To die wrestling is to conquer, not to be overthrown is to overthrow. 359 XXII. him, and strive to become above them, and no where HOMIL. to give him a hold upon us. Wealth, possessions, vainglory, give him a hold. And oftentimes indeed this will rouse him, and oftentimes will exasperate him. But what need is there of wrestling? What need of engaging with him? When a man once closes, he leaves the issue in uncertainty, whether he may not be himself defeated and captured. Whereas he that tramples him underfoot, has the victory certain. Oh then, let us trample underfoot the power of the devil; let us trample underfoot our sins, every thing, I say, 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 to the blessings 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 welldisposed part of thy household, should associate with them that have distressed thee, with them that have been expelled his father's house, with them who 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 wellpleased our Father and whom He hath set over us, we have our conversation with the devil, inevitably we shall be disinherited. But God grant that this be not the fate of any one of us; but that engaging in the war we have to wage with him, and, with the aid which is from above, having conquered, we may become heirs of the kingdom of Heaven. If there be any that hath an enemy, any that hath been wronged by him, any that 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 noble, here anger is 360 Right to direct our anger, revenge, malice, hatred, upon Satan. EPHES. profitable, here revenge is praiseworthy, for just as amongst VI. 13. 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. 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 vouchsafe us the good things to come; which God grant that we may all attain, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, together with the Holy Ghost, be unto the Father, glory, might, and honour, now and ever, and throughout all ages. Amen. HOMILY XXIII. CHAP. vi. 14. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about HoMIL. with truth. Having drawn up this army, and roused their courage,— for both these things were requisite, both that they should be drawn up in array, and that their spirit should be aroused,and having inspired them with confidence, for this was requisite also, he next proceeds also to arm them. For arms had been of no use, had they not been first arranged, each in his own place, and had not the spirit of the soldier's soul been roused; for we must first arm him within, and then without. XXIII. Now if this is the case with the soldier of this world, much more is it with the spiritual soldier. Or rather in their case, it is not even possible to arm them without, but every thing is within. He hath roused their ardour, and set it on fire, He hath added confidence. He hath set them in due array. It remains for him now to arm them. But observe even how he puts on the armour. Stand therefore, saith he. The very first feature in tactics is, to know how to stand well, and many things will depend upon that. Hence he discourses much concerning standing, saying also elsewhere, Watch 1 Cor. ye, stand fast. And again, So stand fast in the Lord. And again, Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he1. fall. And again, That ye may be able, having done all, to 10, 12. stand. Doubtless then he does not mean merely any way Eph. 6, of standing, but a correct way, and as many as have had experience in wars know how great a point it is to know how to stand. For if in the case of boxers and wrestlers, 16, 13. Phil. 4, 1 Cor. 13. 362 By girding its loins, mind stands upright. EPHES. the word of command which the trainer gives before any VI. 14. thing else, is this, to stand firm, much more will it be the first thing in warfare, and military matters. The man who, in a true sense, stands, is upright; he stands not in a lazy attitude, not leaning upon any thing. Exact uprightness discovers itself by the way of standing, so that they who are perfectly upright, they stand. But they who do not stand, cannot be upright, but are unstrung and disjointed. The luxurious man does not stand upright, but stoops; so does the lewd man, and the lover of money. He who knows how to stand will from his very footing, as from a sort of foundation, find every part of the conflict easy to him. Stand therefore, saith he, having your loins girt about with truth. He is not speaking of a palpable girdle, for all the VonT language in this passage he employs in a spiritual sense. And observe how methodically he proceeds. First, he girds up his soldier. What then is the meaning of this? The man that is melting away, and is dissolved in his lusts, and that has his thoughts trailing on the ground, him he braces up by means of this girdle, not suffering him to be impeded by the garments entangling his legs, but letting him run with his feet well at liberty. Stand therefore, having your loins girded, saith he. By the loins here he means this; just what the keel is in ships, the same are the loins with us, the basis or groundwork of the whole body: for they are, as it were, a foundation, and upon them as the schools of the physicians tell you, the whole frame is built. Now then, in girding the loins, he is bracing together the soul; for he is not of course speaking of these loins of our body, but is discoursing spiritually: and as the loins are the foundation alike of the parts both above and below, so is it also in the case of these spiritual loins. Oftentimes, we know, when persons are fatigued, they put their hands there as if upon a sort of foundation, and in that manner support themselves; and for this reason it is that the girdie is used in war, that it may bind and hold together this foundation, as it were, in our frame; for this reason too it is that when we run we gird ourselves. It is this which guards our strength. Let this then, saith he, be done also with respect to the soul, wadis τῶν ἰατρῶν Truth of doctrine keeps us from effeminacy. 363 and then in whatever we do, we shall have strength to do it; HOMIL. and it is a thing most especially becoming to soldiers. True, you may say, but these our natural loins we gird with a leathern band; but we, spiritual soldiers, with what shall we gird ourselves? I answer, with that which is the head and crown of all our thoughts, I mean, with truth. Having your loins girt about, saith he, with truth. Let us then love nothing like falsehood, all our duties let us pursue with truth, let us not lie one to another. Whether it be an opinion, let us seek the truth, or whether it be a line of life, let us seek the true one. If we fortify ourselves with this, if we gird ourselves with truth, then shall no one overcome us. He who seeks the doctrine of truth, shall never fall down to the earth; for that the things which are not true are of the earth, is evident from this, that all they that are without are enslaved to the passions, following their own reasonings; and therefore if we are sober, we shall need no instruction in the tales of the Greeks. Seest thou how effeminate and conceited they are? incapable of entertaining one severe thought, any thing above human reasoning concerning God? Why? Because they are not girded about with truth; because their loins, the receptacle of the seed of life, and the main strength of their reasonings, are ungirt; nothing then can be weaker than these. And the Manicheans again, seest thou, how all the things they have the boldness to utter, are from their own reasonings? 'It was impossible,' say they,' for God to create the world without matter.' Whence is this so evident? These things they say grovelling, and from the earth, and from what happens amongst ourselves; because man, they say, cannot create otherwise. Marcion again, look what he says. 'God, if He took upon Him flesh, could not remain pure.' Whence is this evident? 'Because,' says he, neither can men;' men however can. Valentinus again, with his reasonings all trailing along the ground, speaks the things of the earth; and in like manner Paul of Samosata, and a The Manichees considered matter to be uncreate. vid. Note on S. Augustine's Confessions, i. b. The Marcionites considered matter intrinsically evil. vid. Theod. Hær. i. 24. Valentinus 6 denied that our Lord was born of the XXIII. |