, and would never give him ecclesiastical con secration, so that he remained a layman. About the year 230 the bishops in Palestine ordained him ; on which the Alexandrian bishop convened two synods, which banished him and degraded him to the lay status again. He went to Palestine, where his condemnation was not acknowledged, established a famous school in Ca»area, and was persecuted there ; traveled and lectured widely and wrote much ; was imprisoned and ill-used in the persecution under Decius, 250 ; and died in peace, probably in 254. ]
The rational animal, however, has, in addition to its phantasial nature, also reason, which judges the phantasies, and disapproves of some and accepts others, in order that the animal may be led according to them. Therefore, since there are in the nature of reason aids towards the contemplation of virtue and vice, by following which, after beholding good and evil, we select the one and avoid the other, we are deserving of praise when we give ourselves to the practice of virtue, and censurable when we do the reverse. We must not, however, be ignorant that the greater part of the nature assigned to all things is a varying quantity among animals, both in a greater and a less degree ; so that the instinct in hunting dogs and in war-horses approaches somehow, so to speak, to the faculty of reason. Now, to fall under some one of those external causes which stir up within us this phantasy or that, is confessedly not one of those things that are dependent upon ourselves ; but to determine that we shall use the occurrence in this way or differently, is the prerogative of nothing else than of the rea son within us, which, as occasion offers, arouses us towards efforts inciting to what is virtuous and becoming, or turns us aside to what is the reverse.
Such being the case, to say that we are moved from without,
ON FREE WILL. 141
and to put away the blame from ourselves, by declaring that we are like to pieces of wood and stones, which are dragged about by those causes that act upon them from without, is neither true nor in conformity with reason, but is the statement of him who wishes to destroy the conception of free will. For if we were to ask such an one what was free will, he would say that it consisted in this, that when purposing to do some thing, no external cause came inciting to the reverse. But to blame, on the other hand, the mere constitution of the body, is absurd; for the disciplinary reason, taking hold of those who are most intemperate and savage (if they will follow her exhortation), effects a transformation, so that the alteration and change for the better is most extensive — the most licentious men fre quently becoming better than those who formerly did not seem to be such by nature; and the most savage men passing into such a state of mildness, that those persons who never at any time were so savage as they were, appear savage in comparison, so great a degree of gentleness having been produced within them. And we see other men, most steady and respectable, driven from their state of respectability and steadiness by intercourse with evil customs, so as to fall into habits of licen tiousness, often beginning their wickedness in middle age, and plunging into disorder after the period of youth has passed, which, so far as its nature is concerned, is unstable. Reason, therefore, demonstrates that external events do not depend on us, but that it is our own business to use them in this way or the opposite, having received reason as a judge and an inves tigator of the manner in which we ought to meet those events that come from without.
But since certain declarations of the Old Testament and of the New lead to the opposite conclusion, — namely, that it does not depend on ourselves to keep the commandments and to be saved, or to transgress them and to be lost, — let us adduce them one by one, and see the explanations of them, in order that from those which we adduce, any one selecting in a similar way all the passages that seem to nullify free will, may consider what is said about them by way of explanation. And now, the statements regarding Pharaoh have troubled many, respecting whom God declared several times, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart. " For if he is hardened by God, and commits sin in consequence of being hardened, he is not the cause of sin to himself; and if so, then neither does Pharaoh possess free
