[2334] Joh. xviii. 15-27; xxi. 15-17.
[2335] Ex. xxxii. 30-35.
[2336] 2 Sam. xii. 16.
[2337] Ps. li. 4, 12.
[2338] 1 Kings xxi. 25.
[2339] 1 Kings xxi. 19, 21.
[2340] 1 Kings xxi. 27.
[2341] 1 Kings xxi. 28, 29.
[2342] 2 Chr. xxxiii. 12, 13.
[2343] Jon. iii. 5-10.
[2344] Luke xviii. 13.
[2345] Rigourists who denied the power of the Church to absolve persons who had fallen into sin.
[2346] Ph. iv. 18.
[2347] Ps. li. 17.
[2348] Cf. Ezek. xviii. 23.
[2349] Bar. v. 5, cf. Isa. lx. 1.
[2350] Luke ix. 26.
[2351] Nu. xii. 14.
[2352] Isa. xlvii. 1, 2.
[2353] Isa. xlvii. 14, Vulg.
[2354] Linteamina.
[2355] Ecclus. xi. 25.
[2356] Dilapidare, vendre pierre à pierre--Goelzer.
[2357] Luke xvi. 19-24.
[2358] Virg. Æn. vi. 625-627.
[2359] Eccl. i. 18.
[2360] Nu. xxiv. 15-19.
[2361] Nu. xxxiii.
[2362] Letter LXIV.
[2363] Letter LXXVIII. on the Mansions or Halting-places of Israel in the Desert.
[2364] The Sea of Azov.
[2365] The Don.
[2366] An Asiatic tribe to the East of the Caspian Sea.
[2367] Hdt. i. 106, (of the Scythians).
[2368] The Origenistic controversy in which Jerome, Paula and Epiphanius took one side, John bishop of Jerusalem, Rufinus, and Melania the other.
[2369] Letter XIV.
[2370] i.e. in the desert where many women lived as solitaries.
[2371] Like that in which Abraham entertained the angels. See Letter LXVI. 11.
[2372] Num. xxiii. 21, LXX.
[2373] Acts xxviii. 7.
[2374] Rom. viii. 28: note that Jerome substitutes fear' for love.'
[2375] The remnant of her fortune.
[2376] Luke xvi. 9.
[2377] Virg. A. xi. 139.
[2378] Virg. A. viii. 287, 288.
[2379] Eph. vi. 12.
[2380] Luke xv. 7, 10.
[2381] i.e. Letter LXXVIII. q. v.
[2382] Eccl. ix. 8; Rev. iii. 4.
[2383] Rev. xiv. 4.
[2384] Matt. xx. 15.
[2385] Luke x. 30; xv. 5.
[2386] Joh. xiv. 2.
[2387] Rom. v. 20.
[2388] Luke vii. 47.
Letter LXXVIII. To Fabiola.
A treatise on the Forty-two Mansions or Halting-places of the Israelites, originally intended for Fabiola but not completed until after her death. Sent to Oceanus along with the preceding letter. These Mansions are made an emblem of the Christian's pilgrimage, the true Hebrew hastening to pass from earth to heaven.
Letter LXXIX. To Salvina.
A letter of consolation addressed by Jerome to Salvina (a lady of the imperial court) on the death of her husband Nebridius. After excusing his temerity in addressing a complete stranger Jerome eulogizes the virtues of Nebridius, particularly his chastity and his bounty to the poor. He next warns Salvina (in no courtier-like terms) of the dangers that will beset her as a widow and recommends her to devote all her energies to the careful training of the son and daughter who are now her principal charge. The tone of the letter is somewhat arrogant and it can hardly be regarded as one of Jerome's happiest efforts. Salvina, however, consecrated her life to deeds of piety, and became one of Chrysostom's deaconesses. Its date is 400 a.d.
1. My desire to do my duty may, I fear, expose me to a charge of self-seeking; and although I do but follow the example of Him who said: "learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart," [2389] the course that I am taking may be attributed to a desire for notoriety. Men may say that I am not so much trying to console a widow in affliction as endeavouring to creep into the imperial court; and that, while I make a pretext of offering comfort, I am really seeking the friendship of the great. Clearly this will not be the opinion of any one who knows the commandment: "thou shalt not respect the person of the poor," [2390] a precept given lest under pretext of shewing pity we should judge unjust judgment. For each individual is to be judged not by his personal importance but by the merits of his case. His wealth need not stand in the way of the rich man, if he makes a good use of it; and poverty can be no recommendation to the poor if in the midst of squalor and want he fails to keep clear of wrong doing. Proofs of these things are not wanting either in scriptural times or our own; for Abraham, in spite of his immense wealth, was "the friend of God" [2391] and poor men are daily arrested and punished for their crimes by law. She whom I now address is both rich and poor so that she cannot say what she actually has. For it is not of her purse that I am speaking but of the purity of her soul. I do not know her face but I am well acquainted with her virtues; for report speaks well of her and her youth makes her chastity all the more commendable. By her grief for her young husband she has set an example to all wives; and by her resignation she has proved that she believes him not lost but gone before. The greatness of her bereavement has brought out the reality of her religion. For while she forgets her lost Nebridius, she knows that in Christ he is with her still.
