HOMILY XV. XV. CHAP. iv. 31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, HOMIL. and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. As bees will never settle down in an unclean vessel,-and this is the reason why those who are skilled in these matters sprinkle the spot with perfumes, and scented ointments, and sweet odours, and the wicker baskets also, in which they will have to settle as soon as they come out of the hives, with fragrant wines, and all other sweets, that there may be no noisome smell to annoy them, and drive them away again,so in truth is it also with the Holy Spirit. Our soul is a sort of vessel or basket, capable of receiving the swarms of spiritual gifts; but if there shall be within it gall, and bitterness, and wrath, the swarms will fly away. Hence this blessed and wise husbandman well and thoroughly cleanses our vessels, holding neither knife nor any other instrument of iron, and invites us to this spiritual swarm; and as he gathers it, he cleanses us with prayers, and labours, and all the rest. Mark then how he cleanses out our heart. He has banished lying, he has banished anger. Now, again, he is pointing out how that evil may be yet more entirely eradicated; if we be not, saith he, bitter in spirit. For as it is wont to happen with our bile, if there chance to be but little, there will be but little disturbance if the receptacle should burst: but if ever the strong and biting property of this quality becomes excessive, the vessel which before held it will contain it no longer. It is as if it were eaten through by a scorching fire, it is no longer able to hold it and contain it within its appointed bounds, but is rent asunder IV. 31. 264 Bitterness, when suffered, penetrates and possesses the whole soul. EPHES. by its intense sharpness, and lets it escape and injure the whole body. And it is like some very fierce and frightful wild beast, that has been brought into a city; as long as it is confined in the cages made for it, however it may rage, however it may roar, it will be unable to do harm to any one; but if ever its wrath shall get the better of it, and it shall break through the intervening bars, and be able to leap out, it fills the city with all sorts of confusion and disturbance, and puts all to flight. Such then is the nature also of bile. As long as it is kept within its proper limits, it will do us no great mischief; but as soon as ever the membrane that incloses it bursts, and there is nothing to hinder its being at once dispersed over the whole system, then, I say, at that moment, though it be so very trifling in quantity, yet by reason of the inordinate strength of its quality it taints all the other elements of our nature with its own peculiar virulence. For finding the blood, for instance, near to it, alike in place and in quality, and rendering the heat which is in that blood more acrid, and every thing else in fact which is near it, passing from its just temperature it overflows its bounds, turns all into gall, and therewith at once attacks likewise the other parts of the body; and thus infusing into all its own poisonous quality, it renders the man speechless, and causes him to expire, expelling life. Now, why have I stated all these things with such minuteness? It is in order that, understanding from this literal bitterness the intolerable evil of that bitterness which is figurative, and how entirely it destroys first of all the very soul that engenders it, we may escape experience of it. For as the one inflames the whole constitution, so does the other the thoughts, and carries away its captive to the abyss of hell. In order then that by carefully examining these matters we may escape this evil, and bridle the monster, or rather utterly root it out, let us hearken to what Paul saith, Let all bitterness be (not destroyed, but) put away from you. For what need have I of trouble to restrain it, what necessity is there to keep watch on a monster, when it is in my power to banish him from my soul, to remove him and take him off and exterminate him? Let us hearken then to Paul when he saith, Let all bitterness be Bitter men, formidable, but powerless. 265 XV. put away from you. But, ah, the perversity that possesses HOMIL. us! Though we ought to do every thing to effect this, yet are there some so truly senseless as to congratulate themselves upon this evil, and to pride themselves upon it, and to glory in it, and who are envied by others. A bitter man,' they say, is such an one, he is a scorpion, a serpent, a viper.' They look upon him as one to be feared. But wherefore, good man, dost thou fear the bitter person? I fear,' you say, 'lest he injure me, lest he destroy me; I am not proof against his malice, I am afraid lest he should take me who am a simple man, and unable to foresee any of his schemes, and throw me into his snares, and entangle us in the toils which he has set to deceive us.' Now I cannot but smile. And why forsooth? Because these are the arguments of children, who fear things which are not to be feared. Surely there is nothing we ought so ought so to laugh to scorn, as a bitter and malicious man. For there is nothing so powerless as bitterness. It makes men fools and senseless. to despise, nothing we fear evil spirits, and fools do every thing at random,) men subtle in the conduct For nothing is so necessary 15. Do ye not see that malice is blind? Have ye never heard, that he that diggeth a pit for his neighbours, diggeth Ps. 7, it for himself? How, you will say, ought we not to Prov. fear a soul full of