234 Money never satisfies. Final lot of the covetous.

HOMIL. fold malady brings with it sundry punishments. For if I XIII. were to tell you of those who pass their days in chains, or of one nailed to a lingering disease, or of one struggling with famine, or of any other person whatsoever, I could point out no one who suffers so much as they do who love money. For what severer evil can befal one, than being hated by all men, than hating all men, than not having kindly feeling towards any, than being never satisfied, than being in a continual thirst, than struggling with a perpetual hunger, and that a more distressing one than what all men esteem such? than having pains day by day, than being never sober, than being continually in worries and harasses? For all these things, and more than these, are what the covetous set their shoulder to; in the midst of their gaining having no perception of pleasure, though scraping to themselves from all men, because of their desiring more. But in the case of their incurring a loss, if it be but of a farthing, they think they have suffered most grievously, and have been cast out of life itself. What language then can put these evils before you? And if their fate here be such, consider also what comes after this life, the being cast out of the kingdom, the pain that comes from hell, the perpetual chains, the outer darkness, the venomous worm, the gnashing of teeth, the affliction, the sore straitening, the rivers of fire, the furnaces that never get quenched. And gathering all these together, and weighing them against the pleasure of money, tear up now this disease root and branch, that so receiving the true riches, and being set free from this grievous poverty, thou mayest obtain the present blessings, and those to come, by the grace and love toward man, &c.

HOMILY XIV.

ROм. viii. 12, 13.

8,12.13.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live Rom. after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

AFTER shewing how great the reward of a spiritual life is, and that it maketh Christ to dwell in us, and that it quickeneth our mortal bodies, and wingeth them to heaven, and rendereth the way of virtue easier, he next fitly introduces an exhortation to this purpose. Therefore we ought not to live after the flesh. But this is not what he says, for he words it in a much more striking and powerful way, thus, we are debtors to the Spirit. For saying, we are debtors not to the flesh, indicates this. And this is a point he is every where giving proof of, that what God hath done for us is not matter of debt, but of mere grace. But after this, what we do is no longer matter of free-will offering, but of debt. For when he saith, Ye are bought with a 1 Cor. 7, 23. price, be not ye the servants of men; and when he writes, Ye are not your own; and again in another passage he calls these selfsame things to their mind, in these words, If One 2 Cor. died for all, then were all dead. And He died for all, that 5, 15. they should not henceforth live unto themselves. And it is to establish this that he says here also, We are debtors; then since he said we are not debtors to the flesh, lest you should again take him to be speaking against the nature of

XIV.

236

What we owe to the Flesh, what to the Spirit.

HOMIL. the flesh, he does not leave speaking, but proceeds, to live after the flesh. For there are many things which we do owe it, as giving it food, warmth, and rest, medicine when out of health, clothing, and a thousand other attentions. To prevent your supposing then that it is this ministration he is for abrogating when he says, We are not debtors to the flesh, he explains it by saying, to live after the flesh. For the care that I am for abrogating is, he means, that which leadeth to sin, as I should be for its having what is healing to it. And this he shews further on. For when he tells us not to make provision for the flesh, he does not pause at this, but adds, to fulfil the lusts thereof. And this instruction he gives us here also, meaning, Let it have attention shewn it indeed, for we do owe it this, yet let us not live according to the flesh, that is, let us not make it the mistress of our life. For it must be the follower, not the leader, and it is not it that must regulate our life, but the laws of the Spirit must it receive. Having then defined this point, and having proved that we are debtors to the Spirit, to shew next for what benefits it is that we are debtors, he does not speak of those past, (a thing which serves as a most striking proof of his judgment,) but those which were to come; although even the former were enough for the purpose. Yet still he does not set them down in the present case, or mention even those unspeakable blessings, but the things to come. For a benefit once for all conferred does not, for the most part, draw men on so much as one which is expected, and is to come. After adding this then, he first uses the pains and ills that come of living after the flesh, to put them in fear, in the following words; For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die, so intimating to us that deathless death, punishment, and vengeance in hell. Or rather if one were to look accurately into this, such an one is, even in this present life, dead. And this we have made clear to you in the last discourse. But if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. You see that it is not the essence of the body whereof he is discoursing, but the deeds of the flesh. For he does not say, if ye through the Spirit do mortify the essence of the body, ye shall live, but the deeds of it, and these not all deeds, but such as are evil. And this is plain

8, 14.

