TRANSLATiONS

HH
HRISTIANLITERATURE

FIITY
SITOIUAL HOMILIES

lllliilllii

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TRANSLATIONS OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
General Editors: W. J. SPARROW-SIMPSON, D.D.,
W. K. LOWTHER CLARKE, B.D.

SERIES I

GREEK TEXTS

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES OF

ST. MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN
 Constituenda est ergo nobis dominici schola seruitii in qua institu-
.

tione nihilasperum niliil graue nos constituturos speramus sed et si .

quid paululum restiictius . propter emendationem uitiorum Del

. .

conseruationem cari;ati3 processerit, non ilico pauore perterritus

refugias uiam saluti?, quae non est nisi angusto initio incipienda-
processu uero conuersationis et fidei dilatato corde inenarrabili dilcc-
tionis dulcedine curritur u^a mandatorum dei.

BENEDICTVS.
^r
4n5h
, Sa.nt M<sc<\rius, me eArter, or m €yP

Em Homilies
Fifty Spiritual
OF

St. Macarius the Egyptian

^ &>> 1«*"
BY

A. J. MASON, D.D.

LONDON
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1921
 I SHOULD WISH TO CONNECT THIS VOLUME
CONTAINING THOUGHTS BETTER THAN MY OWN
WITH THE NAME OF
VINCENT HENRY STANTON
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AT CAMBRIDGE

WHOM FOR FIFTY YEARS I HAVE HAD THE PRIVILEGE

OF COUNTING MY CLOSEST FRIEND

IN A LIFE RICH IN FRIENDSHIPS

 INTRODUCTION

. The Author

The name of Macarius (= "Blessed") was a common

one among the Christians of the fourth and following
centuries, especially in Egypt. Two men of the name
stand out as twin giants of the ascetic life of that age and
country. They are distinguishedfrom each other as
Macarius the Egyptian and Macarius the Alexandrian.
An " Egyptian " means one who belonged to the ancient
race of Egypt x
— a " Copt " ; an Alexandrian means one
who belonged Greek colony planted in that city.
to the
The two were friends and nearly contemporaries, though
the Alexandrian was somewhat the younger. The Egyptian
Macarius was born about the year 300.
Palladius, Bishop of Helenopolis, friend of St. Chrysostom,
and historian of the religious life of the wilderness, begins
his account of the two by saying that he hesitates to relate
what he has to say of them, lest he should be thought a
liar, so great and wonderful was their history. Palladius was
not personally acquainted with the Egyptian. He says that
he knew the Alexandrian, but that the other died a year
own entrance into the Nitrian desert, which was
before his
about the year 390. But he was familiar with the locality,
and with the people who knew the great ascetic.
"First," he says, "I will speak of the Egyptian, who
1
See note in Feltoe's Dionysins of Alexandria, p. 13.
 ;

vi INTRODUCTION
lived to the age of ninety years. Sixty of these he spent
having retired to it as a young man of thirty.
in the desert,

He was gifted with such discernment as to be called

'
Age-in-Youth,' because he made such swift progress. At
the age of forty he received the grace of conquering evil
spirits, and of healings and predictions. He was also
admitted to the priesthood."
Palladius proceeds to relate instances of the exercise of
these gifts.

"Two accompanied him into the inner desert,

disciples
called Scetis. One of them served him close at hand,
because of those who came to be cured the other studied ;

in an adjoining cell. In process of time Macarius had a

prophetic vision, and snid to the man who served him,
whose name was John, Hearken to me, brother John, and
'

bear with my. admonition. Thou art in temptation and ;

the spirit of covetousness tempts thee. have seen it I

and I know that if thou bearest with me, thou wilt be

perfected in this place, and wilt be glorified, neither shall
any plague come nigh thy dwelling. But if thou shalt
neglect to hear me, upon thee shall come the end of
Gehazi, with whose disease thou art afflicted.' It came
to pass after the death of Macarius, indeed fifteen or
twenty years after, that he neglected the warning. He
used for himself what belonged to the poor, and was so
covered with elephantiasis that no whole spot could be
found on his body on which a finger could be put. This was
the prophecy of Macarius [Macarius] was said to be
. . .

continually in trance, and to spend far more time with

God than in things below."
Palladius then tells a curious story of a man whose wife
had been bewitched and turned to all appearance into a
mare. The man bridled her and took her to Macarius.
'J he brethren standing near the cell rebuked him for bring-

ing the animal; but Macarius said to them, "Horses you

 ;

INTRODUCTION vii

are, and have horses' eyes. It is a woman, and only

transformed to the eyes of those who are deceived."
he blessed water," the narrative continues, "and
"And
poured it over the naked woman's head, and prayed over
her, and immediately made her appear a woman to every-
body. Then he gave her some food, and made her eat
it, and sent her away, thanking the Lord, in her own
husband's company. And he gave her this advice :
'
Never
miss going to church. Never be away from communion.
This happened to you because for five weeks you had not
gone to the mysteries.'
" Another feature of his asceticism. He made an under-
ground passage from his cell, half a furlong in length, and con-
structed a cave at the end of it. This took him a long time.
If too many people troubled him, he would slip secretly
out of the cell, and go into the cave, where nobody could
find him. One of his devoted disciples told me the story,
and said that on the way to the cave he would say four-
and twenty prayers, and four-and-twenty on the way back."
Palladius adds that he was said to have brought a dead
man back to life, in order to convince some one who would
not believe in the resurrection x and that on one occasion
he healed a boy of strangely disordered appetite, which was
attributed to a particular species of devil. When the
affliction how much
stopped, Macarius asked the mother
she wished the boy to eat. She answered, Ten pounds
"
of bread." Macarius told her it was too much and, fast- ;

ing and praying over him for a week, he allowed him to eat
three pounds, and sent him back to work. 2
Palladius had been the disciple of Evagrius Ponticus,
who had in turn been a disciple to the two Macarii. The
account of these two masters given by Evagrius himself
has been in part incorporated by Socrates in the fourth
1
The story is told at great length by Cassian, Coll. XV. 3.
2
Historia Lausiaca, ed. Butler, p. 43 ft".
viii INTRODUCTION
book of his Ecclesiastical History. Socrates adds to what
we have learned from Palladius that Macarius the Egyptian
was a native of " Upper " Egypt, and that with all his piety
he was somewhat austere in his dealings with those who
resorted to him. 1 This is doubtless recorded on the
authority of Evagrius. Evagrius, in a fragment preserved
by Socrates, relates one or two incidents in his intercourse
with the master. He says :
—
" That chosen vessel, the aged Macarius of Egypt, once
asked me how it is that in remembering the wrongs done
to us by men we ruin our powers of memory, but take no
harm by remembering the wrongs done by devils. I was
at a loss for an answer, and begged him to tell me the
reason. He answered, It is because the former is con-
'

trary to nature ; the latter is in accordance with our mental

constitution.' When I first met with this holy father,
Macarius, it was the very height of noon, and 1 was burn-
ing with excessive heat, and I asked for some water to
drink. He answered, '
Be content with the shade. There
are many people now, by land or by sea, who
travelling
have not even Then, when I was discussing self-
that.'
discipline with him, he said, Be of good courage, my child.
'

For twenty years without a break I have never had as much

food, or drink, or sleep, as I liked. My bread I have eaten
by weight, and my water by measure and I have snatched ;

11
a little sleep, leaning against the wall.'
In the year 373 — the year in which the great Athanasius
died — this peaceful life of the wilderness was rudely in-
vaded. The Emperor Valens knew that the ascetics of the
Nitrian desert formed a great stronghold of the Athanasian
belief, and determined to break it up. Orders were given
for the expulsion of Macarius the Egyptian and Macarius
the Alexandrian, "the fathers of the monks."
"These two were banished to an island which had no
1 Eccl. Hist. IV. 23, 31 ft,
 INTRODUCTION ix

Christian inhabitant. In the island there happened to be

a temple, and a priest in whom all the people revered
it

as a god. When the two men of God came to the island,

all the demons there were in confusion and terror. The
following incident occurred at that very time. The priest's

daughter was suddenly possessed by a devil and went mad.

She overthrew everything. She was uncontrollable, and
could not by any means be kept quiet, but shouted at the
top of her voice, and said to those men of God, Why have '

you come to drive us hence also ? The men showed once

'

more in that place the special work which they had received
of the grace of God. They expelled the devil from the
maiden, and gave her over to her father in good health,
and brought both the priest and all those who lived there
in the island to the faith of Christianity. They immedi-
ately cast out the images, transformed the appearance of
the sanctuary into the character of a church, and were
baptized and instructed in everything belonging to Christi-
anity with rejoicing. Thus those wonderful men, when
banished for the faith of the One Substance, were them-
selves the more approved, and saved others also, and made
the faith yet more sure." *
A few more particulars about Macarius may be gathered
from the ancient collections of Apophthegms of the Fathers^
printed by Migne in the same volume with the works of
Macarius, but it is not always possible to be sure that the
Macarius referred to is the great Egyptian, nor whether the
anecdotes have any historical foundation.
One of them from Macarius himself, the account
gives, as
of his withdrawal into the desert of Scetis. When he was
a young man, he had settled himself in a cell in some part
of Egypt, and the people of the place seized him and made
him their ckricus. Not wishing to undertake the duty, he
removed to another spot, where a pious man, who had not
1
Socrates, Eccl. Hist. IV. 24.
 ''

INTRODUCTION
renounced the world, attached himself to him and helped
him in the basket-making by which he earned his liveli-
hood. It happened that a girl inthe village had fallen
into sin, and alleged that she had been seduced by " the
anchorite." "Then they came out and took me into the
village, and hung sooty kitchen pots round my neck, and
handles of broken wine-jars, and paraded me round every
quarter of the village, beating me and saying, This monk '

has seduced our girl. Have him, have him.' They beat
me nearly to death. men came and said,
One of the old
I
How long will you go on beating the strange monk ?
The man who served me was following behind me with
shame, for they were insulting him much and saying, Look '

at this anchorite whose part you took ; what has he done ?

The girl's parents said, '

We
shall not let him off till he
gives us a surety for her maintenance and I told my '
;

helper, and he became surety for me. When I got to my

cell, I gave him all the baskets I had, saying, Sell them, '

and give my wife to eat.' And I said to my mind, Maca- '

rius, see, thou hast found thyself a wife; thou must woik

a bit harder to support her and I worked ni^ht and day,

'
;

and gave it her." When the time came for the birth of the
child, the girl confessed had been lying, and
that she
wanted all the village to go tomake amends. " And
him to
when I heard that, not to be troubled with the men, I arose
and fled into the Scetis here. That was the original cause
of my coming hither."
Another anecdote relates that Macarius one day came
from Scetis to the Nitrian hills, to attend the celebration of
the eucharist by the abbot Pambo. " And the old man
said, Speak a word to the brethren, father.
'
He answered, 5

I have not yet become a monk, though I have seen

I

monks. Once as I was sitting in my cell at Scetis, my

thoughts troubled me, saying, Go into the desert, and see
what you shall see there. I stayed fighting with the thought
 " "

INTRODUCTION xi

five years, saying, Perhaps it comes from demons. But

when the thought persisted, I went into the desert, and
found there a lake of water, and an island in the middle of
it ; and the beasts of the desert came it and to drink of ;

among them I saw two naked men and my body was ;

afraid, for I thought they were spirits. But when they saw
me afraid, they spoke to me Fear not ; we too are men. :

And I said to them, Whence are ye, and how came ye into
this desert ? And they said, We belong to a convent, and
we made an agreement and came out hither, now forty
years ago. One
an Egyptian, the other a Libyan.
of us is

And they asked me, saying, How is the world? and docs the
water [of the Nile] come in its season, and has the world
itsplenty ? I said, Yes and I asked ; them, How can I

become a monk ? and I said to them, I am weak, and can-

not do like you. And they said to me, And if you cannot
do like us, sit in your cell and weep for your sins. And I
asked them, When and
winter comes, are ye not cold ?

when the hot weather comes, are not your bodies burned ?
But they said, It was God who made this ordinance for us,
and we are neither cold in winter, nor does the heat in
summer hurt us. So, as I said, I have not yet become a
monk, but I have seen monks. Forgive me, brethren.'
" Some of the fathers once asked the abbot Macarius the
Egyptian, l
How is it that whether you" eat or whether you
fast, your body is dry ? ' The aged man answered, The
stick which pokes the faggots in the fire gets eaten through-
out with the fire ; so, if aman cleanses his mind with the
fear of God, the fear of God itself eats up his body.'
" They said that the abbot Macarius the Egyptian, going
up from was so tired that he
Scetis with a load of baskets,
sat down and God, Thou knowest that
prayed, saying,
I cannot and immediately he was found at the river."
'
;

"It is said that two brethren at Scetis went wrong, and

the abbot Macarius the City Man [*. e. the Alexandrian]
xii INTRODUCTION
expelled them. Certain men came and told the great abbot,
Macarius the Egyptian. He said, 'They are not expelled ;

Macarius that is expelled.' For he loved him. The

it is

abbot Macarius heard that he had been expelled by the old

man, and fled to the marsh. So the great abbot Macarius
went and found him bitten by the mosquitoes, and
out,
said to him, Thou didst expel the brethren, and they had
'

to retire to the village. I expelled thee, and thou fleddest

hither like a pretty maiden to her chamber. I called the

brethren, and enquired of them, and they assured me that

they had not done the thing. Take heed, brother, that
thou be not mocked of devils ; for thou sawest nothing.
Do penance for thy fault.' He answered, 'If thou wilt,

give me a penance.' The old man, seeing his humility,

said, Go, and fast for three weeks, eating once a week,'
'

knowing that this was his constant practice, to fast all the
week days."
" brother once met abbot Macarius the Egyptian, and
said to him, Abba, say something to me that I may be
'

saved.' The old man said, 'Go to the burying-ground and

revile the dead.' The brother went, and reviled them, and
threw stones at them, and came and reported to the old
man. He said to him, Did they not answer thee ?
'
He '

said, 'No.' The old man said, 'Go again to-morrow and
praise them.' So the brother went, and praised them, call-
ing them apostles, and saints, and righteous men, and came
to the old man, and said, I praised them.'
'
And he said
to him, Did they make no answer ?
'
The brother said, '

No.' The old man said, 'Thou knowest how much thou
didst insult them, and they answered nothing, and how
much thou didst praise them, and they spake nothing to
thee. If thou wouldest be saved, become thou dead like
them. Reck nothing of the wrongs done by men, nor of
their praise, any more than the dead do and thou mayest \

"
be saved.'
 " '

INTRODUCTION xiii

"
Once as the abbot Macarius was passing through Egypt
with some brethren, he heard a child say to his mother,
1
Amma, a rich man loves me, and I hate him and a poor ;

man hates me, and I love him.' The abbot Macarius won-
dered when he heard it. The brethren said to him, What '

was there to wonder at in the saying, father ? '

The old
man said to them, '
Truly, our Lord is and loves us,
rich
and we will not listen to Him ; but our enemy the devil is
poor and hates us, and we love his uncleanness.'
"Once upon a time, the abbot Macarius visited the abbot
Antony, and after conversing with him returned to Scetis.
The fathers came out to meet him, and as they talked, the
old man said to them, I told the abbot Antony that we
'

have no offering [of the eucharist] in our place.' And the

fathers began to talk of other things, and did not enquire
of the old man what he had answered and the old man ;

did not tell them. One of the fathers has said that when
fathers see that the brethren do not ask them questions
about a thing that would do them good, they constrain
themselves to begin the subject, but if the brethren then
do not constrain them [to continue], they say no more, that
they may not be found like those who speak when no one
asks them, and the conversation is only froth."
"The abbot Vitimius related that the abbot said Once, :

as I sat at Scetis, two young strangers came down there.

One had a beard, the other the beginnings of a beard.
They came to me, saying, Where is the cell of abbot
'

Macarius ? '
And I said, '
What do you want with him ?
They said, '
We have heard of him and of and we
Scetis,
came to see him.' I said, '
I am he.' And they begged
pardon, saying, '
We wish to stay here.' Seeing that they
looked delicately nurtured, and as if they came from a
home of wealth, I said to them, '
You cannot settle here.'
The elder of them said, '
If we 'cannot settle here, we must
go elsewhere.' I said to my own thoughts, '
Why should I
xiv INTRODUCTION
persecute them and be a cause of offence to them ? The
difficulties will soon make them run away of themselves.'
And I Come, make yourselves a cell, if you
said to them, '

can.' They 'Show us a place, and we will make one.'

said,
The old man gave them a hatchet, and a wrap full of bread,
and some salt, and showed them a hard piece of rock,
saying, Quarry here, and fetch yourselves wood from the
'

marsh, and make a thatch, and settle.' I thought to myself,

he would take themselves off because of the
said, that they
labour. But they asked me, what they should work at
here. I said, 'Plaiting,' and I took palm leaves from the

marsh, and showed them how to start a plait, and how to

sew them up, and said, Make your baskets, and give them
'

to the guards, and they will bring you bread.' Then 1 went
away. But they patiently did all that I had told them, and
they never came to me for three years. And I remained
wrestling with my thoughts, saying, How then are they
getting on with their business, that they have not come to
ask advice ? Those from afar come to me, but these who
are near have never come. Nor did they go to others.
They only went to church, in silence, to receive the offering.
And I prayed to God, with a week of fasting, to show me their
business and after the week I arose and went to them, to
;

see how they were situated. When I knocked, they opened,

and greeted me in silence, and I said a prayer and sat down.
And the elder beckoned to the younger to go out, and sat
down to weave his plait without saying a word. And at the
hour of none he knocked, and the younger came, and
made a little gruel, and at a sign from the elder he set a
table, and put on it three biscuits, and stood in silence.
Then I said, Rise, let us eat
'
and we stood and ate and
'
; ;

he brought the water-bowl, and we drank. AYhen evening

came, they said to me, Art thou going ?
'
I said,
' No, I'

will sleep here.' And they laid me a mat by myself apart,

and another for themselves in a corner, and they took off
 "

INTRODUCTION xv

their girdles, and their wrappers, and laid themselves down

together on their mat before me. When they were laid
down, I prayed to God to show me their business and the ;

roof was opened, and it became as light as day, but they

did not see the light. And when they thought that I was
asleep, the elder touched the younger one on the side, and
they got up, and girded themselves, and stretched their hands
towards heaven. And I saw them, without their seeing me.
And I beheld the devils coming at the younger one like
flies some attempted to settle on his mouth, and some on
:

his eyes ; and I beheld an angel of the Lord holding a

sword of fire, and making a rampart round him, and driving
off the devils. They could not get near the elder. About
daybreak they lay down, and I made as though I awoke,
and they likewise. The elder said to me this and no more,
'
Wouldest thou that we should say the twelve psalms?' I
said, 'Yes.' And the younger sang five psalms of six verses
and an and at each verse a torch of fire came out
Alleluia,
of his mouth and went up to heaven. Likewise when the
elder opened his mouth to sing, there came out like a cable
of fire and reached to heaven. I also repeated a little by

heart and as I went out I said, Pray for me.' They bowed
;
'

to me in silence. So I knew that the elder one was perfect,

but that the enemy was still warring with the younger. A
few days later, the elder brother fell asleep and on the ;

third day after, the younger and when some of the fathers
;

visited the abbot Macarius, he took them to their cell, saying,

1
Come, see the martyrdom 1 of the little strangers. " '

"The abbot Paphnutius, the disciple of the abbot Ma-

carius, related that the old When I was a boy, I
man said, '

was tending calves with the other boys, and they went to
steal figs j and as they ran, one of the figs dropped, and I
picked it up and ate it and when I remember it, I sit and
;

weep.'
1
Tiic name for a chapel built over the relics of a martyr or other saint.
xvi INTRODUCTION
"They related of abbot Macarius the Egyptian, that one
day he was going up from Scetis to the Nitrian hills, and
when he drew near the place, he said to his disciple, Go a
'

little in front.' And as he walked in front, he met a certain

heathen priest, and the brother called out to him, crying,
1
Aha, devil, where art thou running ? 'The man turned,
and beat him well, and left him half killed, and took up his
stick and ran. When he got a little further, the abbot
Macarius met him, and said to him, 'Salvation to thee,
weary one.' Surprised at this, the man came to him and
said, What good sawest thou in me, that thou didst accost
'

me ? ' The old man said to him, Because I saw thee

'

tired, and thou knowest not that thy labour is in vain.' The

other said to him, 'And I was touched by thy salutation,

and saw that thou art on God's side; but another bad monk
met me and insulted me, and I beat him to death.' And the
old man knew that it was his disciple. Then the priest
seized him by the feet and said, I will not leave thee till
'

thou makest a monk of me.' Then they went up to where

the monk was, and they carried him, and brought him into
the church of the hill. And when they saw the priest with
him, they were astonished and they made him a monk,
;

and many of the heathens became Christians because of

him. Therefore the abbot Macarius said that a bad word
makes even good people bad, but a good word turns bad
people into good."

2. His Writings
Such was the man. It was hardly to be expected that he
would prove to be a great writer. Neither Evagrius nor
Palladius makes mention of any literary work of his. Gen-
nadius, who about a hundred years later composed a little

book of biographical notices of Christian authors, knew of

"only one epistle" of Macarius, addressed "to younger
men of his profession," in which he taught that by
 INTRODUCTION xvii

continual striving against everything that is agreeable in this

life, together with prayer to God, it is possible to gain a
kind of natural purity, to which self-restraint becomes easy.
This epistle cannot now with certainty be identified. As a
matter of fact, a considerable number of epistles and other
short writings exist, either in Greek or in Syriac and other
translations, which are ascribed to Macarius. Of their

genuineness not necessary here to dispute.

it is It is quite

possible that at least one prayer contained in Migne's edition

of his works is really his.
The ascription of our Homilies to Macarius the Egyptian
rests upon no It rests only upon the
external evidence.
manuscripts containing them and the internal evidence
which they present. That internal evidence has been well
drawn out by Bishop Gore in the Journal of Theological
Studies, vol. viii. p. 85 ff., and is shown to accord with the
date and circumstances of Macarius. The author is one
who has known men who suffered in the great persecution,
the persecution of Diocletian, which began in 303 (Horn,
xxvii. 15). The wars from which he draws his illustrations
are those between the Roman and the Persian empires,
still equal rivals for dominion (Horn. xv. 46, xxvn. 22).

There are no signs of the Nestorian controversy having

come into Egypt. The scenery is exactly that of the Egypt
of the fourth century, with its educational system (Horn,
xv. 42), its nomenclature for the months (Horn. v. 9, cp.
xlvii. 7), its collectors of customs-duties, worse there than
anywhere, lying in wait to pounce upon wayfarers like devils
on bad men when they die (Horn, xliii. 9), particularly
of the Egypt of the desert and its special temptations, its
belief in angels and devils, its sometimes quaint, sometimes
(we may hope) misleading reminiscences or imaginations of
the secular life which had been left behind, its spiritual
ambitions.
It is, however, difficult to make sure whether Macarius
xviii INTRODUCTION
himself wrote the Homilies down in their present form.
That they represent addresses actually delivered appears
clearly. Passages from the Apophthegmata above quoted
show that Macarius was often invited to " speak a word,"
to " say something," to monks whom he visited. These
Homilies are for the most part such as might well have
been delivered on occasions of the kind. The fervour
and directness of the appeal in most of them does not
suggest composition in the cell, with no concrete hearers in
view. And many of them consist largely in questions and
answers. The questions are often only remotely connected
with the subject with which the Homily begins. It appears
as if the enquirer had long been bursting with his question,
and seized the opportunity of the great teacher's visit,

irrespective of the matter in hand. Some disciple skilled in

shorthand has taken notes of what passed, and thrown them
into the form of a " Homily,"
which means, strictly, a
conversation. Yet, on the other hand, the last of the fifty
Homilies concludes by describing either that Homily itself or
the whole collection as being of the nature of an "epistle,"
addressed to a body of well disposed readers. 1 In the Bod-
leian MS., as a kind of title to the collection, occur the words
11
First Epistle of our holy father Macarius the Egyptian to
the Abbot Symeonof Mesopotamia of Syria," and the seven
additional Homilies, first printed by Mr. Marriott in 191 8,
are prefaced in that MS. and in its daughter at Holkham
by the words, " A
Second Epistle of the same divine monk
our father Macarius to the Abbot Symeon, the ascetic of
Mesopotamia of Syria, and to the rest of the brethren that
are with him." It has even been contended that the fifty

Homilies are the " one epistle "

of which Gennadius knew.
As the " second undoubtedly
epistle " contains matter
belonging to a date later than the death of Macarius, it
might have been conjectured that both collections were put
1
i <\ (<-: /s dKiKpi.vtias•
 INTRODUCTION xix

together in the fifth century by a disciple of the great abbot,

and an interval of time between them, to the
sent, with
Syrian ascetic. But the first Homily of the second col-
lection begins in proper letter form, " Macarius to the
beloved and like-minded brethren in the Lord. Peace be
multiplied unto you exceeding abundantly from the Lord,"
etc. Macarius must therefore himself have sent the col-
lections in some form or other to his correspondents. 1 How
the later matter got into the second collection need not
concern us at present. The fifty Homilies contain no such
perplexing element. They are homogeneous in form,
thought, and style, and there appears to be nothing in
them inconsistent with their attribution to the great
Egyptian. At the same time, it is possible that some of
the prolixities and unnecessary repetitions which occasion-
ally mar the artistic effect of the Homilies may be due to

the hand of Symeon Metaphrastes, or whoever it was that

inserted into his collection the fourth of the seven new
Homilies. 2 Perhapswas the same hand which threw
it

the material which he found into the form of the present

fifty. Some of the fifty are so long that they could hardly
have been delivered as they stand, while others are so short
as to appear to be fragments. Some have so little internal
cohesion that they might well have been made up of dis-
4< "
jointed pieces, or be the result of a succession of questions
which are not recorded in the MSS. as we now have them.
The headings of the Homilies may be the work of the same
editor. But in spite of these defects of form the Homilies
as a whole bear the stamp of individuality, and proceed
from a master mind.

xvm
'
1
Homilies and xix answer well to Gennadius's description of
the contents of his " one epistle."
2
J. Stiglmayr, in the Stimmen aus -Laac/i, 191 1, endeavours
to make out a series of interpolations by some one acquainted with the
life of the Byzantine Court.
xx INTRODUCTION

3. His Teaching

The Homilies are well described as " spiritual " Homilies.

That is their purpose and their character. They are not
dogmatic j they are not controversial ; they are not exposi-
tory ; they concerned with the politics or the
are not
expansion of the church ; they have little to say about the
Christian's duty to his fellow-men. There is a strange
aloofness about them. The struggles of the Nicene faith
against Arianism, the last struggle of Paganism against
Christianity under Julian, the Meletian schism which rent
the church of Egypt in twain, wake no echo in them.
They have but one object, to help to bring individual souls
to God in perfect self-subdual and absolute devotion.
The persons to whom they are addressed are all monks
Macarius can, indeed, contemplate the possibility of people
in the world being saved. Saints of God, ne says, may
be found sitting in the theatres, apparently looking on at
the performance, while their hearts are holding intercourse
with God (xv. 8, cp. xxix. 1). It is part of Christian
perfection to pass no judgment upon those who remain in
the world, not even upon those whose lives are notoriously
bad (xviii. 8, cp. xlii. 2). But to Macarius and those
to whom he speaks it is the obvious and only natural thing,
that when a man hears the word of God, he should forsake
the world as they themselves had done, and withdraw to
the wilderness. The call of the Gospel can scarcely take
any other form (xi. 6 ft.). Christian and monk are almost
convertible terms (xxxvni. 1). For a system of social
ethics a man must go some other teacher than Macarius.
to
God and the soul, the soul and God —
this is his topic.

Even about God Macarius does not give much direct

teaching. He rather assumes that his hearers know the
truth, and only need to apply it. " God is and in-
infinite

comprehensible " (xvi. and is therefore even "in" hell,

5),
 INTRODUCTION xxi

"in" Satan: to exclude Him would be to limit Him.

Macarius labours to explain, when questioned, how this can
be. His doctrine of the relation between the Divine
Persons is wholly that of Athanasius, though it is implied
rather than taught. Once the great key-word is used, in
passing, in an ascription :
" Glory to the consubstantial
Trinity for ever " (xvn. 15). That the Son is all that this
word implies is seen from the way in which Macarius passes
from the one Person to the other, so that sometimes it is
not easy to say at once which he is speaking of. He dwells
with delight upon the Incarnation, which brought God
within man's reach. "The infinite, inaccessible, uncreated
God, through His infinite and inconceivable kindness, em-
bodied Himself, and, if I may say so, diminished Himself
from His inaccessible glory, to make it possible for Him to
be united with His visible creatures" (iv. 9 if.). It was
the outcome of a charity and a compassion which extends
to all mankind. The Lord wills to beget all men anew of
the seed of His Godhead, and is grieved if they will not
come to the new birth, after all that He suffered for them
(xxx. 2 (Q. " God and the holy angels are in tears" over
such souls (1. n). The mode of the Incarnation was full of
significance :
" instead of bringing with Him a body from
heaven, the Lord made a new thing from the Ever-Virgin
Mary, and put on " (xi. 9). In it He endured unlimited
this
humiliation: "the Lord Himself, who is the Way, and is
God, when He came for thy sake, not for His own see . . .

to what humiliation He came. When they spat in His

. . .

face, and put on Him the crown of thorns God for . . .

thy sake humbled Himself" (xxvi. 25 ff.). His manhood

was no fiction. If at one time Macarius seems to attribute
Christ's overthrow of Satan to His divine immunity to evil
(xxvi. 15), at another he takes a deeper view: as the
serpent overcame Adam by pride and self-esteem, so " Christ
took upon Him the form of a servant and conquered the
xxii INTRODUCTION
devil by humility" Macarius makes no attempt
(xxvn. 5).

to formulate a doctrine of the Atonement. It is enough for

him that Christ's death is a conquest of death, because
death had no claim upon Him, as it has upon us (xi. 10);
that we are saved by it like the bird in the Law which was
dipped in the blood of its fellow (xlvii. 2), or the Israelites
whose houses were sealed by the blood of the Passover
(xlvii. 8). There is no salvation except in Christ. This
is everywhere the doctrine of Macarius with true evan- :

gelical fervour he returns again and again to the cry,

11
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world" (e.g. xxvm. 6). Yet it is not to what Christ
once did for us that Macarius most characteristically turns,
but to what He is, to what He is now. He exhausts the
power of language to set this forth " Himself in thee made
:

all things —
Paradise, Tree of Life, pearl, crown, builder,
husbandm.in, sufferer, incapable of suffering, man, God,
wine and living water, lamb, bridegroom, warrior, armour,
Christ all in all " (xxxi. 4). His teaching of the person
and work of the Spirit is rich and abundant, but presents no
novelty. Once there appears a trace of the primitive (but
not scriptural) identification of the Holy Spirit with the as
yet not incarnate Word (xn. 6 ff.). Frequently, like the
New Testament itself,Macarius passes from the action of
the Spirit to that of Christ, or from the action of Christ to
that of the Spirit, without noting the transition. It is not
that he is unaware of the difference ; but for the moment
themode of the divine operation does not concern him.
What the Spirit does, God does.
The aloofness of these Homilies extends even to the
church and its ordinances. Not that Macarius despises
them. In one place he speaks of Peter as having suc-
—
ceeded Moses and Aaron and Caiaphas as trustee of —
" Christ's new church and the true priesthood " but it is in
;

order to show that even such an one, so long as he is in the

 —

INTRODUCTION xxiii

flesh, has reason to fear he should fail (xxvi. 23).

lest
"
Once he refers to resorting to the place of prayer "; but
it is to insist that the Christian ought to " have the remem-

brance of God " quite as much with him when walking, or

eating, or talking (xliii. 3). That he valued the reception
of the holy eucharist is certain from the story told
by Palladius of the woman who had laid herself open to
bewitchment by going for five weeks without it (p. vii).
When asked to explain what it was that eye had not seen,
nor ear heard, till Christianity came, he answers among
other things that the Old Testament saints never knew
" that in the church bread and wine should be offered, the
symbol of [the Redeemer's] flesh and blood, and that
those who partake of the visible bread eat spiritually the
flesh of the Lord" (xxvn. 17). But there is nothing in
these Homilies like the wonderful Fourth Book of the
lmitatio Christi. In general, when Macarius speaks of
Christ as the bread of life, the reference is mystical, not
sacramental. " The Lord," he
embodies Himself says, u

even in meat and drink ; but He makes Himself " meat "
"

for the refreshment of the faithful in the same sense as He

becomes a well of water springing up within them (iv. 12).
Baptism, like the eucharist, is one of the peculiar glories
of Christianity but it is the " baptism of fire and of the
;

Holy Ghost" (xxvn. 17), of which the sacrament of

—
baptism no doubt through the fault of the recipients
often falls deplorably short. Here is the appeal to facts. " If
you say . . . no more at liberty to
that after baptism evil is

argue in the heart, do you not know that from the advent
of the Lord to this day all that have been baptized have
had bad thoughts at times? All the worldly people. . .

dwelling within the pale of the church, are their hearts

spotless and pure ? " (xv. 14). The seal, the unction,
which form a part of the initiatory sacrament of the church,
are represented in these Homilies only by their spiritual
 ;

xxiv INTRODUCTION
counterparts. We
must seek "to have the brand and seal
of the Lord upon us" (xn. 13). If the anointing oil
under the Old Testament made men kings, how much
more profit is there in the only unction for which Macarius
seems to care, the unction of the inner man with the Holy
Ghost the Comforter (xvn. 1, cp. xv. 35). It has been
well pointed out by a modern teacher of the religion of
experience that St. Paul nowhere appeals " to the man
already in Christ to seek the baptism of the Spirit." x But
this is what Macarius does again and again. To find the
new birth, to become a Christian, to be made a child of
God, to receive the gift of the Spirit, this is the object of
every effort. It is not the equipment with which a man

under the gospel starts on his career towards perfection

it is the crowning grace which perfects him after he has

passed faithfully through a thousand temptations and years

of self-mastery (e.g. ix. 10, 13; xi. 6), to be sought by
incessant prayer.
In a life such as Macarius contemplates, Holy Scripture
naturally occupies an important place. He is not himself
one of the great interpreters of Scripture, but he has a wide
range of acquaintance with it. " Reading " is one of the

normal occupations of those whom he addresses it is of ;

course the reading of the Bible (in. 1, 2 ; cp. xxix. 6).

The Bible is given us by God, as a king may send a letter to
inform his subjects of privileges to be had on application.
It is ill for those who know the offer and will not avail
themselves of it (xxxix. 1). Macarius uses the promises
with all the literal earnestness of a Bunyan or a John
Newton. When Satan seeks to depress us by reminding
us of our sins, we are to answer, " I have the testimonies of
the Lord in writing, that say, I desire not the death of the
sinner" (xi. 15). But the true Christian will not rest his
assurance only upon the written word, but will seek the im-
1
Moule, Vent Creator, p. 222.
 INTRODUCTION xxv

pression of the Spirit upon his inner consciousness (xv. 20).

It is a natural and holy impulse which makes a believer
wish to impart to others the word which has proved helpful
to himself; and Macarius draws an unfavourable picture of
the man who is so intoxicated with the revelations made to
him that he is unable to think of the needs of others or to
minister the word to them (vin. 4). But he has heart-
searching things to say about those who attempt to edify
"
others by " words borrowed from various parts of the Bible
without having themselves the experience of their spiritual
force (xviii. 5). When all is said and done, Macarius
teaches that even the most inspired words, full of divine
efficacy, arc inadequate to convey all that they suggest.
" The word is like a shadow of the truth of Christ " (xxx. 1).

It is in dealing with human nature and its strivings after

perfection that Macarius is seen at his greatest, though
even here we are not to look for a logical system, or an
exact science.A few broad principles are postulated ; and
the rest is the result of experience. The nomenclature is
not, as a rule, the nomenclature of the schools of philo-
sophy. It is tentative, a little wavering, the outcome of
the noble experiment, still new, of the solitudes of the
desert.
And first, Macarius insists upon the greatness of the
human soul. It is no part of Christian humility to think
meanly of what we are by nature. Quite the contrary.
" The soul in itself is neither of the nature of the Godhead,
nor of the nature of the darkness of wickedness, but is a
creature intellectual, beauteous, great, and wonderful, a fair

likeness and image of God "

7). However wonderful God's
(1.

other creations are, God does not find in them satisfaction

and " rest," as He does in the soul of man— no, not even in
Michael and Gabriel (xv. 22). This is a point to which
Macarius returns so frequently that it seems to be taken
from an authority like that of Scripture (see e. g. xvi. 7,
 ;

xxvi INTRODUCTION
.
measured by the
, xlv. 5). The worth of the soul can only be
price which God was prepared to pay for
it (xv. 43 f(.). It is akin to God, though with a folly
which the animals do not share it docs not recognise its
kindred (xlv. 5, 6). Its "subtilty" is so great that earthly
wisdom fails to comprehend it (xlix. 4). It is capable of
infinite distention under the power of the Spirit (xlvi. 5).
Even without the help of grace, it moves at large throughout
all creation, annihilating space in its fleetness and nimble-
ness (xlvi. 4 ; cp. xn. 12). This belief must be borne in
mind when we find Macarius elsewhere asserting that souls,
like the angels, or the devils, have a " body " of their own.
(iv. 9 ; cp. vii. 7). It is his way of asserting that each has
its special characteristics, limitations, and idiosyncrasies,
which give it a kind of outline, and, in the case of man,
prescribe also the bodily configuration.

" For soul is form, and doth the body make."

From the current psychology of the schools Macarius

borrows the word which describes the intelligence as the
guiding or ruling principle of the soul
cp. xl. 5).
xxv. 3
But he has hardly made the definition his own.
(^ ;

He loves upon the complexity of man's

rather to dwell
inner constitution. "
The soul has many members, intelli-
gence, conscience, will, thoughts accusing and excusing
but all these are dependent upon one factor (cZs
)." This " factor " is what we should call the person-
« -
ality, or ego. Macarius calls it the soul. " They are
"
members of the soul, and the soul is one, the inward man
(vii. 8) : the mind is " the eye of the soul " (ibid.). Else-
where Macarius gives a different enumeration. The soul s

ruling, or " more kingly," factors " are the will, the
conscience, the intelligence, and the faculty of love" (1. 3).
Elsewhere again he speaks of "the five rational (or
spiritual) senses of the soul," corresponding to the physical
 INTRODUCTION xxvii

senses of the body (iv. 7), but without specifying them. 1

In one place he seems to make conscience the supreme
governing power of the soul ; or perhaps he identifies it

with the intelligence when the intelligence is brought to

bear upon the moral aspects of conduct. M The heart has a

captain in the intelligence, the conscience which is ever

judging us. . . . It is the intelligence and conscience that
chides and guides the heart, and calls from sleep the
natural faculties. For the soul has many members,
. . .

though it is but one " (xv. 33, 34). Macarius never tires
of impressing this unity of the soul in its multiplicity
of " members " (e.g. xv. 7, xli. i, l. 4).
Such is the constitution of the soul but as things are, it ;

is all plunged into disorder. No one has ever taken more

seriously the doctrine of the Fall than Macarius does. It

would be scarcely an exaggeration to say that there is some

reference to it on every page. To "the transgression of
the commandment " all our disasters and our difficulties
are traced. It has vitiated our moral nature. "One
thing foreign to our nature, the disaster of the passions, we
have received into ourselves through the first man's dis-
obedience, and it has taken its place as almost a part of
our nature by long custom and propensity " (iv. 8).From "
the time that Adam transgressed the commandment the
serpent entered in and made himself master of the house,
and became like a second soul beside the soul" (xv. 35).
Through man, the mischief penetrated to all creation.
" When the evil word came to Adam ... he first received
it by the outward hearing, then it penetrated through his

heart, and took possession of all his being. When he was

thus seized, creation, which served him and ministered to
him, was seized with him. Through him, death reigned
over every soul, and defaced every image of Adam " (xi. 5).
1
Possibly the fifth was memory ; but Macarius does not often speak
of the function of memory.
xxviii INTRODUCTION
The taint has become hereditary. Macarius knows of some
" who say that evil is not born and bred in man" (xv. 21),
but they are mistaken. " We all are his sons of that dark
race ; . . . the malady from which he suffered, we all who
are of Adam's seed suffer from the same " (xxx. 8, cp.
xxiv. 2). It rendered man liable to bodily disease
(xlviii. 5). Its primary effect upon the soul, from which
all flows, is to " darken " it. By this Macarius means that
the Fall has dulled all man's perceptions, especially with
regard to moral truth. Man has so lost this perception
as to be unconscious of the loss. "The world that you
see round you, from the king to the beggar, are all in
confusion and disorder and battle, and none of them knows
the reason, or that it is the manifestation of the evil which
crept in through Adam's disobedience, the sting of death.
. . . The sin that crept in works upon the inner man
without being detected. . . . Men are not aware that they are
doing these things at the instigation of a foreign force.
They think it all to be natural, and that they do these
things of their own determination, while [Christians] know
very well the source of these movements. The world is

subject to the lust of not" (xv. 48 and knows

()
evil, it ff.).