142 ON FREE WILL.
will. And some will say that, in a similar way, they who per ish have not free will, and will not perish of themselves. The declaration also in Ezekiel, " I will take away their stony hearts, and will put in them hearts of flesh, that they may walk in my precepts, and keep my commandments," might lead one to think that it was God who gave the power to walk in His commandments, and to keep His precepts, by His with drawing the hindrance, — the stony heart, and implanting a better, — a heart of flesh. And let us look also at the passage in the Gospel — the answer which the Savior returns to those who inquired why He spoke to the multitude in parables. His words are, " That seeing they might not see ; and hearing they may hear, and not understand ; lest they should be converted, and their sins be forgiven them. " The declarations," too, in other places, that " both to will and to do are of God ; " that God hath mercy upon whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth. Thou wilt say then, Why doth He yet find fault ? For who hath resisted His will ? " " The persua sion is of Him that calleth, and not of us. " " Nay, O man, who art thou that repliest against God ? Shall the thing formed say to him that hath formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor ? " Now these passages are sufficient of themselves to trouble the multitude, as if man were not possessed of free will, but as if it were God who saves and destroys whom He will. —
Let us begin, then, with what is said about Pharaoh
he was hardened by God, that he might not send away the people ; along with which will be examined also the statement of the apostle, " Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth. " And certain of those who hold different opinions misuse these passages, themselves also almost destroying free will by introducing ruined natures incapable of salvation, and others saved which it is impossible can be lost ; and Pharaoh, they say, as being of a ruined nature, is therefore hardened by God, who has mercy upon the spiritual, but hardens the earthy. Let us see now what they mean. For we shall ask them if Pharaoh was of an earthy nature ; and when they answer, we shall say that he who is of an earthy nature is altogether disobedient to God ; but if disobedient, what need is there of his heart being hardened, and that not once, but frequently ? Unless perhaps,
that
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since it was possible for him to obey (in which case he would certainly have obeyed, as not being earthy, when hard pressed by the signs and wonders), God needs him to be disobedient to a greater degree, in order that He may manifest His mighty deeds for the salvation of the multitude, and therefore hardens his heart. This will be our answer to them in the first place, in order to overturn their supposition that Pharaoh was of a ruined nature. And the same reply must be given to them with respect to the statement of the apostle. For whom does God harden ? Those who perish, as if they would obey unless they were hardened, or manifestly those who would be saved because they are not of a ruined nature. And on whom has He mercy? Is it on those who are to be saved ? And how is there need of a second mercy for those who have been prepared once for salvation, and who will by all means become blessed on account of their nature ? Unless perhaps, since they are capable of incurring destruction if they did not receive mercy, they will obtain mercy in order that they may not incur that de struction of which they are capable, but may be in the condition of those who are saved. And this is our answer to such persons.
But to those who think they understand the term " hard ened," we must address the inquiry, What do they mean by saying that God, by His working, hardens the heart, and with what purpose does He do this ? For let them observe the con ception of a God who is in reality just and good ; but if they will not allow this, let it be conceded to them for the present that He is just ; and let them show how the good and just God, or the just God only, appears to be just, in hardening the heart of him who perishes because of his being hardened : and how the just God becomes the cause of destruction and disobedience, when men are chastened by Him on account of their hardness and disobedience. And why does He find fault
with him, saying, " Thou wilt not let my people go ; " " Lo, I will smite all the firstborn in Egypt, even thy firstborn ; " and whatever else is recorded as spoken from God to Pharaoh through the intervention of Moses ? For he who believes that the Scriptures are true, and that God is just, must necessarily endeavor, if he be honest, to show how God, in using such expressions, may be distinctly understood to be just. But if any one should stand, declaring with uncovered head that the Creator of the world was inclined to wickedness, we should need other words to answer them.
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But since they say that they regard Him as a just God, and we as one who is at the same time good and just, let us consider how the good and just God could harden the heart of Pharaoh. See, then, whether, by an illustration used by the apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we are able to prove that by one oper ation God has mercy upon one man while He hardens another, although not intending to harden ; but, [although] having a good purpose, hardening follows as a result of the inherent principle of wickedness in such persons, and so He is said to harden him who is hardened. " The earth," he says, " which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God ; but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh to cursing, whose end is to be burned. " As re spects the rain, then, there is one operation ; and there being one operation as regards the rain, the ground which is culti vated produces fruit, while that which is neglected and is barren produces thorns. Now, it might seem profane for Him who rains to say, " I produced the fruits, and the thorns that are in the earth ; " and yet, although profane, it is true. For, had rain not fallen, there would have been neither fruits nor thorns ; but, having fallen at the proper time and in modera tion, both were produced. The ground, now, which drank in the rain which often fell upon it, and yet produced thorns and briers, is rejected and nigh to cursing. The blessing, then, of the rain descended even upon the inferior land ; but it, being neglected and uncultivated, yielded thorns and thistles. In the same way, therefore, the wonderful works also done by God are, as it were, the rain ; while the differing purposes are, as it were, the cultivated and neglected land, being [yet], like earth, of one nature.
