How then is it that we shall not suffer the same things? Let us not commit the same acts, and then shall we not suffer the same punishment. They murmured, they were ungrateful; let us therefore not cherish these passions. How was it that they fell all of them? "They despised the pleasant land." (Ps. cvi. 24.) "How despised' it? Surely they prized it highly." By becoming indolent and cowardly, and not choosing to undergo any labors to obtain it. Let not us then "despise" Heaven! This is what is meant by "despising." Again, among us also has fruit been brought, fruit from Heaven, not the cluster of grapes borne upon the staff (Num. xiii. 23.), but the "earnest of the Spirit" (2 Cor. i. 22.), "the citizenship which is in Heaven" (Philip. iii. 20.), which Paul and the whole company of the Apostles, those marvelous husbandmen, have taught us. It is not Caleb the son of Jephunneh, nor Jesus the son of Nun, that hath brought these fruits; but Jesus the Son of "the Father of mercies" (2 Cor. i. 3.), the Son of the Very God, hath brought every virtue, hath brought down from Heaven all the fruits that are from thence, the songs of heaven hath He brought. For the words which the Cherubim above say, these hath He charged us to say also, "Holy, Holy, Holy." [485] He hath brought to us the virtue of the Angels. "The Angels marry not, neither are given in marriage" (Matt. xxii. 30.); this fair plant hath He planted here also. They love not money, nor anything like it; and this too hath He sown amongst us. They never die; and this hath He freely given us also, for death is no longer death, but sleep. For hearken to what He saith, "Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep." (John xi. 11.)
Seest thou then the fruits of "Jerusalem that is above"? (Gal. iv. 26.) And what is indeed more stupendous than all is this, that our warfare is not decided, but all these things are given us before the attainment of the promise! For they indeed toiled even after they had entered into the land of promise;--rather, they toiled not, for had they chosen to obey God, they might have taken all the cities, without either arms or array. Jericho, we know, they overturned, more after the fashion of dancers than of warriors. We however have no warfare after we have entered into the land of promise, that is, into Heaven, but only so long as we are in the wilderness, that is, in the present life. "For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works as God did from His." (Heb. iv. 10.) "Let us not then be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Gal. vi. 9.) Seest thou how that just as He led them, so also He leads us? In their case, touching the manna and the wilderness, it is said, "He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack." (Ex. xvi. 18.) And we have this charge given us, "not to lay up treasure upon the earth." (Matt. vi. 19.) But if we do lay up treasure, it is no longer the earthly worm that corrupts it, as was the case with the manna, but that which dwelleth eternally with fire. [486] Let us then "subdue all things," that we furnish not food to this worm. For "he," it is said, "who gathered much had nothing over." For this too happens with ourselves also every day. We all of us have but the same capacity of hunger to satisfy. And that which is more than this, is but an addition of cares. For what He intended in after-times to deliver, saying, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matt. vi. 34), this had He thus been teaching even from the very beginning, [487] and not even thus did they receive it. But as to us, let us not be insatiable, let us not be discontented, let us not be seeking out for splendid houses; for we are on our pilgrimage, not at home; so that if there be any that knows that the present life is a sort of journey, and expedition, and, as one might say, it is what they call an entrenched camp, [488] he will not be seeking for splendid buildings. For who, tell me, be he ever so rich, would choose to build a splendid house in an encampment? No one; he would be a laughing stock, he would be building for his enemies, and would the more effectually invite them on; and so then, if we be in our senses, neither shall we. The present life is nothing else than a march and an encampment.
Wherefore, I beseech you, let us do all we can, so as to lay up no treasure here; for if the thief should come, we must in a moment arise and depart. "Watch," saith He, "for ye know not at what hour the thief cometh" (Matt. xxiv. 42, 43.), thus naming death. O then, before he cometh, let us send away everything before us to our native country; but here let us be "well girded," that we may be enabled to overcome our enemies, whom God grant that we may overcome, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom together with the Holy Ghost, be unto the Father glory, strength, honor forever and ever. Amen.
[476] ["Stand,' here, is not, like the preceding stenai (in verse 13), the standing of the victor, but the standing forth of the man ready for the combat."--Meyer.--G.A.]
[477] Compare Isa. xi. 5.
[478] noetos.
[479] ["As for the actual warrior, the whole aptus habitus (prepared state) for the combat would be wanting in the absence of the girdle; so also for the spiritual warrior, if he is not furnished with truth."--Meyer.--G.A.]
[480] ["It is clear that truth does not mean objectively the gospel,' for that is designated later, ver. 17, by rhema theou (the word of God'), but subjectively,' truth as an inward property, i.e. the harmony of knowledge with the objective truth given in the gospel.'"--Meyer.--G.A.]
[481] The Manichees considered matter to be uncreate; vid. Note on St. Augustine's Confessions, i. b. The Marcionites considered matter intrinsically evil; vid. Theod. Hær. i. 24. Valentinus denied that our Lord was born of the substance of Mary; vid. St. Cyril, Lect. iv. 9. Paul of Samosata and Arius both denied His Godhead.
[482] apathos.
[483] The word anagoge, when used of Scripture exposition, has various senses, but always implies an interpretation not literal, grammatical, or historical. Sometimes it stands for a "moral" interpretation, i.e. one conveying a moral lesson; e.g. Chrys. in Psalm cxix. (120) init.; Basil. in Esai. v. § 152. Sometimes for an interpretation with reference simply to heavenly persons and things; vid. Mosheim, de Reb. ante Const. p. 644; Dionys. Hierarch Cæl. i. 2. Origen enumerates three senses of Scripture, literal, moral, and mystical, the last being either allegorical or anagogical; Clement four, literal, moral, mystical, and prophetical; but the more common division has been into literal, tropological, allegorical, and anagogical. [Cassian, a pupil of Chrysostom, defines anagoge: Anagoge vero de spiritalibus mysteriis ad sublimiora quaedam et sacratiora coelorum secreta conscendens, "leading up from spiritual mysteries to higher and more sacred secrets of heaven." See also Sophocles' Greek Lex. sub "voce."--G.A.]
[484] anagogen.
[485] [For the use of these words in the church service, see Bingham, Antiquities, xv. 3, 10, and Hom. III. on Ephesians.--G.A.]
[486] [The text in this passage is very corrupt. Three mss. have ouketi skolex ho aisthetos lumainetai...alla ho tes dikaiosunes. But as Field says, hoskolex tes dikaiosunes ("the worm of righteousness") seems "absurdissimum." Three other mss. give the reading which we have adopted: "No longer the earthly worm," &c., "but that which dwelleth eternally with fire," all' ho to puri sundiaionizon hemas lumainetai. Field, in his text, follows a single ms., and emends even that.--G.A.]
[487] anothen.
[488] phossaton, fossatum.