To be led by the Spirit preserves the life given by Him. 237 in what follows: for if ye do this, ye shall live, he says. ROM. And how is it in the nature of things for this to be, if it was all deeds that his language applied to, for seeing and hearing and speaking and walking are deeds of the body; and if we mortify these, we shall be so far from living that we shall have to suffer the punishment of a manslayer. What sort of deeds then does he mean us to mortify? Those which tend toward wickedness, those which go after vice, which there is no other way of mortifying save through the Spirit. For by killing yourself you may put an end to the others". And this you have no right to do. But to these (you can put an end) by the Spirit only. For if This be present, all the billows are laid low, and the passions cower under It, and nothing can exalt itself against us". So you see how it is on things to come, as I said before, that he grounds his exhortations to us, and shews that we are debtors not owing to what has been already done only. For the advantage of the Spirit is not this only, that He hath set us free from our former sins, but that He rendereth us impregnable against future ones, and counts us worthy 1 Cor. 10, 13. of the immortal life. Then, to state another reward also, he proceeds:

Ver. 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Now this is again a much greater honour than the first. And this is why he does not say merely, As many as live by the Spirit of God, but, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, to shew that he would have Him use such power over our life as a pilot doth over a ship, or a charioteer over a pair of horses. And it is not the body only, but the soul itself too, that he is for setting under reins of this sort. For he would not have even that independent, but place its authority" also under the power of the Spirit. For lest through a confidence in the Gift of the Font they should turn negligent of their conversation after it, he would say, that even sup

2 Sav. τὰς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλας ἀποκτείναντα, σεαυτὸν ἀπελεῖν ἐστὶν, which bears this sense by omitting the comma.

Ο κατεξανίσταται. The word used in the last Homily for the conduct of the covetous toward the poor. See p. 233.

compare p. 178.

See Gal. 5, 25. where 'live' means 'have life,' and is distinguished from 'walk.'

d Or the command of it, igoviar.

XIII.

238

Sonship of Christians, spirit of bondage.

HOMIL. posing you receive Baptism, yet if you are not minded to be led by the Spirit afterwards, you lose the dignity bestowed upon you, and the preeminence of your adoption. This is why he does not say, As many as have received the Spirit, but, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, that is, as many as live up to this all their life long, they are the sons of God. Then since this dignity was given to the Jews also, for it says, Ps.82,6. I said ye are Gods, and all of you children of the Most High. Is. 1, 3. And again, I have nourished and brought up children. And Ex. 4, so, Israel is My first born; and Paul too says, Whose is the Rom. 9, adoption. He next asserts the great difference between the latter and the former honour. For though the names are the same, he means, still, the things are not the same. And of

22.

4.

these points he gives a clear demonstration, by introducing a 1xarg- comparison drawn both from the persons so advanced1, and θούντων from what was given them, and from what was to come.

And first he shews what they of old had given them. What then was this, A spirit of bondage: and so he thus proceeds,

Ver. 15. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.

Then not staying to mention that which stands in contradistinction to bondage, that is, the spirit of freedom, he has named what is far greater, that of adoption, through which he at the same time brings in the other, saying, But ye have received the Spirit of adoption.

But this is plain. But what the spirit of bondage may be, is not so plain, and there is need of making it clearer. Now what he says is so far from being clear, that it is in fact very perplexing. For the people of the Jews did not receive the Spirit. What then is his meaning here? It is the letter he giveth this name to, for spiritual it was, and so he called the Law spiritual also, and the water from the 1 Cor. Rock, and the Manna. For they did all eat, he says, of the same spiritual meat, and all drank of the same spiritual drink. And to the Rock he gives this name, when he says, For they drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them. Now it is because all the rites then wrought were above nature that he calls them spiritual, and not because those who then partook of them received the Spirit. And in what

10.