And as if the sun, uttering a voice, were to say, " I liquefy and dry up," liquefaction and drying up being opposite things, he would not speak falsely as regards the point in question, wax being melted and mud being dried by the same heat ; so the same operation, which was performed through the instrumen tality of Moses, proved the hardness of Pharaoh on the one hand, the result of his wickedness, and the yielding of the mixed Egyptian multitude who took their departure with the Hebrews. And the brief statement that the heart of Pharaoh was softened, as it were, when he said, " But ye shall not go far : ye will go a three days' journey and leave your wives,"
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and anything else which he said, yielding little by little before the signs, proves that the wonders made some impression even upon him, but did not accomplish all [that they might]. Yet even this would not have happened, if that which is supposed by the many — the hardening of Pharaoh's heart — had been produced by God Himself. And it is not absurd to soften down such expressions agreeably to common usage ; for good masters often say to their slaves, when spoiled by their kind ness and forbearance, " I have made you bad, and I am to blame for offenses of such enormity. " For we must attend to the character and force of the phrase, and not argue sophis- tically, disregarding the meaning of the expression. Paul, accordingly, having examined these points clearly, says to the sinner : " Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the good ness of God leadeth thee to repentance? but, after thy hard ness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. " Now, let what the apostle says to the sinner be addressed to Pharaoh, and then the announcements made to him will be understood to have been made with peculiar fitness, as to one who, according to his hardness and unrepentant heart, was treasuring up to himself wrath ; see ing that his hardness would not have been proved nor made manifest unless miracles had been performed, and miracles, too, of such magnitude and importance.
But since such narratives are slow to secure assent and are considered to be forced, let us see from the prophetical decla rations also what those persons say who, although they have experienced the great kindness of God, have not lived virtu ously, but have afterwards sinned. " Why, O Lord, hast Thou made us to err from Thy ways? Why hast Thou hardened our heart so as not to fear Thy name? Return for Thy serv ants' sake, for the tribes of Thine inheritance, that we may inherit"a small portion of Thy holy mountain. " And in Jere miah, Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I was deceived ; Thou wert strong and Thou didst prevail. " For the expres sion, "Why hast Thou hardened our heart so as not to fear Thy name? " uttered by those who"are begging to receive mercy, is in its nature as follows : Why hast Thou spared us so long, not visiting us because of our sins, but deserting
us, until our transgressions come to a height? " Now He VOL. tii. — 10
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leaves the greater part of men unpunished, both in order that the habits of each one may be examined, so far as it depends upon ourselves, and that the virtuous may be made manifest in consequence of the test applied, while the others, not escaping notice from God, — for He knows all things before they exist, — but, from the rational creation and them selves, may afterwards obtain the means of cure, seeing they would not have known the benefit had they not condemned themselves. It is of advantage to each one that he perceive his own peculiar nature and the grace of God. For he who does not perceive his own weakness and the divine favor, although he receive a benefit, yet, not having made trial of himself nor having condemned himself, will imagine that the benefit conferred upon him by the grace of Heaven is his own doing. And this imagination, producing also vanity, will be the cause of a downfall, which, we conceive, was the case with the devil, who attributed to himself the " priority which he possessed when in a state of sinlessness. For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased," and "every one that humbleth himself shall be exalted. " And observe that for this reason divine things have been concealed from the wise and prudent, in order, as says the apostle, that "no flesh should glory in the presence of God " ; and they have been revealed to babes, to those who after childhood have come to better things, and who remember that it is not so much from their own effort as by the unspeakable goodness [of God] that they have reached the greatest possible extent of blessedness.