Macarius does not admit that the evil which has in-

vaded us is actually a substantive thing :

those who so affirm know no nothing. "To God there is

substantive evil but in us it works with full force and

. . .

makes itself felt, suggesting all foul concupiscence" (xvi. 1).

It is " a kind of invisible power of Satan, and a reality

()
dwells
" (xv.
49). " To
and works in the heart, suggesting wicked and
us evil is a real thing, because it

defiling thoughts, and not allowing us to pray purely, but

bringing our mind into captivity to this world. It has
1
clothed itself with our souls, and touched even our bones
and members" (xvi. 6). It is like a kind of evil leaven
1
For this metaphor of clothing, cp. II. 1 ft.
 INTRODUCTION xxix

which has grown and increased with the increase of the

race " to such an extent that they have come to think that
there is no God, and to worship inanimate stones, and to
"
be unable so much as to take in the notion of a God
(xxiv. 2).

The case was desperate but Macarius says that not all
;

was lost. That could not be, so long as man " lives, and
discerns, and has the power of will" (xxvi. 1). The
contest which gathers round the names of Augustine and
Pelagius had not begun but Macarius had already heard
;

of some who went too far in their depreciation of fallen

nature. " It is not as some say, who are led astray by
wrong teachings, that man is dead once for all, and cannot
accomplish anything good whatever " (xlvi. 3). What
Macarius thought that man could still do we shall see
presently but meanwhile the utmost that he could do could
;

not avail to restore or save him. No evangelical Christian

of modern times can be more emphatic on the point than
he. " Only the appearing of Christ is able to cleanse soul
and body" (xlv. 3). "If thou hadst been able to do it,
what need was there of the coming of the Lord? As the
eye cannot see without light, as a man cannot speak without
a tongue, or hear without ears ... so he cannot be saved
without Jesus, nor enter into the kingdom of heaven " (in.
4). " If any one takes his stand upon his own righteous-
ness and redemption, not looking for the righteousness of
God, which Lord (as the apostle says, Who is made
is the '

to us righteousness and redemption') he labours in vain

and to no purpose. All the dream of a righteousness of
his own is day manifested as nothing but filthy
at the last
rags " (xx.
3). Man
" was so sore wounded that none
could cure him, but the Lord only" {ibid. 5), "Moses
came, but he could not bestow a complete cure. Every . . .

righteousness of the soul [under the law] was unavailing

to heal man, until the Saviour came, the true Physician,
 ";

xxx INTRODUCTION
who cures without cost, who gave Himself a ransom for
mankind" {ibid. 6; cp. xxx. 8).
What, then, is man's part in the work, and what, besides
the cost of the Incarnation and the Sacrifice, is God's ?

Where does grace come in, and where the will of man ?
It must be remembered that the aim of Macarius is

strictly practical, that he is not setting forth a scheme of

Christian doctrine, but appealing to companies of men
whose temptation is to think that they have done all that is
required of them in renouncing the world, and to become
indolent and secure. This may be a reason why he does
not make much of the ideas of predestination and elec-
tion and vocation, and of the initial grace which starts the
Christian on his distinguishing career. Such thoughts lead
naturally to complacency. His view is that all men would
like to be good (xvn. 15), though they will not take the
trouble to become so. Mere wishing will not do it. A man
may wish to fly, but he cannot. " So the will is present
with a man to be pure and blameless and without spot
but he has not the power" (11. 3). Some men, indeed,
are bad because they choose to be bad but others are bad;

in spite of themselves. They fight against it and resent

it, but do not succeed in overcoming it. "These are far
nobler and more honourable in God's eyes than the other
(xxvn. 2), and no doubt receive a better lot hereafter from
a righteous Judge, whose awards in heaven and hell admit
of infinite gradations (xl. 3 ff.). Even among those who
hear the call of the gospel, not all respond to it. "If
merely hearing made a man more ado to
to belong without
the good, then all the theatre-people and the whoremongers
will go into the kingdom and the life"(xxvn. 20). The
call, then, goes out universally, but only particular souls
benefit by namely those who choose to accept it.
it,

The freedom of the will is a main article in the creed of

Macarius. Nothing takes it away. God Himself respects
 INTRODUCTION xxxi

it. He will do nothing to force it. The apostles would

have been glad to heal all the sick in the places that they
came to; but they were not allowed, for if they had done
so, faith would have been extorted from everybody. " Men
and their free will would have been planted in God's service
by compulsory force" (xxvi. 6). If Christians did not
die, like others, " the whole world would come over by a
kind of compulsion, not by a voluntary decision." Provi-
dence orders things thus, " that the freedom of will which
God gave man at the beginning might abide" (xv. 39 ff.).
"If it were possible to succeed without effort, Christianity
would no longer be a stone of stumbling and a rock of
offence. There would be no faith and unbelief. You would
make man a creature of necessity," like the sun and the
earth, for which there can be no praise or blame, reward or
punishment (xxvn. 21, cp. xv. 22). From the outset to
the finish, all depends upon man's free will.
Macarius accordingly represents God as waiting upon
the movement of man's will. God and the devil both
desire to gain him. "The soul is in the middle between
the two subsistences, and to whichever side the will of the
soul inclines, of that side it becomes a possession and a
son" (xxvi. 24). It is like a babe on the floor, which
cannot get up and go to its mother, but has just the power
to roll towards her and cry to her, and when God sees that
movement of the soul, He comes to it and takes it up
(xlvi. 3). Man cannot do a great deal, but what he can
do, he must. " It is not possible or within a man's compe-
tence to root out sin by his own power, [but] to wrestle
against it, to fight against it, to give and receive blows, is
thine; to uproot is God's" (in. 4, cp. xxvn. 22). "That
the war comes upon you is not your doing but to hate ;

it is ;and then the Lord, seeing your mind, that you are
striving . . . parts death from your soul "(xxvi. 18). "What
is man's working? To renounce, to go out of the world,
 "

xxxii INTRODUCTION
to pray when it is hard, to be on the watch, to love God
and the brethren—this is his own doing," though he needs
much in addition {ibid., 19, cp. XLVI. 2). God therefore
meets man's natural efforts with a corresponding grace.
11
The things which you do yourself are all very well, and
acceptable to God, but they are not quite pure. For
instance,you love God, but not perfectly. The Lord
comes and gives a love which is unchangeable, the heavenly
love. You pray in the natural manner, with wandering and
doubt. God gives you the pure prayer, in spirit and in
truth" (xxvi. 21). "The man to whom He gives help
is the one who turns away from material pleasures and from
his former habits, who drags his mind at all times to the
Lord, whether it will or no, who denies himself, and seeks
the Lord only. This is the man whom He keeps under
His care" (iv. 5). Again and again Macarius speaks of
help coming " when the Lord sees " that the soul is in
earnest, but He holds His hand till then.•

If it should seem that too much is thus left for man to

do, Macarius answers that nothing is required of him but
what lies within his power. He often uses the expression
that man is a "match" for the power opposed to him.
" The mind, as I have said many times, is an even match
for and possesses a power that is well balanced against
it,

sin, to withstand and repel its suggestions. If you say that

the opposing power is too strong, and that evil has com-
plete sovereignty over man, you make God unrighteous,
when He condemns man for submitting to Satan. 'It . . .

is as though a young man should wrestle with a little child,

and the child, when he is worsted, is condemned for getting

worsted. This is a great injustice.' I tell you that the
human mind is a good match for the enemy, and evenly
balanced against him and a soul of that kind, when it
;

seeks, finds help and succour, and redemption is vouchsafed

to it. The contest and struggle is not an unequal one
 INTRODUCTION xxxiii

(hi. 5). The description takes almost an epic form. The

Persians and the are in opposing camps, and " two
Romans
winged youths of equal powers " come out and engage in a
struggle between the lines " so the opposing force and the
:

mind are in equipoise" (xxvn. 22). Macarius repeats a

former simile. "Those who say that sin is like a mighty
giant, and the soul like a little child, are wrong. If things

were so ill-matched the Lawgiver would be unjust, in

. . .

having given man a law to struggle against Satan" (ifo'd., cp.

xv. 23). The tempter is, after all, in God's hands, and
God only "lets him loose upon men by a kind of measure,"
as a man burden to his beast (xxvi. 3).
suits the
Macarius holds out no great hope of the struggle being
ended before death. On the one hand, Satan is remorseless
and relentless in his siege and, on the other, man always
;

remains free to change. " You see how alterable this nature
is. You find it inclining to evil, you find it again inclining
to good. In both cases it is in a position to assent to such
action as it likes. Nature is susceptible both of good and
of either of Divine grace or of the contrary power, but
evil,

is under no compulsion" (xv. 25). "In the depth of

wickedness and the bondage of sin a man is at liberty to
turn to what is good. A man bound over to the Holy
Spirit, and inebriated with heavenly things, has power to

turn to evil" (ibid., 36, cp. 40). " I assure you that freedom
of choice remains even in perfect Christians, who are sub-
jugated to what is good and intoxicated with it. . . . You
may believe me that even the apostles, perfected as they
were in grace, were not hindered by that grace from doing
as they desired." Macarius gives instances of the apostles'
wrongdoing. When questioned upon the point, he answers
that the apostles " could not sin " — no doubt in the sense
of giving themselves up to it
— " because they could not
choose to sin, being in light and in such grace. I do not
say that grace in them was weak. What I say is that
c
xxxiv INTRODUCTION
grace permits even perfect spiritual persons to have the
use of their will, and power to do what they choose, and

to turn in which direction they like. And human nature,

which is weak, has power to turn, even when good is present
with it" (xxvn. 9 ff.). He tells many warning tales of
men who had received high measures of grace, and fallen
away.
The purpose of this continual \varfare is, of course, to
test the sincerity and steadfastness of man's will. This
thought recurs continually, and hardly needs illustration.
" Man's resolution in combat and strife, and his genuine
worth, and his goodwill towards God, are then shown when
"
grace withdraws and he will still be brave and cry to God
(xvi. 13). So Macarius interprets the story of Job. "So
it is still with those who endure afflictions and temptations ;

Satan is ashamed and sorry, because he has got nothing

by it. The Lord begins to reason with him Behold I :
'

suffered thee to tempt him. "Wast thou able to do any-

thing?'" (xxvi. 8). It seems to be God's way to give

the minimum of grace that will be effective. This is partly

to check spiritual pride. " The Lord knows the man's
weakness, that he is easily lifted up. Therefore He with-
draws, and permits the man to be exercised and put to
trouble" (xxvn. 8). But it has a more general purpose.
11
In order that your and your liberty may be tested,
free will
which way it inclines, grace makes way for sin " {ibid., 9).
" Grace purposely withdraws, for the man's good, and he
"
enters into training, and [eventually] becomes a Christian
(xxvn. 20). To some, "even when they have withdrawn
—
from the world, and pass their time in much perseverance
in prayer and fasting God does not immediately grant
. . .

the grace and the refreshment and rejoicing of the Spirit,

being patient with them," in the sense of Luke xviii. 7,

being willing to spend time over the business, instead of

i. e.,

hurrying it on, " and reserving the gift. This He does

 INTRODUCTION xxxv

not idly, nor unseasonably, nor at random, but with un-

speakable wisdom, for the testing of their free will, to see
whether they have counted God faithful and true who
promised" (xxix. 2, cp. XLVII. 13).
All this reserve on God's part, and laying so much upon
the will of man, might seem to lead up to something like a
doctrine of human merit. Nothing could be further from
the teaching of Macarius. All is of God's doing. " Never

think that you have been beforehand with the Lord in your
"
virtue it is He that worketh in you both to will and to do
;

(xxxvn. 9). Is that not prevenient grace? In a noble

"
passage Macarius speaks of the inconceivable " minuteness
of God, which goes into every particular to effect the
salvation of man. He arranges for the afflictions which
make a man think of giving up the world. Then He teaches
him that there is an inward renuntiation to be made,
as well as the outward. " And when thou deemest thyself

to have done all by renouncing, the Lord takcth account

with thee. Why dost thou boast ? Did not I create
'

thy body and thy soul? Did not I make the gold and
silver? What hast thou done?' The soul begins to make
confession, and to beseech the Lord and say, 'All things
are Thine. The house I am in is Thine. My clothes are
Thine. From Thee is my food, and of Thee am I supplied
for every need.' Then the Lord begins to reply, I thank '

thee. The goods are thine own. The goodwill is thine

own and because of thy love towards Me, since thou hast
;

made Me thy refuge, come, I will now give thee what

hitherto neither thou hast gained, nor do men have it upon
earth. Take Me, thy Lord, with thine own soul, that thou
mayest ever be with Me in joy and gladness'" (xxxn. 8).
Again, "This is the part of man, that whether he fasts,
or keeps watch, or prays, or does some fine thing, he should
ascribe all to the Lord and say, 'If God had not enabled
me, I could not have fasted, or prayed, or gone out of the
xxxvi INTRODUCTION
world.' In this way, Cod, seeing your intention, that you
ascribe to God the things that are yours, which you do of
your own nature, bestows upon you in return the tilings
that are His, the spiritual things, the divine and heavenly
things" (xxvi. 20). Although the language may not be
quite that of St. Augustine or of the Council of Orange,
Macarius does not differ from them in meaning. The
Lord, he says, "secretly helps" the man in his striving
(xxi. 5). " Whatever the soul may think fit to do of itself,

whatever care and pains it may take without the co- . . .

operation of the Spirit it is of no use for the heavenly

. . .

places " (xxiv. 5). Indeed St. Augustine's famous saying,

Fac quod iubes, is almost verbally anticipated by Macarius
when he speaks of the man who comes at last to doing all
the commandments with ease, and then corrects himself,
"or rather, the Lord in him does His own command-
ments" (xix. 2).

The result of this conception is a profound humility.

The nearer a man approaches to perfection, the more he
is conscious how ill he has corresponded to the divine
influence, and that whatever success may have been gained
is due to that influence, and not to himself. And the
humility thus formed combines with an ardent longing for
better and better things. "The soul that really loves God
and Christ . . . esteems itself as having wrought nothing, by
reason of its insatiable aspiration after God. Though it

should exhaust the body with fastings, with watchings, its

attitude towards the virtues is as if it had not yet even

begun to labour for them" (x. 4). "Until a man . . .

makes progress, he is not poor in spirit, but has some

opinion of himself; but . . . grace itself teaches him to
be poor which means that a man, being righteous
in spirit,

and chosen of God, does not esteem himself to be any-

thing, but holds his soul in abasement and disregard, as if
he knew nothing and had nothing, though he knows and
 INTRODUCTION xxxvii

has" (xii. 3). "The sign of Christianity is this ... to

say continually, ' It is not mine ; another has put this
treasure in my charge. I am a poor man, and when He
pleases, He takes it from me ... I am not fit for this sun
to shine upon me.' This is the sign of Christianity, this
humility" (xv. 37; cp. xxvi. 11, XLI. 2). "Such an
one despises himself beyond and holds this
all sinners,
notion implanted in him as if by nature, and the further he
advances in the knowledge of God, the more he considers
himself an ignoramus. It is grace which ministers this

effect,and makes it like a part of nature in the soul"

(xvii. 12; cp. xxvn. 5). This was Christ's way of
conquering the devil, "and howsoever thou mayest be
humbled, thou wilt never do anything like thy Master"
(xxvi. 26). The author of the Pilgrim's Progress was
not the first to teach that "he that is down need fear no
fall." Macarius had taught the safety of humility before
him. "The humble never falls. Whence indeed could he
fall, being lower than all? proud mind is a great
humiliation a humble mind is a great exaltation and
;

honour and dignity" (xix. 8).

The Homilies contain some wonderful passages about
"the measures of perfection," which Macarius and his
hearers were endeavouring to reach. The Eighth Homily
is given up to the subject. Macarius appears to be about
to describe the various stages in the spiritual progress. But
if that was his intention he does not carry it into effect.

He leaves the "measures" undefined, but gives glimpses

of spiritual experience which surpass "measurement." Yet
"
he avows that he has never seen a perfect Christian, one
completely free " (vm. 5). daring disciple ventures to ask
Macarius in what "measures" he is himself. The reply
can only be read with awe. There are other places, how-
ever, where Macarius defines the highest point as the
attainment of "charity" or "love." By it he means an
xxxviii INTRODUCTION
absolute and entire love of God for God's own sake. It is

characteristic of him to regard

it as a thing not of degrees

or of progressive attainment, but marking a positive and

well-ascertained position. Other gifts " serve only as in-
ducements " to attain it. " Those who are contented with
them are but children, though in the light. Many of the
brethren have come to such measures, and had gifts of
healing and revelation and prophecy, and because they did
not reach the perfect charity, wherein lies the bond of
perfectness, war came upon them and they fell. But . . .

if any one reaches the perfect love, that man is from thence-

forth fast bound, and is the captive of grace" (xxvi. 16;

cp. xxvii. 14). As a bride is not satisfied with her bride-
groom's gifts, but craves for the bridegroom himself, "so
the soul . . . receives as an earnest from the Spirit gifts of
healings, it may be, or of knowledge, or of revelation, but
it is not satisfied with these, until it attains the complete
union, namely charity, which can never change nor fail,

and which sets those who have longed for it free from
passion and from agitation " (xlv. 7).
Hard though it is to attain these "perfect measures,"
Macarius will not let us be daunted by the difficulties. A
more encouraging teacher would not be easy to find.
it

" Every day a man should have the hope and the joy and
the expectation of the coming kingdom and deliverance,
and to say, If to-day I have not been delivered, I shall
£

to-morrow. ... If a man does not keep before his eyes

5

the joy and the hope ... he cannot endure" (xxvi. 11).
One great element of evangelical comfort is, indeed, scarcely
mentioned by name in the Homilies the forgiveness of —
sins. But the substance of it is always there, implied in
the patient kindness and helpfulness of God towards the
striving soul. The striving is everything. We must "not
disbelieve that the grace of God has pleasure even in
sinners when they repent ; for that which is bestowed
 "

INTRODUCTION xxxix

according to is not measured

by comparison with
grace
previous infirmity otherwise grace is no more grace
;

(xxxvn. 7). By an anticipation of some of the most

encouraging passages of Robert Browning, Macarius
bids us think that the virtuous soul is accepted "not
because of what it has done, but because of what it has
desired " (ifo'd., 9).
It has been said above that Macarius in these Homilies
is not much concerned with what man owes to man. His
main preoccupation is with the struggle of the solitary soul
to find God and to love Him aright. But Macarius dis-
closes, if but incidentally, the Christian's concern for other
men. His hearers, cut off from parents and kinsfolk, whom
the Homilies treat unsympathetically, as only so many
encumbrances to be shaken off, live in some kind of
community, sometimes thirty together under a governor
(in. i). He encourages them to seek the judgment of
a spiritual man upon their state 1
(xlviii. 2). It is

their duty to be considerate for each other — for instance, not

to pray in such a manner around
as to disturb the brethren
them (vi. 3). To have an eye to the spiritual advantage
of the brethren is better than to be wholly wrapped
up in the pursuit of one's own (il>id., 4; cp. vm. 4).
Instead of judging or envying others, we ought to feel that
all are contributing to the welfare of all, whatever the work

assigned to us and to them may be (in.). " Though

grace works after a different manner in each individual
Christian ... yet all are of one city, of the same mind, of
the same tongue, recognising one another" (xn. 4). This
fellowship extends beyond the visible world. As a merchant
abroad sends word home to prepare for his return, so " if
any are making the heavenly wealth their merchandise,
their fellow citizens, the spirits of saints and angels, are
1
The third Homily of the second collection is mainly on obedience
to such a " spiritual father" —not necessarily a priest.
 "

xl INTRODUCTION
aware of it, and say with admiration,
Our brethren on the '

earth have come So they come

into great wealth.' . . .

with mighty rejoicing to those above, and those who belong

to the Lord receive them, having prepared for them there
houses, and gardens, and clothes, all bright and costly
(xvi. 8). But it cannot be said that the relation of the
Christian to his fellow creatures occupies a prominent part
in the teaching of these Homilies. Macarius is even
jealous that it should not become too prominent. " Even
the much-loved brethren, whom such a soul has under its

eye, if they hinder it from that love [of God], it turns from
them, in a sense." Here speaks that aloofness of spirit
which allowed two " little strangers " to live for three years
within a bowshot without once interfering in their inward
1
concerns.
Enough has been said about the nature of the teaching
of these Homilies. They
upon the reader an im- leave
pression of the tremendous reality of the contest in which
the Christian Macarius insists frequently that
is engaged.
these things are not to be regarded as matters of words, or
doctrines, or systems, but as practical truths of which the
force ought to be felt in experience (i. 10, n). It is

of comparatively little account to have right theories on

religious subjects. " It
one thing to give descriptive
is

accounts with a certain head-knowledge and correct notions,

and another, in substance and reality, in full experience,
and in the inward man, and in the mind, to possess the
treasure and the grace and the taste and the effectual
working of the Holy Ghost" (xxvn. 12). As Bishop
Gore has said, these Homilies " constitute one of the best
guides to the spiritual life that the church possesses." 2
1 2
See p. xiii. ff. Journ. of Theol. Studies, vol. viii. p. 89.
 INTRODUCTION xli

4. The Text and Translation

The fifty Homilies were first printed at Paris in 1559, by
Morel, from a MS.
French King's library. In 1562
in the
a Latin translation by Picus was added; and in 1699
J. G. Pritius published at Leipzig an
edition of the works
of Macarius then known, or attributed to him, containing,
amongst other pieces, the fifty Homilies. This was the
standard edition, till 1850, when H. J. Floss published at
Koln a new and improved edition, reprinted with further
improvements and enrichments in Migne's Patrologia
Grceca, vol. xxxiv.
The text as given in Migne has been taken as the basis
But the translator has employed
of the present translation.
in addition the two MSS. now to be found in English
libraries. The first of these is in the Bodleian Library
(Cod. Baroccianus, 213). The second is at Holkham, and
belongs to the Earl of Leicester, who kindly allowed the
translator to collate it. The Holkham MS. is a direct
transcript of the Bodleian, and only varies from it in a
few places. Where these MSS. differ from Floss's text,
their reading has generally been found superior, and has
been followed accordingly. As the translator has wished
the book to be rather a book of spiritual edification for
the general reader than an aid to the critical student, he
has usually refrained from calling attention to textual points.
Those who have Migne's text before them will kindly
remember this when the translation silently parts company
with that text.
The work of Macarius has received but scanty attention
from English scholars and divines. 1 The article upon
him and his Alexandrian namesake in the Dictionary of
1
A good bibliography of German works on Macarius will be found
in O. Bardenhewei's Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur, bd. iii.
87 flf.
xlii INTRODUCTION
Christian Biography is little short of a scandal. Even so
admirable and judicious a book as Dr. Swete's Patristic
Study makes no reference to him. No edition of any text
of his had appeared by an English hand till Mr. G. L.
Marriott in 19 18 published from the Harvard University
Press the seven additional Homilies contained in the
Bodleian and Holkham MSS. The one happy exception
to this conspiracy of neglect is the translation of the fifty

Homilies "by a Presbyter of the Church of England,"

published in 1721. The "Presbyter" was Thomas Hay-
wood, and he used the Bodleian MS. as the basis of his
translation. His book, entitled Primitive Morality, or,

The Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian,

is now not often found. The copy which the present
translator is fortunate enough to possess was given to him
by the Bishop of Gibraltar, William Edward Collins,
late
who picked it up on a bookstall. As long ago as 1893 the
translator had remarked, in his book on The Relation of
Confirmation to Baptism, that " it seems strange that his
Homilies have never been brought to the knowledge of the
modern church as a companion volume to the Imitation
of Christ" He did not then know the work of Haywood.
When he began the present translation he was in hopes
that he would not find it necessary to do more than
modernise, with some corrections, the translation of his
predecessor. The hope proved illusory ; and though he
has often borrowed a racy word or phrase from the
" Presbyter," he has been compelled to work independently.

dom

as
Perhaps
in
represent the
throughout.

, /. ,,,
some apology
the translation. No
is needed for
attempt has been
same Greek word by the same English one
Certain words recur again and again, such
or

according to the context, and

They bear
a

various shades of meaning,

it has been
certain

felt
made
free-

,
to

useless,
 ;

INTRODUCTION xliii

to aim at a rigid uniformity of rendering. The trans-

lator has wished to make the meaning and spirit of
the saint felt through the English sentences, rather than
to secure a pedantic and tiresome literalness.
God grant that those who read may be moved to that
11
insatiable " desire afterHim which breathes in all the
Homilies. " If
you believe that these things are true, as
indeed they are, take heed to yourself, whether your soul has
found the light to guide it, and the true meat and drink, which
is the Lord. If you have not, seek night and day, that you
may receive " (xxxm. 4).

ADDITIONAL NOTE
Since this book was set in type, two French scholars, Dom Ville-
court and Dom Wilmart, have endeavoured to prove that these
Homilies are in fact a manual of the sect of the Massalians or
Euchites, who were condemned by various councils of the fourth and
fifth centimes. Their history may be seen in the Dictionary of
Christian Biography, under the name Euchites. The work of these
two scholars is noticed, and accepted as convincing, by the Rev. G. L.
Marriott in the Journal of'Theological Studies for April, 192 1.
That certain prepositions taken from these Homilies, and from the
seven others referred to on p. xviii, were used by the Euchites, and
(as used by them) condemned, is certain. St. John Damascene, in
his de Haeresibus (vol. I, p. 95 in Le Quien's edition of his works),
gives eighteen propositions of the Massalians "collected from a book
of theirs." He does not name the author of the book. It would seem
likely that it was the book called Asceticus, from which extracts were
read at the Council of Ephesus in 431. If so, the Asceticus must have
been largely based on these Homilie c .
The second of the propositions, for instance, is " that Satan and the
devils have hold of the mind of men, and the nature of men is capable
of communion with the spirits of wickedness." The first half of this
sentence, severed from its context, is taken from Horn. XXVII, 19
the second half occurs a few lines lower down in the same section.
The eighteenth proposition is based upon Horn. VIII, 3 it runs, :

" That the Saviour may be manifested to those at prayer in light, and
that a man was found at a certain time standing by the altar and that
three loaves were offered to him, kneaded with oil." Parallels to most
of the other propositions could be found in the Homilies.
Not all of them, however, are taken from the Homilies, so that the
Homilies cannot themselves be the Euchite book from which St. John's
proposiiions are extracted. The origin of the Euchites, as known to
history, was in Mesopotamia. Our Homilies were not composed in
xliv INTRODUCTION
that country. The words of the title quoted on p. xviii, " Epistle . . .

to the Abbot Symeon of Mesopotamia in Syria," are sufficient proof

that they came from elsewhere. certain Symeon, according to
Theodoret, was among the founders of the sect. It was a common
name in the East, but the Symeon to whom the Homilies were sent
may well have made a harmful use of them, in a heretical direction.
Because they lent themselves to such treatment is not a sufficient
reason for doubting the authorship of Macarius, nor for ceasing, as
Dom Wilmart regretfully does, to regard the author as a doctor of the
Catholic Church.
June II, 192 1.
 CONTENTS
—
Introduction
i. the author ..... v
2.

3.

4.
his writings
his teaching
THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION
.....
. . .

.
, xvi
xx
xli

HOMILY I

An
........
allegorical interpretation of the vision described in the
prophet Ezekiel 1

HOMILY II

Concerning the kingdom of darkness, that is, of sin, and that

God alone is able to take away sin from us, and to deliver
us out of the bondage of the evil prince . . . . 12

HOMILY III

That the brethren ought to live in sincerity, simplicity love, ,

and peace with each other, and to carry on contest and war
in their inward thoughts . . . . . . 16

HOMILY IV
Christians ought accomplish their race in this world with
to

God and angels ........

heed and care, that they may gain heavenly praises from
20

HOMILY V
A great difference between Christians and the men of this
world. Those who have the spirit of the world are in heart
and mind bound in earthly bonds, but the others long after
the love of the
their eyes with much desire ......
heavenly Father, having

xlv
Him only before
38
 ;

xlvi CONTENTS

HOMILY VJ
Those who desire toplease God, ought to /er their prayers
in peace and quietness, in gentleness and wisdom, and
not to give scandal to others by the use of loud outcries.
The Homily also contains two questions, whether the

cerning the twelve thrones of Israel ....

thrones and crowns are actual created things, and con-
56

HOMILY VII
Concerning the loving-kindness of Christ towards men. T/ic
Homily also contains certain questions and answers . 61

HOMILY VIII
Concerning things which befall Christians at prayer, and
concerning the measures of perfection, whether it is
possible for Christians to reach the perfect measure . 65

HOMILY IX
That the promises and prophecies of God are accomplished
through manifold trial and temptation, and that those who

evil one .........

cleave to God alone are delivered from the temptation of the
69

HOMILY X
By lowliness of mind and earnestness the gifts of the Divine

destroyed ........
grace are preserved, but by pride and sloth they are
76

HOMILY XI
That the power of the Holy Ghost in man's heart is like fire
and what things we need, in order to distinguish the
thoughts that spring up in the heart ; and concerning the
dead serpent fixed by Moses at the top of the pole, which
was a type of Christ. The Homily contains two dialogues,

between sinners and the same ....

one between Christ and the evil one, Satan; the other
• 79

HOMILY XII
Concerning the state of Adam before he transgressed God's
commandment, and after he had lost both his own image

able questions ........

and the heavenly. The Homily contains some very profit-
89

HOMILY
What fruit God expects
XIII
from Christians .... 99
 CONTENTS xlvii

PA(iK
HOMILY XIV
Those who give their thoughts and their mind to God do so
in the hope that the eyes of their heart may be enlightened,
and God vouchsafes to them mysteries in the greatest
sanctity and purity, and imparts to them of His grace.
What we who desire to attain the good things of heaven
ought to do. Then the apostles and the prophets are com-
pared to the sun's rays coming in at a window. The
Homily also teaches what is Satan's "Earth," and what
that of the
invisible .........
angels, and that both are intangible and

HOMILY XV
This Homily teaches at large how the soul ought to behave
herself in holiness and chastity and purity towards her
Spouse Christ Jesus, the Saviour of the world. It con-
tains also certain discussions full of great instruction,
viz., Whether at the resurrection all the members are
raised up, and a great many more concerning Evil, and
Grace, and Free Will, and the dignity of human nature . 105

HOMILY XVI
That spiritual persons are subject to temptations and to the
adversities which spying from the first sin . . .134
HOMILY XVII
Concerning the spiritual unction of Christians, and their
glory, and that without Christ impossible
it is to be saved
or to become a partaker of eternal life . . . .142
HOMILY XVIII
Concerning the Christian's treasure, which is Christ and the
Holy Ghost, who practises them in various ways to come
to perfection . . . . . . . .151
HOMILY XIX
Christians who desire to make progress and to grow ought to
force themselves to every good, thing, so as to deliver them-

Ghost ..........
selves from indwelling sin, and to be filled with the Holy
157

HOMILY XX
Only Christ, the true Physician of the inner man, can heal
the soul, and array it in the garment of grace . . .163
xlviii CONTENTS

HOMILY XXI
A Christian man has a twofold warfare set before hint, an
inward and an outward, the latter, in withdrawing from
earthly distractions ; the former, in the heart, against the
suggestions of the spirits of wickedness . . . 168

HOMILY XXII
Concerning the twofold state of those who depart out of this
life 171

HOMILY XXIII
As only those bom of the seed royal can wear the costly royal
pearl, so only the children of God are allowed to wear the
pearl of heaven . . . . . . . .172
HOMILY XXIV
The state of Christians is like merchandise, and like leaven.
As merchants amass earthly gains, so Christians gather
together their thoughts that were scattered about the world.
As leaven turns the whole lump into leaven, so the leaven
of sin permeates the whole race of Adam ; but Christ puts
a heavenly leaven of goodness in faithful souls . . 174

HOMILY XXV
This Homily teaches that no man, without being strengthened
by Christ, is capable of overcoming the stumbling-blocks
of the evil one, and what those who desire the divine glery
must do. It teaches also that through Adam's disobedience
we came down into bondage to carnal passions, from
which we are delivered by the mystery that is in the Cross.
It instructs us besides that the power of tears and of the
divine fire is great . . . . . . .178
HOMILY XXVI
Concerning the worth and value, the power and efficiency of
the immortal soul, and how it is tempted by Satan and
obtains deliverance from the temptations. It contains also
some questions full of very great instruction . . .185
HOMILY XXVII
This Homily, like the foregoing, describes at length the
dignity and status of a Christian man. Then it teaches

questions full of divine wisdom .....

many useful things concerning freewill, intermixing some
200
 CONTENTS xlix

HOMILY XXVIII
This Homily describes and bewails the calamity of the soul,
that by reason of sin the Lord does not dwell in it; and
concerning John the Baptist, that none among those bom
of women is greater than he . . . . . . 214

HOMILY XXIX
God works the dispensations of grace upon mankind after a
twofold manner, intending to require the fruits of it by a
just judgment . . . . . . . .218
HOMILY XXX
The soul that is to enter into the kingdom of God must be
born of the Holy Ghost ; and how this is effected . . 223

HOMILY XXXI
The believer ought to be changed in mind, and to gather up
all his
consists .........
thoughts in God; for in these all service of God
229

HOMILY XXXII
The glory of Christians abides even now in their souls, and
will be manifested at the time of resurrection, and will
glorify their bodies in correspondence with their piety . 233

HOMILY XXXIII
We ought to pray to God continually and with attention . 240

HOMILY XXXIV
Concerning the glory of Christians, which shall be vouchsafed
to their bodies at the resurrection,
enlightened, together with the soul ..... and they shall be
243

HOMILY XXXV
Concerning the old Sabbath and the new .... 246

HOMILY XXXVI
Concerning the twofold resurrection of souls and bodies, and
of the divers glory of the risen . . . . .248
HOMILY XXXVI
Concerning Paradise and the spiritual law .... 250
 CONTENTS
TAGE
HOMILY XXXVIII
Great exactness and intelligence
Christians, and who these are
is
.....
required to discern true
257

HOMILY XXXIX
Why the Holy Scripture was given to us by God . . . 2G0

HOMILY XL
That all the virtues and all the vices are bound each to other,
and like a chain are linked one to another . . . 261

HOMILY XLI
Very deep are the secret chambers of the soul, which grows in
proportion with the growth of grace or of wickednesses . 265

HOMILY XLH
Not external things, but internal, advance or injure a man,
namely, the Spirit of grace or the spirit of wickedness . 267

HOMILY XLIII
Concerning the progress of a Christian man, the whole power

in various ways ........

of which depends upon the heart, as is here described
269

HOMILY XLIV
What change and renewal is wrought in a Christian man by
Christ,
soul ..........
who has healed the afflictions and diseases of the
275

HOMILY XLV
No art, no wealth of this zvotld, but only the appearing of
Christ, is able to cure man, whose great kinship with God
this Homily sets forth . . . . . . .281
HOMILY XLVI
Concerning the difference between God's word and the world's,
and between God's children and the children of this world 2S6

HOMILY XLVII
An allegorical interpretation of the things done under the Law 290
 CONTENTS li

PAGE
HOMILY
Concerning perfect faith in God ......
XLVIII
300

HOMILY XLIX
77 is not enough tohave got rid of the pleasures of this world,
unless a man gets the blessedness of the other . . . 304

HOMILY L
It is God that works wonders through His saints . . . 308

Index of Scripture References .... 312

 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES OF
ST. MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN
HOMILY I

An allegorical interpretation of the vision described in the

prophet Ezekiel

i. The blessed prophet Ezekiel relates a glorious and

inspired vision or apparition which he saw, and his descrip-
tion is that of a vision full of mysteries unspeakable. He
saw in the plain a chariot of Cherubim, four spiritual living
creatures. Each had four faces, one the face
living creature
of a lion, another the face of an eagle, another the face of a
calf, and the fourth the face of a human being. To every
face there were wings, so that there were no hinder parts to
any of them. Their backs were full of eyes their bellies ;

likewise were thick set with eyes there was no part about
;

them that was not full of eyes. There were also wheels to
every face, wheel within wheel. In the wheels there was a
Spirit. And Ezekiel saw as it were the likeness of a man,
and under his feet as it were a work of sapphire. The
Cherubim-chariot 1 and the living creatures bore the Master
who rode upon them. Wheresoever He chose to go, it was
with face forward. Beneath the Cherubim he saw as it
were a man's hand supporting and carrying.
2. And this that the prophet saw was in substance true

1
Ezekiel does not use the word " chariot " in ch. i., but it occurs in
the LXX at ch. xliii. 3.
 ;

2 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

and certain, but and foreshadowed something

it signified
else, mysterious and divine —a
mystery hidden verily from
1
ages and from genera/ions, but in the last times made mani-
fest
1
at the appearing of Christ. The mystery which he
beheld was that of the soul, that was to receive her Lord,
and to become a throne of glory 3 for Him. For the soul
that is privileged to be in communion with the Spirit of
His light, and is irradiated by the beauty of the unspeak-
able glory of Him who has prepared her to be a seat and a
dwelling for Himself, becomes all light, all face, all eye
and there is no part of her that is not full of the spiritual
eyes of light. That no part of her
is to say, there is

darkened, but she is all throughout wrought into light and

spirit, and is full of eyes all over, and has no such thing as

a back part, but in every direction is face forward, with

the unspeakable beauty of the glory of the light of Christ

mounted and riding upon her. As the sun is of one like-

ness all over, without any part behind or inferior, but is

all glorified with light throughout, and is, indeed, all light,

with no difference between the parts, — or as fire, the very

light of the fire, is alike all over, having in it no first or last,

or greater or less, — so also the soul that is perfectly irra-

diated by the unspeakable beauty of the glory of the light

of the face of Christ, and is perfectly in communion with

the Holy Ghost, and is privileged to be the dwelling-place
and throne of God, becomes all eye, all light, all face, all
glory, all spirit, being made so by Christ, who drives, and
guides, and carries, and bears her about, and graces and
adorns her thus with spiritual beauty for it says, the hand j

of a man was under the Cherubim, because He it is that is

4

carried upon her and directs her.