But why do I write to one who is a stranger to me? For three reasons. First, because (as a priest is bound to do) I love all Christians as my children and find my glory in promoting their welfare. Secondly because the father of Nebridius was bound to me by the closest ties. [2392] Lastly--and this is a stronger reason than the others--because I have failed to say no to my son Avitus. [2393] With an importunacy surpassing that of the widow towards the unjust judge [2394] he wrote to me so frequently and put before me so many instances in which I had previously dealt with a similar theme, that he overcame my modest reluctance and made the resolve to do not what would best become me but what would most nearly meet his wishes.
2. As the mother of Nebridius was sister to the empress [2395] and as he was brought up in the bosom of his aunt, another might perhaps praise him for having so much endeared himself to the unvanquished emperor. Theodosius, indeed, procured him from Africa a wife of the highest rank, [2396] who, as her native land at this time was distracted by civil wars, became a kind of hostage for its loyalty. I ought to say at the very outset that Nebridius seems to have had a presentiment that he would die early. For amid the splendour of the palace and in the high positions to which his rank and not his years entitled him he lived always as one who believed that he must soon go to meet Christ. Of Cornelius, the centurion of the Italian band, the sacred narrative tells us that God so fully accepted him as to send to him an angel; and that this angel told him that to his merit was due the mystery whereby Peter from the narrow limits of the circumcision was conveyed to the wide field of the uncircumcision. He was the first Gentile baptized by the apostle, and in him the Gentiles were set apart to salvation. Now of this man it is written: "there was a certain man in Cæsarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway." [2397] All this that is said of him I claim--with a change of name only--for my dear Nebridius. So "devout" was this latter and so enamoured of chastity that at his marriage he was still pure. So truly did he "fear God with all his house" that forgetting his high position he spent all his time with monks and clergymen. So profuse were the alms which he gave to the people that his doors were continually beset with swarms of sick and poor. And assuredly he "prayed to God alway" that what was for the best might happen to him. Therefore "speedily was he taken away lest that wickedness should alter his understanding...for his soul pleased the Lord." [2398] Thus I may truthfully apply to him the apostle's words: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him." [2399] As a soldier Nebridius took no harm from his cloak and sword-belt and troops of orderlies; for while he wore the uniform of the emperor he was enlisted in the service of God. On the other hand nothing is gained by men who while they affect coarse mantles, sombre tunics, dirt, and poverty, belie by their deeds their lofty pretensions. Of another centurion we find in the gospel this testimony from our Lord:--"I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel." [2400] And, to go back to earlier times, we read of Joseph who gave proof of his integrity both when he was in want and when he was rich, and who inculcated freedom of soul both as slave and as lord. He was made next to Pharaoh and invested with the emblems of royalty; [2401] yet so dear was he to God that, alone of all the patriarchs, he became the father of two tribes. [2402] Daniel and the three children were set over the affairs of Babylon and were numbered among the princes of the state; yet although they wore the dress of Nebuchadnezzar, in their hearts they served God. Mordecai also and Esther amid purple and silk and jewels overcame pride with humility; and although captives were so highly esteemed as to be able to impose commands upon their conquerors.
3. These remarks are intended to shew that the youth of whom I speak used his kinship to the royal family, his abundant wealth, and the outward tokens of power, as helps to virtue. For, as the preacher says, "wisdom is a defence and money is a defence" [2403] also. We must not hastily conclude that this statement conflicts with that of the Lord: "verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven; and again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." [2404] Were it so, the salvation of Zacchæus the publican, described in scripture as a man of great wealth, would contradict the Lord's declaration. But that what is impossible with men is possible with God [2405] we are taught by the counsel of the apostle who thus writes to Timothy:--"charge them that are rich in this world that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute. willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on the true life." [2406] We have learned how a camel can pass through a needle's eye, how an animal with a hump on its back, [2407] when it has laid down its packs, can take to itself the wings of a dove [2408] and rest in the branches of the tree which has grown from a grain of mustard seed. [2409] In Isaiah we read of camels, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah and Sheba, which carry gold and incense to the city of the Lord. [2410] On like typical camels the Ishmaelitish merchantmen [2411] bring down to the Egyptians perfume and incense and balm (of the kind that grows in Gilead good for the healing of wounds [2412] ); and so fortunate are they that in the purchase and sale of Joseph they have for their merchandise the Saviour of the world. [2413] And Æsop's fable tells us of a mouse which after eating its fill can no longer creep out as before it crept in. [2414]
4. Daily did my dear Nebridius revolve the words: "they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare" of the devil "and into many lusts." [2415] All the money that the Emperor's bounty gave him or that his badges of office procured him he laid out for the benefit of the poor. For he knew the commandment of the Lord: "If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come and follow me." [2416] And because he could not literally fulfil these directions, having a wife and little children and a large household, he made to himself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that they might receive him into everlasting habitations. [2417] He did not once for all cast away his brethren, as did the apostles who forsook father and nets and ship, [2418] but by an equality he ministered to the want of others out of his own abundance that afterwards their wealth might be a supply for his own want. [2419] The lady to whom this letter is addressed knows that what I narrate is only known to me by hearsay, but she is aware also that I am no Greek writer repaying with flattery some benefit conferred upon me. Far be such an imputation from all Christians. Having food and raiment we are therewith content. [2420] Where there is cheap cabbage and household bread, a sufficiency to eat and a sufficiency to drink, these riches are superfluous and no place is left for flattery with its sordid calculations. You may conclude therefore that, where there is no motive to tell a falsehood, the testimony given is true.