It is not without reason, then, that he who is abandoned is abandoned to the divine judgment, and that God is long- suffering with certain sinners, but because it will be for their advantage, with respect to the immortality of the soul and the unending world, that they be not quickly brought into a state of salvation, but be conducted to it more slowly, after having experienced many evils. For as physicians who are able to cure a man quickly, when they suspect that a hidden poison exists in the body, do the reverse of healing, making this more certain through their very desire to heal, deeming it better for a considerable time to retain the patient under inflammation and sickness, in order that he may recover his health more surely, than to appear to produce a rapid recovery, and afterwards to cause a relapse, and thus that hasty cure last only for a time. In the same way, God also, who knows
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the secret things of the heart and foresees future events, in His long-suffering, permits [certain events to occur], and, by means of those things which happen from without, extracts the secret evil, in order to cleanse him who through careless ness has received the seeds of sin, that having vomited them forth when they come to the surface, although he may have been deeply involved in evils, he may afterwards obtain heal ing after his wickedness and be renewed. For God governs souls not with reference, let me say, to the fifty years of the present life, but with reference to an illimitable age.
TO THE MARTYRS. By TERTULLIAN.
[Quintus Septimics Florjsns Tkrtuixianus, "the earliest and next to Augustine the greatest of the Church writers of the West, the creator of Chris tian Latin literature," was born at Carthage of a superior pagan family, about a. d. 150, and highly educated, being very learned in philosophy, history, and law ; went to Rome and was held one of its leading jurists, and wrote legal treatises. Converted in middle age, he returned to Carthage, married, and gave the rest of his life, first to fortifying Christianity against the various pagan schools ; second, to reconciling primitive Christianity with the new systems developed from the Scriptures and the new ecclesiastical forms ; finally, to opposing the conver sion of the Church into a political organization, which in the end led to his break ing with it altogether (about 207) and becoming the head of a "Montanist" community. The date of his death is uncertain. ]
Blessed Martyrs Designate, — Along with the provision which our lady mother the church from her bountiful breasts, and each brother out of his private means, makes for your bodily wants in the prison, accept also from me some contribu tion to your spiritual sustenance. For it is not good that the flesh be feasted and the spirit starve : nay, if that which is weak is carefully looked to, it is but right that that which is still weaker should not be neglected. Not that I am specially entitled to exhort you ; yet not only the trainers and overseers, but even the unskilled, nay, all who choose, without the slightest need for it, are wont to animate from afar by their cries the most accomplished gladiators, and from the mere throng of onlookers useful suggestions have sometimes come. First, then, O blessed, grieve not the Holy Spirit, who has entered the prison with you. For if He had not gone with you there, you would not have
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been there this day. And do you give all endeavor therefore to retain Him ; so let Him lead you thence to your Lord. The prison, indeed, is the devil's house as well, wherein he keeps his family. But you have come within its walls for the very pur pose of trampling the wicked one under foot in his chosen abode. You had already in pitched battle outside utterly overcome him ; let him have no reason, then, to say to himself, " They are now in my domains ; with vile hatreds I shall tempt them, with defections or dissensions among themselves. " Let him fly from your presence, and skulk away into his own abysses, shrunken and torpid as though he were an outcharmed or outsmoked snake. Give him not the success in his own kingdom of setting you at variance with each other, but let him find you armed and fortified with concord; for peace among you is battle with him. You know that some, not able to find this peace in the church, have been used to seek it from the imprisoned martyrs. And so you ought to have it dwelling with you, and to cherish it, and to guard it, that you may be able perhaps to bestow it upon others.