3. The four living creatures which bore the chariot were
1 2 :?
Col. i. 26. 1 Pet. i. 20. Matt. xxv. 31.
InEzek. i. 8 the LXX has " And the hand of a man was under their
4

wings upon their four sides." Macarius understands the " man " to be
Christ.
 HOMILY I 3

a symbol of the ruling factors x

of the soul. As the
eagle is the king of birds, and the lion of wild beasts, and
the bull of tame ones, and man of creatures in general, so
the soul also has its ruling factors. They are the will, the
conscience, the intelligence, and the faculty of love. By
these the chariot of the soul is controlled, and upon these
God rests. According to another interpretation the symbol-
ism is applied to the church of the saints in heaven. As it

is here said that the living creatures were exceeding high,

and full of eyes, and it was not possible for any one to
apprehend the number of the eyes, or the height, because
the knowledge of these was not given and as it is with the
;

stars in the sky, to see and wonder at them was given to all
men, but to know and apprehend the number was not
given and with the plants of the earth, to enjoy them was
;

given to all, but it is impossible for any one to know the

number of them so with regard to the church of the
;

saints in heaven, to enter into it and enjoy it was given to

all who will but strive, but how to see and apprehend the

number is reserved for God alone to know.

The Rider, then, is conveyed and carried by the chariot
or throne of the living creatures which are all eye, or, in
other words, by every soul that has become His throne and
seat, and is now eye and light. He is mounted thereon,
and governs her with the reins of the Spirit, and guides her
according to His understanding. For as the spiritual living
creatures went not whither they were minded to go, but
whither He that sat upon them and directed them knew
and willed, so here it is He that holds the reins and drives
by His Spirit, and they go accordingly, not by their own
will when they are minded to go through heaven. Some-

1
The word ^
times, discarding the body, He drives and takes the soul in

means "reckoning," " consideration," and so

seems here to be used in something like the sense of " factor." In
XLVII. 12 and 15 it is translated "faculties."
4 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

thought through heaven ; sometimes, when so it pleases

Him, He comes into the body and its affairs ; sometimes,
when so minded, to the ends of the and discovers to earth,

the soul mysteries revealed. Oh, the noble and good and
only true Charioteer In like manner shall our bodies
!

also be privileged at the resurrection, the soul being thus

pre-glorified even now, and mingled with the Spirit.
4. That the souls of the righteous become heavenly
light, the Lord Himself told the apostles, when He said,

Ye are the light of the world} He first wrought them into

light, and ordained that through them the world should be

enlightened. Neither do men light a lamp, He says, and

put it under the bushel, but on the lampstand, and it givcth
light to all that are in the house. 2 Let your light so shine
before men. In other words, Hide not the gift which ye
have received from Me, but give to all that are minded to
receive it. Again, The light of the body is the eye ; if thine
eye be full of light, thy whole body is enlightened, but if
thine eye be evil, thy whole body is dark. If therefore the
light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness?
As the eyes are the light of the body, and, so long as the
eyes are well, the whole body is enlightened, but, if any
accident befalls them and they are darkened, the whole
body is in darkness, so the apostles were set to be the eyes
and light of the whole world. The Lord therefore charged
them by this saying, If ye who are the light of the body,
stand fast and turn not aside, behold, the whole body of
the world is enlightened ; but if ye who are the light are
darkened, how great is that darkness, which is nothing less
than the world. So the apostles, being themselves light,
administered light to those, who believed, enlightening their
hearts with that heavenly light of the Spirit by which they
were themselves enlightened.
1 2
Matt. v. 14. Matt. v. 15, 16.
3 Matt. vi. 22, 23 ; Luke xi. 34.
 HOMILY I .
5

5. And being themselves salt they seasoned and salted

every believing soul with the salt of the Holy Ghost ; for
the Lord said to them, are the salt of the earth, 1 mean-
Ye
ing by earth the hearts of men. They administered in the
souls of men the heavenly salt of the Spirit, seasoning them
and rendering them from corruption and from going
free
bad, instead of that unsavoury condition they were in.
Flesh, if it be not salted, corrupts and is filled with ill

savour, so that every one turns from the evil odour, and
worms creep into the corrupted flesh, and there dwell, and
feed, and burrow but when the salt comes, the worms
;

that dwell there are destroyed, and the offensive smell is at

an end for it is the property of salt to kill worms and to
;

banish an ill smell. In the same manner, every soul that

is not salted with the Holy Ghost, and does not partake of

the heavenly salt, which is the power of God, corrupts, and

is filled with the ill odour of bad thoughts, so that the

countenance of God turns from the dreadful odour of the

vain thoughts of darkness, and from the passions that dwell
in such a soul. The
and dreadful worms, which are
evil
the spirits of wickedness, and the powers of darkness, walk
up and down in it, and dwell there, and burrow, and creep,
and devour it, and bring it to decay. My wounds stink
and are corrupt, says the Psalm. 2 But when the soul flies
to God for succour, and believes, and asks for the salt of
life, which is the good Spirit that loves mankind, then the

heavenly salt comes, and kills those dreadful worms, and

banishes the ill savour, and cleanses the soul by the effectual
working of its power, and thus the soul is made sound and
free from deterioration by that true salt, and is restored to
being useful and serviceable to the heavenly Lord. That
is why in the Law God, using a figure, commanded that

every sacrifice should be salted with 3

salt.

6. First the sacrifice must be slain by the priest, and die,

1 2 3
Matt. v. 13. Ps. xxxviii. 5. Lev. ii. 13.
6 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
then cut in pieces and salted, and then laid upon the fire.

Unless the priest first slays the lamb, so that it dies, it is

neither salted nor brought to the Lord for a burnt offering.

Thus our soul also must come to Christ, the true High-
priest, and be slain by Him, and die to its own mode of
thought, and to the evil life of sin which it lived before.

The life must go out of it —that life of bad passions. As

the body, when the soul goes out of it, is dead, and lives

no longer with the life which it lived before, and neither

hears nor walks, so when Christ, our heavenly Highpriest,
by the grace of His power, slays our life to the world and
puts it to death, it dies to the life of evil which it lived, and
no longer hears, nor speaks, nor maintains any citizenship
in the darkness of sin, because the evil passions which were
its soul have by grace gone out of it. The apostle cries,
The world is crucified to me, and I unto the world. 1 The
soul which yet lives in the world, and in the darkness of
sin, and has not been done to death by Llim, but still has
the soul of wickedness in it, that is, the activity of the
darkness of the passions of evil, and
governed by it, does is

not belong to the body of Christ, does not belong to the

body of light, but is indeed the body of darkness, and is
still part and parcel of the darkness ; while they who have

the soul of light, that is, the power of the Holy Ghost, form

part and parcel of the light.

7. But some one may say, How is it that you call the

soul the body of darkness, when it is no creation of

the darkness ? Attend, and understand me aright. As
the coat or garment that you have on was made by another,
and you wear it, and your house was created or built by
another, and you live in it, so when Adam transgressed the
commandment of God, and hearkened to the wicked
serpent, he was sold, or sold himself, to the devil, and the
evil one put on his soul like a garment his soul, that fair —
1
Gal. vi. 14.
 HOMILY I 7

creation, which God had fashioned after His own image.

Thus the apostle says, Having stripped the principalities
and powers, He triumphed over them in the cross. 1 This
was the purpose of the Lord's coming, that He might cast
them out, and recover His own house and temple, man.
For this reason, the soul is called the body of the darkness
of wickedness, as long as the darkness of sin is in it, because
there it lives to the evil world of darkness, and is there held
fast. So Paul it the body of sin, the body of death,
calls

saying, that the body of sin might be destroyed, 2 and, Who

shall deliver me from the body of this death ? 3 On the
other hand, the soul which has believed God, and has been
rescued from sin, and done to death out of the life of
darkness, and has received the light of the Holy Ghost as
its life, and by that means has come to life indeed, spends

its existence in the same for ever after, because it is there

held fast by the light of the Godhead. For the soul in

itself is neither of the nature of the Godhead, nor of the

nature of the darkness of wickedness, but is a creature

intellectual, beauteous, great, and wonderful, a fair likeness

and image of God. It was through the transgression that

the wickedness of the passions of darkness entered into it.

8. Whichever the soul, then, is mixed with, it is thence-

forward united with the same in the motions of the will.

Either it has the light of God within it, and lives in the
same, in all virtues, and belongs to the light of rest, or it
has the darkness of sin, and meets with condemnation.

The soul that desires to live with God in rest and eternal
light must come, as was said before, to Christ the true High-
priest, and be slain, and die to the world, and to the former
life of the darkness of wickedness, and be translated into
another life and to a conversation that is divine. As when
a man dies in some city, he neither hears the voice of the
people there, nor their talking, nor the noise that they
1
Col. ii. 15.
2
Rom. vi. 6,
3
Rom. vji. 24.
8 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
make, but is once for all dead, and is translated to another
region, where there are no voices and none of the cries of
that city, even so the soul, when it is once slain and dead to
that city of the evil passions in which it dwells and lives,
hears no longer within itself the voice of the communings of
darkness ; no longer is heard the talking and crying of
vain disputation, or of the hubbub of the spirits of darkness ;

but it is translated into a city all full of goodness and

peace, into the city of the light of the Godhead, and there
it and hears, and there it has
lives, its citizenship, and talks,
and communes, and there it works spiritual works, that are
worthy of God.
9. Let us therefore pray that we ourselves may be slain
through His power, and die to the world of the wickedness
of darkness, and that the spirit of sin may be destroyed in
us, and that we may put on and receive the soul of the
heavenly Spirit, and be translated from the wickedness of
darkness into the light of Christ, and may rest in life through
world after world. For as on the race-course the chariots
run, and the one that gets the start of the other is a clog,
and check, and hindrance to the other, so that it cannot
make progress and get to victory first, so do the thoughts of
the soul and of sin run in man. If the thought of sin

happens to get the start, it clogs and checks and hampers

and hinders the soul, so that it cannot get near to God and
carry off the victory from it. But where the Lord mounts
and takes the reins of the soul into His own hands, He
always wins, skilfully managing and guiding the chariot of
the soul into a heavenly and inspired mind for ever. He
does not war against wickedness having always supreme
;

power and authority in Himself, He works Himself the

victory. So the Cherubim are driven, not where they are
inclined of themselves to go, but where the Rider or
Charioteer directs. Where He wills, they go; and He
supports them. The hand of a man, it says, was under
 HOMILY 1 9

them. These holy souls are driven and guided by the

Spirit of Christ, who He pleases
holds the reins, whithersoever
— when He pleases, in heavenly communings when He ;

pleases, that it should be in the body where He pleases, ;

there they minister. As the wings are the feet of the bird,
so the heavenly light of the Spirit takes up the wings of
the thoughts of worthy souls, guiding and managing as He
knows best.
io. When thou nearest these things, therefore, look to
thyself, whether thou art in deed and in truth possessed of
them in thine own soul. They are not mere words spoken ;

it is a work of truth going on in thy soul. If thou hast it not,

but art destitute of such spiritual good things, thou oughtest
to have continual griefand sorrow and trouble, as one still
dead to the kingdom. Like one that is wounded, be always
crying to the Lord, and ask in faith, that this true life may
be vouchsafed even to thee. When God made this body of
ours, He did not grant to it that it should have life either
from His own nature or from the body itself, nor meat and
drink, raiment and shoes ; He appointed that it should
have all the supplies of life from without, making the body
in itself quite naked, and it is impossible for the body to
live at all apart from things outside itself, without food and
drink and clothing. If it attempts to subsist upon its own
nature alone, taking nothing from without, it wastes and
perishes. In the same manner is it with the soul also.
It has not the divine though it is created after the
light,
image of God. So has He ordered its conditions, and has
been pleased that it should not have eternal life of its own
nature ; but of His Godhead, of His Spirit, of His light, it
has spiritual meat and drink, and heavenly clothing, which
are the soul's life, the life indeed.
ii. As, then, w e have seen that the body's
r
life is not
from itself, but from without, from the earth, and apart
from the things without it is impossible for it to live, so
 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
also, unless the soul be born now into that land of the
living 1
and draw nourishment from it and make
spiritually
increase, growing up unto the Lord, and be arrayed from
the Godhead with the ineffable raiment of heavenly beauty,
without that sustenance it is impossible for it to live, of
itself, enjoyment and rest. The divine nature contains
in
the bread of life, which said, / am the bread of life 2 and
living water, 3 and wine that maketh glad the heart of man*
and the oil of gladness? and the whole variety of the food
of the heavenly Spirit, and the heavenly raiment of light

which comes from God. In these things the eternal life of

the soul consists. Woe to the body when it stands upon
its own nature, because then it wastes and dies ; and woe to
the soul if it takes its stand upon nothing but its own nature,
and puts its trust in nothing but its own works, not having
the fellowship of the Spirit of God, because it dies, not
having the eternal life of the Godhead vouchsafed to it.

When men body is no longer able

are sick, as soon as the
to receive nourishment, all hopes of them are given over,
and all true friends and kinsfolk and lovers are in tears.
In the same way, God and the holy angels are in tears over
souls that are not nourished with the heavenly nourishment
of the Spirit, and have not come to life in incorruption.
These things, I say again, are not merely words that are
spoken, but the work of spiritual life, the work of truth
accomplished upon the soul that is worthy and faithful.
12. If then thou art become a throne of God, and the

heavenly Charioteer has mounted thee, and thy whole soul

has become a spiritual eye, and thy whole soul light and ;

if thou hast been nourished with that nourishment of the

Spirit, and if thou hast been made to drink of the Living

Water, and thou hast put on the garments of the ineffable

if

light ; if thine inward man is established in the experience

1 2
Ps. xxvii. 13, and elsewhere. John vi. 35.
3 4 5
John iv. 10. Ps. civ. 15. Ps. xlv. 7.
 HOMILY I ii

and full assurance of all these things, behold, thou livest,

thou livest the eternal life indeed, and thy soul from hence-
forth is at rest with the Lord. Behold, thou hast received
these things from the Lord and possessest them in truth,
that thou mayest live the true life. But if thou art con-
scious that thou hast none of these things, then weep, and
mourn, and lament, because even yet thou hast not found
the eternal heavenly riches. Be in trouble therefore for thy
penury, beseeching the Lord night and day, because thou
hast stopped short in the dreadful poverty of sin. Would
to God that a man had even gained as much as this trouble
because of his poverty — that we did not go on without a
care, as though we were full ! because one that is seriously
troubled, and seeks and asks of the Lord continually, will
soon find redemption and the heavenly riches, as the Lord
said at the conclusion of His discourse of the Unjust
Judge
and the Widow, How much more shall God avenge them
that cry to Him night and day ? Yea, I say unto you,
He shall avenge them speedily. 1 To whom be glory and
power for ever. Amen.
1
Luke xviii. 7.
 HOMILY II

Concerning the kingdom of darkness, that is, of sin, and

that God alone is able to take away sin from us, and
to deliver us out of the bondage of the evil prince.

i. The kingdom of darkness, the evil prince, having taken

man captive at the beginning, enveloped and clothed the
soul in the power of darkness, as a man might clothe
another. "And that they may make him king, and clothe
him with royal garments, so that from head to foot he may
Wear royal apparel." 1
In this manner the evil prince clothed
the soul and all its substance with sin. He defiled it all,

and brought it all into captivity to his kingdom, leaving not

one member of it free from him — not the thoughts, not the
understanding, not the body ; he clothed it all with the
purple of darkness. For as it is the body that suffers, not
one part or member of it, but the whole is liable to suffer
together, so the whole soul suffered the passions of un-
happiness and sin. The evil one clothed the whole soul,
which is the indispensable part or member of man, with
his own unhappiness, which is sin, and thus the body
became liable to suffering and decay.
For when the apostle says, Put off the old man, 2 he
2.

means a complete man, with eyes for eyes, ears for ears,
hands for hands, and feet for feet. For the evil one has
defiled the entire man, soul and body, and dragged him
1
The source of the quotation, if it is one, seems not to be known. It
is intended, apparently, to give the idea of a complete envelopment.
2
Col. iii. 9.
12
 HOMILY II 13

down, and has clothed the man with an "old man,"

polluted man, unclean, at enmity with God, not subject to
the law of God, 1 and all identified with sin, that he may no
longer see as the man himself wishes, but may see wrongly,
and hear wrongly, and have feet that are swift to do evil,
and hands that work iniquity, and a heart that devises evil
things. Let us therefore beseech God that He would put off
the old man from us because He alone is able to take away
;

sin from us, for those that have taken us captive, and that
detain us in their kingdom, are too mighty for us. But He
has promised to deliver us from this sore bondage. When
there is a hot sun and a wind blowing, the sun and the
wind each have a body and nature of their own, but no one
can separate between sun and wind, unless God, who alone
can, should make the wind to cease from blowing. In like
manner sin is mingled with the soul, though each has its
own nature. 3. It is impossible to separate between the
soul and sin, unless God should stop and repress this evil
wind, which dwells in the soul and in the body.
A man watches a bird flying, and wishes to fly himself,
but he cannot, because he has no wings. Even so the will
is present 2 with a man to be pure, and blameless, and with-

out spot, and to have no wickedness in him, but to be

always with God but he has not the power.
; To fly into
the air of God and the liberty of the Holy Ghost may be his
wish, but unless wings are given him, he cannot. Let us
then beseech God to bestow upon us the wings of a dove,
even of the Holy Ghost, that we may fly to Him and be at
rest, and that He would separate and make to cease from our
3

souls and bodies, that evil wind, which is the sin that
dwelleth in the members of our souls and bodies. None
but He can do it. Behold, it says, the Lamb of God, that
takelh away the sin of the world* He alone has shewn
1
Rom. viii. 7.
2
Rom. vii. 18.
3 4
Ps. lv. 6. Jolin i. 29.
i4 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
this mercy to those men who believe Him, redeeming them
from and for
sin ; those who are always waiting for Him,
and hope, and seek without ceasing, He achieves this

unutterable salvation.
4. As in a gloomy black night a fierce wind blows, and
stirs and searches and shakes all the plants and seeds, so
when man under the power of the darkness of the
falls

devil's night, and is in night and darkness, he is agitated

by that dreadful wind of sin that blows, and is shaken and
stirred, and searched through all his nature, his soul, his

thoughts, his understanding and all the limbs of his body

;

are shaken, and no member of either soul or body escapes

free and immune from the sin that dwelleth in us. In like
manner there is a day of light and a divine wind of the
Holy Ghost, which blows and refreshes the souls that are
in the day of the light of God. It penetrates all the sub-

stance of the soul and its thoughts, and all the being and all
the members of the body, refreshing and resting them with
a divine, unspeakable rest. This is what the apostle de-
clared when he said, We are not children of the night or of
darkness, for ye are all the sons of light and the sons of
day. 1 And as yonder, in the state of error, the old man
put on man as a complete whole, and wears the garment of
the kingdom of darkness, the garment of blasphemy, unbelief,
unconcern, vainglory, pride, avarice, lust, and all the other
trappings of the kingdom of darkness, ragged, unclean, and
abominable so here, all who have put
; off the old man,
which is from beneath the earth all — whom Jesus has
stripped of the clothing of the kingdom of darkness — have
put on the new and heavenly man, Jesus Christ, once more
corresponding, eyes to eyes, ears to ears, head to head, to
be all and wearing the heavenly image.
pure,
5. The Lord has clothed them with the clothing of the

kingdom of ineffable light, the clothing of faith, hope,

1
1 Th:ss. v. 5.
 HOMILY II 15

charity, of joy, peace, goodness, kindness, and all the other

divine and living clothing of the light of life, of inexpressible
rest, that, as God Himself is love, and joy, and peace, and
kindness, and goodness, so the new man may be through
grace. And as the kingdom of darkness, and sin, are
hidden in the soul until the day of resurrection, when the
bodies also of sinners shall be covered with the darkness
that is now hidden in the soul, so the kingdom of light,
and the heavenly Image, Jesus Christ, now mystically
enlightens the soul, and reigns in the soul of the saints, but
is hidden from the eyes of men, and only with the eyes of the

soul is Christ truly seen, until the day of resurrection ; but

then the body also shall be covered and glorified with the
light of the Lord, which is now in the man's soul, that the
body also may reign with the soul which now receives
the kingdom of Christ and rests and is enlightened
with eternal light. Glory to His mercies and His tender
compassion, for that He has such pity on His servants, and
and delivers them from the kingdom of
enlightens them,
and bestows upon them His own light and His
darkness,
own kingdom. To Him be glory and might for ever.
Amen.
 HOMILY III

simplicity,
That the brethren ought to live in sincerity,
love, and peace with each other,
and to carry on
contest and war in their inward thoughts.

i. brethren ought to dwell together in much charity,

The
or doing
whether they are praying, or reading the scriptures,
foundation of
some kind of work, that they may have the
mutual charity. In way, those various inclinations may
this

find favour, and those who pray,

and those who read, and
those who work, can all live in sincerity
and simplicity with
written? Thy will be
each other to their profit. What is
1 order that as the angels
done, as in heaven, so on earth, in
in heaven dwell together in great
concord, peace, and charity,
as envy, but
and there is no such thing there as pride, or
sincerity, so should the
they live together in charity and
perhaps, are under
brethren dwell together. Some thirty,
day and night at
one government ; they cannot continue all
one thing.Some give themselves up to prayer for six
and then would like to read others are very ready
hours, ;

work at some form of labour.

to serve, while others
2. Whatsoever they are about, the brethren ought to be
in charity and cheerfulness with
each other. Let him who
" The treasure that
is at work say of him who
is at prayer,
him
my brother gets is common, and therefore mine." Let
gets by
who prays say of the reader, "The profit which he
reading is my advantage." Let him who is at work say,
to
1 Matt. vi. io.

16
 HOMILY III 17

"The service which I am doing is for the benefit of all."

As the members of many, are one body, 1

the body, being
and help each other, and each performs its own function,
but the eye sees on behalf of the whole body, and the hand
labours for all the members, and the foot, as it walks,
carries them all, and another member suffers with all alike,
so let the brethren be with one another. Let not him who
prays judge the labouring brother because he is not at
prayer. Let not him work judge the one who is
that is at
praying, or say, " He am working." Let
lies by, while I
not him who serves judge some one else, but let each one
do whatever he is doing to the glory of God. Let him who
reads hold him who prays in charity and cheerfulness, with
the thought, " It is for me that he prays " and let him who ;

prays think of him who is at work, " What he is doing is

done for the benefit of us all."
3. Thus much concord and peace and unity in the bond
2
of peace holds them all fast, and they are enabled to live
together in sincerity and simplicity and the favour of God.
No doubt the principal thing among these is continuance
in prayer but one thing is required, that a man should
;

have treasure in his soul, and the life which is the Lord in
his mind —
that whether he is working, or praying, or read-
ing, he should have that possession which passes not away,

which is the Holy Ghost.

There are some who say thus that the Lord requires of—
men only the fruits that are visible, and that it is for God
to rectify the things that are hidden. That is not the case.
As a man secures himself with regard to the outer man, so
ought he to carry on strife and war in his thoughts. The
Lord requires of thee to be angry with thyself, and to do
battle with thy mind, and neither to consent nor to take
pleasure in the thoughts of wickedness.
4. Nevertheless, to root out sin and the evil that is ever
1 2
I Cor. xii. 12. Eph. iv. 3.
1 8 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
with us, this can only be accomplished by the divine power.
It is not possible or within a man's competence to root out
sin by his own power. To wrestle against it, to fight
against it,and receive blows, is thine to uproot is
to give ;

God's. If thou hadst been able to do it, what need was

there of the coming of the Lord ? As the eye cannot see
without light, as a man cannot speak without a tongue, or
hear without ears, or walk without feet, or work without
hands, so he cannot be saved without Jesus, nor enter into
the kingdom of heaven. If thou sayest, " In outward con-
duct, I do not commit fornication or adultery, I am not
covetous j therefore I am righteous," thou art wrong in this,

thinking that thou hast fulfilled all. Sin has not only three
departments against which a man ought to ensure himself,
but ten thousand. Arrogance, presumption, unbelief,
hatred, envy, deceit, hypocrisy, whence are they ? Oughtest
thou not to wrestle and strive against these in the hidden
places in thy thoughts ? If there is a robber in the house,
at once thou art distressed ; he does not allow thee to be
at ease; thou beginnest to strike back blows are exchanged. ;

So ought the soul to strike back, to resist, to repel force

by force.

5. What follows? By resisting and taking trouble and

pains, the will begins to get the upper hand. It falls ; it

recovers itself. Sin throws it again in ten, in twenty

conflicts. It conquers the soul and throws it ; then the soul
after a time in one engagement conquers the sin. If the
soul perseveres and in no direction flags, it begins to have
the best of it, to see through the enemy, and to carry off
the trophies of victory from sin. But if the man is strictly
examined even at this point, sin still is too hard for him,
until he comes to a perfect man, to the measure of his
stature, 1 and perfectly conquers death; for it is written
2
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Thus
1 2
Eph. iv. 13. I Cor. xv. 26.
 ITOMILY III 19

will they get the upper hand, and be the conquerors of the
devil.

But if, as we observed before, a man should say, " I do

not commit fornication or adultery; I am no money-lover;
and that is enough," in this reckoning he has contended
against three forces, but against twenty others that sin can
employ upon the soul he has not contended, and is there-
fore beaten. He ought to contend against them all, and to
strive for the mind, as I have said many times, is an even
;

match for it, and possesses a power that is well balanced

against sin, to withstand and repel its suggestions. 6. If

you say that the opposing power is too strong, and that
evil has complete sovereignty over man, you make God

unrighteous when He condemns mankind for submit-

ting to Satan, because Satan is so strong, and wields a
power which compels submission. "Thou makest Satan
greater and stronger than the soul, and then commandcst
me, Do not submit.' It is as though a young man should
'

wrestle with a little child, and the child, when he is worsted,

is condemned for getting worsted. This is a great in-

justice." you then that the human mind is a good

I tell

match for the enemy and evenly balanced against him ;

and a soul of that kind, when it seeks, finds help and

succour, and redemption is vouchsafed to it. The contest
and struggle is not an unequal one. Let us glorify the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
 HOMILY IV

Christians ought accomplish their race in this world

to
with heed and care, that they may gain heavenly
praises from God and angels.

i. We who life of Christianity with any

wish to achieve the
great thoroughness must before anything else cultivate with
all our might that faculty of the soul which discerns and
discriminates, in order that, having acquired a delicate sense
of the difference between good and evil, and always dis-
tinguishing the things with which pure nature has been
unnaturally adulterated, we may behave ourselves in a
straightforward manner, without offence. By using this
power of discernment as a kind of eye, we may keep
free
from any union or connexion with the suggestions of sin,
and thus the heavenly gift may be vouchsafed to us by
which we become worthy of the Lord.
Let us take an illustration from the visible world ; for
there is a likeness between the body and the soul, between
the things of the body and the things of the soul, and
between the objects of sense and those which are hidden.
2. The body has the eye for its guide. The eye, by seeing,
guides the whole body straight. Imagine a man going
through woody regions, full of thorns and miry places,
where fire also breaks out, and there are swords stuck in
the ground, and precipices and frequent waters are found
there. The active, heedful, nimble traveller, using the
guidance of his eye, passes those difficult places with great
attention, gathering up his garment on every side with
20
 ;

HOMILY IV 21

hands and feet, for fear it should be torn off him in the
thickets and thorns, or spoiled by the mire, or cut by a
sword. His eye guides the whole body. It is his light, to
save him from tumbling down the precipices, or getting
drowned in the waters, or injured by some other danger.
The man who is thus active and wary, and goes along with
all vigilance, wrapping his gown close, under the guidance of

his eye, keeps himself from injury, and preserves the gown
that clothes him from burning and tearing. But if a man is
idle, and slothful, and careless, and clumsy, and slack, as he

passes through places like those, his garment floating about

him this way and that is torn off upon the thickets and
thorns, or burnt by the fire, because he does not resolutely
keep it tight round him or else it is reduced to tatters by
;

the swords that are stuck by the wayside, or smirched by

the mire — in one way or another he quickly ruins his fine
new garment, by his heedlessness, and slackness, and sloth ;
and if he does not attend properly and well to what his
eye tells him, he will himself fall into some ravine, or be
drowned in the waters.

3. In the same way the soul, which is clothed with the

fair garment of the body for its vesture, possesses the faculty
of discernment to direct the whole soul, together with the
body, as it passes amidst the thickets and thorns of life,

and the mud, and the and the precipices, which are
fire,

the lusts and pleasures and other wrong things of this world
and it ought to wrap itself, and the body its garment, closely
in on every side with vigilance, and resolution, and earnest-
ness, and heed, and keep itself from getting at all rent in
—
the thickets and thorns of the world cares, and businesses,
and earthly distractions and from being burned by the fire
;

of lust. Thus clothed, it turns away the eye from seeing

evil sights, turns away the ear from listening to slander, the
tongue from speaking vanities, the hands and feet from bad
pursuits. The soul has a will, by which to turn away and
22 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
hinder the members of the body from base spectacles, and
evil and shameful sounds, and indecent words, and worldly
and evil pursuits. 4. It turns itself also from evil rovings,
keeping the heart from letting the members of its thought
rove in the world. Thus striving, and earnestly endeavour-
ing, and with great heed restraining the members of the
body on every side from what is bad, it preserves that fair
garment of the body unrent, unburned, and unstained, and
it will itself be preserved by means of a knowing, discern-

ing, discriminating will, and all by the power of the Lord,

while with all its might it gathers itself in and turns away
from all worldly lusts, and thus is helped by the Lord to be
truly preserved from the disasters that have been spoken of.

For when the Lord sees any one bravely turning his back
on the pleasures and distractions of life, and material cares,
and earthly ties, and the rovings of vain thoughts, He gives
the help of His own grace, and maintains that soul unfalien,
as it passes nobly through the present evil world ; 1 and so
the soul wins heavenly praises from God and angels because
it has preserved well the garment of its body and itself also,

turning away, as far as lay in its power, from all the lusts of
the world, and with His help has run nobly the race of this
world's course.
5. But if a man goes his way in this life with slackness
and carelessness, taking no heed, and, to please himself,
will not turn away from all the lust of the world, and will
not seek the Lord, and Him only, with all desire, he is

pierced on the thorns and thickets of this world, and the

garment of the body is burned here and there by the fire of
lust,and soiled by the mire of pleasures and thus the soul ;

2
is found without boldness in the day of judgment, not
having succeeded in keeping its raiment unspotted, but
having corrupted it with the deceits of this world and for ;

this reason it is rejected from the kingdom. What can God

2
1
Gal. i. 4. 1 John iv. 17,
 HOMILY IV 23

do with one who wilfully gives himself over to the world,

and is deceived by its pleasures, or led astray by material
wanderings ? The man to whom He gives help is the one
who turns away from material pleasures and from his former
habits, who drags his mind at all times to the Lord, whether
it will or no, who denies himself and seeks the Lord only.

This is the man whom He keeps under His care, who

guards himself on every side from the snares and entangle-
ments of the material world, who works out his own
salvation with fear and trembling* who passes with all

heed amidst the snares and entanglements and lusts of this

world, and seeks the help of the Lord, and hopes by His
mercy to be saved through grace.
6. Think the five wise virgins, who had been watchful
j

and alert, and had taken in the vessels of their heart that —
which was no part of their own nature the oil, which —
means the grace of the Spirit from above, were enabled
to enter with the Bridegroom into the heavenly bride-
chamber but the other, foolish five, who were content
;

with their own nature, would not watch nor busy themselves
2
to receive the oil of gladness in their vessels while they
were still in the flesh, but sank as it were to sleep through
carelessness, and slackness, and idleness, and ignorance, or
fancied righteousness ; so they were shut out of the bride-
chamber of the kingdom, being unable to give satisfaction
to the heavenly Bridegroom. Held fast by the tie of the
world, and by some earthly affection, they did not give their
whole love or passionate devotion to the heavenly Bride-
groom, and were not provided with the oil. Souls who seek
the sanctification of the Spirit, which is outside of nature,
fasten all their affection upon the Lord, and there they walk,
and there they pray, and there they employ their thoughts,
turning away from all else; for which cause they are privileged
to receive the oil of heavenly grace, and succeed in coming
1 2
Phil. ii. 12. Ps. xlv. 7.
24 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
through unfallen, giving perfect satisfaction to the spiritual
Bridegroom j while souls that are content with what belongs
to their own nature creep in thought upon earth ; they
employ their thoughts upon earth ; their mind has its whole
existenceupon earth. In their own estimation they appear
to belong to the Bridegroom, and to be adorned with the
ordinances of the flesh but they have not been born of
j

the Spirit from above, and have not received the oil of
gladness.
7. The five rational x senses of the soul, if they receive
grace from above and the sanctification of the Spirit, are

really wise virgins, receiving the wisdom of the grace from

above. But if they rest content with what is natural to
them, they are found foolish, and shown to be children of
the world. They have not put off the spirit of the world,
although in their own estimation, because of some specious
appearances and outward form, they take themselves for
brides of the Bridegroom. As the souls which wholly and
entirely cleave to theLord are there in thought, and there
pray, and there walk, and there long after the love of the
Lord, so, on the other hand, those souls which are tied and
bound in the love of the world, and are willing to spend
their existence on the earth, walk there, think there, their
mind passes its existence there. For this reason they are
incapable of being converted to the good wisdom of the
Spirit, being a thing foreign to our own nature — the
heavenly grace —which combined and com-
requires to be
pounded with our nature, if we Lord
are to enter with the
into the heavenly bridechamber of the kingdom, and to find
eternal salvation.
8. One thing foreign to our nature, the disaster of the
passions, we have received into ourselves through the first

1
The word \oyiKal appears to be used here in the same sense as in
Rom. xii. 1, 1 Pet. ii. 2, as a practical synonym of or
vospaif "immaterial."
 HOMILY IV 25

man's disobedience, and it has taken its place as almost a

custom and propensity and this
part of our nature by long ;

must be expelled again by that other thing foreign to our

nature, the heavenly gift of the Spirit, that the original
purity may be and unless we receive now that
restored ;

love of the Spirit from heaven by much entreaty, and sup-

plication, and faith, and prayer, and turning from the world,
and unless our nature, which has been polluted by wicked-
ness, cleaves to the love which is the Lord, and is sanctified
by that love of the Spirit, and unless we persevere to the
end unfallen, walking strictly in all His commandments, we
cannot attain the heavenly kingdom.
9. I desire to say a word that is deep and subtile, to the

best of my ability ; listen to me, therefore, with intelligence.

The infinite, inaccessible, uncreated God, through His in-

finite and inconceivable kindness, embodied Himself, and,

if I may say so, diminished Himself from His inaccessible

glory, to make it possible for Him to be united with His

visible creatures, such as the souls of saints and angels,
that they might be enabled to partake of the life of God-
head. For each of these, after its kind, is a body, be it
angel, or soul, or devil. Subtile though they are, still in
substance, character, and image according to the subtilty of
their respective natures they are subtile bodies, even as this
body of ours is in substance a gross body. The soul, more-
over, which is so subtile, has gathered to itself the eye to
see with, the ear to hear with ; likewise the tongue to speak
with, the hand, in fact the whole body and its members the
soul has gathered to it and is blended with the same, and
accomplishes by means of it all the offices of life.

10. In the same way, the infinite and inconceivable God

in His kindness diminished Himself, and put on the mem-
bers of this body, and gathered Himself in from the
inaccessible glory ; and through Llis clemency and love
of man transforms and embodies Himself, and mixes with
26 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
and assumes holy, well-pleasing, faithful souls, and becomes
one Spirit with them, according to the saying of Paul, 1
soul in soul, if I may put it so, substance in substance,
that the soul may be enabled to live in newness, 2 and to
feel immortal life, and may become partaker of glory incor-
ruptible —that is, if it be worthy and well-pleasing. If out
of things that were not Pie hath made the visible creature
to be, with such abundant diversity and variety, and before
it came into existence it was not —
if He willed, and easily

made, of things that were not, substances solid and hard,

like earth, mountains, trees —
you see what hardness of
nature is and —
again waters intermediate, and commanded
that birds should be produced from them and again more —
subtle objects, fire, and winds, and things too subtle to be
seen by the bodily eye; n. how could the infinite and
inexpressible skill of the manifold wisdom of God 3 create,
out of things that were not, grosser, subtler, and still finer
bodies, each in its own substance, by His will and how ;

much more cannot Pie, who is as He will and what He

will, through Plis unspeakable kindness and inconceivable

goodness change and diminish and assimilate Himself,

embodying Himself according to their capacity in holy and
worthy faithful souls, that He, the invisible, might be seen
by them, He, the impalpable, be felt, after the subtilty of
the soul's nature —
and that they might feel His sweetness,
and enjoy in real experience the goodness of the light of
that ineffable enjoyment ? When He pleases, he becomes
fire, which burns up every base passion that has been in-

troduced into the soul ; for our God is a consuming fire*

When He pleases, He is rest unspeakable, unutterable, that
the soul may rest in the Godhead's own rest ; when Pie
1
Cor. vi. 17.
(^)
text,
two
2
The
have
best

letters.
in the
MSS., though they read "in newness"
margin "in oneness" the()— in the
transposition of

3 l
Eph. iii. 10. Ileb. xii. 29, D^ut. iv. 24.
 HOMILY IV 27

pleases, He is joy and peace, cherishing it and making

much of it.

12. Indeed, if He should please to make Himself like to

one of the creatures for the delectation and rejoicing of the
intelligences among them, as Jerusalem the
for instance
city of light, or the heavenly mountain of Sion, 1 He can do
all at will, according as it is written, Ye are come to the
Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem. 2 All things are facile and easy to Llim, and
He transforms Himself into any shape He chooses for the
benefit of faithful souls that are worthy of Him. Only let a
man strive to be a friend of His and well pleasing to Him,
and in real experience and feeling he shall truly see the
good things of heaven, and the inexpressible delights and
infinite riches of Godhead, which eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, 3 even the
vSpirit of the Lord, making Himself for worthy souls their

rest, their rejoicing, their delight, and their eternal life.

For the Lord embodies Himself even in meat and drink,

as it is written in the gospel, He that eatclh this bread shall
livefor ever,*• to give the soul rest unutterable, and fill it
with spiritual cheer ; for He says, / am the bread of life. 5
He embodies Himself in the drink of a spring of heaven, as
He says, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him, it shall be in him a well of water springing up into
eternal life, and 6
We have all, it says, been made to drink
the same drink. 1
13. To each of the holy fathers He appeared in the
manner that pleased Him and was best for them in one —
way to Abraham, in another to Isaac, another to Jacob,
another to Noe, to Daniel, to David, to Solomon, to
1
Macarius appears to mean that "Jerusalem," "Sion," in such
cases is a designation of God Himself. He makes Himself the dwelling-
place and fortress of the soul.
2 Heb. 3 4
xii. 22. 1 Cor. ii. 9. John vi. 58.
5 G 7
John vi. 35. John iv. 14. 1 Cor. xii. 13, with x. 4.
28 FIFTY SPIRITUAL H0MIL1I
Esaias, and each of the holy prophets — in one way to
Elias, in another to Moses. My belief is that Moses,
every hour in the mountain, during the fast of forty days,
was admitted to that spiritual table, and feasted at it and
received enjoyment. To each of the saints He appeared as
He pleased, to give them rest and salvation and lead them
to the knowledge of God. Everything is easy to Him that
He chooses. As He pleases, He diminishes Himself by
some embodiment, and transforms Himself to come under
the eyes of those who love Him, manifesting Himself to
those who are worthy in an inaccessible glory of light,
according to His great and unspeakable love, and by His
own power. The soul that has been privileged to receive
with great desire, and waiting upon God, and faith, and
love, that power from on high, the heavenly love of the
Spirit, and has gained the heavenly fire of the life immortal,

is verily disengaged from every worldly affection, and set at

liberty from every bond of wickedness.

