8. So then, my Brethren, have charity. I have explained it to be this garment, this "wedding garment." Faith is praised, it is plain, it is praised: but what kind of faith this is, the Apostle distinguishes. For certain who boasted of faith, and had not a good conversation, the Apostle James rebukes and says, "Thou believest there is one God, thou doest well; the devils also believe and tremble." [3018] Call to mind with me whereupon Peter was praised, whereupon called blessed. Was it because he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"? [3019] He who pronounced Him blessed, regarded not the sound of the words, but the affection of the heart. For would ye know that Peter's blessedness lay not in these words? The devils also said the same. "We know Thee who Thou art, the Son of God." [3020] Peter confessed Him to be "the Son of God;" the devils confessed Him to be "the Son of God." "Distinguish, my lord, distinguish between the two." I do make a plain distinction. Peter spake in love, the devils from fear. And again Peter says, "I am with Thee, even unto death." [3021] The devils say, "What have we to do with Thee?" So then thou who art come to the feast, glory not of faith only. Distinguish well the nature of this faith; and then in thee is recognised "the wedding garment." Let the Apostle make the distinction, let him teach us; "neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith." [3022] Tell us, what faith? do not even the devils believe and tremble? I will tell thee, he says, and listen, I will now draw the distinction, "But faith which worketh by love." What faith, then, and of what kind? "That which worketh by love." "Though I have all knowledge," he says, "and all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." Have faith with love; for love without faith ye cannot have. This I warn, this I exhort, this in the name of the Lord I teach you, Beloved, that ye have faith with love; for ye may possibly have faith without love. I do not exhort you to have faith, but love. For ye cannot have love without faith; the love I mean of God and your neighbour; whence can it come without faith? How doth he love God, who doth not believe on God? How doth the fool love God, "who saith in his heart, there is no God"? [3023] Possible it is that ye may believe that Christ hath come and not love Christ. But it is not possible that ye should love Christ, and yet say that Christ hath not come.
9. So then, have faith with love. This is the "wedding garment." Ye who love Christ, love one another, love your friends, love your enemies. Let not this be hard to you. What then do ye lose thereby, when ye gain so much? What? dost thou ask of God as some great favour, that thine enemy may die? This is not "the wedding garment." Turn thy thoughts to the Bridegroom Himself hanging upon the Cross for thee, and praying to His Father for His enemies; "Father," saith He, "forgive them, for they know not what they do." [3024] Thou hast seen the Bridegroom speaking thus; see too the friend of the Bridegroom, a guest "with the wedding garment." Look at the blessed Stephen, how he rebukes the Jews as though in rage and resentment, "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye have resisted the Holy Ghost. Which of the Prophets have not your fathers killed?" [3025] Thou hast heard how severe he is with his tongue. And at [3026] once thou art prepared to speak against any one; and I would it were against him who offendeth God, and not who offendeth thee. One offendeth God, and thou dost not rebuke him; he offendeth thee, and thou criest out; where is that "wedding garment"? Ye have heard therefore how Stephen was severe; now hear how he loved. He offended those whom he was rebuking, and was stoned by them. And as he was being overwhelmed and bruised to death by the hands of his furious persecutors on every side, and the blows of the stones, he first said, "Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit." [3027] Then after he had prayed for himself standing, he bent the knee for them who were stoning him, and said, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge; let me die in my body, but let not these die in their souls. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." [3028] After these words he added no more; he spake them and departed; his last prayer was for his enemies. Learn ye hereby to have "the wedding garment." So do thou too bend the knee, and beat thy forehead against the ground, and as thou art about to approach the Table of the Lord, the Feast of the Holy Scriptures, do not say, "O that mine enemy might die! Lord, if I have deserved ought of Thee, slay mine enemy." Because if so be that thou sayest so, dost thou not fear lest He should answer thee, "If I should choose to slay thine enemy, I should first slay thee. What! dost thou glory because thou hast now come invited hither? Think only what thou wast but a little while ago. Hast thou not blasphemed Me? hast thou not derided Me? didst thou not wish to wipe out My Name from off the earth? Yet now thou dost applaud thyself because thou hast come invited hither! If I had slain thee when thou wast Mine enemy, how could I have made thee My friend? Why, by thy wicked prayers dost thou teach Me to do, what I did not in thine own case?" Yea rather God saith to thee, "Let me teach thee to imitate Me. When I was hanging on the Cross, I said, Forgive them, for they know not what they do.' [3029] This lesson I taught My brave soldier. Be thou My recruit against the devil. In no other way wilt thou fight at all unconquerably, unless thou dost pray for thine enemies. Yet by all means ask this, yea ask this very thing, ask that thou mayest persecute thine enemy; but ask it with discernment; distinguish well what thou askest. See, a man is thine enemy; answer me, what is it in him which is at enmity with thee? Is it in this, that he is a man, that he is at enmity with thee? No. What then? That he is evil. In that he is a man, in that he is that I made him, he is not at enmity with thee." He saith to thee, "I did not make man evil; he became evil by disobedience, who obeyed the devil [3030] rather than God. What he has made himself, is at enmity with thee; in that he is evil, he is thine enemy; not in that he is a man. For I hear the word "man," and "evil;" the one is the name of nature, the other of sin; the sin I cure; and the nature I preserve." And so thy God saith to thee, "See, I do avenge thee, I do slay thine enemy; I take away that which makes him evil, I preserve that which constitutes him a man: now if I shall have made him a good man, have I not slain thine enemy, and made him thy friend?" So ask on what thou art asking, not that the men may perish, but that these their enmities may perish. For if thou pray for this, that the man may die; it is the prayer of one wicked man against another; and when thou dost say, "Slay the wicked one," God answereth thee, "Which of you?"