Other things, hindrances equally of the soul, may have accompanied you as far as the prison gate, to which also your relatives may have attended you. There and thenceforth you were severed from the world ; how much more from the ordi nary course of worldly life and all its affairs ! Nor let this separation from the world alarm you. For if we reflect that the world is more really the prison, we shall see that you have gone out of a prison rather than into one. The world has the greater darkness, blinding men's hearts. The world im poses the more grievous fetters, binding men's very souls. The world breathes out the worst impurities — human lusts. The world contains the larger number of criminals, even the whole human race. Then, last of all, it awaits the judgment, not of the proconsul, but of God. Wherefore, O blessed, you may regard yourselves as having been translated from a prison to, we may say, a place of safety. It is full of darkness, but ye yourselves are light ; it has bonds, but God has made you free. Unpleasant exhalations are there, but ye are an odor of sweetness. The judge is daily looked for, but ye shall judge the judges them selves. Sadness may be there for him who sighs for the world's enjoyments. The Christian outside the prison has renounced
the world, but in the prison he has renounced a prison too. It is of no consequence where you are in the world — you who
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are not of it. And if you have lost some of life's sweets, it is the way of business to suffer present loss, that after gains may be the larger. Thus far I say nothing of the rewards to which God invites the martyrs. Meanwhile let us compare the life of the world and of the prison, and see if the spirit does not gain more in the prison than the flesh loses. Nay, by the care of the church and the love of the brethren, even the flesh does not lose there what is for its good, while the spirit obtains besides important advantages. You have no occasion to look on strange gods, you do not run against their images; you have no part in heathen holidays, even by mere bodily mingling in them ; you are not annoyed by the foul fumes of idolatrous solemnities ; you are not pained by the noise of the public shows, nor by the atrocity or madness or immodesty of their celebrants ; your eyes do not fall on stews and brothels ; you are free from causes of offense, from temptations, from unholy reminiscences ; you are free now from persecution too. The prison does the same service for the Christians which the desert did for the prophet. Our Lord Himself spent much of His
time in seclusion, that He might have greater liberty to pray, that He might be quit of the world. It was in a mountain solitude, too, He showed His glory to His disciples. Let us drop the name of prison ; let us call it a place of retirement. Though the body is shut in, though the flesh is confined, all things are open to the spirit. In spirit, then, roam abroad ; in spirit walk about, not setting before you shady paths or long colonnades, but the way which leads to God. As often as in spirit your footsteps are there, so often you will not be in bonds. The leg does not feel the chain when the mind is in the heavens. The mind compasses the whole man about, and whither it wills it carries him. But where thy heart shall be, there shall be thy treasure. Be there our heart, then, where we would have our treasure.
Grant now, O blessed, that even to Christians the prison is unpleasant. But we were called to the warfare of the living God in our very response to the sacramental words. Well, no soldier comes out to the campaign laden with luxuries, nor does he go to action from his comfortable chamber, but from the light and narrow tent, where every kind of hardness and roughness and disagreeableness must be put up with. Even in peace soldiers inure themselves to war by toils and inconven iences —marching in arms, running over the plain, working
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at the ditch, making the testudo, engaging in many arduous labors. The sweat of the brow is in everything, that bodies and minds may not shrink at having to pass from shade to sun shine, from sunshine to icy cold, from the robe of peace to the coat of mail, from silence to clamor, from quiet to tumult. In like manner, O blessed, count whatever is hard in this lot of yours as a discipline of your powers of mind and body. You are about to pass through a noble struggle, in which the living God acts the part of superintendent, in which the Holy Ghost is your trainer, in which the prize is an eternal crown of angelic essence, citizenship in the heavens, glory everlasting. Therefore your Master, Jesus Christ, who has anointed you with His Spirit, and led you forth to the arena, has seen it good, before the day of conflict, to take you from a condition more pleasant in itself, and imposed on you a harder treatment, that your strength might be the greater. For the athletes, too, are set apart to a more stringent discipline, that they may have their physical powers built up. They are kept from luxury, from daintier meats, from more pleasant drinks; they are pressed, racked, worn out ; the harder their labors in the preparatory training, the stronger is the hope of victory. " And they," says the apostle, " that they may obtain a cor ruptible crown. " We, with the crown eternal in our eye, look upon the prison as our training ground, that at the goal of final judgment we may be brought forth well disciplined by many a trial ; since virtue is built up by hardships, as by voluptuous indulgence it is overthrown.