14. As iron, lead, gold, or silver, when cast into the fire,
melts, and changes from its natural hardness to a soft con-
sistency, and so long as it is in the fire continues to be
molten and altered from that hard nature by the hot force
of the fire, so the soul which has denied the world, and
fixed its longing upon the Lord alone, in much searching,
and pains, and conflict of soul, and maintains an uninter-
rupted waiting upon Him in hope and faith, and which has
received that heavenly fire of the Godhead and of the love
of the Spirit, this soul is then verily disengaged from all

affection of the world, and set at liberty from all mischief

of the passions, and casts everything out of itself, and
is changed from the natural habit and hardness of sin,
and considers all things indifferent in comparison with the
heavenly Bridegroom whom it has received, at rest in His
fervent and ineffable love.
15. I tell you, indeed, that even the much-loved brethren,
 —

HOMILY IV 29

whom such a soul has under its eye, if they hinder it from
that love, it turns from them, in a sense. For that is its

life and rest, the mystical, ineffable fellowship of the heavenly

King. If the fellowship of an earthly affection severs from
father, mother, brethren, and all things come to be outside
in the estimation of such a pair,and though they still love
them, they love them with a more outside love, while the
man's whole attitude is determined by the relation to his
spouse For this cause, it says, shall a man leave his
father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they
—
twain shall be one flesh 1 if, I say, the fleshly love thus
disengages from all other love, how much more shall those
who have been allowed to enter in truth into the fellowship
of that Holy Spirit, that heavenly and beloved Spirit, be
disengaged from all worldly love, and everything else appear
a matter of indifference, because they have been overcome
by a heavenly longing, and are altogether in unison with
the mood of it.

16. Well, my beloved brethren, when such good things

are set before us, and such great promises have been made
to us by the Lord, let us cast away from us all hindrances,
renounce all love of the world, and give ourselves over to
that one good thing with seeking and longing, that we may
attain that unspeakable love of the Spirit concerning which
St. Paul urged us to endeavour after it, saying, Follow after

charity? that we may be changed from our hardness by the

right hand of the Most High, and may come to spiritual
tenderness and rest, wounded with the passionate affection
of the Divine Spirit. The Lord is very kind to man,
waiting in pity for our complete conversion to Himself and
emancipation from all things contrary. Although we in our
great ignorance and childishness and propensity to evil turn
away from life, and set many a hindrance in our own way,
not liking really to repent, yet He is full of pity for us, and
1
Gen. ii. 24, f.
a
1 Cor. xiv. 1.
F
30 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

suffers long till we shall repent and come to Him, and be

enlightened in our inward man, that our faces may not be
ashamed in the day of judgment.
17. If it seems to us difficult, because the practice of
virtue is hard, and still more because of the insidious
counsel of the adversary, behold, He
is pitiful and long-

suffering, waiting for and when we sin, He

our conversion ;

holds His hand, in expectation of our repentance and ;

when we fall, He is not ashamed to take us back, as the

prophet says, Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn
away, and not return ? x Only let us be on the watch, making
sure of a good intention, and let us be converted straight
and fair, seeking help from Him, and He is ready to save
us. He is looking for our will to turn to Him with a
fervent impulse, to the best of our power, and for faith and
zeal that springs from a good purpose the whole success j

of the endeavour is His own work in us. Let us then

endeavour, beloved, like children of God, putting away all

preoccupation, and carelessness, and sloth, to be courageous

and ready to follow after Him. Let us not put off from day
to day, without observing how sin is injuring us. We do
not know when we are to depart out of the flesh. The
promises made to Christians are great and unspeakable, so
great, that all and beauty of sky and earth, and
the glory
all the other adornment and variety, the wealth and comeli-

ness and delight, of things visible, bear no proportion to

the faith and wealth of a single soul.
18. How can we then refuse to accept heartily such
persuasions and promises of the Lord, and to yield our-
selves over to Him, denying, as the Gospel says, all other
things and our own souls also, 2 and to love Him only and
nothing else besides Him ? But behold, in spite of all these
things, and of the great glory that has been given, and of all
the dispensations of the Lord from the times of patriarchs
1 2
Jcr. viii. 4. Luke xiv. 26.
 —

HOMILY IV 31

and prophets — what great promises have been made, what

persuasions offered, what compassion of the Master shown
to us from the beginning ! and lastly, in His own sojourn
here He displayed His inexpressible kindness towards us by
His crucifixion, to convert us and bring us round to life
and we, we will not part with our own wills, and with the
love of the world, and with our bad inclinations and
customs. Thus we prove ourselves men of little faith, or
of none ; and yet for all this, He continues to be kind,
invisibly protecting and cherishing, not giving us over,
according to our iniquities, to the power of sin for ever, nor
letting us perish by the deceitfulness of the world, but in
His great kindness and longsuffering watching fixedly for
the moment when we shall be converted to Him.
19. I dread some day the words of the apostle should
lest

be fulfilled in us, while we cling to our contemptuous ideas

and follow out our inclinations, Or despisest thou the riches
of His kindness and forbearance and longsuffering, not
knowing that the kindness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 1
But if to this longsuffering and kindness and forbearance
we make no return but to add further sins, and through our
carelessness and contempt purchase to ourselves yet greater
judgments, the saying will be fulfilled, But after thy hard-
ness and impenitent heart ireasurest up unto thyself wrath
against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God. God has used great and indescribable
2,

goodness in relation to mankind, and longsuffering beyond

expression, if only we are willing to recover ourselves, and
endeavour to be wholly converted to Him, that we may
find salvation.
20. you wish to know the longsuffering of God and
If
His great kindness, let us learn it from the inspired
scriptures. Look at Israel, of whom are the fathers, to
whom the promises were directed, of whom is Christ
1
Rom. ii. 4. 2
Rom. ii. 5.
32 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
according to the fleshy to whom pertained the services and
x
the covenant ; how greatly they sinned, how often they
turned out of the way, yet He did not altogether let them
go, but from time to time He gave them over to chastise-
ments for a season for their profit, desiring to soften the
hardness of their heart through affliction ; He converted
them, encouraged them, sent prophets to them. How often
they sinned and offended Him, and He was longsuffering
with them, and when they converted, He received them
back with joy, and when again they turned out of the way,
He did not abandon them, but through the prophets recalled
them to conversion ; and when many times over they
turned away and came back, He bore with them gently,
and received them kindly back, until at last they were
found in the great transgression of all, when they laid hands
upon their own Master, whom the traditions of the holy
fathers and prophets taught them to expect as their
delivererand saviour, king and prophet. When He came,
they did not welcome Him, but on the contrary, after
offering Him indignity after indignity, they at last punished
Him with the cross of death ; and in this great offence,
this surpassing transgression, their sins abounded beyond
measure and were filled up and so they were left for good
;

and all, the Holy Spirit departing from thence when the
veil of the temple was rent. And so their temple was
given over to the heathen and destroyed and made desolate,
according to that denuntiation of the Lord, There shall not
be left one stone upon another here, that shall not be thrown
down. 2.
Thus were they finally given over to the heathen,
and were scattered over all the earth by the kings who then
took them captive, and were forbidden ever to return to
their own places.
21. In this manner, even now, with each one of us, like

a kind, good God, He is longsuffering, seeing how often

1 2
Rom. ix. 5. Matt. xxiv. 2.
 HOMILY IV 33

each one offends, and holds His peace, waiting till the man
shall recover himself and turn from offending further, and
welcoming the converted sinner with much love and joy.
That is what He says, There is joy over one sinner that
repenteth ; 1 and again, It is not the will of My Father that
one of the least of these little ones should perish. 2 But if a
man, under this great kindness and longsuffering of God,
who will not proceed to requital for every offence, secret
or open, as it is committed, but sees and holds His peace,
as waiting for the sinner's repentance — if, I say, the man
so far despises that he adds sin to sin,and joins sloth to
sloth, and upon
piles offence offence, he fills the limits of
his sins, and comes in the end to an offence of such a
character that he can never get up from it again, but is
crushed to pieces, and delivered over to the evil one to
perish utterly.
22. Thus it was with Sodom. Many times sinning,
without conversion, at length they offended by their wicked
design upon the angels, desiring to commit a criminal
outrage upon them, so that they could no longer repent,
but were finally rejected. They filled up the limit of their
sins, and exceeded it and ; consumed
therefore they were
with fire by the divine vengeance. So it was in the days
of Noah. Offending often without repenting, they reached
sins of such enormity, that the whole earth was utterly cor-
rupted. So with the Egyptians they offended often, and
;

sinned against God's people, and God was kind and would
not inflict upon them such plagues as to destroy them
utterly; but for their chastisement and conversion and
repentance He brought upon them the stripes of those
smaller plagues, bearing long with them, and waiting for
them to repent. But they, sinning against God's people,
and thinking better of it, and then changing their minds again
and fixing themselves in the original unbelief of their evi
1
Luke xv. . 2
Matt, xviii. 14.
34 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
purpose, and oppressing the people of God, at last, when
God with many wonders brought the people out of Egypt
by Moses, they committed the great offence of pursuing
after God's people for which the divine vengeance utterly
;

destroyed and consumed them and overwhelmed them in;

the waters, judging them unworthy even of this visible

existence.
23. In like manner, as was said before, Israel, often sin-

ning and offending, killing God's prophets and doing many

other wicked things, while God held His peace and was
patiently waiting for them to repent, ended by committing
an offence for which they were crushed so that they could
never rise again. They laid their own hands on the dignity
of the Lord Llimself. For this they were utterly abandoned
and rejected. Prophecy, priesthood, the service, were taken
from them and given to the believing Gentiles, as the Lord
says, The kingdom shall be taken from you, and given to a
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof} Till then, God
forbore and was patient with them, and forsook them not,
in compassion them but when they filled up the limit
for ;

of their sins, and overflowed it, laying hands upon the

dignity of their Lord, they were entirely deserted by God.
24. We have treated of these things at some length, be-
loved, proving from the ideas of scripture that we ought to
make a quick conversion, and hasten to the Lord, who in
His kindness waits for us to break off entirely from all

wickedness and evil propensity, and who welcomes us on

our conversion with much joy, and not
contempt to let our
increase from day to day, and our offences be added and
multiplied upon us, and thus we bring the wrath of God
upon ourselves. Let us earnestly endeavour to come to
Him with a truly converted heart, not despairing of salva-
tion ; for that of itself is a wrong thing and an iniquity,
when the remembrance of sins takes such possession that
1 Matt. xxi. 43.
 ;

HOMILY IV 35

it leads a man to despair, and to slackness and recklessness

and sloth, that he may not be converted and come to the

Lord and find salvation, when the great kindness of the
Lord is over all the race of men.
25. If it. seems to us hard and impossible to be converted
from such a multitude of sins, because we are in their
possession —a thought which, as I said, is a device of
wickedness and a hindrance to our salvation let us —
remember and consider how our Lord, when in His good-
ness He sojourned here, made the blind to recover their
sight, healed the palsied, cured all manner of disease, raised
the dead when they were already in decay and disintegra-
tion, gave back hearing to the deaf, cast out a legion of
devilsfrom a single man, and restored him to his senses,
though he was so far gone in madness. How much rather
will He not convert a soul which returns to Him, seeking
mercy from Him, and in need of His succour, and bring it
into a happy release from passions, and the settled state of
all virtue, and renewal of the mind, and change it to health

and mental sight and thoughts of peace from the blindness

and deafness and deadness of unbelief and ignorance and
unconcern, bringing it to the sobriety of virtue and to purity
of heart ? He who created the body, made the soul also
and as in His sojourn on earth, when men came to Him
seeking help and healing from Him, He granted un-
grudgingly in His kindness according as their needs were,
like a good physician, the only true physician, so is it with
spiritual things.
26. If He
was moved to such compassion over bodies
that were to be dissolved and die again, and did with eager
kindness for each applicant the thing that he sought, how
much more when an immortal, imperishable, incorruptible
soul, labouring under the disease of ignorance, wickedness,
unbelief, unconcern, and all the other maladies of sin,
comes nevertheless to the Lord, and seeks His help, and
36 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
fixes its eyes upon His mercy, and desires to receive of
Him the grace of the Spirit for its deliverance and salvation
and riddance of all wickedness, and all passion, will He not
grant more speedily and more readily His healing deliverance,
according to His own word, How much more shall your
heavenly Father avenge those that cry unto Him day and
night ? x And He adds, Yea, I say unto you, He will avenge
them speedily ; and in another place He exhorts, Ask, and
it shall be given unto you, for every one that asketh, receiveth,
and he that seeketh, findeth, and to him that knocketh it

shall be opened; 2 and at the close He adds, How much

more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him. Verily I say unto you, though he
will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet
because of his importunity he will rise and give him as
much as he needeth?
With importunity then, without ceasing, without faint-
27.
ing, He
has admonished us in all these passages to ask for
the succour of His grace. It was for the sake of sinners

that He came, that He might convert them to Himself, and

heal those that believe Him. Only let us to the best of our
power withdraw ourselves from evil preoccupations, and hate
bad pursuits and the deceits of the world, and turn our backs
upon wicked and vain thoughts, and ever cleave to Him with
all our might, and He readily gives us His help. To this
purpose He is merciful, and quickening, curing the maladies
that were incurable, working deliverance for those who call
upon Him and turn to Him, departing to the best of their
ability in will and intention from all worldly affection, and
forcing their mind away from the earth, and fastening it upon
Him with seeking and longing. To such a soul His help is
vouchsafed, the soul that counts all things else unnecessary,
and rests upon nothing in the world, but looks to find rest
and rejoicing in the repose of His loving kindness, and thus
1
Luke xviii. 7 ; cp. xi. 13. 2
Luke xi. 9, 10. 3
Luke xi. 8.
 HOMILY IV 37

through such a faith attaining the heavenly gift, gaining

satisfaction for its desire in full assurance through grace,
thenceforward serving the Holy Ghost agreeably and con-
sistently, and daily advancing in that which is good, and
abiding in the way of righteousness j and having persevered
to the end inflexible and uncomplying towards the side of
evil, without grieving grace in anything, it is granted eternal
salvation with all the saints, as having lived in the world like
a partner and a comrade of theirs, in imitation of them.
Amen.
 HOMILY V
A great difference between Christians and the men of this
world. Those who have the spirit of Hie world are in
heart and mind bound in earthly bonds, but the others
long after the love of the heavenly Father, having Him
only before their eyes with much desire.

i. The world of Christians is one thing — their way of

living, their mind, and speech, and action, is one — and the
way of and mind and speech and action of the men
living,

of this world
another.
is Those are one thing, and these
another, and the difference between them is great. The
inhabitants of the earth, the children of this age, are like
corn put in the sieve of this earth, sifted by restless thoughts
of this world, and by the ceaseless tossing of earthly busi-
nesses and desires and of tangled material notions, while
Satan waves their souls about, as he sifts in this sieve of
man, ever since
earthly businesses the whole sinful race of
Adam by transgressing the commandment and came
fell

under the power of the prince of wickedness. From the

time when he gained this power, he does nothing but sift
with thoughts of deceit and agitation all the sons of this
age, and dash them on the sieve of the earth.
2. As the corn in the sieve is knocked by the man who
sifts, and constantly shaken and turned in it, so the prince

of wickedness holds all men by means of earthly affairs,

and through these he shakes them, and agitates them, and
tosses them, and knocks them on vain lines of thought,
38
 •HOMILY V 39

and base and earthly ties of the world, constantly

desires,
taking captive and agitating and alluring all the sinful race
of Adam as the Lord forewarned the apostles how the
;

wicked one would rise up against them Satan hath desired :

to have you that he may sift you as wheat ; but I have prayed

My Father that your faith fail not. 1 The word spoken to

Cain by the Creator, that sentence pronounced upon him
with an outward meaning, Groaning and trembling and
tossed shalt thou be upon the earth* is a type and likeness
of what all sinners undergo in secret. After falling from
the commandment and entering the sinful state, the race of
Adam has acquired that likeness in secret ; it is tossed
about with shifting thoughts of fear and terror and every
kind of commotion ; the prince of this world keeps each
soul on the waves of all sorts and varieties of pleasure and
lust, unless it be begotten of God ; as corn is turned inces-
santly in the sieve,he keeps men's thoughts rocking about
in various directions, and shakes and entices them all by
worldly lusts, and pleasures of the flesh, and fears, and
commotions.
3. The Lord showed that those who follow the deceits

and desires of the wicked one bear the likeness of Cain's

wickedness, when He reproved them and said, The lusts of
your father ye will do : he was a murderer from the begin-
ning and abode not in the truth? So that the whole sinful
race of Adam has acquired that condemnation in secret,
Groaning and trembling shall ye be, and shaken in the
sieve of the earth, by Satan sifting you. For as from one
Adam all the race of men was spread over the earth, so one
form of evil passion sank into the sinful race of men, and
the prince of evil suffices to sift them all with shifting,
material, vain, troublesome thoughts. As one wind is
1
Luke xxii. 31, 32.
2 Gen. iv. 12. This is the LXX rendering, but Macarius inserts the
words and tossed.
3
John viii. 44.
4o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
enough to shake and agitate all the plants and seeds, or as
one darkness of the night is spread over all the inhabited
earth, so the prince of wickedness, who is himself the
spiritual darkness of sin and death, and a wild though hidden
wind, rocks the whole race of men upon
earth, and carries
them about with and entices the hearts of
restless thoughts,
men with the lusts of the world, and fills every soul with
the darkness of ignorance, blindness and forgetfulness, save
those which have been begotten from above, and have been
translated in disposition and mind to another world, accord-
ing as it is said, But our citizenship is in heaven. 1
4. This constitutes the difference between true Christians

and the rest of mankind, and the distance between the two
is great, as we said before. The Christian mind and way of
thinking is always in the heavenly frame ; they behold as in
a mirror the good things of eternity, by reason of their par-
taking and having the Holy Ghost, by being born of God
from above, and being privileged to be children of God in
truth and efficacy, and by having arrived, through many
conflicts and labours spread over a long
time, at a fixed and
settled condition of freedom from disturbance and of rest,
no longer sifted and wave-tossed by unquiet and vain
thoughts. By this they are greater and better than the
world, because their mind and the frame of their soul is in
the peace of Christ and the love of the Spirit. It was of

such that the Lord spoke when He said that they had
passed from death unto life. Not in a form or in outward
2.

figures lies the distinguishing mark of Christians. Most

men think which distinguishes themselves
that the difference
from the world consists in a form and in figures and lo ; !

in mind and frame they are like the world, undergoing the
same shaking, and inconstancy of thoughts, and unbelief,
and confusion, and helter-skelter as all other men. In out-
ward form and appearance they differ from the world, and
1 2
Phil. iii. 20. John v. 24.
 HOMILY V 41

in a few points of religious ordinance; but in heart and

mind they are bound with earthly bonds, never having
acquired rest from God and the peace of the heavenly
Spirit in their heart, because they never sought it from
God, nor believed that He would vouchsafe these things to
them.
5. For it is in the renewing of the mind, and the peace
of the thoughts, and the love and heavenly passion for the
Lord, that the new creation of Christians distinguishes them
from all the men of the world. This was the purpose of
the Lord's coming, to vouchsafe these spiritual blessings to
those who truly believe in Him. Christians have a glory
and a beauty and a heavenly wealth which is beyond words,
and it is won with pains, and sweat, and trials, and many
conflicts, and all by the grace of God. If the sight of an
earthly king is an object of desire to all men, so that every
one who sojourns in the capital desires to catch even a
glimpse of his beauty, the magnificence of his apparel,
the glory of his purple, the beauty of his various pearls,
the comeliness of his diadem, the impressive retinue of
dignities attending him — except that spiritual men think
nothing of all this, because they have had experience of
another glory, whichis heavenly and out of the body, and

have been smitten with another beauty unspeakable, and

have an interest in another wealth, and have felt in the
inward man and are partakers of another Spirit when the —
men of this world, who have the spirit of the world,
are so keenly desirous to set eyes, if no more, on the
earthly king with all his comeliness and glory — because
in proportion as his share of visible advantages excels that
of other men, so even to have set eyes on him is a dis-
tinction and an object of desire to them all, and each
man inwardly says, " I wish that some one would give me
that glory, and comeliness, and magnificence," ascribing
happiness to that man, like himself, earthly, of like passions,
42 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
and subject to death, though an object of desire for
his temporal comeliness and glory — 6. if, I say, carnal
men thus desire the glory of the earthly king, how much
more are those upon whom has dropped that dewdrop of
the Spirit of the life of the Godhead, and has smitten their
heart with a divine passion for Christ the heavenly King,
bound fast to that beauty, to the unspeakable glory, the

immortal comeliness, the unimaginable wealth of Christ,

the true eternal King, with desire and longing after whom
they are carried away captive, and have their whole being
directed towards Him, and desire to obtain those unspeak-
able blessings, which by the Spirit they see in a mirror j

for whose sake they think nothing of all the beauties and
comelinesses and glories and honours and wealth of kings
and princes upon earth, because they are smitten with a
divine beauty, and the life of immortality in heaven has
dropped upon their souls ? Therefore their longing is
towards that love of the heavenly King, and having Him
only before their eyes with great desire, they detach them-
selves for His sake from all worldly affection, and withdraw
from every earthly tie, that they may be free always to
cherish in their hearts that one longing, and to mix nothing
else with it.

Very few, however, are they who supply a good beginning

with a good end, and come through end without
to the
falling, God
with no love but one, for and detached
only,
from all else. 1
Many are pricked at heart, and many
become partakers of heavenly grace, and are smitten with
divine passion but because of the conflicts and struggles
;

and labours and divers temptations of the devil to be borne

1
The long passage which follows, down to the end of 6, is prinled
by Floss from a Berlin MS. The Bodleian and the Holkham MSS. go
straight on, without a sign of omission, to the words of 7. Plainly,
however, those words arc concerned with a different topic. Something
has, no doubt, fallen out. The passage supplied by the Berlin MS. is
quite in Macarius's manner.
 ;

HOMILY V 43

on the way, they do not hold out, but are occupied with
divers and sundry worldly desires, because every one has
some worldly thing that he chooses to love, and has not
detached his affections all round, and so they have stopped
short, and have been plunged in the deeps of the world,
through the feebleness and slackness and cowardice of their
own wills, or through some worldly affection. For those
who wish really to come through to the end in good living
must not willingly admit and combine any other love or
affection with that heavenly one, for fear of being hindered
from spiritual and turning backward, and at last
things,
being exiled from Great and unspeakable and inesti-
life.

mable are the promises made by God and in proportion ;

to them great faith and hope and labours and conflicts are
required, and much trial. The blessings for which a seeker
of the kingdom of heaven hopes are no trifle. Thou
desirest to reign with Christ through ages without end;
wilt thou not readily welcome the conflicts and labours and
temptations of this short span of life, even unto death?
The Lord cries, // any man will come after Me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross daily rejoicing and
follow Me; x and again, // any man hate not father, mother,
wife, children, brethren, sisters, yea and his own life also,
he cannot be My disciple. 2 But most men wish to attain
the kingdom, and would like to inherit eternal life, but do
not refuse to live to their own wills and to follow them out.
Not denying themselves, they wish to inherit eternal life
and this is impossible. 3
The Lord's saying is true.The men who come through
without falling are those who according to the Lord's com-
mandment have wholly denied themselves, and have abhorred
1 " Rejoicing " is Macarius's own addition, Luke ix. 23.
2
Luke xiv. 26.
8
The Berlin MS. is evidently at fault here. In translation, a few
words have been omitted before u Not denying," which only interrupt
the sense.
 ;

44 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

all and entanglements, and excitements, and
the desires,
pleasures, and businesses of the world, and who keep Him
only before their eyes, and desire to do His command-
ments, so that each man by his own will turns away, even
from a kingdom, and positively would not wish to have it, 1
or to love anything along with that love, by being pleased
with any pleasures or desires of this world, instead of keeping
his whole love, to the utmost of his will and choice, fixed
upon the Lord.
A single example will shew you all that I mean. Some-
times a man passes judgment on another. He knows that
what he is inclined to do is wrong, but because he loves
the thing, and will not deny it, he is overcome. To begin
with, inwardly, in his heart, there is war, and conflict,
weighing and balancing the love of God and the love of
;

the world are in the scales and then the man comes forth,
;

and passes judgment upon his brother, perhaps even to

fighting and blows, saying within himself, " Let me speak
let me say it; nay, let me not say it," because, while
remembering God, he yet seeks to obtain his own glory,
and will not deny himself, but if the love of the world
for a moment outweighs the other and dips the scale
in once the bad word springs to his lips.
his heart, at
Then the mind from within, like one who aims a missile,
uses the tongue to shoot his neighbour, discharging the
volley of unseemly words at his discretion, in the desire
to gain his own glory. Then this shooting with unseemly
words goes on and on, until the sin is diffused through
other members, and sometimes it comes to blows and
wounds, body and members against body and members,
and sometimes the bad desire issues even in death and
murder. See the origin and the outcome of the love of
worldly glory, when it has once turned the scale in the
balance of the heart in the way of self-will. The man
1
Here again a few words are omitted which are manifestly corrupt.
 HOMILY V 45

would not deny himself, and fixed his affection on a worldly

thing, and all those wrong deeds were a result.
Think in this way, I pray you, of every form of sin and
of every immoral practice, which spring from the intrigues
of evil, mind to worldly desires
gaining over the will of the
and to the deceitand pleasure of the flesh. In this way
every bad deed comes about, adultery and theft, covetous-
ness and drunkenness, love of money and vain glory, envy
and self-assertion, and every other bad practice that you
can name. Sometimes actions that appear good are per-
formed for the sake of the glory and praise of men and ;

with God these are on the same footing as injustice and

theft or any other sin. God says, He hath scattered the
bones of men-pleasers. 1
So the evil one likes to be served
by things that appear good. He is versatile and cunning
in the lusts of the world. By means of some earthly and
carnal affection, by which a man in his natural will is
bound, sin entices him, until it becomes to him a fetter
and a chain and a heavy weight, sinking and stifling him
in the world of wickedness, and not allowing him to come

to the surface and get to God. Whatever a man has loved

in the world, weighs down his mind, and holds it down,
and will not let him come up.
In this balance, with its bias to the scale of evil, all

mankind hangs and is tested, Christians and all, whether

dwelling in cities, or in mountains, or in monasteries, or
in fields, or in deserts ; because the natural will of man
entices him on something, and that
to set his affection
affection is somewhere and is not wholly
or other tied,
towards God. man has set his affection, say, on property,
another on gold and silver, another on the wisdom of the
eloquence of the world for the sake of glory from men ;

another has loved power, another glory and honours among

men, another wrath and anger for yielding quickly to it —
1
So the LXX. renders the words of Psalm liii. 5.
 ;;

46 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

is loving it — another unseasonable conversations, another
jealousy; another amuses himself and seeks pleasure all

day long ; another deceives himself with idle thoughts

another loves to be a teacher of the law for the glory of
men ; another finds pleasure in sloth and heedlessness
another is absorbed in dress and clothes; another gives
himself to earthly cares ; another loves sleep and jesting
and low talk. Whether it be a little thing of the world or
a great that ties him, the man is kept down by it, and not
allowed to rise. Whatever passion a man does not bravely
war against, is and it holds him
an object of his affection ;

fast, and weighs him down, and becomes to him a hindrance

and a fetter, preventing his mind from going up to God

and pleasing Him, and from serving Him only and thereby
proving fit for the kingdom and obtaining eternal life.
The soul whose movement is truly towards the Lord,
compels its affection wholly to Him, and in will and inten-
tion binds itself with all its power to Him only, and from
that quarter gains the help of grace, and denies itself, and
refuses to follow the desires of its own mind, because the
mind deals deceitfully with us through the evil that is

present with us and entices us; but surrenders itself entirely

to the word of the Lord, and detaches itself from every ex-
ternal bond, as far as lies in the power of the will, and gives
itself altogether to the Lord, and in this way will be en-

abled to pass without difficulty through conflicts and troubles

and afflictions. Where the affection is engaged, from that
,

quarter comes help or hindrance. If a man loves some-

thing of the world, that thing becomes to him a burden and
bonds to drag him downward, not suffering him to go up-
wards and Godwards. If he loves the Lord and His com-
mandments, from thence comes his help, and from thence
he is buoyed up, and all the precepts of the Lord become
easy to him, because his love for Him completely saves
him ; and it weights his scale towards the good, or rather
 HOMILY V 47

buoys him up and makes every battle and every affliction

light, and through the power of God it cuts through the

world and through the powers of evil which in the world

lay traps for the soul, and which use all kinds of desires
to bind the soul in the depths of the world. In tins way
the man is disentangled from them through his personal
faith and much earnestness and through the help that
comes from above, and is accounted worthy of the eternal
kingdom where his affection was set, and having truly loved
that kingdom with his personal will, and having received
help of the Lord, he does not fail of eternal life.

In order to see by plain illustrations how many men are

ruined by their own wills,and are drowned in the sea, and
are carried off into captivity, imagine a house on fire, and
one man, wishing to save himself, as soon as he is aware of
the fire, flees out of it naked, leaving everything to its fate,

and only caring to make sure of his own life is saved.

Another, wishing to take some of the furniture out of the
house, or other articles, goes inside to get them, and just as
he lakes them, the fire masters the house, and the man is
caught within and burned. You see that attaching himself
by his personal will to some temporal object he perishes in
the fire. Or at sea, people are caught in a storm of waves
and shipwrecked. One strips himself naked, and plunges
into the depth of the waters, caring only to save himself;
and so, though buffeted by the billows, he emerges to the
top of them, because there is nothing about him to break

up, and thus manages to get and

through the bitter sea,
purchases his own Another, desirous of saving some
life.

of his clothes, fancies that he can dive and get through

with what he has taken and all, and the very things that he
got hold of weigh him down, and sink him in the depth of
the sea, and for a trifling gain he loses himself, unable to
secure his own life. You see how his personal w ill causes r

his death. Or suppose a rumour comes of the irruption of

48 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
savage tribes. One man, the moment he hears of it, makes
off, without wasting time, and gets away with nothing but
his bare self. Another, disbelieving that the enemy are
coming, or setting his heart on some of his possessions and
anxious to take them with him, is slow to flee, and the foes
come and catch him, and carry him captive into the enemy
country, and there make a slave of him. You see how his
personal will is the cause of slackness, and want of energy,
and attachment to some object or another, by which he is
taken away into captivity. In like manner, those who do
not follow the commandments of the Lord, and will not
deny themselves and set their affection on the Lord alone,
but choose to be bound with earthly bonds, these, when
the eternal fire comes, being tied and bound with the love
of the world, 1 will find themselves burned, and sunk under
the bitter sea of wickedness, and carried captive by the
savage captors who are the spirits of wickedness, and
are lost.

you please to learn from the holy inspired scripture

If
how straight a perfected love to the Lord can go, look at
Job, how he divested himself, so to speak, of all that he
—
possessed children, property, cattle, servants, and all that
he had —how he stripped them
and escaped, and
all off
saved himself, even letting go his bodily clothing and
abandoning it to Satan, never blaspheming either in word
or in his heart, nor uttering anything with his lips before
the Lord, but on the contrary blessed the Lord and said,
The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; as it

seemed good to the Lord, so hath Fie done ; blessed be the

name of the Lord.
2
Although he was reputed to have
great possessions, the testing which he received from the
Lord showed plainly that he had none but God. In like
manner Abraham, being bidden by the Lord to leave his
country and his kindred and his father's house, immediately
1
The text here is corrupt. 2
Job i. 20, LXX.
 !

HOMILY V 49

stripped himself, so to speak, of all — fatherland, kinsfolk,

parents — and followed the word of the Lord then, many ;

trials and temptations befalling him in the meanwhile, his

wife taken from him, living in a strange land, subjected to
unjust treatment, he was proved by all these things to love
God only above everything. At last, when by promise,
after an interval of many years, he had gotten an only
much-desired son, he was asked to offer this son in sacrifice
with his own hands, and readily stripped himself of himself
and denied himself, proving by the sacrifice of his only
begotten that there was nothing that he loved besides God :

for if he readily parted with his son, how much more, if he

had been bidden to relinquish all his other possessions, or
to distribute them at one stroke to the poor, would he not
readily and promptly have done it
You see the straight character of a whole-hearted and
perfected love to the Lord and those who wish to be
;

fellow-heirs of these men must love nothing besides God, in

order that, when trial comes, they may be found serviceable
and true, keeping their love to the Lord unimpaired. Such
can go through their conflict to the end who have always —
heartily loved God and God only, and have loosed them-
selves from all love of the world. But few, and very few,
are found who have taken up a love like this, renouncing
all the pleasures and desires of the world, and enduring

patiently the assaults and temptations of the evil one. If

many in crossing the rivers are sucked under by the waters,
are there not some who pass over the turbulent streams of
the world with its manifold desires, and of the various
temptations of the spirits of wickedness ? Many ships on
the sea are covered by the waves and founder but are ;

there not some that get across, and travel over the waves,
and reach the haven of peace ? There is need therefore of
much faith, and patience, and conflict, and endurance,
and labour, and hunger and thirst for what is good, and
 —

5o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

keenness, and importunity, and discretion, and understanding
at all times ; for most men wish to obtain the kingdom
without trouble, or pains, or sweat, and that is a thing
impossible.
As in the world men go to some rich person, to work at
harvest or something else, in order to gain what they need
for their sustenance, and some of them are sluggish and
idle, not working hard or labouring as they ought, and
these, who have not toiled at all nor exerted themselves for
the rich man's house, wish to receive equal pay with those
who have manfully and vigorously exerted themselves with
all their might, as if they too had done their work ; so
when we read in scripture how some righteous man pleased
God, how he became a friend and companion of God, and
how all the fathers became friends and heirs of God, what
afflictions they endured, how much they suffered for God's
sake, how man and contended, we call
they played the
them and wish to obtain equal gifts and dignities
blessed,
with them, and covet earnestly those splendid endowments,
without observing their pains and struggles and afflictions
and sufferings, and earnestly wish to receive honours
and dignities li!:e those which they have from God, but
their labours and pains and struggles we will not accept.
But I tell you, that everyone covets and desires this
harlots and publicans and unrighteous men and all easily —
and without labours or struggles to gain a kingdom. But
this is the reason why temptations lie along the road, and
many trials and afflictions, and struggles, and exhausting
labours, to prove, who have really loved the Lord and Him
only, with all their will and all their might, even to death,
and have held nothing else desirable along with love to
Him. Justly therefore they enter into the kingdom of
heaven, having denied themselves according to the Lord's
word, and having loved the Lord, and Him alone, more
than their own breath ; and their surpassing love shall be
 HOMILY V 51

requited with surpassing gifts of heaven. In those afflictions

and sufferings, in that patience and faith, are hidden the
promises, and the glory, and the restitution of the good
things of heaven, as the fruit is in the seed when it is sown
in the earth, or in the tree when a graft is inserted into it

and plastered with some degrading rotten stuff. Then

they were proved to have in them the comeliness and the
glory and the abounding fruit which clothes them as the ;

apostle says,Through much tribulation we may enter into

the kingdom of heaven* and the Lord, In your patience
possess ye your souls, 2 and again, In the world ye shall
have tribulation* There is need of pains, and diligence,
and watchfulness, and great heed, and of vigour and
importunity in prayer to the Lord, in order to pass through
and the snares of pleasure, and
the traps of earthly desire,
the pitfalls and to escape the assaults of evil
of the world,
spirits, and to know well by what watchfulness and alert-

ness of faith and love the saints came to possess within

their souls,even here, the heavenly treasure, that is, the
power of the Spirit, which is the earnest of the kingdom.
The blessed apostle Paul, discoursing of this heavenly
treasure of the grace of the Spirit, and declaring the ex-
ceeding greatness of that tribulation, and at the same
indicating what each of us ought to strive to attain in
this life, says, We know that if our earthly house of
this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God,
a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens/'
We ought all, therefore, to strive and endeavour by every
kind of virtue, and to believe that we shall gain possession
of that house, even here. For if the house of our body is
dissolved, we have no other house for the soul to turn into.
//, it says, being clothed, we shall not be found naked 5 —
1 2
Acts xiv. 22. Luke xxi. 19. 3
John xvi. 33.
4
2 Cor v. 1. It is at this point that we meet again with the Bodleian
and other MSS.
5
2 Cor. v. •?.
52 FIFTY SriRITUAL HOMILIES
naked, that is, of the communion and inblending of the
Holy Ghost, in which alone the faithful soul can find rest.