tumult? If indeed we are to fear the 26, 27. bitter in the same way as we and madmen, (for they indeed I grant it myself; but if, as of affairs, that I never can. for the proper conduct of affairs as prudence; and there is no greater hindrance to prudence than wickedness, and malice, and hollowness. Look at bilious persons, how unsightly they are, with all their bloom withered away. How weakly they are, and puny, and unequal to any thing. So also are souls of this nature. What else is wickedness, but a jaundice of the soul? Wickedness then has no strength in it, indeed it has not. Have ye a mind that I again make what I am saying plain to you by an instance, by setting before you the portraits of a treacherous and a guileless man? Absalom was a treacherous man, and stole all men's hearts. v.2 Sam. And observe how great was his treachery. He went about, it saith, and said, Hast thou no judgment? wishing to 15, 6. IV. 31. Prov. 10, 9. 266 Contrast of bitterness and guilelessness. EPHES. Conciliate every one to himself. But David was guileIless. What then? Look at the end of them both, look, how full of utter madness was the former! For inasmuch as he looked solely to the hurt of his father, in all other things he was blinded. But not so David. For he that walketh uprightly, walketh surely; that is, he that manages nothing over-subtilly, the man who devises no evil. Let us listen then to the blessed Paul, and let us pity, yea, let us weep for the bitter-minded, and let us practise every method, let us do every thing to extirpate this vice from their souls. For how is it not absurd, that when there is bile within us, (though that indeed is an useful element, for without bile a man cannot possibly exist, that bile, I mean, which is an element of his nature,) how then, I say, is it not absurd that we should do all we can to get rid of this, though we are so highly benefitted by it; and yet that we should do nothing, nor take any pains, to get rid of that which is in the soul, though it is in no case beneficial, but even in the highest 1 Cor. degree injurious. He that would be wise among you, saith he, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. Hearken too Acts 2, again to what Luke saith, They did eat their meal with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. Why, do we not see even now that the simple and guileless enjoy the common esteem of all. No one envies such an one in prosperity, no one tramples upon him in adversity, but all rejoice with him when he does well, and grieve with him in misfortune. Whereas whenever a bitter man fares prosperously, one and all lament it, as though some evil thing happened; but if he is unfortunate, one and all rejoice. Let us then pity them, for they have common enemies all over the world. Jacob was a guileless man, yet he overcame the treacherous Esau. Wisd.1, For into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter. Let all 3, 18. 46.47. 4. bitterness be put away from you. Let not even a relic remain, for it will be sure, if stirred, as if from a smouldering brand, to turn all within to an entire blaze. Let us then distinctly understand what this bitterness is. Take, for example, the hollow-hearted man, the crafty, the man who is on the watch to do mischief, the man of evil suspicion. From him then wrath and anger are ever produced; for it Abstaining from crying out a remedy against anger. 267 XV. is not possible for a soul like this to be in tranquillity, HOMIL. for the very root of anger and wrath is bitterness. The man of this character is both sullen, and never unbends his soul; he is always moody, always gloomy. For as I was saying, they themselves are the first to reap the fruit of their own evil ways. And clamour, he adds. What now, and dost thou take away clamour also? Yes, for the mild man must needs be of such a character, because clamour carries anger, as a horse his rider; tie the horse's feet, and you will throw the rider. This let women above all attend to, they who on every MORAL occasion cry aloud and bawl. There is but one thing in which it is useful to cry aloud, in preaching and in teaching. But in no other case whatever, no, not even in prayer. And if thou wouldest learn a practical lesson, never cry aloud at all, and then wilt thou never be angry at all. Behold a way to keep your temper; for as it is not in nature that the man that does not cry out should be enraged, so is it not that the man who does cry out should be otherwise than enraged. For tell me not of a man being implacable, and revengeful, and of pure natural bitterness, and natural choler. We are now speaking of the sudden paroxysm of this passion. It contributes then no little to this end, to discipline the soul never to raise the voice and cry aloud at all. Cut off clamour, and thou wilt clip the wings of anger, thou art quelling the first rising of the heart. For as it is impossible for a man to wrestle without lifting up his hands, so is it not in nature that he should be entangled in a quarrel without lifting up his voice. Bind the hands of the boxer, and then bid him strike. He will be unable to do so. So likewise will wrath be disarmed. But clamour raises it, even where it does not exist. And hence it is especially that the female sex are so easily overtaken in it. Women, whenever they are angry with their maidservants, fill the whole house with their own clamour. And oftentimes too, if the house happens to be built along a narrow street, then all the passers by hear the mistress scolding, and the maid weeping and wailing. What can |