From the saying of our Lord we know that the flesh is weak, the spirit willing. Let us not, withal, take delusive comfort from the Lord's acknowledgment of the weakness of the flesh. For precisely on this account He first declared the spirit willing, that He might show which of the two ought to be subject to the other — that the flesh might yield obedience to the spirit — the weaker to the stronger; the former thus from the latter getting strength. Let the spirit hold converse with the flesh about the common salvation, thinking no longer of the troubles of the prison, but of the wrestle and conflict for which they are the preparation. The flesh, perhaps, will dread the merciless sword, and the lofty cross, and the rage of the wild beasts, and that punishment of the flames, of all most terrible, and all the skill of the executioner in torture. But, on the other side, let the spirit set clearly forth before itself
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and the flesh, how these things, though exceeding painful, have yet been calmly endured by many, — nay, have even been desired for the sake of fame and glory ; and this not only in the case of men, but of women too, that you, O holy women, may be worthy of your sex. It would take me too long to enumerate one by one the men who at their own self-impulse have put an end to themselves. As to women, there is a famous case at hand : the violated Lucretia, in the presence of her kinsfolk, plunged the knife into herself, that she might have glory for her chastity. Mucius burned his right hand on an altar, that this deed of his might dwell in fame. The philosophers have been outstripped, — for instance Heraclitus, who, smeared with cow dung, burned himself ; and Empedocles, who leapt down into the fires of Etna ; and Peregrinus, who not long ago threw himself on the funeral pile. For women even have despised the flames. Dido did so, lest, after the death of a husband very dear to her, she should be compelled to marry again; and so did the wife of Hasdrubal, who, Carthage now on fire, that she might not behold her husband suppliant at Scipio's feet, rushed with her children into the
in which her native city was destroyed. Regu- lus, a Roman general, who had been taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, declined to be exchanged for a large number of Carthaginian captives, choosing rather to be given back to the enemy. He was crammed into a sort of chest; and, every where pierced by nails driven from the outside, he endured so many crucifixions. Woman has voluntarily sought the wild beasts, and even asps, those serpents worse than bear or bull, which Cleopatra applied to herself, that she might not fall into the hands of her enemy. But the fear of death is not so great as the fear of torture. And so the Athenian courtesan suc cumbed to the executioner, when subjected to torture by the tyrant for having taken part in a conspiracy, still making no betrayal of her confederates, she at last bit off her tongue and spat it in the tyrant's face, that he might be convinced of the uselessness of his torments, however long they should be con tinued. Everybody knows what to this day is the great Lacedaemonian solemnity — the scourging; in which sacred rite the Spartan youths are beaten with scourges before the altar, their parents and kinsmen standing by and exhorting them to stand it bravely out. For it will be always counted more honorable and glorious that the soul rather than the
conflagration,
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body has given itself to stripes. But if so high a value is put on the earthly glory, won by mental and bodily vigor, that men, for the praise of their fellows, I may say, despise the sword, the fire, the cross, the wild beasts, the torture ; these surely are but trifling sufferings to obtain a celestial glory and a divine reward. If the bit of glass is so precious, what must the true pearl be worth? Are we not called on, then, most joy fully to lay out as much for the true as others do for the false ?
I leave out of account now the motive of glory. All these same cruel and painful conflicts, a mere vanity you find among men — in fact, a sort of mental disease — has trampled under foot. How many ease-lovers does the conceit of arms give to the sword?