For this reason, Christians who are Christians in truth and

efficacy are confident and glad at departure from the flesh,
because they have that house made without hands, which
house is the power of the Spirit dwelling in them. There-
fore, even if the house of the body is dissolved, they are in
no fear, because they have the heavenly house of the Spirit
and that incorruptible glory, which glory in the resurrection
day shall build up and glorify the house of the body as
well, as the apostle tells us He that raised up Christ from
;

the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies through His
Spirit that dwelleih in you^SLna again, Thai the life also of
Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh? and
That mortality, it says, may be swallowed up of life. 3
8. Let us then strive by faith and virtuous living to gain

here that clothing, that when we put off the body we may
not be found naked, and there be nothing in that day to
glorify our flesh. For in proportion as any one has been
permitted to become through faith and diligence a partaker
of the Holy Ghost, his body also shall be glorified in that
day. What the soul has now stored up within, shall then
be revealed and displayed outwardly in the body. As trees
that have got over the winter, when warmed by the unseen
influence of sun and winds, put forth from within and shoot
out their clothing of leaves, and as at that season flowers of
the grass come forth from within the bosom of the earth,
and the earth is covered and dressed, and the grass is like
those lilies of which the Lord said that not even Solomon in
was arrayed like one of them? for these are all
all his glory

parables and types and figures of Christians at the resur-

rection. — 9. so to all God-loving souls, to true Christians,
there comes a first month, a Xanthicus, which is called

1
Rom. viii. II.
2
2 Cor. iv. II.
3 4
2 Cor. v. 4. Matt. vi. 29.
 HOMILY V 53

April. It is and by the power of

the day of resurrection ;

the Sun of Righteousness the glory of the Holy Ghost

comes out from within, decking and covering the bodies of
the saints —
the glory which they had before, but hidden
within in their souls. What a man has now, the same then
comes forth externally in the body. This month, it says,
shall be the first month of the year l this brings forth joy ;

for all the creation this dresses the naked trees, opening
;

the earth ; this brings forth joy for all living things ;
this

displays mirth for all ; this for Christians is Xanthicus, the

first month, which is the season of resurrection, in which
their bodies shall be glorified through the unspeakable light
which even now is in them that is the power of the —
—
Holy Ghost and which shall then be to them raiment,
meat, drink, gladness, joy, peace, robe, eternal life; for all

beauty of brightness and of heavenly splendour will then

come to them from that Spirit of the Godhead which they
were privileged even now to receive.
10. How then ought every one of us to believe, and to
strive, and to be diligent in all virtuous living, and with
much hope and patience to look for the privilege of receiv-
ing now that power from heaven, and the glory of the Holy
Ghost inwardly in the soul, in order that then, when our
bodies are dissolved, we may have what shall clothe and
quicken us ! // so be, it says, that being clothed we shall
not be found naked, 2,
and He shall quicken our mortal
bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in us. 3 The blessed
Moses showed in a type, through the glory of the Spirit
which was set upon his countenance, upon which no man
was able to look steadfastly, how at the resurrection of the
just the bodies of those that are worthy shall be glorified,
with a glory which even now the souls of holy and faithful
people are privileged to have within, upon the inner man.
For we all, it says, with open face, that is to say, in the
1
Ex. xii. 2. 2
2 Cor. v. 3.
3
Rom. viii. 11.
54 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

inward man, reflecting as in a glass ihe glory oj the Lord,

are changed into the same image from glory to glory. 1
In like manner, for forty days and forty nights, as it is

written, he did neither eat bread nor drink water. 21

It was
not possible for the nature of the body to live so long
without bread, unless he partook of some other spiritual
food ; of which food the souls of the saints even now
invisibly partake by gift of the Spirit.

ii. In two ways, therefore, the blessed Moses showed

what glory of light and what immaterial dainties of the
Spirit true Christians shall have at the resurrection, which
even now are vouchsafed to them in a hidden manner, and
therefore shall then be manifested also upon their bodies.
The glory which the saints now have in their souls, the
same, as we said before, shall cover and clothe their naked
bodies, and catch them into heaven and thenceforward we
;

shall rest, in body and soul, in the kingdom with the Lord
for ever. When God created Adam, He did not provide
him with bodily wings, like the birds, but He had designed
forhim the wings of the Holy Ghost, those wings which He
purposes to give him at the resurrection, to lift him up and
catch him away whithersoever the Spirit pleases which —
holy souls even now are privileged to have, and fly up in
mind to the heavenly frame of thought. For Christians
have a different world of their own, another table, other
raiment, another sort of enjoyment, other fellowship, another
frame of mind ; for which reason they are superior to other
men. The power of these things it is their privilege to
have now within them in their souls, through the Holy
Ghost; therefore at the resurrection their bodies also will
be permitted to share those eternal blessings of the Spirit,
and will be mixed with that glory, which their souls in this
life had known by experience.
12.Every one of us therefore ought to strive, and take
1 2
2 Cor. iii. i8. Ex. xxxiv. 28.
 HOMILY V 55

pains, and be diligent in all virtues, and to believe, and to

seek from the Lord that the inward man may be made
partaker of that glory here and now, and that the soul may
have fellowship in that sanctity of the Spirit, in order that
we may be cleansed from the defilements of wickedness
and may have at the resurrection wherewithal to clothe
our bodies as they rise naked, and to robe their uncome-
lincss, and quicken them, and refresh them for ever in the

kingdom of heaven. For Christ will come down from

heaven, and raise up all the tribes of Adam, those who
from the beginning have fallen asleep, according to the
holy scriptures, and will set them all in two divisions, and
those who bear His own sign, that is the seal of the Spirit,
lie will call to Him as His very own and
them on His set
right hand for My sheep, He says, hear My voice, and I
;

know Mine own and am known of Mine. 1 Then shall

the bodies of these be arrayed with divine glory from their
good works, and shall be full of the glory of the Spirit,
which they had in their souls even here and thus being ;

glorified in the divine light, and caught up into heaven

2
to meet the Lord in the air, as it is written, we shall ever
be with the Lord, rejoicing with Him to ages without end.
Amen,
1 2
John x. 14, 27. 1 Thess. iv. 17.
 HOMILY VI

Those who desire to please God, ought to offer their

prayers in peace and quietness, in gentleness and
wisdom, and not to give scandal to others by the
use of loud outcries. The Homily also contains two
questions, whether the thrones and crowns are actual
created things, and concerning the twelve thrones of
Israel.

i. Those who draw near to the Lord ought to make

their prayers in quietness and peace and great composure,
and to fix their minds upon the Lord not with unseemly
and confused outcries, but with effort of the heart and
vigilant thoughts. If some one suffering from a malady
needs to be cauterized or to undergo a surgical operation,
one man will bear the pain of it with courage and patience,
self-possessed, and making no noise or disturbance, while
others undergoing the same infliction give way under the
fire or the knife to unseemly outcries, and yet the pain of

the man who calls out is exactly the same as that of the
—
man who does not of him who makes a disturbance as
of him who makes none. So are there some who under
affliction and travail of the soul submit to it with dignity

and make no disturbance, controlling themselves by mental

reflexion, while others under the same affliction lose their
power of endurance, and make their prayers with disorderly
noise, so as to give offence to those who hear them.
There are others again who are under no real concern,
56
 HOMILY VI 57

but for ostentation or singularity make use of undisciplined

outcries, as if by these they could please God.
2. A servant of God ought not thus to lose self-control,

but to continue in meekness and wisdom, as the prophet

all

said, Unto whom shall I look but unto him that is meek

and quiet, and that trembleth at My words? 1 And in

the cases of Moses and Elias we fmd that in the appear-
ances vouchsafed to them, although there was a great
ministry of trumpets and powers before the majesty of the
Lord, yet the presence of the Lord was distinguished
amongst and from them all, and was manifested in peace
and quietness and repose. Lo, it says, a humble still
small voice, and the Lord was in it. 2 This shows that the
Lord's rest is in peace and composure. Whatever founda-
tion a man lays, however he starts, he will continue in the
same line to the last. If he begins praying with a loud
voice and noisy behaviour, he maintains to the last the
same usage. Since the Lord is a lover of men, it happens
that He gives succour even to such an one so they, ;

through the encouragement of grace, use the same ways to

the last. Nevertheless we see that this is the part of the
uninstructed, because they give offence to others, and at
the same time are themselves in disorder at their prayers.
3. The true foundation of prayer is this, to concentrate
attention,and to pray in great quietness and peace, so as
to give no offence to those outside. Such a man, if he
receives the grace of God upon his prayer, and continues
to the last in his quietness, will edify other people more.
For God is not the God of confusion, but of peace.
3

Those who pray noisily are like the man who shouts to
keep the rowers in time ; they cannot pray everywhere,
either in churches, or in villages ;
perhaps only in the

1
Isa. lxvi. 2. Macarius substitutes meek for the humble of the
LXX.
2
1 Kings xix. 12. 3
I Cor. xiv. 33.
58 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
deserts can they do it But those who pray
as they like.
quietly edify everybody everywhere. A man's whole labour
should be employed upon his thoughts he must cut away ;

the bush of evil thoughts which besets him, and urge him-
self to God, and not let his thoughts carry him where they
like, but collect them when they wander in any direction,

distinguishing natural thoughts from bad ones. Being

under sin, the soul comes near to being like a great wood
upon a hill, or the reeds in the river, or thickets of thorns
and bushes. Those who wish to pass through the place,
have to stretch out their hands, and with force and laborious
effort to shove aside the bushes that beset them. So do
the thoughts that come from the adverse power beset the
soul like bushes. Much diligence and application of mind,
therefore, is required, in order to distinguish the thoughts
which are not our own, but suggested by the adverse power.
4. One man, trusting to his own abilities, thinks to fell

the hills round him by himself; another, governing his

mind with composure and discernment, without great
trouble makes more of his work than the other. Thus
there are some who at prayer make use of unseemly out-
cries, as if they relied upon their muscular strength, not

knowing how their thoughts deceive them, and fancying

that they can achieve a perfect success by their own power.
Others there are who pay attention to their thoughts, and
exercise all their labour within. These by their under-
standing and discernment are enabled to reach success,
and to shake off the insurrection of the thoughts and to
walk after the will of the Lord. And we find in the
apostle that he calls the person who edifies others greater
than he who does not. He says, He that speakeih with
tongues edifieth himself, but he that prophesieth edifietli the

church. Greater is he that prophesieth than he that

1
speakeih with tongues. Every one, therefore, will choose
1
1 Cor. xiv. 4, 5.
 HOMILY VI 59

to edify others, and thus will have the kingdom of heaven

vouchsafed to him.
5. Question. Some people tell us that the thrones and
crowns are actual creatures, not spiritual things. How
ought we to understand them ?
Answer. The throne of the Godhead is our mind, and
again, the throne of our mind is the Godhead and the
Spirit. In like manner Satan also and the powers and
rulers of darkness have, ever since the transgression of the
commandment, seated themselves in the heart and mind
and body of Adam, as their own throne. That was why
the Lord came, and took His body of the Virgin. For if
He had willed to come down in His uncovered Godhead,
who would have been able to bear it ? So He spoke to
men through the instrument of the body. By this means
he put down the spirits of wickedness, which had their
seat in the body, from these thrones of mind and thought,
wherein they dwelt, and the Lord cleansed the conscience,
and made Himself a throne of the mind, the thoughts, and
the body.
6. Question. What then is the meaning of the text, Ye
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
l
Israel ?
Answer. We find that this came to pass upon earth,
when the Lord had been taken up into heaven. For He
sent the Comforter Spirit upon the twelve apostles, and
that holy power which came and tabernacled and seated
itself in the throne of their minds. When the bystanders
said, These men are full of new wine, Peter began at 2

once to judge them, saying concerning Jesus, "A

Man mighty in words and signs ye crucified, hanging
Him on a tree; 3 and behold, He there did wondrous
things, rending the graves of stone, and raising the dead.
1 2
Matt. xix. 28. Acts ii. 13.
3
Acts ii. 22 ff. ; cp. v. 30.
6o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
For it is written, In days I will pour out of My
the last
Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters
Y
shall prophesy Many, therefore, came to repentance
under Peter's instruction, so that a new world, elect of
God, came into being.
7. Do you see how the beginning of judgment appeared ?

A new world appeared there. Authority was given them

here to sit and judge even in this world. Not but that
they are to sit and give judgment hereafter, at the advent
of the Lord, at the resurrection of the dead. Put it came
to pass here also, when- the Holy Ghost seated Himself on
the thrones of their minds.
The diadems which Christians receive in that nge are
not creatures. Those who say so, say amiss. The Spirit
uses them as a suggestive figure. What does the apostle
Paul say concerning the heavenly Jerusalem ? This is the
mother of us all, 2 in whose confession we agree. As for the
garment which Christians wear, it is evidently the Spirit
Himself that clothes them, in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
1 2
Acts ii. 17. Gal. iv. 26.
 HOMILY VII

Concerning the loving kindness of Christ towards men.

The Homily also contains certain questions and
answers.

i. Imagine a man to go into a royal palace, and to see the

portraits and works of art there, treasures kept in one place,
other things in another. Imagine him to sit down to table
with the king, and to have delicious meats and drinks set
before him, and to be in every way refreshed with the
contemplation of such beautiful things; and after that, to
be hurried off, and found carried away to noisome places.
Or imagine a maiden fairer, wiser, and wealthier than all
others, to take for her husband a poor, lowly, ugly man,
clothed in tatters j to take the filthy garments from him,
and clothe him with the robes of a king, and set a diadem
on his head, and enter into union with him. There comes
a moment when that poor man begins to be frightened, and
to say, "Am I, who am wretched and poor and mean and
lowly, to have such a wife given to me ? " This is what
God has done to poor wretched man. He has given him
to taste of another world, of other delicious food; He has
shown him glories and royal beauties unspeakable and
heavenly ; and so the man, comparing those spiritual things
with the things of this world, casts all away, and whether
king, or princes, or wise men meet his eye, he turns his
gaze to the heavenly treasure. For since God is love, man
has received the heavenly and divine fire of Christ, and is

at rest, and rejoices, and is there fast bound.

6i
62 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
2. Question. Is Satan in the same place as God, either in

the air, men ?

or in
Answer. The sun yonder is but a creature. When it

shines upon miry places, what harm does it take? How

much more can the Divine Being be in the same place as
Satan without being sullied or polluted? Evil, however,
is darkened and blinded, and cannot see the purity and
fineness of God. If any one says that Satan has his own
proper place, and God His, he makes God to be circum-
scribed with reference to the place where the wicked one
dwells. How then can we say that the good is not circum-
scribed or comprehended, and that all things are contained
within it, and yet that the good is not polluted by the evil ?
What then ? Because sky, and sun, and mountains are in
God, and have their consistency through Him, are they
then God? Created things are established in their own
order, and the Creator, who is present with them all, is
God.
3. Question. When sin is transformed into an angel of

light, and comes to look like grace, how is a man to detect

the wiles of the devil, and how shall he welcome and
discern the things of grace?
Answer. The things of grace are attended by joy, peace,
love, and truth. Truth itself compels man to seek truth.
But the forms of sin are disordered, and have nothing of
love or joy towards God. Endive looks like lettuce ; but
one is sweet, and the other, for all its likeness, is bitter.
Even in the realm of grace itself, there is what looks like
truth, and there is the substance of truth itself. The ray
of the sun is one thing, and the orb itself is another, and
the ray does not give shine in the same sense in which the
light stored up in the orb does. A lamp is lighted in the
house the ray of it which beams all round is one thing
:

and the light in the lamp itself is another, brighter and

clearer. In like manner there are things of grace, which
 HOMILY VII 63

when a man sees them at a distance, as spectacles to be

looked at, give him joy even as spectacles ; but he becomes
another man when the power of God enters into him,
and occupies his heart and his members, and makes his
mind captive to the love of God. When they seized Peter
and cast him into prison, an angel of the Lord came, when
he was shut in, and broke his chains, and brought him
out and he, like one in a trance, thought he saw a vision.
;

4. Question. And how comes it that people who are

under the influence of grace ever fall ?

Answer. Even pure intelligences in their own nature are
liable to slip and fall. A man begins to be lifted up, to
censure, to say, "Thou art a sinner/' while he considers
himself righteous. Do you not know what St. Paul says,
There was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger
of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above mea-
sure? 1 Even a pure nature is liable to be exalted above
measure.
5. Question.Can a man, by means of light, see his own
soul ? There are some people who do away with revelation,
and affirm that it is knowledge and sense which give vision.
Answer. Sense differs from vision, and vision from en-
lightenment and the man who has enlightenment is greater
;

than the man who has only sense. His mind is enlightened,
inasmuch as he has received a greater portion than the man
who has but sense, as is shown by his seeing within himself
visions which he cannot doubt. But revelation is a further
thing. Great things, and mysteries of God, are the subjects
of revelation to the soul.
6. Question. Does one by revelation and the divine light
see the soul ?

Answer. As these eyes of ours see the sun, so those who

are enlightened see the image of the soul ; but not many
Christians have this sight.
1
2 Cor. xii. 7.
64 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

7. Question. Has the soul any form ?

Answer. It has an image or form in the same way as an

angel has. As the angels have an image or form, and as
the outward man has his image, so the inner man has an
image like an angel's, and a form like that of the outward
man.
8. mind one thing and the soul another?
Question. Is the
Answer. As the members of the body, being many, are
called one man, so the soul has many members, mind, con-
science, will, thoughts accusing and excusing, 1 but all these
are dependent upon one factor. They are members of the
soul, and the soul is one, the inward man.Lut as the out-
ward eyes discover at a distance the thorns, precipices, and
pitfalls, and give warning beforehand, so the mind, when it

is at all alert, discovers beforehand the crafts and devices

of the adverse power, and secures the soul in advance. It is

in fact the eye of the soul. Let us ascribe glory to the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for ever and ever. Amen.
1
Rom. ii. 15.
 HOMILY VIII

Concerning things which befall Christians at prayer, and

concerning the measures of perfection whether it is —
possible for Christians to reach the perfect measure.

i. A man goes bend the knee, and his heart is filled

in to
with the divine influence, and his soul rejoices with the
Lord, like bride with bridegroom, according to that word of
the prophet Esaias which says, As the bridegroom rejoiceth
1
over the bride, so shall the Lord rejoice over thee; and it

comes to pass that being all day engaged he gives himself

to prayer for an hour, and the inward man is rapt in prayer
into the unfathomable deep of that other world in great
sweetness, so that his whole mind is up aloft, rapt away
thither, and estranged from things below. For the time
being forgetfulness comes into him with regard to the in-
terests of the earthly mind, because his thoughts are filled

and taken captive to divine and heavenly things, to things

infinite and past comprehension, to wonderful things which
no human lips can express, so that for that hour he prays
and says, " Would God that my soul might pass along with
"
my prayer !

2. Question. Can any one enter into these things at all

times ?

Answer. Grace is constantly present, and is rooted in us,

and worked into us like leaven, from our earliest years,
until the thing thus present becomes fixed in a aman like
natural endowment, as if it were one substance with him.
But, for the man's own good, it manages him in many
1
Isa. lxii. 5.

65
66 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
different ways, after its own Sometimes the fire
pleasure.
flames out and kindles more vehemently at other times
;

more gently and mildly. The light that it gives kindles up

at times and shines with unusual brightness at others it
;

abates and burns low. The lamp is always burning and

shining, but when it is specially trimmed, it kindles up with
intoxication of the love of God and then again by God's
;

dispensation it gives in, and though the light is always there,

it is comparatively dull.

3. To some, however, the sign of the cross has appeared

in light and fastened itself upon the inward man. At another
time a man at his prayers has fallen into a kind of trance,
and found himself standing in the altar-space in church,
and three loaves were offered to such an one, leavened with
oil, and the more he ate of them, the more they increased

and grew. At another time there was brought as it were

a shining garment, such as there is none on earth in the
course of this world, nor is it possible for human hands to
make the like for as when the Lord went up into the
;

mountain with Peter and John, He changed the fashion of

His raiment and made it to flash with light, so was it with this
garment, and the man who was clothed with it wondered
and was amazed. Another while, the light shining in the
heart disclosed the inner, deeper, hidden light, so that the
man, swallowed up in the sweetness of the contemplation,
was no longer master of himself, but was like a fool or a
barbarian to this world by reason of the surpassing love
and sweetness, by reason of the hidden mysteries so that ;

the man for that season was set at liberty, and came to
perfect measures, and was pure and free from sin yet after-
;

wards grace retreated, and the veil of the adverse power

came ; notwithstanding, grace still shews itself in part, and
he stands on the first and lowest step of perfection.
4. There are twelve steps, we might say, which a man

has to pass before he reaches perfection. For a season that

 HOMILY VIII 67

measure has been attained, and perfection entered upon ;

and then grace gives in, and he comes down by one step,
and stands on the eleventh. Here and there one man rich
in grace has stood always, night and day, in perfect measures,
at liberty and in purity, always captive and aloft. Well
now, if the man to whom those marvellous things were
shewn, of which he has had actual experience, were to
have them always present with him, he would be unable
to undertake the dispensation of the word and the burden
of it, nor could he endure to any interest
listen to, or take
in, any ordinary thing, concerning himself, or concerning
the morrow, but only to sit in a corner, aloft and intoxi-

cated. So the perfect measure has not been given, in order

that he may be free to take an interest in his brethren,
and in the ministry of the word. Nevertheless the middle
wall of partition has been broken through 1 and death is
overcome.
5. The case stands thus, as if some foggy power hangs
over and forms a light screen, like a dense air, though the
lamp is burning and shining all the while, even as a veil
hangs over yonder light. So this man confesses that he is

not perfect or altogether free from sin. He says that the

middle wall of partition has been broken through and
shattered, and yet at some point not wholly broken, nor
at all times. There are moments when grace kindles up
and comforts and refreshes more fully there are moments ;

when it retreats and clouds over, according as grace itself

manages for the man's advantage. But who is there that
has come to the perfect measure at particular seasons, and
has tasted and had direct experience of that world ?
perfect Christian man, one completely free, I have not yet
seen. Although one and another is at rest in grace, and
enters into mysteries and revelations and into much sweet-
ness of grace, still sin is yet present within. By reason of
1
Eph. ii. 14.
68 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

the exceeding grace and of the light that is in them, men

consider themselves free and perfect j but inexperience de-
ceives them. They are under the influence of grace, but I

have never yet seen a man that is free. I myself at times

have in part come to that measure, and I have learned to
know that it does not constitute a perfect man.
6. Question. Tell us, if thou wilt, what measures thou
art in?
Answer. After the sign of the cross, 1 grace now acts thus.
It calms all the members and the heart, so that the soul, for

much joy, appears like an innocent child, and the man no

longer condemns Greek or Jew, sinner or worldling. The
inner man regards all men with a pure eye, and the man
rejoices over all the world, and desires that all should
worship and love, Greeks and Jews. At another moment,
like the king's son, he is as bold in the Son of God as in a
father, and doors are opened to him, and he enters within to
many mansions, 2 and the further he goes in, doors are again
opened in progression, a hundred mansions leading to a
hundred beyond, and he is rich, and the richer he is, other
new wonders are again disclosed to him, and he is entrusted,
as a son and an heir, with things that cannot be told by
mankind or put into syllables by mouth and tongue. Glory
to God. Amen.
2
1
The experience spoken of above, § 3. John xiv. 2.
 HOMILY IX

That the promisesand prophecies of God are accomplished

through manifold trial and temptation, and that those
who cleave to God alone are delivered from the temptation
of the evil one.

i. The spiritual influence of God's grace within the soul

works with great patience, wisdom, and mysterious manage-
ment of the mind, while the man for long times and seasons
contends in much endurance and then the work of grace
;

is proved to be perfect in him, his free will and choice being

proved by much be well-pleasing to the Spirit, and

trial to

the man having displayed thoroughness and perseverance

for a good length of time. We will illustrate this law of
action from plain examples in the inspired scriptures.
2. What I mean is well exhibited in Joseph. What times
and seasons it took to accomplish the predestined will of
God concerning him, and to fulfil his visions. By what
pains and afflictions and distresses he was first proved,
and endured them all nobly, and was found in them all a
thorough and faithful servant of God, and then became a
king of Egypt, and nurtured his family, and the prophecy
of things unseen was accomplished, and the will of God
received its predicted end after long time and much
management.
3. So with David. God anointed him king by the pro-
phet Samuel, and when he was anointed, he fled from Saul,
who pursued him to destroy him. Where then was God's
69
7o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
anointing? Where was the promise, so far as the imme-
diate future was concerned? After his anointing, he was
and destitute
grievously afflicted, wandering in desert places,
even of bread,and taking refuge among the heathen
because of Saul's designs against him. Such afflictions
encompassed the man whom God had anointed to be king.
Then after long trial, and affliction, and temptation, and
patience, having once for all believed God, and assuring
himself, " What God did for me by the prophet's anointing,
and what God said should come to pass concerning me,
must without doubt come to pass, even though long patience
be required," at length the will of God was done, and David
reigned after all his trials. Then the word of God was
manifested, and the anointing at the hands of the prophet
was shewn to be sure and true.
4. So with Moses. God having foreknown and pre-
destined him to be the ruler and deliverer of the people,
made him to become the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and
he grew up to kingly fortune and splendour and luxury,
being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians l ; and
when he reached man's estate, and was become great, he
refused all those things, choosing rather the suffering afflic-

tion and the reproaches of the Christ, as the apostle says,

than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. 2 He
to
became a fugitive from Egypt and how long did that son
;

of a king, who was bred up enjoyment and royal

to such
luxury, spend in the labours of a shepherd Then at !

length, being approved to God and found faithful through

much patience, because he had endured many temptations,
he became the deliverer, the ruler, the king of Israel, and
was addressed by God as a God to Pharaoh? Through
him God smote Egypt with plagues, and displayed through
him great wonders upon Pharaoh, and finally drowned the
Egyptians in the sea. See, after what length of time the
2 3
1
Acts vii. 22. Heb. xi. 24-26. Ex. vii. 1.
 HOMILY IX 71

will and purpose of God was declared, and after how many
trials and afflictions it was fulfilled.

5. So again with Abraham. How long beforehand God

promised to bestow on him a son, and yet gave him none
there and then, but for how many intervening years trials
and temptations befell him But Abraham patiently
!

endured all that came upon him, and was fully persuaded
by faith that He who had promised, and could not lie,
would fulfil His own word, and so being found faithful he
obtained his promise.
6. In like manner Noah, being commanded in his five-
hundredth year by God to prepare the ark, and warned
that He would bring a flood upon the world, which was
not brought until his six-hundredth year, waited patiently for
a hundred years, nothing doubting whether God would do
what He said or not, but being once for all fully persuaded
by faith that what God had spoken must assuredly come to
pass. So, being found approved by resolution and faith
and endurance and much patience, he alone with his house
was saved, having kept the commandment in purity.
7. We have alleged these scriptural grounds to show that

God's grace in man, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, which
is vouchsafed to a faithful soul, proceeds with much
contention, with much endurance and longsuffering, and
temptations and trials, the man's free will being tried by all

manner of afflictions. And when it does not grieve the

Spirit in anything, but is agreeable to grace through all

commandments, then it is permitted to obtain freedom

from passions, and receives the fulfilment of the Spirit's
adoption, spoken of in a mystery, and of the spiritual
riches, and of the intelligence which is not of this world,
whereof true Christians are made partakers. For this
reason they are for all purposes superior to all the men of
prudence, intelligence, and wisdom, who have the spirit of
the world.
72 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
For such an one judgeth all men, 1 as it is written.
8.

He knows each man, from whence he speaks, and where he

stands, and what measures he is in but not a man of those
\

that have the spirit of the world is able to know and judge
him, but only he that has the like heavenly Spirit of the
Godhead knows his like, as the apostle says : Comparing
spiritual things with spiritual ; but the natural man
receivcth not the things of the Spirit, for they are foolish-
ness unto him : but he that is spiritual judgeth all men, yet
he himself is judged by none. 2 Such an one looks upon
all things that the world holds glorious, its riches, its luxury,
and all its enjoyments — yea, and even its knowledge and —
all things belonging to this age, as loathsome and hateful.
As one that is possessed and burning with a fever
9.

loathes and rejects the sweetest food or drink that you offer
him, because he burns with the fever and is vehemently
exercised by it, so those who burn with the heavenly, sacred,
solemn longing of the Spirit, and are smitten in soul with
love of the love of God, and are vehemently exercised by
the divine and heavenly fire which the Lord came to send
upon the earth, and desire that it should speedily be
kindled? and are aflame with the heavenly longing for
Christ, these, as we said before, consider all the glorious
and precious things of this age contemptible and hateful
by reason of the fire of the love of Christ, which holds them
fast and inflames them and burns them with a Godward

disposition and with the heavenly good things of love from ;

which love nothing of all that are in heaven and earth and
under the earth be able to separate them, as the
shall
apostle Paul testified, saying, Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? and what follows. 4
10. But it is not possible that any one should obtain the

possession of his own soul, and of the heavenly love of the

1 2
1 Cor. ii. 15. 1 Cor. ii. 13 ff.

3 Luke xii. 49. ' Rom. viii. 35.

 HOMILY IX 73

Spirit, unless he makes himself a stranger to all the things

of this age, and gives himself up to seeking the love of
Christ, and his mind stands clear of all material cares and
earthly distractions, in order that he may be wholly occu-
pied with the one aim, directing these things by all the com-
mandments, in order that his whole care and seeking,
and the engrossment and business of his soul, may be
about the search for the immaterial substance, how the
soul should be adorned with the commandments of the
virtues, and with the heavenly adornment of the Spirit,
and with the fellowship of the purity and sanctification
—
of Christ so that having renounced all, and having cut
himself free all round from the hindrances of earth and of
material things, and set himself clear of fleshly love, whether
it be the affection of parents or of kindred, the man may
not permit his mind to be busied or distracted with any
other thing, such as power, glory, honours, or fleshly friend-
ships of the world, or any other earthly thoughts, but his
mind may wholly and entirely take upon itself care and
pains for the seeking of the immaterial substance of the
soul, and may wholly and entirely endure in expectancy
and waiting for the coming of the Spirit as the Lord says, ;

In your patience possess ye your souls, 1 and again, Seek

the kingdom and all these things shall be added unto you. 2
n. So may it be, that one who thus strives, and at all
times takes heed to himself, whether in prayer, or in
obedience, or in any kind of work done according to God,
should be able to escape the darkness of wicked devils.
The mind that is never off the search of itself and the quest
of the Lord avails to gain possession of its own soul — the
soul that was in the perdition of the passions —
by always
bringing itself into captivity to the Lord with main force
and earnestness, and by cleaving to Him only, as it is said,
Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
1
Luke xxi. 19. 2
Matt. vi. 33.
 ;

74 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

Christ by means of such striving and longing and
1
; that
seeking the mind may attain to become with the Lord one
2
Spirit of the gift and grace of Christ, resting in the vessel
of the soul, which has prepared herself for every good work,
and which does no despite unto the Spirit of the Lord 3 by
its own selfwill, and by the wanderings of this world, its

glories, powers, self-determinations, or fleshly indulgences,

and the companionships and society of evil men.
12. Lovely it is, when the soul, devoting herself wholly
to the Lord, and cleaving to Him only, and dwelling mind-
fully in His commandments, and worthily honouring the
Spirit of Christ which has come upon her and overshadowed
her, is permitted to be one Spirit and one composition with
Him, as the apostle says, He that is joined unto the Lord is one
Spirit.* But if a man gives himself away to cares, or glory,
or power, or human honours, and seeks after these things,
and his soul is mixed up and enters into composition with
earthly considerations, or is bound and held by anything
belonging to this age, and if such a soul longs to transfer
itself and escape and get away from the darkness of passions,

in which it is held by the evil powers, it cannot do so,

because it loves and does the will of darkness, and does not
perfectly hate the practices of wickedness.
Let us therefore prepare ourselves to travel to the
13.
Lord with an undivided will and purpose, and to become
followers of Christ, to accomplish whatever He wills, and to
think upon His commandments to do them. 5 Let us sever
ourselves altogether from the love of the world, and attach
our souls to mind Him only as our
Him only, and keep in

business and quest. we have to be some-

care and If
what busied also in body, with the business laid upon us,
and with obedience for God's sake, let not the mind be
parted from its love and quest and longing after the Lord
3
1 2 Cor. x. 5.
2
1 Cor. vi. 17. Hcb. x. 29.
4 5
1 Cor. vi. 17. Ps. ciii. 18.
 HOMILY IX 75

so that striving in such a mind, and journeying along the

way of righteousness with an upright intention, and always
taking heed to ourselves, we may obtain the promise of
His Spirit, and may through grace be delivered from the
perdition of the darkness of the passions, by which the soul
is exercised, that we may be made meet for the eternal

kingdom, and permitted to enjoy all eternity with Christ,

glorifying the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for ever.
Amen.
 HOMILY
By lowliness of mind and earnestness the gifts of the
Divine grace are preserved, but by pride and sloth they
are destroyed.

i. Souls that love truth and God, that long with much
hope and faith to put on Christ completely, do not need so
much to be put in remembrance by others, nor do they
endure, even for a while, to be deprived of the heavenly
desire and of passionate affection to the Lord ; but being
wholly and entirely nailed to the cross of Christ, they
perceive in themselves day by day a sense of spiritual
advance towards the spiritual Bridegroom. Being smitten
with the heavenly longing, and hungering for the righteous-
ness of the virtues, they have a great and insatiable desire
for the shining forth of the Spirit. Even if they are privi-
leged through their faith to receive the knowledge of Divine
mysteries, or are made partakers of the gladness of heavenly
grace, they put no trust in themselves, thinking themselves
to be somewhat, but the more they are permitted to receive
spiritual gifts, the more insatiable they are of the heavenly
longing, and the more they seek on with diligence. The
more they perceive in themselves a spiritual advance, the
more hungry and thirsty they are for the participation and
increase of grace and the richer they spiritually are, the
;

more do they esteem themselves to be poor, being insatiable

in the spiritual longing for the heavenly Bridegroom, as the
scripture says, They that eat Me shall yet be hungry, and
they that drink Me shall yet be thirsty. 1

1
Ecclus. xxiv. 21.
76
 ;

HOMILY 77

2. Suchwhich have the love of the Lord ardently

souls,
and insatiably, arc meet for eternal life for which reason ;

deliverance from the passions is vouchsafed to them, and

they obtain perfectly the shining forth and participation of
the unspeakable and mystic fellowship of the Holy Ghost,
in the fulness of grace. But as many souls as are feeble
and slack, not seeking to receive here on earth, while they
are still in the flesh, through patience and longsuffering,
sanctification of heart, not in part, but perfectly, and have
never hoped to partake in the Paraclete Spirit in perfection
with all conscious satisfaction and assurance, and have
never expected to be delivered through the Spirit from the
passions of evil ; one time received the grace
or having at
of God, have been deceived by sin and have given them-
selves over to some form of carelessness and remissness
3. these, as having received the grace of the Spirit, and

possessing some comfort of grace in rest and aspiration and

spiritual sweetness, presume upon this, and are lifted up,
and grow careless, without contrition of heart, and without
humility of mind, neither reaching the perfect measure of
freedom from passion, nor waiting to be perfectly filled
with grace in all diligence and faith, but they felt assured,
and took their repose, and remained satisfied with their
scanty comfort of grace, the result of which advance to
such souls was pride rather than humility, and they are at
length stripped of whatever grace was vouchsafed to them,
because of their careless contempt, and because of the vain
arrogance of their self-conceit.
4. The soul that really loves God and Christ, though it

may do ten thousand righteousnesses, esteems itself as

having wrought nothing, by reason of its insatiable aspira-
tion after God. Though it should exhaust the body with
fastings, with watchings, its attitude towards the virtues is

as if it had not yet even begun to labour for them. Though

divers gifts of the Spirit, or revelations and heavenly
1
78 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

mysteries, should be vouchsafed to it, it feels in itself to

have acquired nothing at all, by reason of its unlimited and
insatiable love to the Lord. All day long, hungering and
thirsting through faith and love, in persevering prayer, it

continues to be insatiable for the mysteries of grace, and

for the accomplishment of every virtue. It is smitten with
passionate love of the heavenly Spirit, continually stirring
up within itself through grace an ardent aspiration for the

heavenly Bridegroom, desiring to be perfectly admitted to

the mystical, ineffable fellowship with Him in sanctification

of the Spirit. The face of the soul is unveiled, and it gazes

upon the heavenly Bridegroom face to face m a spiritual
light that cannot be described, mingling with Him in all

fulness of assurance, being conformed His death, ever

to
looking with great desire to die for Christ, and trusting
with assurance to receive by the Spirit a perfect deliverance
from sin and from the darkness of the passions in order ;

that having been cleansed by the Spirit, sanctified in

soul and body, it may be permitted to become a clean
vessel to receive the heavenly unction and to entertain the
true King, even Christ; and then it is made meet for
eternal life, being henceforward a clean dwelling-place of
the Holy Ghost.
5. For a soul to reach these measures, however, does not
come all at once, or without trial. Through many labours
and struggles, and long time, and earnestness, with trial
and manifold temptations, it gains the spiritual increase and
advance, even to the perfect measure of freedom from
passion, in order that willingly and bravely enduring every
temptation with which it is plied by evil, it may then be
privileged to obtain the great honours, and spiritual gifts,
and heavenly riches, and thus become an inheritor of the
heavenly kingdom in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be
glory and might for ever. Amen.
 ;

HOMILY XI

That the power of the Holy Ghost in man s heart is like

fire; and what things we need, in order to distinguish
the thoughts that spring up in the heart; and concerning
the dead serpent fixed by Moses at the top of the pole,
which was a type of Christ. The Homily contains two
dialogues, one between Christ and the evil one, Satan
the other between sinners and the same.

i. That heavenly fire of the Godhead, which Christians

receive in their hearts now same
in this present world, that
fire which now ministers inwardly in the heart becomes

outward when the body is dissolved, and recomposes the

members, and causes a resurrection of the members that
had been dissolved. As the fire that ministered on the
altar at Jerusalem lay buried in a pit during the time of
the captivity, and the selfsame fire, when peace came and
the captives returned home, was renewed, as it were, and
ministered in its accustomed manner, 1
so now the heavenly
fire works upon this body that is so near us, which after its

dissolution turns to mire, and renews it, and raises up the

bodies that had decayed. The inward fire that now dwells
in the heart becomes then external, and causes a resurrection
of the body.
2. The fire in the furnace under Nabuchodonosor was no
divine fire, but a creature ; but the Three Children, be-
cause of their righteousness, while they were in the visible
1
2 Mace. i. 19.