10. Extend your love then, and limit it not to your wives and children. Such love is found even in beasts and sparrows. Ye know the sparrows and the swallows how they love their mates, how together they hatch their eggs, and nourish their young together, by a sort of free [3031] and natural kindliness, and with no thought of a return. For the sparrow does not say, "I will nourish my young, that when I am grown old, they may feed me." He has no such thought; he loves and feeds them, for the love of them; displays the affection of a parent, and looks for no return. And so, I know, I am sure, do ye love your children. "For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children." [3032] Yea upon this plea it is that many of you excuse your covetousness, that ye are getting for your children, and are laying by for them. [3033] But I say, extend your love, let this love grow; for to love wives and children, is not yet that "wedding garment." Have faith to Godward. First love God. Extend yourselves out to God; and whomsoever ye shall be able, draw on to God. There is thine enemy: let him be drawn to God. There is a son, a wife, a servant; let them be all drawn to God. There is a stranger; let him be drawn to God. There is an enemy; let him be drawn to God. Draw, draw on thine enemy; by drawing him on he shall cease to be thine enemy. So let charity be advanced, so be it nourished, that being nourished it may be perfected; so be "the wedding garment" put on; so be the image of God, after which we were created, by this our advancing, engraven anew in us. For by sin was it bruised, and worn away. How is it bruised? how worn away? When it is rubbed against the earth? And what is, "When it is rubbed against the earth"? When it is worn by earthly lusts. For "though man [3034] walketh in this image, yet is he disquieted in vain." [3035] Truth is looked for in God's image, not vanity. By the love of the truth then be that image, after which we were created, engraven anew, and His Own tribute rendered to our Cæsar. For so ye have heard from the Lord's answer, when the Jews tempted Him, as He said, "Why tempt ye Me, ye hypocrites; show Me the tribute money," [3036] that is, the impress and superscription of the image. Show me what ye pay, what ye get ready, what is exacted of you. And "they showed Him a denarius;" and "He asked whose image and superscription it had." They answered, "Cæsar's." So Cæsar looks for his own image. It is not Cæsar's will that what he ordered to be made should be lost to him, and it is not surely God's will that what He hath made should be lost to Him. Cæsar, my Brethren, did not make the money; the masters of the mint [3037] make it; the workmen have their orders, he issues his commands to his ministers. His image was stamped upon the money; on the money was Cæsar's image. And yet he requires what others have stamped; he puts it in his treasures; he will not have it refused him. Christ's coin is man. In him is Christ's image, in him Christ's Name, Christ's gifts, Christ's rules of duty. [3038]
[2985] The great Church in Carthage where the bodies of the Martyr Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas lay. See Ben. ed. in Sermon xix. note.
[2986] Baptized fideles.
[2987] Apparatus.
[2988] Voluntati omnium.
[2989] 1 Cor. xi. 29.
[2990] Liquido.
[2991] Matt. xix. 17.
[2992] Matt. vii. 11.
[2993] John xiii. 10.
[2994] Matt. xxii. 10.
[2995] 1 John i. 8.
[2996] 1 John i. 9.
[2997] Serm. xlv. (xcv. Ben.) 6.
[2998] Matt. xxii. 11.
[2999] Matt. xxii. 12.
[3000] Ps. cxxxii. 9.
[3001] See note, Serm. viii. (lviii. Ben.) 13 (xi.).
[3002] 2 Cor. v. 3.
[3003] Matt. xxii. 13.
[3004] Matt. xxii. 14.
[3005] Matt. viii. 11.
[3006] Exod. vii.
[3007] 1 Cor. xii. 29, etc.
[3008] 1 Tim. i. 5.
[3009] 1 Cor. xiii. 1.
[3010] Sacramentorum.
[3011] 1 Cor. xiii. 3.
[3012] 1 John i. 8.
[3013] Phil. ii. 21.
[3014] Deferte.
[3015] Ps. x. 5, Sept. (xi. 5, English version).
[3016] Aurata.
[3017] 1 Cor. xv. 22.
[3018] Jas. ii. 19.
[3019] Matt. xvi. 16.
[3020] Matt. viii. 29; Mark i. 24.
[3021] Matt. xxvi. 35.
[3022] Gal. v. 6.
[3023] Ps. liii. 1.
[3024] Luke xxiii. 34.
[3025] Acts vii. 51, 52.
[3026] Adhuc.
[3027] Acts vii. 59.
[3028] Acts vii. 60.
[3029] Luke xxiii. 34.
[3030] Zabulo; Lactant. De Mort. Pers. 16.
[3031] Grata.
[3032] 2 Cor. xii. 14.
[3033] Vid. Serm. xxxvi. (lxxxvi. Ben.) 11 (ix., x.).
[3034] Serm. x. (lx. Ben.) 2, etc.
[3035] Ps. xxxviii. 7, Sept. (xxxix. 6 English version).
[3036] Matt. xxii. 18, 19.
[3037] Monetarii.
[3038] Officia.
Sermon XLI.
[XCI. Ben.]
On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xxii. 42, where the Lord asks the Jews whose son they said David was.