79
8o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
fire, had in their hearts the divine and heavenly fire
ministering within their thoughts and exerting its energy
in That very fire showed itself outside them. It
them.
stood between them and the visible fire, and restrained it,
that it should not burn the righteous, nor do them any
manner of hurt. In like manner, when the mind of Israel
and their thoughts were bent upon departing far from the
living God and turning to idolatry, Aaron was compelled
to tell them to bring their golden vessels and ornaments.
Then the gold and the vessels, which they cast into the
fire, became an idol, and the fire, as it were, copied their

intention. That was a wonderful thing. They, secretly,

in purpose and thought, determined upon idolatry, and the
fire accordingly fashioned the vessels thrown upon it into

an idol, and then they committed idolatry openly. 1 As,

then, the Three Children, having thoughts of righteousness,
received in themselves the fire of God, and worshipped the
Lord in truth, so now faithful souls receive that divine
and heavenly fire, in this world, in secret; and that fire
forms a heavenly image upon their humanity. 3. As the

fire formed the golden vessels, and they became an idol,

so does the Lord, who copies the intentions of faithful and

good souls, and forms an image even now in the soul
according to their desire, and at the resurrection it appears
external to them, and glorifies their bodies within and with-
out. But as the bodies of some are at this time decayed
for a season, and dead, and dissolved, so also are their
thoughts decayed by the action of Satan, and are dead to
the life indeed, and buried in mire and earth for their soul ;

is perished. As, therefore, the Israelites cast the golden

vessels into the fire, and they became an idol, so now the
man has given over his pure and good thoughts to and
evil,

they have been buried in the mire of sin, and are become
1
This is Macarius' interpretation of Ex. xxxii. 24. He had
apparently forgotten verse 4.
 —

HOMILY XI 8
an idol. And what shall a man do and to discover them,
discern them, and cast them out of his own fire ? Here
the soul has need of a divine lamp, even of the Holy
Ghost, who sets in order the darkened house. It needs the
bright sun of righteousness, which enlightens and rises upon
the heart, as an instrument to win the battle.
4. That woman who lost the piece of silver, first lighted
the lamp, and then set the house in order, and thus, the
house being set in order and the lamp lit, the piece of
was found, buried in dirt and filth and earth. So now
silver
the soul cannot of itself find its own thoughts, and disen-
gage them but when the divine lamp is lit, it lights up the
;

darkened house, and then the soul beholds its thoughts,

how they lie buried in the filth and mire of sin. The sun
rises, and then the soul beholds its loss, and begins to

recall the thoughts that were mingled among the dirt and
the uncleanness. For indeed the soul lost her image when
she transgressed the commandment.
5. Suppose there is a king, and he has goods and
servants under him to minister to him, and he happens
to be taken by his enemies and carried captive. When he
is taken and removed from his country, his ministers and
servants cannot but follow after him. Thus Adam was
created pure by God for His service, and these creatures
were given him to minister to his wants. He was appointed
lord and king of all creatures. But when the evil word
came to him, and conversed with him, he first received it
by the outward hearing, then it penetrated through his
heart, and took possession of all his being. When he was
thus seized, creation, which served him and ministered to
him, was seized with him. Through him death reigned over
every soul, and defaced every image of Adam in conse-
quence of his disobedience, so that men were turned and
came to the worship of devils. Lo, the fruits of the earth,
which were created good by God, are offered to the devils
82 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
bread, and wine, and oil ; and they set animals upon their
altars ;
yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters
unto devils. 1
At this point comes He in person, who fashioned
6.

body and soul, and undoes the whole business of the

wicked one, and his works accomplished in men's thoughts,
and renews and forms a heavenly image, and makes a new
thing of the soul, that Adam may again be king over death
and lord of the creatures. In the shadow of the law,
Moses was called the Saviour of Israel, because he brought
them out of Egypt. So now the true Redeemer, Christ,
goes through into the hidden places of the soul, and brings
it out of dark Egypt, and the heavy yoke, and the bitter

bondage. He commands us, therefore, to come out of the

world, and to become poor of all visible things, and to
have no earthly care, but night and day to stand at the
door, and wait for the time when the Lord shall open the
closed hearts, and shall pour upon us the gift of the Spirit.
7. He told us therefore to leave gold, silver, kinsfolk,
to sell thatwhich we have and distribute to the poor, and
to treasure it up and seek it in heaven. For where thy
treasure is, there will thy heart be also.
2.
The Lord knew
that in this quarter Satan prevails over the thoughts, to
drag them down to anxiety for material, earthly things.
For reason God, in providential care for thy soul, told
this
thee to renounce all, in order that even against thy will
thou mightest seek the heavenly riches, and keep thy heart
Godwards ; for even if thou shouldest wish to return to
the creaturely things, thou findest nothing visible in thy
possession. Wiliest thou, nillest thou, thou art compelled
to send thy mind to heaven, where thou hast treasured
these things and laid them up ; for where thy treasure is,
there will thy heart be also.
8. In the law God commanded Moses to make a serpent
2
1
Ps. exxxvi. 37. Matt. vi. 21.
 HOMILY XI 83

of brass, 1 and lift it up, and fix it upon the top of a pole,
and as many as were stung by the serpents, when they
fixed their upon the brazen serpent, obtained
attention
healing. This was done by way of a dispensation, in order
that those who were held by earthly cares, and the worship
of idols, and the pleasures of Satan, and all manner of
ungodliness, might by this means to some extent look
upward to things above, and gaining a respite from things
below, might give heed to higher things, and again proceed
from these to that which is highest and thus advancing ;

little by little to the higher and loftier kind, might learn to

know that there is a Most Highest surpassing all the

creation. So likewise He commanded thee also to make
thyself poor, and to sell all and give to the poor, in order
that after that, even if thou shouldest wish to sink down
upon the earth, it might be impossible. Searching into
thy heart, thou beginnest to commune with thy thoughts,
11
Inasmuch as we have nothing upon earth, let us be get-
ting heavenwards, where our treasure is, where we have set
up a business." Thy mind begins to uplift an eye to the
height, to seek the things above, and in so doing to make
progress.
9. What, however, is the dead serpent? The serpent
fixed upon the top of the pole healed those that were
stung. The dead serpent overcame the live ones. Thus
it is a figure of the body of the Lord. The body which He
took of the ever Virgin Mary, He offered it up upon the
cross, and hung it there, and fastened it upon the tree;
and the dead body overcame and slew the live serpent
creeping in the heart. Here was a great marvel, how the
dead serpent slew the live one but as Moses made a new j

thing, when he made a likeness of the live serpent, so

also the Lord made a new thing from the Virgin Mary, and
put this on, instead of bringing with Him a body from
1
Num. xxi. 8.
84 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
heaven. The heavenly Spirit entered in and wrought in
Adam, 1 and brought him into combination with the God-
head, and put on human flesh, and fashioned it in the
womb. As no serpent of brass was ever commanded by
the Lord to be made in the world until Moses, so a new
and sinlessbody was never seen in the world until the
Lord. For when the first Adam transgressed the com-
mandment, death reigned over his children without
exception. So a dead body overcame the live serpent.
io. This wonderful thing is to the Jews a stumbling-
block, and to the Greeks foolishness. 2 But what says
the apostle? But we preach Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the
Greeks foolishness, but to us that
t
are saved Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God. 3 In the
dead body is life. Here is redemption here is light. ;

Here the Lord comes to death, and discourses with him,

and bids him bring the souls out of hell and death, and
give them back to Him. Behold then, death, troubled at
these things, goes in to his ministers, and gathers together
all his powers and the prince of wickedness produces the
;

bond-deeds, and says, "See, these obeyed my words; see

how men worshipped us." But God, who is a just judge,
displays His justice here also, and says to him, " Adam
obeyed thee, and thou didst take possession of all the
hearts of him. Humanity obeyed thee. What is My body
doing here ? This is without sin. That body of the first
Adam was under obligation to thee, and thou hast a right
to keep the bond-deeds of it ; but to Me all bear witness
that I never sinned. I owe thee nothing, and all bear

witness that I am the Son of God. Above the heavens

came a voice and bore witness upon the earth, This is My
beloved Son; hear Him* John witnesses, Behold, the
1
By "Adam" Macarius means humanity. 2
I Cor. i. 23.
3 i
1 Cor. i. 24 ; cp. ii. 2. Matt. iii. 17 ; cp. xvii. 5.
 ;; ;

HOMILY XI 85

Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ;

1

and the scripture again, Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in Him 2 and, The prince of this world cometh,
and hath nothing in Me? And thou thyself, Satan,
bearest witness to Me, saying, / know Thee, who Thou art,
4
the Son of God and again, What have we to do with
Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth ? art Thou come to torment
us before the time ? 5 There are three that bear witness
to Me —
He that is above the heavens sends forth a voice ;

they that are on earth and thou thyself. Therefore I

;

purchase the body that was sold to thee through the first
Adam ; I cancel thy bonds. I paid the debts of Adam,
when I was crucified and descended into hell ; and I
command thee, hell and darkness and death, bring out
the imprisoned souls of Adam." Thus the evil powers,
stricken with terror, give back the imprisoned Adam.
11. But when you hear that at that time the Lord
delivered the souls from hell and darkness, and went down
to hell, and did a glorious work, do not imagine that these
things are so very far from your own soul. Man is capable
of admitting and receiving the evil one. Death keeps fast
hold of the souls of Adam, and the thoughts of the soul
lie imprisoned in the darkness. When you hear of
sepulchres, do not think only of visible ones your own ;

heart is a sepulchre and a tomb. When the prince of

wickedness and his angels burrow there, and make paths
and thoroughfares there, on which the powers of Satan
walk into your mind and thoughts, are you not a hell, a
tomb, a sepulchre, a dead man towards God? There it
was that Satan coined reprobate silver. In this soul he
sowed seeds of bitterness. It is leavened with old leaven
a fountain of mire springs there. Well, then, the Lord
comes into souls that seek after Him, into the deep of the
1 2 3
John i. 29. 1 Pet. ii. 22. John xiv. 30.
4
Mark i. 24 ; cp. iii. |i.
5
Matt, viii. 29 ; cp. Luke iv. 34.
86 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

heart-hell,and there lays His command upon death, saying,

" Bring out the imprisoned souls that are seeking after Me,
which thou detainest by force." So He breaks through
the heavy stones that lie on the soul, opens the sepulchres,
raises up the man that is dead indeed, brings out of the
dark jail the imprisoned soul.
12. Just as if a man were bound hand and foot with
chains, and some one came and loosed his bands, and let
him walk free without interference, so the Lord looses from
its bonds the soul that is bound with the chains of death,

and lets it go, and sets the mind free to walk at ease and
unhindered into God's air. Suppose a man were in the
middle of a river in full flood, and overwhelmed by the
water lay lifeless, drowned, with dreadful monsters all
round him. If another man, who is not used to swimming,
should wish to save the one who he too is lost, and
fell in,

is drowned with him. Clearly there is need of a skilled

swimmer, an expert, to go out into the depth of the water
of the gulf, and dive, and bring up the drowned man
there among the monsters. The water itself, when it sees
a man skilled and knowing how to navigate it, helps such
a man, and bears him up to the surface. The soul, in the
same way, has been plunged and drowned in the abyss of
darkness and the deep of death, and is dead and parted
from God among dreadful monsters and who is able to
;

go down into those secret chambers and the depths of hell

and death, except that expert Workman who fashioned the
body? In Llis own person He enters into two quarters,
into the depth of hell, and into the deep gulf of the heart,
where the soul with its thoughts is held fast by death, and
brings up out of the darksome hole the Adam that lay
dead. And death itself, through practice, becomes an
assistance to man, like the water to the swimmer.
13. What difficulty is there to God in entering into death,
or into the deep gulf of the heart either, and calling up the
 HOMILY XI 87

dead Adam
from thence ? In the natural world there are
houses and tenements where mankind dwell, and there are
places where wild beasts dwell, lions, or dragons, or other
venomous beasts. If the sun, which is but a creature,
enters in every direction, through windows, through doors,
and into the dens of lions, and into the holes of serpents,
and comes out again without taking any harm, how much
more does the God and Lord of all enter into the holes
and dwelling-places where death pitched his tent, and into
souls, and rescue Adam from thence without being injured

by death ? The rain, too, comes down from heaven, and

reaches down into the lower parts of the earth, and there
moistens and renews the dried roots, and makes there a
new growth.
14. One man maintains conflict and hardship and war
against Satan. This man's heart is contrite ; he is in care
and mourning and tears. Such an one has come to stand
in two separate realms. If, then, in this state of things he

perseveres, the Lord is with him for the battle, and protects
him for he seeks in earnest, and knocks at the door till
;

He opens to him. Again, if you see here a good brother,

it is grace which has established him. But the man with-
out foundation has no such fear of God. His heart is not
contrite. He is in no fear, nor does he secure his heart
and members, not to walk disorderly. This man's soul is
altogether free, for he has not yet entered into conflict. There
is then a difference between the man in conflict and hard-

ship, and the man who does not know what battle is. 1

1
not easy to discern the order of thought in this section of the
II is
Homily. The contrast is between the man who has entered upon the
spiritual combat and the man who has not. The first is in a divided
state of mind, striving after sanctification, but still conscious of con-
trary motions. The second has not even got as far as that, but is in a
kind of liberty. The clearness of the contrast is a little blurred by the
introduction of a third character, the "good brother," between the two.
He is introduced to make still more vivid the description of the man
who has not yet begun the strife. While the "good brother" is
88 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
Even the seeds, when cast into the ground, undergo hard-
ship with the frosts, with the winter, with the coldness of
the and in due season the growth is quickened.
air,

15. sometimes happens that Satan talks in the heart,

It

"See how many wrong things thou hast done! See how
many follies thy soul is filled with, and thou art weighed
down with sins, that thou canst not be saved." This he
does, to reduce thee to despair, and to make thee think
that thy repentance is not acceptable. For since by the
transgression wickedness entered in, it talks with the soul
every hour, like man with man. Answer him then thou,
" I have the testimonies of the Lord in writing, that say, I
desire not the death of the sinner, but his repentance, and that
he should turn from his wickedness and live." It was for

this that He came down, to save sinners, to raise the dead,

to quicken lost lives, to give light to those in darkness. In
truth He came, and called us to the adoption of sons, to a
holy city which is ever at peace, to the life that never dies,
to glory incorruptible. Only let us put a good finish to our
beginning. Let us abide in poverty, in the condition of
strangers, in suffering affliction, in petition to God, knock-
ing importunately at the door. Near as the body is to
the soul, the Lord is nearer, to come and open the locked
doors of the heart, and bestow on us the riches of
to
heaven. He is to man, and His promises
good and kind
cannot lie, if only we continue seeking Him to the end.
Glory be to the compassions of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.

established by grace, and has got beyond the state of division, the
other has as yet no foundation at all, and is a mere collection of
impulses. The mention of the seeds at the end of the section connects
it with the end of the section before, and shews that the man who has

not yet begun the combat is to be identified with the "drowned" man
in the gulf of sin.
1
Ezek. xxxiii. 11 ; cp. xviii. 23.
 ;

HOMILY XII

Concerning the slate of Adam before he transgressed God's

commandment, and after he had lost both his own
image and the heavenly. The Homily contains some
very profitable questions.

i. Adam, on transgressing the commandment, suffered a

twofold disaster. He lost and lovely possession
the pure
of his nature, which was after the image and likeness of
God and he lost also that very image in which was laid
;

up for him according to promise all the heavenly inherit-

ance. Suppose there were a coin, bearing the image of the
king, and it were stamped afresh with a wrong stamp
the gold is lost, and the image is of no value. Such was
the disaster which befell Adam. Great riches and a great
inheritance had been prepared for him. Suppose there were a
great estate, and it had many sources of revenue in it ; here a
flourishing vineyard, there fruitful fields, there flocks and
herds, there gold and silver so valuable was the estate
;

before the disobedience, the estate consisting in Adam's

own vessel. But when he entertained evil intentions and
thoughts, he was lost from God.
2. We do not say, however, that everything was lost, and
destroyed, and died. He died from God, but to his own
nature he For behold, the whole world walks the
lives.

earth,and does business. But God's eye sees their mind

its

and their imaginations, and as it were looks round them and

past them, and makes no communion with them, because
89
9o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
nothing that they think is well-] ilea:,])): 1

;
to (lod. If th< re

arc houses of promiscuous reception and of ill-fame, and

places where disorders and debaucheries are carried on
godly people, as they pass, loathe them, and seeing refuse
to see, for these things are to them dead. So God casts an
eye upon those who have revolted from His word and from
His commandment, but His eye passes on from them, and
makes no communion there, nor can the Lord find a
resting-place in their thoughts.
3. Question. How can any
one be poor in spirit, especially
when he is inwardly conscious that he is a changed man,
and has made progress, and has come to a knowledge and
understanding which he did not possess before ?
Answer. Until a man acquires these things and makes
progress, he is not poor in spirit, but has some opinion of
himself; but when he comes to this understanding and
point of progress, grace itself teaches him
be poor in
to
spirit,which means that a man being righteous and chosen
of God does not esteem himself to be anything, but holds
his soul in abasement and disregard, as if he knew nothing
and had nothing, though he knows and has. This is a fixed
thing, like a law of nature, in the mind of men. Do you not
see how our forefather Abraham, elect as he was, described
himself as dust and ashes, 1 and David, anointed to be king,
had God with him, and yet what does he say ? / am a
worm and no man, a very scorn of men, and the outcast
2
of the people.
4. Those therefore who desire to be fellow-heirs with
these, and fellow-citizens of the heavenly city, and to be
glorified with them, ought to have this humility of mind,
and not to think themselves to be anything, but to keep
the heart contrite. Though grace works after a different
manner in each individual Christian, and has a diversity
of members, yet all are of one city, of the same mind, of the
1 2
Gen. xviii. 27. Ps. xxii. 6,
 HOMILY XII 9 1

same tongue, recognising one another. As there are many

members in the body, but one soul is in them all and
moves them, so one Spirit works differently in all, but they
are of one city, and of one way. All the righteous have
gone the straight and narrow way, being persecuted, tor-
mented, reviled, living in goatskins, in dens, in caves of
the earth. 1 The apostles likewise say, Even unto this hour
ivc bothhunger and thirst, and are naked, and reviled, and
have no certain dwelling-place. 2 Some of them were
beheaded, some crucified, others afflicted in various ways.
And the Lord of prophets and apostles Himself, how did
He fare, as if He had forgotten His divine glory ? He was
made an example for us He wore in mockery a crown of
;

thorns upon His head ; He submitted to spittings, buffets,

and the cross.

5. If God so fared on earth, thou oughtest also to copy

Him. The apostles and the prophets and w e, if fared thus,
T

we would be built upon the foundation of the Lord and of

the apostles, ought to copy them. The apostle says by the
Holy Spirit, Be ye imitators of me, as I am of Christ. 3
But if thou lovest the glories of men, and desirest to be
worshipped, and seekest repose, thou art turned out of the
way. It behoves thee to be crucified with the Crucified, to

suffer with Him that suffered, that so thou mayest be glorified

with Him that is The bride must needs suffer
glorified.
with the Bridegroom, and so become partner and fellow
heir with Christ. It is not feasible, without sufferings, and
without the rough, straight, narrow way, to enter into the
city of the saints, and be at rest, and reign with the King
to ages without end.
6. Question. You said that Adam lost both his own

image and the heavenly one. If then he partook of the

heavenly image, had he the Lloly Ghost?
Answer. So long as the Word of God was with him, and
1 3
Heb. xi. 3J if. - 1 Cor. iv. 11. 1 Cor. xi. 1.
92 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

the commandment, everything was his. The Word Himself

was to him an inheritance ; He was his clothing, and a
glory that was his defence j
1
He was his instruction. He
suggested to him to give all things names: "Call this
heaven, this sun, this moon, this earth, this a bird, this
a beast, this a tree ;
" as he was taught, so he named
them.
7. Question. Had he the experience and fellowship of
the Spirit?
Answer. The Word Himself being with him was every-
thing to him, whether knowledge, or experience, or inheri-
tance, or instruction. What does John say of the Word ?
In the beginning was the Word. 2 You see that the Word
was everything. If there was also an outward glory with
him, let us take no offence at it ; for it says that they were
naked, and that they did not look at each other and after ;

transgressing the commandment they saw that they were

naked, and were ashamed.
8. Question. Then before this, were they clothed with

the glory of God for a cloak?

Answer. As in the case of the prophets, the Spirit wrought
in them and taught them, and was within them,and appeared
to them outwardly, so with Adam. The Spirit, when it
pleased Him, was with him, and taught him, and suggested,
" Speak thus," and he said it. For the Word was all things
to him, and so long as he abode in the commandment he
was a friend of God. And yet why should we be surprised
if in spite of such conditions of existence he transgressed
the commandment ? Those who have been filled with the
Holy Ghost still have the thoughts of nature, and have
the will to comply with them. Thus Adam, though pre-
sent with God in paradise, transgressed of himself by his
own and obeyed the evil side.
will, Still, even after the
transgression, he had knowledge.
1 2
Cp. Is. iv. 5. Johni. 1.
 HOMILY XII 93

9. Question. What kind of knowledge ?

Answer. When a robber is brought into court, and the

trial begins, and the magistrate says to him, "When you
were doing these wrong things, did you not know that you
would be liable to be taken and put to death ? " He has
not the face to say "No." knew, and when punish- He
ment ensues, he remembers and confesses all. And does
not the whoremonger know that he is doing wrong ? And
the man who is stealing, does he not know that it is a sin ?

Thus, even without the scriptures, do not men know from

natural reasoning that there is a God ? They cannot say in
that day, "We know that Thou, God, art." He
did not
says to them, " Did ye not know the thunders and light-
nings from heaven, that there is a God who governs the
creation ? " Why then did the devils cry out, Thou art the
Son of God ; why art Thou come to torment us before the
time ? x Even now at the shrines of martyrs they say,
"You burn me, you burn me." They did not, then, know
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The trans-
gression of Adam conveyed the knowledge.
10. Every one begins to ask, what state Adam was in,
and what happened to him. Adam himself received the
knowledge of good and evil. We hear from the scriptures
that he was in a state of honour and purity, and on trans-
gressing the commandment he was cast out of paradise,
and God was wroth with him. So he learns what things
are good for him and having learnt what things are evil he
;

secures himself, that he may not sin any more and fall into
the condemnation of death. Now we know that the whole
creation of God is governed by God. He it was that made
heaven and earth, animals, creeping things, beasts. We
see them all, but do not know the number of them. What
man is there that knows ? God only, who is in all things,
even in the unborn offspring of the animals. Does He not
1
Mark iii. 11. ; cp. Matt. viii. 29.
 ;

94 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

know the things that are under the earth, and that are above
the heavens ?

Let us then leave these things, and rather seek, like

ii.
good men of business, to gain possession of a heavenly
inheritance and the things that are profitable to our souls.
Let us learn to gain possessions which will stay by us. If
you, who are but human, begin to search the thoughts of
God, and to say, " I have found out something, and com-
prehend it," the human mind will be found surpassing the
thoughts of God. But in this you are much mistaken
and the more you desire to search and get to the bottom,
the more you get out of your depth, and fail to compre-
hend anything. Those visitations of His which happen to
—
you what He works day by day in you, and how these —
are beyond expression or comprehension you can do
;

nothing but receive them with thankfulness, and believe.

Have you been able to take cognisance of your own soul
from the time when you were born till now? If so, declare
to me the thoughts that spring up in you from dawn to
dusk. Tell me the cogitations of three days. Nay, you
cannot. If then you could not comprehend the thoughts
of your own soul, how can you find out the thoughts and
mind of God ?

Nay, eat as much bread as you find, and leave the

12.
wide earth to pursue its way go to the brink of the river,
;

and drink as much as you need, and pass on, and seek not
to know whence it comes, or how it flows. Do your best to
have your foot cured, or the disease of your eye, that you
may see the light of the sun, but do not enquire how much
light the sun has, or how high it rises. The animal which
is profitable for your use, that take why do you go off to
:

the hills and try to discover how many wild asses and other
beasts dwell there ? The babe, when it comes to its
mother's breast, takes the milk and thrives \ it does not
search for the root and well-spring from which it flows so. It
 HOMILY XII 95

sucks the milk, and empties the whole'measure and another

;

hour passes — the breast fills up. The babe knows nothing
of it, nor the mother either, although the supply proceeds
from all her members. you seek the Lord in the
If then,
depth, there you find Him.
you seek in the water, you
If
find Him there, doing wonders. 1 If you seek Him in the
den, there you find Him between two lions, guarding the
righteous Daniel. If you seek Him in fire, there you find
Him, succouring His servants. If you seek Him in the
mountain, there you find Him with Elias and Moses. He
is everywhere —
beneath the earth, and above the heavens,
and within us as well. 2 He is everywhere. So too your
own soul is near you, and within you, and without you; for
wherever you please, in countries far away, there your mind is,
whether westward or eastward, or in the skies there it is found. ;

13. Let us then seek above all things to have the brand
and seal of the Lord upon us because in the day of judg-
;

ment, when the severity of God 3 is shewn, and all the tribes
of the earth, even all Adam, are gathered together, when
the good Shepherd calls His own flock, all those who have
the brand recognise their own Shepherd, and the Shepherd
takes knowledge of those who have His own seal, and
gathers them together from all the nations. Those that are
His hear His voice, and go behind Him. The world is
divided into two parts, and one flock is dark, which goes
into eternal fire, and one is full of light, which is led up to
the heavenly rest. What we now make our own, within our
souls, the same then shines and is manifested, and clothes
our bodies with glory.
14. As in the season of the month of Xanthicus, 4 the
roots buried in the earth put forth their own fruits, and
1
Ex. xv. 11.
2
Cp. Grcnfell and Hunt, Logia fesu, p. 12. "I am with him.
Raise the stone and there thou shalt find Me ; cleave the wood and
I am there."
3
Rom. xi. 22.
4
It corresponded roughly with April ; see Homily V. 15.'
96 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
their own blossoms and and bear fruit, and the
beauties,
good and those that have thorns are
roots are manifested,
made manifest, so in that day each one makes evident by
his own body what he has done. The good things and the
bad are alike manifested. There lies all the judgment and
the retribution. There is another food besides this visible
food. When Moses went up into the mount, he fasted forty
days. Pie went up a man and no more he came down ;

possessed of God. Now see we behold in ourselves that

;

if the body is not supported by victuals, in a few days it is

worn out yet when Moses had fasted for forty days, he
;

came down more full of vigour than all of them. It was

because he was fed by God, and his body was provided
with another and a heavenly food. The Word of God was
made food to him, and he had a glory in his countenance.
What happened to him was an example. That glory now
shines inwardly in the hearts of Christians ; at the resurrec-
tion, their bodies are covered, as they rise, with another, a
divine, raiment,and are fed with a heavenly meat.
15. Question. What is meant by a woman praying with
her head uncovered ? x
Answer. Because in the apostles' time they wore their
hair loose for a covering. For this reason the Lord and
the apostles came into the world of creation, and taught
it sobriety. The woman, however, stands as a type of the
church. Whereas in the visible world the women at that
time wore their hair undone for a covering, the church
clothes and wraps her children in divine and glorified gar-
ments. And in the old days of the church of Israel the
congregation was one, and it was covered by the Spirit, and
they were clothed with the Spirit for a glory, although they
themselves did not correspond with it. Well, the word
"church" is used of the individual soul, as well as of

many ; for the soul gathers together all her faculties and is

1
1 Cor. xi. 5.
 HOMILY XII 97

thus a church to God. For the soul was fitted for com-
munion with the heavenly Bridegroom, and mingles with
the heavenly One. This is observed both of the many and
of the one. Thus the prophet says of Jerusalem, Ifoimd
thee desolate a?id naked, and I clothed thee, 1 and so forth, as
if he spoke of a single person.
1 6. Question. What does it mean when Martha said to
the Lord about Mary, " I am hard at work about many
things, while she sits beside Thee " ? 2

Answer. What Mary might well have said to Martha, the

Lord, anticipating her, replied —
that she had left everything
to sit at the Lord's feet, and bless God all day long. You
see, her sitting was for love's sake. But that God's w ord r

may be made clearer, listen to this. If any one loves

Jesus, and attends to Him in earnest, and not in a casual
way, but in love abides by Him, God is already devising to
make some return to that soul for its love, although the
man does not know what he is to receive, or what portion
God about to give to the soul. When Mary loved Him,
is

and sat at His feet, the gift that was added to her was no
casual gift ; He gave her a certain hidden virtue from His
own substance. The very words which God spoke in peace
to Mary were so many spirits, and a power ; and these
words entering into her heart were made a soul to her soul
and a spirit to her spirit, and a divine power was filled into
her heart. Where that power shall lodge, it cannot but
abide permanently, as a possession not to be taken away.
For this reason the Lord, who knew what He gave her, said
Mary hath chosen the good part. 3 But after a time the
things which Martha had done so eagerly in the way of
service brought her to that gift of grace. She too received
divine power in her soul.
17. What is there to be surprised at if those who came to
the Lord, and were personally attached to Him, received
1 e
Ezek. xvi. Luke x. 41. s
Luke x. 42.
 —

98 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

His power, when the apostles spoke the word, and the
Holy Ghost fell on those who believed? Cornelius
received power from the word which he heard how much ;

more, when the Lord spoke the word to Mary, or to

Zacchceus, or to the sinful woman who let her hair down
and wiped the Lord's feet, or to the woman of Samaria, or
to the robber, did power go out, and the Holy Ghost was
mingled with their souls ? And stillthose who love God,
and leave all things, and persevere in prayer, are taught in
secret things that they knew not. The truth itself is mani-
fested to them, according to their choice, and teaches them,
I am the truth.
1
The apostles themselves, before the
crucifixion, by continuing with the Lord, saw great signs
how the lepers were cleansed and the dead raised up, and
knew not how divine power goes up and down and ministers
in the heart, and that they should be spiritually born again,
and mingled with the heavenly soul, and become a new
creation. Because of the signs which He did, they loved
the Lord. But the Lord said to them, " Why marvel ye
at the signs ? I give unto you a great inheritance, which

the whole world hath not."

1 8. His words seemed strange to them, until He rose
from the dead, and carried up His body on our behalf
above the heavens and then the Paraclete Spirit entered
;

into their souls and was mingled with them, and the Truth
in person manifests itself in faithful souls, and the heavenly
Man comes to be with the man that thou art, and becomes
one communion with thee. As many as give themselves to
serve, and eagerly do all things out of zeal and faith and
the love of God, that very service after a time brings them
into the knowledge of the truth itself. The Lord is mani-
fested to their souls, and teaches them the ways of the
Holy Ghost. Glory and worship to the Father, anol to the
Son, and to the Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen.
1
John xiv. 6.
 HOMILY XIII

What fruit God expects from Christians.

i. All things that are seen were created by God, and He

gave them to men for refreshment and enjoyment, and
He gave them also a law of righteousness. But from the
time of Christ's coming God seeks other fruit,and another
righteousness, purity of the heart, a good conscience, kind
words, holy and good thoughts, and all the discipline of the
saints. The Lord says, " Except your righteousness exceed
and Pharisees, ye cannot enter into the
that of the scribes
kingdom of heaven. 1 In the law it is written, Thou shalt
not commit fornication but I say unto you, Thou shalt
;

not desire, neither shalt thou be angry." He who wishes

2
to be a friend of God, and a brother and son of Christ,
must do something more than other men, that is, to conse-
crate heart and mind themselves, and to stretch up his
thoughts towards God. In this way God secretly gives life
and help to the heart, and entrusts Himself to it. When a
man gives God his secret things, that is, his mind and
thoughts, not occupying himself elsewhere, nor wandering
away, but putting constraint upon himself, then the Lord
deems him worthy of mysteries, in greater sanctity and
purity, and gives him heavenly food and spiritual drink.

1
Matt. v. 20.
2
In the printed texts, the words that follow, down to "cleanses us"
in § 3, have been erroneously transferred to Homily XIV. Here the
order of the Bodleian and Holkham MSS. has been restored, as was
done in Haywood's translation.

99
ioo FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

2. man who is possessed of much substance, and has

both servants and children, gives a different kind of food to
the servants from what he gives to his own born children,
because the children are their father's heirs, and eat with
him, being made like to their father. Even so Christ, the
true Master of the house, who created all things Himself,
nourishes the evil and the unthankful, but the children
whom He has begotten of His own substance, to whom He
has imparted of His grace, in whom the Lord is formed,
these He provides beyond others with special refreshment
and diet and meat and drink. Going up and down with
Jesus their Father, they receive the gift of Himself, as the
Lord says, He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood
dwelleth in Me, and I in him, and he shall not see death. 1
Those who possess the true inheritance have been begotten
as sons of a heavenly Father, and pass their time in their
Father's house, as the Lord says, The servant abideth not
in the house, but the son abideth for ever. 2
3. If we then desire to be born of the heavenly Father,

we ought to do something that exceeds the rest of man-

kind — diligence, effort, zeal, love, a good conversation, to
be in faith and fear, as desiring to attain good things of
such magnitude, and to inherit God. The Lord, it says, is
the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thus 3

the Lord, beholding our good purpose and our endurance,

performs His mercy, and cleanses us from the defilement of
sin,and from the eternal fire that is in us, and makes us
meet for the kingdom. Glory to His tender compassion
and to the good pleasure shewn of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
1 2 3
John vi. 56; cp. viii. 51. John viii. 35. Ps. xvi. 5.
 HOMILY XIV
Those who give their thoughts and their mind to God do
so in the hope that the eyes of their heart may be
enlightened, and God vouchsafes to them mysteries in
the greatest sanctity and purity, and imparts to them
of His grace. What we who desire to attain the good
things of heaven ought to do. Then the apostles and
the prophets are compared to the sun's rays coming in
at a window. The Homily also teaches what is
Satan's " Earth," and what that of the angels, and
that both are intangible and invisible.

i. All works visibly done in the world are done in hope,

with a view to partaking of the results of the labour. If it

were not for the assurance of enjoyment from the toil, no

advantage would be gained. The husbandman sows in
hope of fruits, and is supported under his labours by the
expectation. He that plotigheth, the apostle says, plougheth
in hope. 1
He that takes a wife, does it in hope of having
heirs. The merchant commits himself to the sea and the
risk of death for the sake of gain.So also in the Kingdom
of Heaven a man up in hope that the eyes
gives himself
of his heart may be enlightened, 2 withdrawing from the
affairs of this life, and keeping himself free for prayers and

supplications, looking for the Lord, when He shall come

and manifest Himself to him, and shall cleanse him from
the sin that dwells in him.
1
Cor. ix. . 2
Eph. i. 18.
io2 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
2. He puts no confidence, 1 however, in his labours and
manner of life, until he obtains the things hoped for, until
the Lord comes and dwells in him in the full experience
and energy of the Spirit. And when he tastes the goodness
of the Lord, and delights in the fruits of the Spirit, and the
veil of darkness is taken away, and the light of Christ shines
upon him and works in him in joy unspeakable, then is he
fully satisfied, having the Lord with him in great affection,
as the merchant in the illustration rejoices when he has
gained. But he still has conflict and fear from the robber
spirits of wickedness, lest he should grow slack and lose his

labour, before he is accepted in the kingdom of heaven,

in the Jerusalem which is above.
3. Let us then beseech God that He would put off from
us the old man, and put on us the heavenly Christ, here
and now, so that being in gladness, and thus being led by
Him, we shall be in great tranquillity. The Lord, who
desires to fill us with the taste of the kingdom, says, With-
out Me ye can do nothing. 2
And yet He knew how to enlighten many by means of
the apostles. They were but creatures, but they nourished
their fellow servants. Thoughts that were dead and cor-
rupted they quickened and restored to life by their good
conversation and instruction. It is possible for one creature
to nourish and quicken another. The clouds, the rain and
the sun, when so commanded, quicken the seeds of wheat
or barley, though they are only creatures. Like light which
comes in through a window, while the sun sends out his
beams upon all the world, so the prophets were the lights
of their own house of Israel, and no more but the apostles
;

were suns, shooting out their beams into all the quarters of
the world.
1

natural to expect
2
John xv. 5.
,
The MSS. appear to read eVeAiri'^et without variation, and this has
accordingly been adopted in the translation ; but it would be more
"nor does he despair of his labours."
 ;;

HOMILY XIV 103

4. Well, there an "earth," on which the beasts dwell

is

and there is an " earth " in the air, in which the birds walk
and live. If the birds wish to stand or walk on land, there
are fowlers to catch them. The fishes too have an "earth,"
which is the water of the sea. Wherever anything is born,
on land or in the air, there it has its existence, its susten-
ance, and its pleasure. In the same way there is a Satanic
" earth " and home, where the powers of darkness and the

spirits and walk and take their pleasure

of wickedness live
and there is a luminous "earth " of the Godhead, where the
camps of angels and of holy spirits walk and take pleasure.
That darksome earth cannot be seen with the eyes of this
body, nor be felt ; neither is the luminous earth of the
Godhead felt, or seen by the fleshly eyes. But to those
who are spiritual both are discernible to the heart's eye,
that Satanic earth of darkness and the luminous earth of
the Godhead.
5. The fable of those without says that there are moun-
tains, which are fiery, because there is fire in them, and
there are there animals like sheep. Those who hunt them
make iron wheels, hooks and throw them into the
and cast
fire, because those animals have fire for their meat, and fire

for their drink, their pleasure, their increase, and their life.
Fire is everything to them. If you bring them out into
another air, they die. When their coats are dirtied, they
are not washed in water, and they get
but in the fire,

cleaner and whiter. Christians in like manner have that

heavenly fire for their meat. That is their pleasure. That
cleanses, and washes, and sanctifies their heart. That
brings them to increase. That is their air and their life.
If they go out of it, they are destroyed by the evil spirit, as
the animals in the fable die when they leave the fire, as
the fish when they leave the waters. As fourfooted beasts
cast into the sea are drowned, as birds walking on the
ground are taken by the fowlers, so the soul which will not
io4 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
stay in that " earth " is stifled and perishes. If it has not
that divine meat and drink and raiment, and cleans-
fire for

ing of heart and sanctification of soul, it is taken by the

evil spirits and demolished. But as for us, let us enquire
in earnest whether we have been sown in that unseen
"earth," and engrafted in the heavenly vine. Glory be to
His mercies. Amen.
 HOMILY XV
This Homily teaches at large how the soul ought to behave
herself in holiness and chastity and purity toivards her
Spouse Christ Jesus, the Saviour of the World. It

contains also certain discussions full of great instruc-

tion, viz., whether at the resurrection all the members
and a great many more concerning Evil,
are raised up,
and Grace, and Free Will, and the dignity of human
nature.

i. A
very wealthy man, a glorious king, sets his heart,
it may be, on a poor woman, who possesses nothing but
her own person. He becomes her lover, and desires to
take her to live with him as his spouse. Then, if she shows
all benevolence to her husband, retaining also her love to
him, lo ! needy woman, who possessed nothing,
that poor
finds herself mistress of all that belongs to her husband.
If, on the other hand, she should act contrary to duty and

obligation, and should behave improperly in her husband's

house, she is then cast out with disgrace and contumely,
putting her two hands upon her head, as is said figura-
tively in the law of Moses x
concerning a wife who is

disorderlyand of no advantage to her husband. Then sorrow

and great mourning become hers, while she reflects what
wealth she is fallen from, and what glory has passed away
from her, dishonoured as she is because of her folly.
2. In like manner a soul which Christ the heavenly
Bridegroom has espoused for mystical divine fellowship
1
Macarius seems to be thinking of Jer. ii. 37.
105
 —

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

with Himself, and which has tasted of the heavenly riches,
ought with great diligence sincerely to please Christ, her
heavenly Wooer, and dutifully and properly to fulfil the
service of the Spirit entrusted to her, to please God in all
things, and to grieve the Spirit in nothing, and duly to
preserve the modesty and love towards him in which beauty
lies,and to behave herself well in the house of the heavenly
King in all benevolence for the grace given to her. Behold,
a soul like this is made mistress of all the good things of
the Lord, and even the glorious body of His Godhead
becomes hers. But if she fail, and act contrary to duty in
her service, and do not the things that please Him, and
follow not His will, nor co-operate with the grace of the
Spirit which is with her, then she is deprived of her
honours with disgrace and indignity, and banished from
life, as being unprofitable and unfit for the fellowship of the

heavenly King. Then over that soul there is woe and

lamentation and weeping among all holy spirits unseen.
Angels, powers, apostles, prophets, martyrs weep over her.
3. For as there is joy in heaven, the Lord tells us, over one

sinner that repenteth, 1 so is there great woe and weeping

in heaven over one soul that falls away from the eternal
life. As on earth, when a rich man dies, he is accompanied
out of life with music and dirge and wailing by his own
brethren and kinsfolk and friends and acquaintances, so over
that soul all the saints mourn with dirges and sad music.
The Bible says the same thing elsewhere in figurative
language. The pine is fallen, it says, mourn, ye cedars. 2
For as Israel, when he was thought to please the Lord
though he never pleased Him as he ought had a pillar of —
cloud to overshadow him, and a pillar of fire to give him
shine saw the sea divide before him, water clear pro-
;

ceeding out of the rock ; but when their mind and intention
turned from God, then they were delivered to serpents, or
1 2
Luke xv. 7. Zech. xi. 2.
 HOMILY XV 107

to their enemies, being led away in sore captivities and

tormented with bitter bondage. This the Spirit mystically
declared in the prophet Ezekiel also, saying of such a soul,
as of Jerusalem, / found thee naked in the wilderness, and
I washed thee from the water of thine unc leanness, and I
clothed thee with raiment, and put bracelets upon thy hands,
and chains about thy neck, and earrings in thine ears, and
thou becamest renowned among all the heathen. Fine flour
and oil and honey didst thou eat, and after all thou didst
forget My benefits, and wentest after thy lovers, and didst
commit fornication with shame. 1
4. So likewise the Spirit utters warning to the soul which
through grace knows God, which after being cleansed from
its former sins and adorned with the ornaments of the

Holy Ghost, and after partaking of the divine and heavenly

food, does not behave dutifully with much discretion, and
does not properly preserve benevolence and love for Christ
the heavenly Bridegroom, and so is rejected and put away
from the life of which at one time it was a partaker. 2 For
Satan can raise and exalt himself even against those who
have reached such measures as these even against those ;

who have known God in grace and power, sin still lifts
itself up and strives to overthrow them. We must there-
fore strive, and watch over ourselves intelligently, to work
out our own salvation with fear and trembling, as it is

written. 3 As many as are made partakers of the Spirit of

Christ, see that you do not behave contemptuously in any-
thing, small or great, and do no despite to the grace of the
Spirit, that you may not be excluded from the life of which

you have already been made partakers.

1
The passage is taken in substance from Ezek. xvi.
2
After these words the Ilolkham MS. has in the margin, prima
maun, the sentence Because even those who have tasted with all
:

assurance of the grace of the Holy Ghost are subject to fear ; for Satan
has power against them if only he sees them grow negligent or high-
minded.
s
Phil. ii. 12.
 —

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

5. I will repeat this in a different character. If a

servant comes into a palace, to be employed upon the
vessels used there, he takes of what belongs to the king
he himself has nothing to bring — and ministers to the king
with the king's own vessels. Here he needs much intelli-
gence and judgment, that he may make no mistake in
serving,by bringing one dish to the royal table when he
should bring another, but should serve the courses, first and
last, in the right succession. If through ignorance and
want of judgment he does not serve the king in the right
order, it is as much as his place and life are worth. In like
manner a soul which is serving God in grace and the Spirit
requires much discretion and knowledge, that it may
commit no fault with the vessels of God, that is, in the
service of the Spirit, by not keeping its own will in harmony
with grace. It is possible in the service of the Spirit,

performed by the inner man, for the soul to

secretly
serve the Lord in vessels of its own, that is, with its
own spirit but God cannot be served without God's
;

vessels, that is, without grace, so as to please Him in all

His will.

6. And when grace is received, there is then great need

of intelligence and discretion — which themselves are given
by God to the soul that seeks them from Him — in order to
serve Him acceptably in the Spirit which is received, and
not to be surprised into a mistake by sin, led astray by
ignorance and presumption and carelessness, and acting
contrary to what the Lord's willdemands because punish- ;

ment and death and mourning will be to such a soul. The

holy apostle says, Lest, when I have preached to others, I
myself should be a castaway.
1
You see what fear he had,
though he was God's apostle. Let us then beseech God
that we, as many as have obtained the grace of God, may
minister the service of the Spirit according to His will, in
1
1 Cor. ix. 27.
 HOMILY XV 109

more than an ordinary way, and may keep no company

with the notion of contempt, in order that thus we may
live in a manner pleasing to Him, and may serve Him with

spiritual service according to His will, and having done

this may inherit eternal life.

7. Some one is compassed with infirmity. It happens

that some of his members are sound, his eyesight perhaps,
or something else, but the rest of his members are disabled.
So it is in the spiritual world. A man may perhaps be
sound members of his spirit, but he is not perfect
in three
or that. You see how many stages and measures of the
Spirit there are, how the mischief is strained out and refined
off bit by bit, and not all at once. The Lord's whole provi-
dence and government, the rising of the sun, and every-
thing that He has created, are for the sake of the kingdom,
which the elect are to inherit, for the constitution of the
kingdom of peace and concord.
8. Christians therefore ought to strive continually, and

—
never to pass judgment on anyone no, not upon the harlot
on the street, or upon open sinners and disorderly persons
-but to regard all men with singleness of intention and
purity of eye, so that it may become like a fixed law of

nature to despise no one, to judge no one, to abhor no one,

to make no distinctions between them. If you see a man
with one eye, be not divided in your heart, but look upon
him as if he were whole. If a man is maimed of one hand,
see him as not maimed, the lame as straight, the palsied as
whole. This is when you see sinners or
purity of heart,
sick people, to have compassion on them and be tender-
hearted towards them. 1 It happens sometimes that the
saints of the Lord sit in theatres and behold the deceit of
the world. According to the inner man they are con-
versing with God, while according to the outer man they
appear to men as contemplating what goes on in the world.
1
Cf. Horn. VIII. § 6.
L
no FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

9. Worldly people arc under one influence from the

spirit of error, to mind earthly things ; Christians have
another purpose, another mind ; they are of another world,
another city. The Spirit of God has fellowship with their
souls, and they tread down the adversary. It is written,
The last enemy that is destroyed is death} The godly
are masters of all things ; but those who are slack in faith
and sinners are the slaves of all, and the fire burns them,
and the stone and the sword slay them, and in the end
devils have dominion over them.
10. Question. In the resurrection do all the members

rise again?
Answer. To God all things are easy; and He his so
promised, though to human frailty and thought it appears
impossible. For as God took of the dust and the earth,
and constituted the body as a different kind of thing, not
at all and made many sorts of
resembling the earth,
elements in it, such as hair, and skin, and bones, and
sinews or as a needle thrown into the fire changes its
;

colour and is converted into fire, although the nature of

iron is not taken away, but still subsists ; so in the resur-
rection all the members are raised up, and not a hair
2
perishes, as and all become light-like, all are
it is written,
plunged in and changed, and yet are not,
light and fire,

as some say, resolved and turned into fire, with nothing

of their natural substance left. Peter is Peter, and
Paul is Paul, and Philip is Philip. Each one remains in
his own nature and personality, though filled with the
Spirit. If you say that the nature is resolved, then Peter
and Paul are no more, and God is everywhere and in all
directions, and neither those who go away into hell are
conscious of their punishment, nor are those who go into
the kingdom conscious of the benefit, n. Suppose there
were a garden, planted with all sorts of fruit trees, and there
2
1
1 Cor. xv. 26. Luke xxi. iS.
 ;

HOMILY XV in
were in it and vine, with fruit and leaves
pear, or apple,
and suppose the garden and all the trees and their leaves
were changed and altered into another nature, and the
former ones became light-like so men are altered at the ;

resurrection, and their members become holy and light-like.

12. The men of God, then, ought to prepare themselves
for conflictand combat. As a brave young man bears the
blows that fall on him, and the wrestling match, and hits

back, so Christians ought to put up with afflictions without

and wars within, in order that, though belaboured, they may
conquer by endurance. That is the Christian's road.
Where Holy Ghost is, there follow, like a shadow,
the
persecution and wrestling. You see the prophets, how
they were persecuted by their countrymen from first to last,
while the Holy Ghost worked upon them. You see how
the Lord, who is the Way and the Truth, was persecuted,
not by another nation, but by His own. By His own race
of Israel He was persecuted and crucified. So was it with
the apostles. The Paraclete Spirit removed from the
quarter whence the cross came, and passed to the Chris-
tians. No Jew
was persecuted ; Christians were the only
martyrs. For this reason they ought not to be surprised.
The truth must needs be persecuted.
13. Question. Some say that evil enters from without,
and that if a man pleases, he does not admit it, but sends it off.
Answer. As the serpent spoke to Eve, and because of
her compliance gained admission within, so to this day
sin, which is without, gains admission through man's com-

pliance. Sin has power and liberty to enter into the heart.
For our thoughts are not external to us, but from within,
out of the heart. The apostle says, / will that the men
pray, without wrath and evil disputations. 1
For there
1
1 Tim, ii. 8. The word for "disputations" in the Greek is the
saire which is used for "thoughts" in St. Matthew in the ensuing
passage.
ii2 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
arc thoughts proceeding out of the Jicart, as the Gospel
says. 1
Go to prayer, and observe thy heart and mind, a? id
determine to send up thy prayer to God pure, and look
well there, whether there be nothing to hinder it, whether
the prayer be pure, whether thy mind is wholly occupied
with the Lord, as the husbandman's with his husbandry,
the married man's with his wife, the merchant's with his
merchandise; or whether thou bendest thy knees to prayer,
while others pluck thy thoughts asunder.
14. But you say that the Lord came and condemned
2
sin by the cross, and that it is now within no longer.
Suppose a soldier puts up his chariot at some one's house, he
is free when he pleases to go in and out of that house. So
sin is free to make its arguments heard in the heart. It is

written, Satan entered into the heart of Judas. 3 But if

you say that by Christ's coming sin was condemned, and
that after baptism evil is no more at liberty to argue in the
heart, do you not know that from the advent of the Lord
to this day all that have been baptized have had bad
thoughts at times? Have not some of them turned to
vainglory, or to fornication, or to gluttony? All the
worldly people dwelling within the pale of the church, are
their hearts spotless and pure ? Or do we find that many
sins are committed after baptism, and that many live in
sin ? So even after baptism the thief is free to enter,
and to do what he likes.
15. It is written, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart.* But thou sayest, " I do love and I have the ;

Holy Spirit." Hast thou constant remembrance, and

passionate affection, and burning ardour for the Lord?
Art thou fast bound that way day and night? If thou
hast a love like that, thou art pure ; but if not, then search
thou still, whether, if earthly business or foul and evil

2
1
Matt. xv. 19. Rom. viii. 3.
3
John xiii. 27 ; cp. verse 2. * Dcut. vi. 5.
 a

HOMILY XV 113

thoughts come thy way, thou hast no inclination to them,

or whether thy soul is always drawn to love and long-
ing after God. The thoughts of the world drag the mind
down and corruptible things, and do not
to earthly suffer

it to love Godremember the Lord. And oftentimes,

or to
on the other hand, the unlearned man goes to prayer, and
bends the knee, and his mind enters into rest, and deep as
he may dig and get below, the wall of evil that withstands
him breaks down, and he enters into vision and wisdom,
where potentates and wise men and orators cannot penetrate
to understand and know the delicacy of his mind, since he
is engrossed in divine mysteries. One who is inexperienced
in judging of hearts does not know how to value them, for
lack of experience. Well, Christians abhor the glorious
1
things of the earth, and account them but dung in
comparison with the magnificence of those things —
magnificence which works effectually in them.
16. Question. Is it possible for a man who has a gift of
grace to fall ?

Answer. If he gets careless, he falls. The adversaries

never are idle or shirk battle. How much more then ought
you never to cease from the quest of God ? For great is
your loss if you are careless, although you may think
yourself to be exercised in the very mystery of grace.
17. Question. Does grace remain after a man has
fallen ?

Answer. It is God's desire to bring the man back to

life, and He disposes him to weep his way back and to

repent. If it does remain, it is for the purpose of making

you a surer workman in repenting of those things by which
you formerly did amiss.
18. Question. Are those who are perfect liable to
difficulty or warfate, or are they wholly free from
anxiety?
1
Phil. iii. 8,
 ;

ii4 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

Answer. The adversary never ceases from warring.

Satan is merciless in his hatred of men ; therefore he never
shirks from warring against every man. But he is not seen
to set upon all to the same degree. Governors of pro-
vinces and counts at court pay tribute to the emperor but ;

the man in that position has such confidence in his wealth

of gold and silver that he meets his taxes out of super-
fluous income, and feels no loss. A man who gives alms
never feels it a loss, and in the same way Satan considers
these things no part of his serious business. 1 But take
a poor man, destitute even of daily food; he is beaten
and tortured, because he cannot pay the tax he spends ;

his time in being scraped and harried, and cannot die

while another man is commanded to lose his head, and
perishes at a moment's notice. So it is among Christians.
There are some who are vigorously warred upon and
scraped by sin ; and yet they become the firmer and wiser
for the wars, despising the power of the adversary, and they
are in no peril in that quarter, because they are unfallen
and assured of their own salvation, because they have often
practised in the war with evil, and have gained experience.
Having God with them, they are led and are at rest.
19. Others, however, who have not yet had practice, if
they fall into a single difficulty, and war is stirred against
them, sink at once into destruction and perdition.
Like travellers in a city intending to see their dear
ones and acquaintances, who meet many people in the
market-places, but are not stopped by them, because their
aim is to find their friends, and when they knock at the
door outside and call, their dear ones open to them with
joy ; but if they loiter in the market-places, and are deluded
or detained by those who encounter them, the door is shut,

1
Macarius means that Satan can afford to let some persons alone.
Like the taxes of the rich, or the charities of people in general, they
mean no loss to him.
 ;

HOMILY XV 115

and no one opens to them ; so those who press forward to

reach our Master, Christ the true Beloved, ought to look
down upon all others and take no notice of them. Counts
and governors, who have entrance into the palace to the
king, are in much fear, how they shall present their
accounts, and lest for some mistake in answering for them-
selves they should be brought to trial and to punishment
but simple country folk, who have never set eyes on a

prince, pass their days without anxiety. That is the way

with this world beneath the sky, from kings down to the
poor. Knowing nothing of the glory of Christ, they
care only about matters of this life. Not readily does
any one bethink him of the day of judgment. But those
who in thought enter in before Christ's judgment seat,
where His throne is, and pass their lives in His presence,
are in fear and trembling continually, to make no mistake
concerning His holy commandments.
20. When the rich men of the earth have brought much
fruit into their garners, they set to work again every day

to get more, in order to have plenty, and not run short.

If they presume upon the wealth laid up in the garners, and
take things easily and add no more, but use up what they
have stored already, they soon sink into want and poverty.
So they have to labour and add, enlarging their intake,
that they may not get behindhand. In Christianity, to
taste of the grace of God is like that. Taste, it says, and
1
see how gracious the Lord is. This tasting is an effectual
power of the Spirit in full certainty, ministering in the
heart. As many as are the sons of light, and of the
ministry of the New Covenant in the Holy Ghost, these
have nothing to learn from they are taught of God. 2
men ;

Grace itself writes upon their hearts the laws of the Spirit.
They ought not therefore to rest their assurance only upon
the scriptures that are written in ink ; the grace of God
1 2
Ps. xxxiv. S. Thess, iv. 9,
u6 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
and the mysteries of heaven
writes the laws of the Spirit
upon the tables of the heart 1 as well. For the heart
governs and reigns over the whole bodily organism and ;

when grace possesses the ranges of the heart, it reigns over

all the members and the thoughts. For there, in the heart,
is the mind, and all the faculties of the soul, and its

expectation ; therefore grace penetrates also to all the

members of the body.
21. On the other hand, as many as are sons of darkness,
sin reigns over their heart, and penetrates to all their
members, for out of their hearts proceed evil thoughts,"
and thus diffused puts the man in darkness. Those who
say that evil is not born and bred in man, may have no
anxiety about to-morrow, nor any desire cither. For a
certain length of time, evil ceases to cause trouble in them
by suggesting some object of desire, so that a man will
affirm on oath, " Such a passion no longer assails me."
After a short while he is consumed with the desire, so that
he is found guilty of perjury into the bargain. As water
runs through a pipe, so does sin through the heart and
thoughts. As many as will not have this notion, are
refuted and mocked by sin itself, even if sin did not wish
to triumph ; for evil endeavours to escape notice and to
be hidden in the mind of man.
22. If a man loves God, then God also mingles His love
with him. Once trusted by man, He adds to him the trust
of heaven, and the man becomes a twofold being. What-
ever part of yourself you offer to Him, He mingles with your
soul a like part of His own, that all that you do may be
purely done, and your love pure and your prayer pure.
Great is the dignity of man. See how mighty are the
heaven and the earth, the sun and the moon but the Lord ;

was not pleased to rest in them, but in man only. Man,

therefore, is of more value than all created things — I may
1 2
2 Cor, iii. 3. Matt. xv. 19.
 HOMILY XV 117

venture to say, not only than visible creatures, but invisible

likewise, even than the mini sieving spirits. 1 It was not
of Michael and Gabriel, the archangels, that He said, Let
us make them after Our image and likeness, 2 but about
the spiritual substance of man, I mean his immortal soul.
For it is written, The angels of the Lord encamp round
about them that fear Hint.*
The material creatures are bound by an unchangeable
kind of nature. 23. Heaven was once established for good
—
and all the sun, the moon, the earth —
and the Lord had
no pleasure in them, though they cannot alter from what
they were created, neither have they any But you are will.

for this reason after the image and likeness of God, because,
as God is His own Master, and does what pleases Him —
and, if He pleases, has power to send the righteous to hell
and sinners into the kingdom, but He does not choose to
do so, nor does He admit the thought, for the Lord is a
righteous judge —
so are you your own master, and if you
choose to perish, you are of alterable nature. If you
choose to blaspheme, to concoct poisons, to murder some-
body, no one opposes or hinders you. If a man chooses,
he is subject to God, and walks in the way of righteousness,
and restrains his desires. This mind of ours is evenly
balanced, having power to subdue by resolute thoughts the
impulses and shameful desires of evil.
24. If in a great house, where there are things of gold
and silver, and garments of various kinds, and money, young
men and women who live there suppress their own minds,
though nature, by reason of indwelling sin, covets them
all, and because of the human fear of their masters they check

the impulses of desire, how much more, where the fear of

God is, ought a man to fight and counteract the indwelling
evil. God has enjoined on thee what thou canst do. The
nature of irrational animals is tied. The serpent's nature
1 2 8
Ileb. i. 14. Gen. i. 26- Ps. xxxiv. 7.
 ;

u8 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

is bitter and venomous ; therefore all serpents are such.
The wolf is habitually ravenous ; all wolves are of the same
nature. The lamb's gentleness makes it a prey ; all lambs

are of the same nature. The dove is guileless and harm-

less ; all doves are of the same nature. But man is not
like that. One man is like a ravening wolf; another, like
the lamb, is a prey. Both are of the stock of mankind.
25. One man is not satisfied with his own wife, but goes a-
whoring, while another docs not so much as suffer a desire to
rise in his heart. One man plunders his neighbour's goods
another, in piety towards God, gives away his own. You
see how alterable this nature is. You find it inclining to
evil, you find it inclining again to good. In both cases it

is in a position to assent to such action as it likes. Nature,

then, is susceptible both of good and evil, either of divine
grace or of the contrary power, but is under no com-
pulsion. Adam himself to begin with, being in a state of
purity, was sovereign of his own thoughts ; but from the
time that he transgressed the commandment, mountains
grievous to be borne lie on his mind, and the thoughts of
evil mingling with it are all made his own, and yet not one
of them is his own, because they are under the dominion
of evil.

You ought then to seek for a lamp to be lighted,

26.
that you may find pure thoughts. Those are the natural
thoughts, which God made. People brought up at sea
learn to swim, and when waves and billows rise, they are
not surprised at it ; but those who are not used to these
things, when even a little sea comes up, take fright and go
under. So it is with Christians. As the mind of a child of
three cannot take in or understand the mind of a grown-
up reasoner, because there is a great difference of age
between them, so Christians contemplate the world like
infant children, with their eyes fixed upon the measure of
grace. They are strangers to this age. Their city and
 HOMILY XV 119

their rest is elsewhere. Christians have the comfort of the

Spirit, and mourning, and sighing and even the
tears, ;

tears are an enjoyment to them. They have fear also, in

the midst of joy and rejoicing, and thus are they like men
carrying their blood in their hands, having no confidence
in themselves, or thinking themselves to be anything, but
despised and rejected above all men.
Suppose there were a king, who entrusted his treasure
27.
to some poor man. The man who received the charge of
it does not hold it for his own, but always acknowledges

his poverty, not daring to squander out of another's

treasure. He bears continually in mind, not only that the
treasure is another's, but " it was a mighty king who
entrusted me with it, and whenever he pleases he takes it

away from me." So ought those who have the grace of

God to esteem themselves, to be humble-minded and
to acknowledge their poverty. As the poor man who
received the charge of the treasure from the king, if he
presumes upon the treasure that is another's, and is proud
as of wealth of his own, and his heart conceives arrogance,
the king takes away his treasure, and the man who had it in
charge is left poor as he was before so if those who have;

grace presume, and their hearts are puffed up, the Lord
takes His grace from them, and they are left such as they
were before receiving the grace from the Lord.
28. There are many, who, in spite of grace being with
them, are cheated by sin without observing it. Suppose
there is a maid in a house, and also a young man and she ;

is wheedled into consenting to him, and falls, and loses her

character. So the dreadful serpent of sin is always with the

soul, tickling and enticing it and if it consents, the in-
;

corporeal soul enters into connexion with the incorporeal

evil of that spirit. Spirit enters into connexion with spirit,
and he who gives consent commits adultery in his heart,
admitting the suggestion of the wicked one. This then is
i2o FIFTY SPIRITUAL• HOMILIES
the measure of your conflict, not to commit this crime in

your thoughts, but to resist and do battle

with your mind,
and conflict within, and not and to take no
to comply,
pleasure in the thought of what is wrong; and if the Ford
finds in you this preparation, at the last day He takes you to
Himself in His kingdom.
29. For there are things which the Lord so orders that
He may not leave Himself without testimony of His divine
grace and calling and there are others which He orders in
;

the way of permission, that a man may be proved and

exercised, that his self-determination may be made plain.
Those in afflictionsand temptations, if they endure, do not
fail of the kingdom of heaven therefore Christians in
;

circumstances of distress are not vexed or grieved. If they

are tried by poverty or suffering, they ought not to be sur-
prised, but rather to take pleasure in poverty and reckon
it as wealth, and fasting as feasting, and dishonour and
obscurity as glory. On the other hand, if they should fall

into circumstances which in this life are glorious, which

incline them to worldly ease, or wealth, or glory, or luxury,
they ought not to take pleasure in these things, but to shun
them would shun fire.
as they
30. In the world around us, if a very small nation is
stirred to war against the emperor, he is at no pains to go
to the front in person, but sends soldiers with their officers,
and they carry on the war. But if the nation in motion
against him is a very great one, powerful enough to ravage
his empire, the emperor himself is compelled to take the
field, with those in the palace and in his camps, and to join

in battle. Consider then your own dignity. God set Him-

self in motion, in company with His camp I mean the —
—
angels and holy spirits and came to your protection in
person, to deliver you from death. Take good care of
yourself, then, and bethink yourself what a provision has
been made for you. We use an illustration from this life,
 HOMILY XV i2i

being still in it. Suppose there were an emperor, and he

were to find a man in want and suffering, and were not
ashamed him, but treated his wounds with healing
of
medicines, and brought him into his palace, and clothed
him with the purple and the diadem, and made him
partaker of the royal table ; even so Christ the heavenly
King came to suffering man and healed him, and made
him partaker of the royal table, and this without putting
constraint upon his will, but by persuasion He sets him
in such honour.
31. It is Lord sent His
written in the gospel that the
servants, calling those who were
and declaring to willing,
them that dinner was ready but those who had been called
;

excused themselves, alleging, one, " I have bought some

yoke of oxen," another, " I have betrothed to myself a
wife." 1
You see that the entertainer was ready, but the
people invited refused. They alone were answerable for it.
So great is the dignity of Christians. Consider how the
Lord has prepared for them the kingdom, and calls them
to enter in, and they will not. As for the gift which they
are to inherit, one might say, if every one from the creation
of Adam end of the world strove against Satan and
to the
endured he would do nothing great in com-
afflictions,
parison with the glory which he is to inherit for he will ;

reign to ages without end with Christ. Glory to Him Who

so loved a soul like this, for giving Himself and His grace
and entrusting the soul therewith Glory to His greatness
! !

32. According to all appearances, all we brethren who sit

here have but one image and the one character of Adam.
Well, have we in secret also, in the things within, one
purpose among us all, and one heart? Are we all one,
good and godly ? Or are there some of us who have fel-
lowship with Christ and His angels, and others with Satan
and the devils? And yet we all sit together appearing
1
Luke xiv. 16 ff.
122 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
like one man ; every one of us bears the same character
of Adam. You see how different the invisible substance,
the inward man, is from the outward, when we all look like
one man, and yet some are with Christ and the angels,
and some with Satan and the unclean spirits. The heart
contains an unfathomable depth. In it are reception-rooms,
and bedchambers, doors, and porches, and many offices
and passages. In it is the workshop of righteousness or
of unrighteousness. In it is death ; in it is life. In it is

the good traffic, and the contrary.

33. Suppose there were a very great palace, and this
were deserted, and became full of every evil smell, and of
many dead bodies. Well, the heart is Christ's palace, and
it is full of all uncleanness, and of crowds of many wicked

spirits. It must be refounded and rebuilt, and its store-

chambers and bedrooms put in order for there Christ the ;

King, with the angels and holy spirits, comes to rest, and
to dwell, and to walk in it, and to set His kingdom. I tell
you, it is like a ship furnished with plenty of tackle, where
the captain disposes of all, and sets them their tasks, finding
fault withsome, and showing others their way about. The
heart has a captain in the mind, the conscience, which is
ever judging us, thoughts accusing or else excusing one
another}
34. You see that conscience will not slubber over such
thoughts, which comply with sin, but at once judges them.
It tells no lies. It attests what it must say before God in

the day of judgment, as though judging us continually.

Suppose there be a chariot and reins; the animals and all
the apparatus are under one driver so when he pleases, he ;

is carried along by the chariot at a great rate, and when he

pleases, he stops it. Whichever way he pleases to turn it, there

it goes along with him. The whole chariot is in the driver's

power. In like manner the heart contains many natural

1
Rom. ii. 15.
 HOMILY XV 123

bound up with it, and it is the mind and conscience

faculties
which chides and guides the heart, and calls from sleep the
natural faculties that spring in the heart. The soul has
many members, though it is but one.
35. From the time that Adam transgressed the com-
mandment, the serpent entered in and made himself master
of the house, and became like a second soul beside the
soul. For the Lord says, Whoso denieth not himself, and
hateih not his own soul, is not My disciple, 1
and, He that
2
lovcth his soul shall lose it. Sin entering into the soul has
become member of it, and is united with the bodily
like a
man, and therefore many unclean thoughts spring up in the
heart. He who does the wishes of his soul, does the wishes
of evil, 3 because it isentwined and mingled with the soul.
He who brings his soul into subjection, and is angry with
himself and with the desires that beset him, is like one who
subdues an enemy's city. This man is permitted to come
to good measures of the Spiiit, and is rewarded through the
power of God with the pure man, and is made greater than
himself; for such an one and made a son of
is deified,
God, receiving the heavenly stamp upon his soul. For His
elect are anointed with the oil of consecration, and are
made men of rank and kings.
36. Such is the nature that men have. In the depth of
wickedness and the bondage of sin, a man is at liberty to
turn to what is good. man bound over to the Holy
Spirit, and inebriated with heavenly things, has power to

1
Luke xiv. 26 ; cp. ix. 23. 2
Malt. x. 39.
3
If the printed(Jnek text is right, Macarius is labouring to draw
a distinction between "soul" and "heart." But it is not easy to
make out, and it may well be inspected that
an error for
seems to be no MS. authority for

?
,.
" of the heart" is
"of evil." 1 have translated accordingly. There
so that the error, if there is

MS. rightly reads

suit the suggestion of
preceding statement about
,
one, must be primitive. In the last clause of the sentence the Ilolkham
instead of 7/ This would exactly
repeating, after Macarius' manner, the
sin.
124 FIFTY SPIRITUAL IIOMILIKS
turn to evil. woman clothed in rags, famished, and dirty
all over, is with much labour brought to royal rank, and
arrayed in purple and crown, and made a king's bride. She
remembers her former filthy condition, and is half-minded
to go back to her old state ; but she will not deliberately
return to her former shame, for that would be folly. Yet
even those who have tasted of the grace of God, and are
partakers of the Spirit, if they do not take heed to them-
selves, are extinguished, and become worse than they were
before, when they were Not that God is liable
in the world.
to change, or impotent, or that the Spirit is Himself
quenched; 1
but men do not correspond to grace, and for
this reason miscarry, and fall into a thousand evils. For
those who have tasted of that gift have both things present
with them, joy and comfort, fear and trembling, gladness and
mourning. They mourn for themselves and for all Adam,
since mankind is all one, and the tears of such persons
are bread, and their mourning sweetness and refreshment.
37. If you see a man proud and puffed up because he
has a share of grace, this man, even if he should work
miracles and raise the dead, but does not hold his soul
worthless and contemptible, and continue poor in spirit and
an object of abhorrence to himself, is cheated by sin with-
out knowing it. Even if he works signs you cannot believe
him, for the sign of Christianity is this, to be approved of
God while earnestly shunning the notice of men, and even
if a man has the entire treasures of the King, to conceal
them, and to say continually, " It is not mine ; another has
put this treasure in my man, and
charge. I am a poor
when He pleases, He takes
it from me." If any one says,
1 am rich
11
I have enough.
; I have gained I need ;

nothing more," he is no Christian he is a vessel of error ;

and of the devil. The enjoyment of God is insatiable.

The more any one tastes and eats of Him, the more he
1
1 Thess. v. 19.
 HOMILY XV 125

hungers. Such men's ardour and passion for God is beyond

restraint, and the more they endeavour to get on and make
progress, the more they esteem themselves poor, as those
that are in need and have nothing. This is what they say :

" I am not fit for this sun to shine upon me." This is the
sign of Christianity, this humility. 38. But if a man says,
" I am satisfied and filled," he is a deceiver and a liar.
As the body of the Lord was glorified, when He went up
into the mountain, and was transfigured into the divine
glory and into the infinite light, so are the bodies of the
saints glorified and shine like lightning. The glory that
was within Christ was outspread upon His body and shone;
and in like manner in the saints, the power of Christ within
them shall in that day be poured outwardly upon their
bodies. For even now they partake of His substance and
nature in their minds for it is written, He that sanctifieih
;

and they that are sanctified are of one, 1 and, The glory
which Thou hast given Me, I have given them. 2 As many
lamps are lighted from one flame, the bodies of the saints,
being members of Christ, must needs be what Christ is,
and nothing else.
39. Question. What advantage have Christians over the
first Adam ? for he was immortal and incorruptible, both
in body and in soul, whereas Christians die and come
to corruption.
Answer. The real death is within, in the heart, and is
concealed, and it is the inner man that perishes. So if any
one has passed from death unto life z in that hidden region,
he does indeed live for ever, and never dies. Although the
bodies of such men are dissolved for a season, they are
raised again in glory, for they are hallowed. So we call
the death of Christians sleep and repose. If the man were
immortal, and his "body exempt from corruption, the whole
world, beholding the strange fact that Christian men's bodies
1
Heb ii. n. 2
John xvii, 22. .
3
John v. 24.
126 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
were incorruptible, would come over to the good by a kind
of compulsion, not by a voluntary decision. 40. In order
that freedom of
the which God gave man at the
will

beginning might once for all be shewn and might abide,

providence orders these matters, and bodily dissolution
takes place, that it may be at the man's discretion to turn
to the good or to the bad. For even one who is perfect in
evil, deep in sin, making himself a tool of the devil, by

whom he is completely mastered, is not bound by any

necessity. He is at liberty to become a chosen vessel, 1 a
vessel of life. In like manner on the other side those who
are drunk with the Godhead, although filled full with the
Holy Ghost and under His dominion, are not held by any
necessity, but have their free choice to turn and do what
they please in the present world.
41. Question. Is it by degrees that evil is diminished
and rooted out, and a man advances in grace? or is evil
rooted out at once, when he receives a visitation ?

Answer. As the unborn babe in his mother's womb is

not at once fashioned into a man, but the image is formed

by degrees and born, and even then is not fullgrown, but takes
many years to develope, and become a man ; and again, as
the seeds of barley or of wheat do not root the moment
they are put in the ground, but storm and wind pass over
them, and then in due time the ears form ; and the man
who plants a pear tree does not at once partake of the
fruit so likewise in spiritual things, where there is so much
;

wisdom and delicacy employed, it is only little by little that

a man grows and comes to a perfect man, to the measure
of the stature, not, as some say, " Off with one coat, and
2

on with another."
42. He who wishes to be a learned man goes and learns
his letters. When he has got to the top there, off he goes
to the Latin school, and is at the very bottom. When
1 2
Acts ix. 15. Eph. iv. 13.
 HOMILY XV 127

he gets to be top there too, off he goes again to the ad-

1
vanced school, and is once more at the bottom, a freshman.
Then, when he becomes a " scholasticus," he
is a freshman

among the pleaders, and last of them all. When he once

more rises to the top, he is then made a governor, and when
he reaches the position of chief magistrate, he takes to him
the aid of the assessor. Well, if the world of sense has
such a series of promotions, how much more have the
heavenly mysteries their promotions, and increase the
number of grades, and then, through much practice and
many a testing, the man who gets through is made perfect.
Christians who have truly tasted of grace, and have the
sign of the cross upon their mind and heart, these, from
the king to the beggar, consider all things but dung and ill
savour; and these are able to know that the whole world
of earth, and the treasures of the emperor, and his riches,
and his and the discourses of wisdom are but a
glory,
vain show, having no solid basis, but passing away and ;

whatever there is under the heaven, to them is easily

contemned.
43. Why Because the things above the heavens are
so?
so strange and wonderful, which are not to be found in
kings' treasures, nor in wisdom of words, nor in worldly
glory, and —
and wealth such wealth they possess,
dignities,
who have the Lord and Creator of all things in their inmost
man, a possession which does not pass away, but abides.
Christians know the soul to be precious beyond all created
things for man alone was made after the image and like-
;

ness of God. Behold the heaven, how vast it is, and the
earth; and the creatures in them are valuable, and their

1
If is the right reading here, it can hardly be used in

~$ ,
the technical sense of "grammarian," as grammar must have been
taught at the earlier stages. It probably denotes "literary," corre-
sponding with at the beginning of the section.
just below is an " advocate." Haywood refers to Suicer's
note on the woid, which well repays study.
128 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
bodies are great ; but man is valuable above all those
bodies, inasmuch as the Lord was well pleased in him
alone. The whales
of the sea also, and the mountains, and
the beasts, in outward appearance arc greater than man.
Behold then thy dignity, and of how great value thou art, that
God hath made thee above angels, because for thy help
and deliverance He came upon earth Himself in person.
44. God and His angels came for thy salvation. The
King, the King's Son, held council with His Father, and
the Word was sent, and put on the garment of flesh, and
concealed His own Godhead, that like might be saved by
like, and laid down His life upon the cross. So great is the
love of God towards man. The Immortal chose to be
crucified for thee. Consider then how God loved the world,
because He gave His only begotten Son for them. 1 How
shall He not with Him freely give ns all things ? 2 In
another place it says, Verily I say unto you that He shall
make him ruler over all His goods. z Elsewhere it shews
the angels as ministers of the saints. When Elias was in
the mountain, and the foreigners came against him, the
young servant said, " There are many coming against us,
and we are by ourselves." Then Elias answered, " Do you
not see camps and multitudes of angels with us round about
succouring us ? " 4 You see that the Master and the multi-
tudes of the angels are with His servants. Mow great then
is the soul, and how much valued by God, that God and

the angels seek after it for fellowship with themselves and

for a kingdom And Satan and his powers seek after it
!

for their own party.

45. For as in the natural world kings are not waited upon
by boorish people, but by those who are good-looking and
well-educated, so in the heavenly palace those who wait

1
John iii. 16. 2
Rom. viii. 32.
3
Matt xxiv. 47.
4
2 Kings vi. 15 ff. Of course Macarius has forgotten who the
prophet was.
 ; —

HOMILY XV 129

upon the heavenly King are the blameless, the irreproach-

able, the pure in heart. As in the palace good-looking
maidens, that have no kind of blemish, the handsomest, go
into the society of kings, so in the spiritual order, it is the
souls that are adorned with good manners which have
all

the society of the heavenly King. In visible things, where

a prince goes to stay, if it should happen that that house
contains anything that is not clean, it is put to rights, and
much cleaning takes place, and sweet odours are poured
out how much more does the house of the soul, in which
;

the Lord rests, require cleaning, that He may be able

to enter in and rest there, who is without spot or blemish !

In such a heart God and the whole church of heaven rests.

46. In the natural world, if a father enjoys possessions,
and has diadems and precious stones, he hides these in
storehouses, and they are treasured up for his beloved son,
and to him he gives them. So God has entrusted what He
has gotten, with His own precious things, to the soul. In
the natural order, if there is a war, and a king comes with
his army to fight, and his side is inferior in numbers or in
strength, immediately he sendeth an ambassage, desiring
conditions of peace x but if it be a very great nation
against an equal nation, and king against king say the —
king of the Persians against the emperor of the Romans
the two kings have no choice but to move with all their forces.
See then how great is thy dignity, that God has moved with
His own forces — that is, with angels and spirits — to join
issue with the adversary in order to deliver thee from death.
God came for thy sake.

47. Suppose a king were to find a poor man who had

leprosy all over his body, and were not ashamed of him,

but applied remedies to his wounds, and healed his sores,

and then took him to the royal table, and arrayed him in
purple, and made him a king that is what God did to the
;

1
Luke xiv. 32.
130 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
race of men. He washed
wounds, and healed them,
their
and brought them into the heavenly bridechamber. Great
then is the dignity of Christians, so great that there is
nothing to compare with it. But if the Christian becomes
high-minded and allows evil to steal over him, he is like a
city without a wall, and the robbers come into it from any
quarter they please, with nothing to hinder them, and lay it

waste and set it on fire. Thus, whilst thou art taking

things easily, and paying no heed to thyself, the spirits of
wickedness come in upon thee, and destroy and lay
waste thy mind, dissipating thy thoughts upon this present
world.
48. Many people who are well informed about outward
things, and pursue knowledge, and take pains about the
correctness of their lives, consider that this constitutes per-
fection, not lookingdeep into their hearts, or seeing the
bad things there which keep the soul in. According to
the inner meaning of evil, it is a root in the members; the
thief is in the house, that is, the opposing power. It is a
defiant and an invisible force and unless a man sets him-
;

self to combat sin, the inward evil gradually spreads, and

by multiplying carries the man along into open sins, to
commit them. Evil is continually gushing up like the eye
of a well-spring. Be thou then busied upon stopping the
streams of evil, lest thou shouldest fall into a thousand
wrong things and be like one in stupor. Suppose there to
be a nobleman living at ease in affluence, and the officers
of the governor and those who serve warrants arrest him,
carrying him off to the governor, saying, " You are accused
on a serious charge, and your head is in danger." At the
very tidings of such a fear, he loses all his ideas, and is like
one in a stupor. 49. Conceive, then, that it is thus with the
spirits of wickedness.
The world that you^see round you, from the king to the
beggar, are all in confusion and disorder and battle, and
 HOMILY XV 131

none of them knows the reason, or that it is the manifesta-

tion of the evil which crept in through Adam's disobedience,
the sting of death. 1 For the sin which crept in, being a
kind of invisible power of Satan, and a reality, implanted
all evils. Without being detected it works upon the inner
man and upon the mind, and contends with the thoughts ;

but men are not aware that they are doing these things at
the instigation of an alien force. They think it all to be
natural, and that they do these things of their own determina-
tion, while those who have the peace of Christ in their minds,
and His enlightenment, know very well the source of these
movements.
50. The world is subject to the lust of evil, and knows it

not, and therean unclean fire which kindles the heart,

is

and so spreads into all the members, and disposes men to

lasciviousness and a thousand wrong things. Those who let
themselves be tickled and pleased with it commit the sin
inwardly in the heart, and thus the evil gets room, and they
fall into open impurity. Mark that the same is true of the love

of money, and of vain glory, pride, envy, anger. A man is

invited to a dinner, and many meats are offered him sin ;

suggests that he should taste them all, and so his soul is

pleased and becomes overloaded. Lusts are intolerable
mountains, among which are rivers of dragons 2 and venom-
ous beasts and serpents. As if a whale were to swallow up
a man in its belly, so sin swallows up souls. They are
burning flames of fire, and fiery darts of the wicked one.
The apostle says, That ye may be able to quench the fiery
darts of the wicked one. 3 The evil got room, and has laid
its foundations around the soul.

51. But the prudent, when the passions bestir themselves,

1
1 Cor. xv. 56.
2
rectus in XVI. 13 and in X LI II. 3. It looks like a
The same phrase
reminiscence of some bible text, but it does not appear to be taken
from any of the Greek versions of the O.T.
3 ph. vi. 16.
1 32 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

will not comply, but are angry with the evil desires, and
make themselves enemies to themselves. For Satan has a
great wish to rest and stretch himself in the soul, and is
annoyed and cramped when the soul will not comply with
him. Some there are under the command of the divine
power, who if they see a young man with a woman may
perhaps think a little, but their mind is not defiled, nor do
they inwardly commit sin but it is not yet possible to
\

be confident in such a case. There are others in whom the

thing is at an end, quenched, and withered up but these ;

are the measures of the great ones. As men in the trade

go down naked into the deep of the sea, into the watery
death, to find there pearls that will do for a royal crown,
and purple dye, so those who embrace the single life go
naked out of the world, and go down into the deep of the
sea of evil and into the gulf of darkness, and from those
depths they take and bring up precious stones suitable for
the crown of Christ, for the heavenly church, for a new-
world, and a city of light, and a people of angels.
52. As in a net many kinds of fishes are included, and
they cast back the worse kinds at once into the sea, so the
net of grace is spread over all, and seeks satisfaction but ;

men will not consent, therefore they are thrown back again
into the very pit of darkness. As much sand is washed
away before the gold is found, and that in very small grains
like millet, so out of many there are few found to be
approved. Those who have the work of the kingdom are
made and those who only dress up the word of it
manifest,
appear. Those who are seasoned with the heavenly salt
appear, and those who speak out of the treasures of the Spirit.
The vessels in which God is well pleased appear, and He
gives them His own grace while others with much patience
;

eceive the hallowing power, in divers manners, as the Lord

wills. So he who speaks, unless he be guided by heavenly
light and wisdom, cannot satisfy the mind of every one,
 ;

HOMILY XV 133

since there are so many different purposes, some at war,

and some at rest.

53. If a city has been laid waste, and one wishes to

rebuild it, he at once demolishes completely the things that
are ruinous and and so begins to dig and to lay his
fallen,

foundations where he dug, and to carry up the building,

though there is as yet no house and he who wishes to ;

make a pleasure garden in a waste, ill-smelling place begins

first to clean it up, and to make a fence round it, and to
prepare water-courses, and then he plants, and the plants
grow, that thus after a long time the garden may bear fruit

so the purposes of men since the fall are dried up, laid
waste, and thorny. God saidman, Thorns and
to the
thistles shall the earth bring forth to thee. 1 There is need,
therefore, of much toil and labour, for a man to seek and
lay up the foundation, till fire shall come into men's hearts,
and shall begin to clear off the thorns and so they begin ;

to be sanctified, glorifying the Father, the Son, and the

Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
Gen. iii. 18.
 HOMILY XVI
That spiritual persons are subject to temptations and to
the adversities which spring from the first sin.

i. All spiritual substances, that is to say, of angels,

and human souls, and devils, were made by the Creator
innocent and perfectly simple. The fact that some of them
turned to evil was an after-effect of their free will. It was

by their own choice that they departed from the right way
of thinking. If we say that they were so made by the

Creator, we say that God is an unjust judge for sending

Satan to the fire. There are certain heretics who say that
matter is without beginning, and that matter is the root,
and that the root is power, and an evenly matched power.
To this you may fairly reply, " Which then is the conquer-
ing power? Certainly that of God. Then the vanquished
is no longer a match, either in duration or in power."
Those who say that evil is a substantive thing, know
nothing. To God there is no substantive evil, according to
His divine freedom from passion but in us it works with
;

full force and makes itself felt, suggesting all foul con-

cupiscences. It is not mixed up with us, however, as some

say, like the mixture of wine with water it is as corn by ;

itself and tares by themselves, though both in the same

field as in a house, the thief in one part, and the master

;

in another.
2. Here is a well-spring running with clear water, and
there is mud under it. When one stirs the mud, the whole
well-spring is fouled. So the soul, when stirred, is fouled
134
 HOMILY XVI 135

and mingled with evil, and Satan becomes one thing with
the soul, both being spirits, in the act of fornication or of
murder. For this reason, he that is joined to the harlot is
one body. But at another moment the soul subsists by
1

itself, penitent for what it has done, and weeps and prays,

and remembers God. For if the soul were always plunged

how could it act thus ? since Satan is never willing
in evil,
that men should come to repentance, for he knows no
compassion. The wife according to agreement with her
husband becomes one with him, but at another moment
they are parted ; because it often happens that one of them

dies and the other lives. Something of the same kind takes
place in the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. They become
2
one Spirit, for to the Lord is one spirit.
he that is joined
This takes place when the man is swallowed up in grace.
There are some, however, who have a taste of God, but
3.

are still subject to the influence of the enemy, and think it

strange, in their lack of experience, that after the visitation
of God they should still be subject to doubts about the
mysteries of Christianity. Those who have grown old in
them do not think it strange. As skilled husbandmen,
from long experience, in a season of plenty are not entirely
without care, but look forward to times of dearth and short
supplies, and, on the other hand, when those times of dearth
and short supplies overtake them, are not very despondent,
in view of changes for the better, so in the spiritual realm,
when the soul falls into divers temptations, 3 it neither con-
siders it strange, nor is despondent, because it knows that
it is permitted on sufferance to be tested and disciplined
by evil. On the other hand, when it is in much wealth and
contentment it is not without care, but looks forward to the
coming change.
The sun, which is a bodily and created thing, shines
down into unsavoury places, where there are mud and
1
Cor. 2 3
j vi. 16. 1 Cor. vi. 17. Jas: i. 2,
136 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

impurities, without being injured or defiled how much ;

rather does the pure and holy Spirit keep company with the
soul, when still subject to influence from the wicked one,
without contracting anything from them. The light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. 1
4. When therefore a man is deep in, and is rich in grace,
there is still a remnant of evil with him. He has a helper
at hand So when one is in adversities and
to succour him.
in great billows of suffering, he ought not to despond for j

if he does, sin thrives and makes more way in him. But

when one has constant hope in God, the evil diminishes and
dries out. That some are palsied or maimed, in fever or
sickness, this is a consequence of sin. For sin is the root
of all evils, and the passions caused by the desires of the
soul and by evil thoughts are owing to it. If there is a

running spring, and the places about it are moist and

boggy, yet when the weather gets hot, the spring and the
places near it dry up. So with God's servants, upon whom
grace abounds, this grace dries up the desire which comes
from the wicked one, and that which comes from nature
likewise ; since now the men of God are greater than the
first Adam.
5. God isand incomprehensible. He shows
infinite
Himself everywhere, in the mountains, and in the sea, and
beneath the deep yet not by change of place, like the
;

angels who come down from heaven to the earth. He is in

heaven, and He is here. But you will say to me, How can
"

God be in hell ? or how can He be in the darkness, or in

Satan, or in places that are unsavoury ? " I answer that He
is impassible and contains all things, for He is infinite,

while Satan, being His creature, is tied. That which is

good is not soiled, nor darkened. you say that He does

If
not contain all things, including hell and Satan, you make
Him limited with regard to that place where the wicked one
1
John i. 5.
 HOMILY XVI 137

is, so that we have to look for another, above Him. God

must be everywhere ; but because of the mystery of the
Godhead and the fineness in Him, the darkness, though
contained in Him, comprehends Him not nor can ;

the evil His purity, even though it be in

partake of
Him. To God there is no such thing as a substantive evil,
since He is in nothing injured by it.
6. To us, however, evil is a reality, because it dwells and

works in the heart, suggesting wicked and defiling thoughts,

and not allowing us to pray purely, but bringing our mind
into captivity to this world. It has clothed itself with our
souls, and touched even our bones and members. As
Satan therefore is in the air, and God is in no way injured

by being there also, so sin is in the soul, and the grace of

God is there likewise, without suffering any injury. As a
servant near his master is always in fear because of being
so near, and does nothing without him, so ought we
to refer our thoughts to our Master, Christ, who knows
the heart, and to disclose them to Him, and to have within
the hope and confidence that " He is my glory, and He is
my Father, and He is my riches." Thou oughtest con-
tinually to have in thy conscience care and fear. Even if a
man has not the grace of God so firmly planted and fixed
in him, that night and day the thing which hourly guides
and wakens and directs him to good things is joined to his
soul as by a natural bond, at least, let him see to it that he
has this care, this fear, this labour, this contrition of heart
continually fixed, as an unalterable fact of nature.
Like a bee secretly forming her comb
7. in the hive,
grace secretly forms in hearts the love of herself, and
changes them from bitterness to sweetness, from roughness
to smoothness. As a silversmith and engraver, engraving a
plate, partly covers up the various little animals that he is

cutting, but when he has finished, displays it flashing with

the light, so the Lord, the true artificer, engraves our hearts,
1.38 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
and silently makes them new, away from the
until they pass
body, and then the beauty of the soul is shown. Those
who wish to construct bowls, and to depict animals upon
them, first make their design in wax, and then cast them
after the likeness, so that the work is finished in accordance
with that design. So sin, though it is a spirit, has an image,
and assumes many forms and in the same manner the
;

inner man is like one of these animals, with an image and

a shape, for the inner man is a likeness of the outer. Great
then is and precious, since in it alone of all the
the vessel,
creatures theLord was well pleased. And the good thoughts
of the soul are like precious stones and pearls, and the
impure thoughts are filled with dead mens bones and all
uncleanness 1 and ill-savour.
8. Christians then are of another world, sons of the
heavenly Adam, a new race, children of the Holy Ghost,
shining brethren of Christ, like their Father, the heavenly
shining Adam. Of that city, of that kindred, of that power,
they are not of this world, but of another world. He
Himself says, Ye are not of this world, even as I am not
of this world.
2
But as a merchant on a voyage of many
stages, in the multiplication of his merchandise, sends to his
friends to him houses, gardens, clothes that he
procure
requires, and when he sets out for home, brings with him
great wealth, and his friends and kinsfolk welcome him with
great rejoicing, so in spiritual things, if any are making the
heavenly wealth their merchandise, their fellow citizens,

the spirits of saints and angels, are aware of it, and say with
admiration, " Our brethren on the earth have come into great
wealth." So they, having the Lord with them at their de-
parture, come with mighty rejoicing to those above, and those
who belong to the Lord receive them, having prepared for
them there houses, and gardens, and clothes all bright and
costly.
1 2
Matt, xxiii. 27. John xvii. 16.
 HOMILY XVI 139

9. We need sobriety in all things, then, in order that the

good things that we seem to have may not turn to our hurt.
For those who are naturally kind, unless they secure them-
selves, are gradually drawn aside by their very kindness ;

and those who have wisdom are deceived by their wisdom.

A man must be well tempered together in all directions,
kindness with severity, wisdom with discretion, word with
deed, in everything to trust in the Lord, not in himself.
For virtue is seasoned with many different spices, as an
article of necessary diet is seasoned with condiment of
—
some kind not with honey only, but with pepper some-
times —
and so is found good for food.
10. Those who say that sin is not in man, are like people

plunged under a deluge of many waters, who will not

acknowledge it, but say, " We heard a sound of waters."
Plunged under the depth of the waves of evil, they say that
sin is not in their mind or thoughts.
There is a difference
between those who have a theory and talk, but are not
seasoned with the salt of heaven— who
discourse of a royal
table, but have never eaten or enjoyed it - and a man who
has had a sight of the king himself, to whom the treasures
have been opened, and he has entered in, and inherited
them, and eaten and drunk of the costly viands.
11. If a mother has an only son, very handsome, wise,
adorned with all things good, upon whom she sets all her
hopes, and it falls out that she buries him, then endless
distress comes upon her, and mourning that cannot be
comforted. So ought the mind, when the soul has died to
God, to take up mourning and tears, endless distress, to
have a contrite heart, to be in fear and care, and at the
same time to have a hunger and thirst for what is good
continually. Such an one passes into the hands of God's
grace and of hope, and he no longer remains in that
mourning, but rejoices as one that finds a treasure, and
again trembles for fear he should lose it, for the thieves
i4o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
are coming. Like a man who has suffered many losses by
thieves, and has got away from them with much difficulty,

and after this has come into great affluence and a lar^c
fortune, and has no more dread of loss because of his
abundant wealth so spiritual men, after first passing
;

through many temptations and dreadful places, and then

filled with grace and replete with good things, are no longer

in terror of those who would plunder them, since their

wealth is not small ;
yet they fear, not with the beginner's
fear of evil spirits, but with fear and care how to employ the
spiritual gifts entrusted to them.
12. Such an one despises himself beyond all sinners, and
holds this notion implanted in him as if by nature, and the

farther he advances in the knowledge of God, the more he

considers himself an ignoramus, and the more he learns,
the less he thinks he knows. It is grace which ministers

this effect, and makes it like a part of nature in the soul.

As a little child is carried by a strong young man, and he
who carries it takes it about wherever he pleases, so the
grace that works in the deep carries the soul, and lifts it up
to the heavens, to the perfect world, to the everlasting rest.
But even in grace there are measures and degrees of rank.
The commander-in-chief, who has access to the king, differs
from the captain. As a house that is filled with smoke
discharges it also into the open air, so the evil compressed
into the soul is discharged without and produces fruits.

As those to whom is committed the government of a

province or of the royal treasury are all the time in anxiety
lest they should after all offend the king, so those who have
been entrusted with a spiritual work are always in anxiety,
and though they are at rest, are as if they had never found
it. For the kingdom of darkness which had broken into
the city of the soul, and the barbarous forces which keep
possession of its ranges, are in course of expulsion from it.
13. Christ the King sends to avenge the city, and throws
 HOMILY XVI 141

the usurpers into chains, and settles heavenly troops and an

armament of holy spirits there, as in their own country j

and then the sun shines in the heart, and its rays run
through into all the members and so a deep peace is the
;

reigning power there.

But the man's resolution in combat and strife, and his
genuine worth, and his goodwill towards God, are then
shown when grace withdraws and he will still be brave and
cry to God. You, when you hear that there are rivers of
dragons, and mouths of lions, and the dark forces beneath
the heaven, and fire that burns and crackles in the members,
think nothing of it, not knowing that unless you receive the
earnest of the Holy Spirit, 1 they hold your soul as it departs
from the body, and do not suffer you to rise to heaven. In
like manner, when you hear of the dignity of the soul, how
precious the intelligent substance is, you do not understand
that itwas not of angels, but of human nature, that He
said, Let Us make after Our image and likeness, 2 and that
heaven and earth pass away, but that you were called to
immortality, and adoption and brotherhood, and marriage
with the King. In the world around us, all that belongs to
the bridegroom is the bride's and all that belongs to the
;

Lord, no matter what it is, He commits to you. He came

to your aid in person, to call you up above and you ;

neither consider nor understand your dignity. Justly the

inspired man mourns over your fall, saying, Man being in
honour hath no understanding, but is compared unto the
beasts without reason, and is made like unto them. 3 Glory
be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
for ever. Amen.
1 2 3
2 Cor. i. 22. Gen. i. 26. Ps. xlix. 20.
 HOMILY XVII

Concerning the spiritual unction of Christians, and their

glory, and that without Christ it is impossible to be
saved or to become a partaker of eternal life.

i. Perfect who have been permitted to arrive

Christians,
at measures of perfection and to come very near the King,
these are continually consecrated to the cross of Christ.
As in the days of the prophets the unction was more
precious than all things else, since unction made them
kings and prophets, so now spiritual men, who are anointed
with the heavenly unction, become Christs according to
grace, so that they too are kings, and prophets of heavenly
mysteries. These are sons, and lords, and gods, made
prisoners and captives, 1 plunged deep, crucified, conse-
crated. If the anointing of oil, which came from a material
plant, a visible tree, had such force that those who were
anointed received dignity beyond dispute for it was a fixed —
rule, so that they were appointed kings ; David, for instance,
after being anointed, immediately fell into persecutions and

was and then after seven years became king how

afflicted, —
much more do all who are anointed in mind and the inner
man with the hallowing and cheering oil of gladness, 2 the
heavenly spiritual oil, receive the stamp of that kingdom of
the imperishable and everlasting power, the earnest of the
Spirit, 3 the Holy Ghost the Comforter. He is called the
Comforter, because He comforts and cheers those who are
in afflictions.
1 2 3
That is, to grace and to God. Heb. i. 9. 2 Cor. v. 5.

142
 HOMILY XVII 143

2. These, being anointed from the tree of life, Jesus

Christ, the heavenly plant, are privileged to come to
measures of perfection, the measures of the kingdom and
the adoption, truly sharers of the secrets of the heavenly
King, having free access to the Almighty, entering into His
palace, where the angels and the spirits of the saints are,
even while they are still in this world. Although they
have not yet received the perfect inheritance prepared for
them in that age, they are sure, from the earnest which
they have now received, as if already crowned and reigning ;

and being about to reign with Christ, they are not surprised
at the abundance and freedom of the Spirit. Why ? Be-
cause while still in the flesh they had that relish of
sweetness, and that effectual working of power.
3. When a man is a friend of the emperor, employed

about the palace, acquainted with his secrets, and seeing

his purple, if that man is made emperor himself and
crowned, he is not surprised or taken aback, since he has
long been exercised in the secrets of the palace. No
boorish or uneducated person, or stranger to the secret,
can go in and reign, but only those of experience and
training. So Christians, who in that age are to reign, are
not surprised, having already learned the secrets of grace.
When man first transgressed the commandment, the devil
covered the soul all over with a covering of darkness.
Then grace comes, and wholly removes the veil, so that
the soul, now and regaining its proper nature,
cleared,
created without blemish and clear, continually beholds
clearly with its clear eyes the glory of the true light and the
true sun of righteousness l beaming in the heart itself.
4. As at the end of the world the firmament is removed

and the righteous thenceforth live in the kingdom and the

light and the glory, seeing nothing else but how Christ in
glory is always on the right hand of the Father, so these
1
Mai. iv, 2.
144 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

men even now arc caught away into that age, and arc taken
captive,and behold all the beauties and the wonders that
are done there. On earth as we are, we have our citizen-
ship in heaven, 1 spending our time and activities in that
world, so far as the mind and the inner man are concerned.
As the visible eye, when clear, always clearly sees the sun,
so the mind perfectly cleansed always sees the glory of the
light of Christ, and is with the Lord night and day, in like
manner as the Lord's body united with the Godhead is

always with the Holy Ghost. Men do not, however, attain

these measures in a moment, but with labour and pains
and much contention. Some there are who have grace
with them working and abiding, yet evil also is with them
inwardly, and the two modes of citizenship, of light and of
darkness, are at work upon the same heart.
5. But you will say to me, M What communion hath

light with darkness ? Where is the divine light darkened

2

or troubled and the undefiled and pure, where is it

;

defiled?" It is written, The light shineth in darkness,

and the darkness comprehended it not. 3 We must not

therefore think of these things under a single aspect and
without dissection. So great is the repose of some men
in God's grace that they become stronger than the evil that
is with them, and having a and much
gift of prayer
repose in God, at another moment they are under the
influence of evil thoughts, and are deceived by sin, though
they are still in the grace of God. Light-minded people,
who have not learned the business, when grace to some
extent works upon them, imagine that there is no more
such a thing as sin. But those who have discretion and
are prudent dare not deny that even when we have the
grace of God we are liable to the influence of foul and
polluting thoughts.

1 2
Phil. Hi. 20. 2 Cor. vi. 14.
3
John i. 5 ; cp. Homily XVI. 3.
 HOMILY XVII 145

6. We have often found among the brethren that they

have found such gladness and grace that for five or six
years, they say, concupiscence had withered away, and after
this, when they supposed that they were free from it, the

evil,which had been concealed, set upon them, and they

were all on fire with concupiscence, so that they were sur-
prised, and said, "After so long a time, whence did this
evil rise against us?" No man of sound mind dares to
say, " While grace is with me, I am completely set free
from sin." Both the two characters are at work upon the
mind. People of no experience in these matters, when
grace has had some little effect upon them, imagine that
they have already conquered, and are perfect Christians.
For my part, I say that the fact is this ;
— when the sun is in
the sky, shining in a clear air, and clouds come about him
and cover him, and make the air thick, and yet the sun,
far within, is not robbed either of his light or of his proper
being, so is it with those who are not completely cleansed.

Being in the grace of God, and yet held by sin beneath

the surface, they have the natural motions and their actual
thoughts strong towards God, and yet are not entirely
belonging to good. 7. And on the other hand some who
under the surface are held by the good side, the side of
grace, are still in bondage and subjection to bad thoughts
and the side of evil.
It needs great discretion, therefore, to know by experi-
ence that this is the state of the case. I assure you that
even the apostles, though they had the Comforter, were not
entirely without anxiety. With joy and gladness they had
fear and trembling, proceeding from grace itself, not from
the side of evil but the same grace secured them, that
;

they might not swerve, though it were but a little. If a

man throws a bit of a stone against a wall, it does not
injure the wall ormove it from its place. A dart flung at
one who wears a breast-plate hurts neither the iron nor the
146 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
wearer's body ; it strikes and bounds back. So even
though a fragment of evil got near the apostles, it did not
injure them, because they were clothed with the perfect
power of Christ, and they, being themselves perfect, were at
liberty to work their righteousnesses.
8. Since then some will have it that after grace the soul
is without anxiety, God requires the will of the soul, even
in the perfect, for the service of the Spirit, that they may
act in agreement. The apostle
Quench not the Spirit. 1 says,
Some among them were unwilling to be burdensome to
others some walked for themselves others took from men
; ;

of the world and distributed to the poor. This was a

worthier part. Some who have grace care only about them-
selves, others endeavour to benefit their neighbour's souls
also. These are far superior to the others. Some who
have grace, God's name's sake deliver up their bodies to
for
mockeries and sufferings. These again are above those.
Some and to
in the pursuit of virtue are disposed to boast
be honoured of men, saying that they are Christians and
partake of the Holy Ghost. Others endeavour to hide
themselves even from meeting men. These are much
superior to those others. You see how even in perfection
goodwill towards God completed by the natural will is
found superior and abundance. in greater
man clothed in beggarly garments should see himself
If a
in a vision rich, and on waking from sleep should see him-
self again poor and naked, so those who utter a spiritual
discourse seem to speak suitably enough, but if they
have not the thing they discourse about verified in their
mind by tasting and power and personal experience, they
stand in a vain show. Or like a woman decked out
in silks and arrayed in pearls, who offers herself in a
place of ill fame, the heart of these men is a resort of
unclean spirits, while they set themselves up to discourse
1
Thess. v. 19.
 HOMILY XVII 147

of righteousness, when they have never had a glimpse of

the realities.
10. A fish cannot live out of the water; no one can walk
without feet, or see light without eyes, or speak without a
tongue, or hear without ears. So without the Lord Jesus,
and the working of divine power, no one can know the
mysteries and wisdom of God, or be rich and a Christian.
The wise, the warriors, the brave men, the philosophers of
God, are those who are led and shepherded in the inner
man by the divine power. The philosophers of the Greeks
learn to make speeches ; others are rude in speech, 1 but
rejoicingand exulting in the grace of God, men of piety.
Let us judge which are the better. The kingdom of God,
it says, is not in word, bat in deed and in power. 2
n. For a man to say, "This bread is made of corn," is

easy enough. He should tell us how bread is prepared

in detail, and baked. To talk of freedom from passions,
and of perfection, is easy ; but in experience to be brought
to perfection is the lot of few. The gospel says in short
compass, " Thou shalt not be angry ; thou shalt not covet.
If any man smite thee on the cheek, turn to him the other
also. If any man judge to take away thy cloak, give him
thy coat also." 3
The apostle, tracing out how the work of
cleansing should be done, little by little with patience and
perseverance, teaches at large, first feeding with milk, like
babes, then carrying on to growth and to full age. The
gospel said that the garment was made of wool ; the apostle
declared in detail, how it is made.
12. So those who
utter spiritual discourses, without
tasting what they discourse of, are like a man who travels
on a desert plain, by burning heat, and being
assailed
thirsty, draws a picture of a running stream of water, with a
sketch of himself drinking, when all the while his lips are
parched, and his tongue also, by the thirst that possesses
1 2 3
2 Cor. xi. 6. 1 Cor. iv. 20. Matt. v. 39 ff.
148 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
him ; or as if a man should discourse of honey, that it is

sweet, though never having tasted it, he does not know the
force of the sweetness. Such is the case with those who
make discourse about perfection, and rejoicing, or freedom
from passions, without having the effectual working and
personal knowledge of them. The things are not all as
they describe them. When a man of that kind is once
permitted to find himself in the reality, he judges in his
own mind: "I have not found it to be as I supposed. I
discoursed in one way, and the Spirit works in another."
13. For Christianity is indeed meat and drink; and the
more a man eats of it, the more his mind is allured by
the sweetness, and is not to be restrained or satisfied, but
asks for more, without ever being filled, and goes on eating.
If a man isand there is given him a pleasant
thirsty,

draught, then, when he has begun to taste it, he gets the

more eagerly close to the drink, more ardent for it than
before. And indeed the tasting of the Spirit is well-nigh
without a limit, so that it is really like the supposed case.
And these mere words. This is the practical
are not
working of the Holy Ghost mysteriously ministering in the
mind.
Some imagine that because they abstain from marriage
and other That is
visible things, they are already saints.
not so. Evil and lifts itself up in the mind and
still lives
in the heart. The saint is one who is cleansed and sancti-
fied in the inner man. For where truth raises its head,
there error attacks, endeavouring to conceal and obscure it.
14. When the Jews possessed the priesthood, then those of
that nation \vere persecuted and afflicted, because they stood
firm in the truth, Eleazar and the Maccabees. Now that after
the cross and the veil the Spirit has departed from them,
the truth has been revealed here and works here. So those
of this nation are persecuted in turn. The persecution and
affliction which befell that nation was that the lovers of the
 "

HOMILY XVII 149

truth might witness to it. For how shall the truth appear,
unless it has adversaries who are false and oppose the
truth ? Even among the brethren there are some who
endure sufferings and afflictions, and yet have need of much

wariness, lest they fall. One of the brethren was once at

prayer with a certain and was taken captive by
person,
divine power, and caught away, and saw the city of Jerusalem
above, and shining figures, and infinite light, and heard a
voice, saying, " This is the place of repose of the righteous ;

and shortly after, he was puffed up, and imagined that what
he had seen concerned himself, and after that, he was found
to fall into the nethermost depths of sin, into a thousand
evil things.

15. If one who had been inside and aloft fell thus,
how can the ordinary man say, "By fasting, and making
myself a stranger, and dispersing my property, I am a saint
already " ? Mere abstention from evil things is not perfec-
tion — only if thou hast entered into thy ruined mind, and
hast slain the serpent that under the mind beneath the
lies

surface of the thoughts, and burrows into what we call the

secret chambers and storehouses of the soul and murders
thee— for the heart is a deep gulf only, I say, if thou hast —
killed him, and cast out all the uncleanness that was in
thee. All the philosophers, and the
and the prophets, law,
and the coming of the Saviour, have to do with purity.
There is no man, Jew or Greek, that does not love purity,
though they cannot be pure. We must go on seeking how
and by what means the purity of the heart may be gained.
Certainly no other way than through Him who was crucified
for us. He is the way, the life, the truth, the door, the
pearl, the living Without that truth it is
heavenly bread.
impossible to know truth, or to be saved. As therefore
in regard to the outer man and visible affairs thou didst
renounce all and hast distributed thy property, so in the
matter of worldly wisdom, if thou hast knowledge and the
i5o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
force of words,;thou oughtest to cast all
away, and to esteem
them as nothing, that so thou mayest be built
up by the
foolishness of preaching, 1 which preaching is the true
wisdom, which has not the pride of words, but
has a power
that works effectually by means of
the holy cross. Glory
be to the consubstantial Trinity for ever. Amen.
1
Cor. i. 21.
 HOMILY XVIII

Concerning the Christians' treasure, which is Christ and

the Holy Ghost, who practises them in various ways
to come to perfection.

i. If a man is very rich in this world, and possesses a

hidden treasure, out of that treasure and wealth that he has
he purchases whatever he has a mind to purchase. What-
ever rare articles in the world he fancies, he readily amasses
them, relying upon the treasure, because by means of it he
easily procures any piece of property he fancies. In like
manner those who seek at God's hand, and have found,
and have the heavenly treasure of the Spirit, which is the
Lord Himself shining in their hearts, accomplish every
righteousness of virtues, and every acquisition of goodness
commanded by the Lord, out of the treasure of Christ in
them, and by means of it they amass a yet more abundant
heavenly wealth. By means of that heavenly treasure they
effect every virtue of righteousness, relying upon the multi-
tude of the spiritual riches within them, and easily work
every righteousness and commandment of the Lord by
means of the invisible wealth of grace that is in them. The
apostle says, Having this treasure in earthen vessels, 1 that
is, the treasure which it was granted to them in this life to

possess within themselves, the sanctifying power of the

Spirit ; and again, Who was made to us wisdom from God,
and rigJitconsness, and sanctification, and redemption.'2 '

1 2
2 Cor. iv. 7. 1 Cor. i. 30.
151
152 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
2. So one who has found and has within him this heavenly
treasure of the Spirit, effects thereby every righteousness of
commandments and every accomplishment of virtues un-
blameably and purely, without forcing and with ease. Let
us therefore beseech God, and seek and beg of Him, to bestow
on us the treasure of His Spirit, andwe may be
that thus
able to walk in all His commandments unblameably and
purely, and to fulfil all the righteousness of the Spirit purely
and by means of the heavenly treasure, which is
perfectly,
Christ. For he that is poor and naked and needy and
famished in the world can acquire nothing ; his poverty
restrains him ; but the possessor of treasure, as I said, easily

acquires such articles as he fancies, without painful effort.

Thus the soul that naked and destitute of the fellowship

is

of the Spirit, and under the horrible poverty of sin,

lies

cannot, if it would, produce any of the fruits of the Spirit of

righteousness in truth, before partaking of the Spirit.
3. Nevertheless, every one should force himself to ask of
the Lord to be permitted to receive and find the heavenly
treasure of the Spirit, so as to be able without difficulty and
with readiness to do all the commandments of. the Lord
unblameably and purely, which before he could not succeed
in doing, whatever force he might use. Poor and naked of
the fellowship of the Spirit, how could he acquire such
heavenly possessions, without any spiritual treasure or
wealth ? But the soul which has found the Lord, the true
treasure, by seeking of the Spirit and faith and much
patience, works out the fruits of the Spirit, as I said before,
with ease and all righteousness and commandments of the
;

Lord, which the Spirit has commanded, she does, in herself,

and by herself, purely, and perfectly, and unblameably.
4. Let us use another illustration. If there is a rich
man, and he makes a costly repast, he spends out of his
wealth and the treasure that he has, and is under no fear
that he will run short of anything, being so rich ; and so
 HOMILY XVIII 153

he entertains the guests whom he has invited at cost and

with splendour, setting before them many different dishes
of the latest fashion. The poor man, who has no such
wealth, if he wishes to provide a repast for a few friends,
has all to borrow, the very dishes, the drapery, and every-
thing else ; and then, after the invited guests have dined on
a poor man's dinner, when it is over, he gives back to each
person that he had borrowed of, a silver dish, a piece of
drapery, or whatever else it was, and so, when all is given
back, he himself remains poor and naked, having no wealth
of his own to entertain himself with.

5. In the same way, when those who are rich in the Holy
Ghost, really having the heavenly wealth and the fellowship
of the Spirit in themselves, speak to any the word of truth,
when they impart spiritual discourses to any and desire to
entertain souls, it is out of their own wealth and out of
their own treasure, which they possess within themselves,
that they speak, and out of this that they entertain the souls
of the hearers of the spiritual discourse and they have no
;

fear lest they should run short, because they possess within
themselves a heavenly treasure of goodness, upon which
they draw to entertain those whom they are spiritually
feasting. But one who is poor, and does not possess of the
wealth of Christ, and has no spiritual wealth in his soul,
yielding a stream of all goodness, both of words and of
deeds, and of divine ideas, and of mysteries unspeakable,
even if he wishes to speak a word of truth and to entertain
some of his hearers, yet not possessing in himself the word
of God in power and reality, but only repeating from
memory, and borrowing words from various parts of the
bible, or what he has heard from spiritual men, and relating
—
and teaching this see, he seems to entertain others, and
others enjoy what he tells them, but after he has gone
through it, each word goes back to the source from which
it was taken, and he himself remains once more naked and
154 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
poor, having no treasure of the Spirit for his own, upon
which he draws to entertain others, not being himself first
entertained, nor rejoicing in the Spirit.
6. For this reason we should first seek from God with
labour of heart and in faith, that He would grant us to find
His wealth, the true treasure of Christ, in our hearts, in the
power and effectual working of the Spirit. In this way,
first in ourselves the Lord to be our profit and
finding
salvation and eternal life, we may then profit others also, as
is possible and attainable, drawing upon Christ, the treasure

within, for all goodness of spiritual w ords, and setting forth

r

mysteries of heaven. For thus it pleased the goodness of

the Father to dwell in every one w ho believes and asks T

of Him. He that loveth Me, it says, shall be loved of My

Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to
him; and again, We will come, I and My Father, and will
make Our' abode with him. 2 Thus the infinite kindness of
the Father willed ; thus the inconceivable love of Christ
was pleased ; thus the unspeakable goodness of the Spirit
promised. Glory to the unspeakable compassion of the
Holy Trinity.
For those to whom it has been given to become children
7.

of God, and to be born from above of the Spirit, who have

within them Christ shining and refreshing them, are led in
many different ways of the Spirit, and acted upon by grace
invisibly in the heart, in spiritual rest. Let us employ
figures of tangible enjoyments in the world, to signify in
some measure the dealings of grace in the heart. There
are times when they are as if entertained at a royal banquet,
and rejoicing with joy and gladness inexpressible. At
another moment they are like a bride reposing in com-
munion with her bridegroom in a divine repose. Another
time they become like angels without bodies, they are so
light and unencumbered, body and all. Another time they
1 2
John xiv. 21. John xiv. 23.
 HOMILY XVIII 155

are as if drunken with strong drink, being exhilarated and

intoxicated with the Spirit, with the intoxication of divine
and spiritual mysteries. 8. Another time they are as if in

weeping and lamentation for the human race ; and in sup-

plication for the whole Adam they take up a mourning and
a weeping, being consumed by the love of the Spirit towards
mankind. At another they are fired by the Spirit with such
rejoicing and love, that if it were possible they would take
every man into their own hearts, without distinguishing
between bad and good. Sometimes they are so humbled
beneath all others in the humility of the Spirit, that they
think themselves to be the last and least of all. Sometimes
the Spirit keeps them
in such joy unspeakable that they 1

are wearied out. Another time they are like a mighty man
who has taken the king's whole armour, and come down
upon his enemies to battle, and fights against them power-
fully, and has conquered; for, like him, the spiritual man

takes the heavenly weapons of the Spirit, and comes down

upon the enemies, and battles with them, and puts them
under his feet. 9. At another time the soul reposes in a
certain great quietness and calm and peace, with no sense
of anything else but spiritual pleasure, and repose unspeak-
able, and well-being. At another, it is instructed by grace
in a kind of unspeakable understanding and wisdom,
and the knowledge of the unsearchable Spirit, in things
which it is impossible to utter with tongue and speech.
So various are the dealings of grace in them, and in
so many ways does it lead the soul which it refreshes
according to the will of God, and exercises it in different
manners, in order to restore it to the heavenly Father
perfect and faultless and pure.
10. But the operations of the Spirit of which I have

spoken belong to the great measures which are near perfec-

tion. For these various refreshings of grace, though they
1
1 Pet. i. 8.
156 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
are expressed in different manners, are constantly brought
to bear upon such people, one operation succeeding another.
For when the soul arrives at the perfection of the Spirit,
perfectly cleansed from passion, and united and mingled
with the Spirit Paraclete by that unspeakable communion,
and is permitted to become spirit itself in mixture with the
Spirit, then it is made all light, all eye, all spirit, all joy, all

rest, all gladness, all love, all compassion, all goodness and
loving-kindness. As in the bottom of the sea a stone is
encompassed on every side by water, so these men, mingled
in every way with the Spirit, are made like Christ, having in
themselves the virtues of the power of the Spirit unalterably,
being faultless and spotless and pure within and without.
ii. Restored by the Spirit, how can they produce outwardly

the fruit of evil ? At all times and in all circumstances the

fruits of the Spirit shine forth in them.
Let us then beseech God, and believe in love and much
hope, that He may give us the heavenly grace of the gift of the
Spirit, that that Spirit Himself may govern us also, and guide

us into all the will of God, and refresh us in all the variety of
His refreshing, in order that through such governance and
exercise of grace, and spiritual improvement, we may be
allowed to attain the perfection of the fulness of Christ, as
the apostle says, That ye may be filled with all the fulness
1
of Christ, and again, Till we all come unto a perfect man,
unto the measure of the stature of the fillness of Christ. 2
The Lord has promised to bestow on all that believe in
Him and ask in truth the mysteries of the unspeakable
communion of the Spirit. Let us therefore devote ourselves
entirely to the Lord, and hasten to obtain thegood things
we have spoken of. Dedicated in soul and body, and nailed
to the cross of Christ, let us become fit for the eternal
kingdom, glorifying the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, for ever. Amen.
1 2
Eph. iii. 19. Eph. iv. 13.
 HOMILY XIX
Christians who desire to make progress and to grow ought
toforce themselves to every good thing, so as to deliver
themselves from indwelling sin, and to be filled with
the Holy Ghost.

i. The man who desires to come to the Lord, and to be

found worthy of eternal life, and to become the dwelling-
place of Christ, and to be filled with the Holy Ghost, that
he may be able to produce the fruits of the Spirit, and
perform the commandments of Christ purely and faultlessly,
ought to begin by first believing the Lord steadfastly, and
giving himself wholly to the words of His commandments,
and renouncing the world altogether, that his whole mind
may be occupied about nothing secular. And he should
persevere continually in prayer, continually waiting in ex-
pectant faith for the visitation and succour of the Lord,
keeping the aim of his mind always fixed upon this. Then
he should force himself to every good work and to all the
commandments of the Lord, because of sin that is present
with him. For instance, let him force himself to humility
of mind in sight of all men, and to consider himself less
and worse than them, not seeking honour, or praise, or the
glory of men, from anyone, as it is written in the gospel, 1
but always having the Lord only before his eyes, and His
commandments, desiring to please Him only in the meek-
ness of the heart, as the Lord says, Learn of Me, because
1
John xii. 44.
157
 ; ;

158 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto
your souls. 1
2. In like manner let him accustom himself to be merci-
ful, kind, compassionate, good, to the utmost of his power,
as the Lord says, Be ye good and kind, even as your
2
heavenly Father and again He says, // ye love
is pitiful

Me, keep My commandments

3
and again, Be violent, for
the violent take the kingdom of heaven by forced and,
Strive to enter in by the strait gate. 5 Above all things let
him keep the humility and conduct of the Lord, and His
meekness and behaviour, as his pattern, in all never-forgetful
memory. Let him persevere in prayers, always beseeching
and believing, that the Lord may come and dwell in him,
and may perfect and strengthen him in all His command-
ments, and that the Lord Himself may becomethe dwelling-
place of his soul, and thus one day, what he now does by
force with a reluctant heart, he may do willingly, accustom-
ing himself always to what is good, and being ever mindful
of the Lord, and in much love waiting for Him in the Holy
Spirit. Then the Lord, beholding such a purpose, and his
good diligence, how he forces himself to the remembrance
of the Lord, and ever compels his heart, whether it will or no,
to that which is good, and to humility and meekness and
charity, and guides it to the best of his power by force, shows
mercy upon him, and delivers him from his enemies and
from indwelling sin, filling him with the Holy Ghost and ;

thus afterwards without force or labour he does all the

commandments of the Lord in truth, or rather the Lord in
him does His own commandments, and then he brings forth
the fruits of the Spirit purely.
3. But before this, in coming to the Lord, a man must
thus force himself to that which is good, even against the
inclination of his heart, continually expecting His mercy
1 3
Matt xi. 29. * Luke vi. 36. John xiv. 15.
4 5
Matt. xi. 12. Luke xiii. 24.
 HOMILY XIX 159

with no doubtful faith, and force himself to charity, when

he has no charity — force himself to meekness, when he has
no meekness — force himself to and to have a merciful
pity,
heart — force himself to be looked down upon, and when he
is looked down upon, to bear it patiently, and when he is

made light of or put to shame, not to be angry, as it is said,

Beloved, avenge not yourselves l
— to force himself to prayer,
when he has not spiritual prayer and thus God, beholding ;

him thus striving, and compelling himself by force, in spite

of an unwilling heart, gives him the true prayer of the Spirit,
gives him true charity, meekness, bowels of mercies, 2 true
kindness, and in short fills him with the fruits of the Spirit.
4. But if a man forces himself only to prayer, when he
has no prayer, that he may obtain the grace of prayer, but
will not force himself to meekness and humility and charity
and the rest of the Lord's commandments, and takes no
pains or trouble or striving to succeed in these, as far as
purpose and freewill can go, sometimes a grace of prayer is

given him, in part, with refreshment and gladness from the

Spirit, according to his asking ; but in character he is like
what he was before. He has no meekness, because he did
not seek it with pains, or prepare himself beforehand to
become so. He has no humility, because he did not ask
for it, or force himself to it. He has not charity towards all

men, because he had no concern or striving about it in his

asking for prayer and in the accomplishment of his work,
;

he has no faith and trust in God, because he did not know

himself, did not discover that he was without it, or take
trouble at any cost to himself, seeking from the Lord to
obtain firm faith towards Him and a real trust.
5. For as everyone forces and compels himself to prayer

in spite of the reluctance of the heart, so ought he to force

himself likewise to trust, and so to humility, and so to

charity, and so to meekness, sincerity and simplicity, and
1
Rom. xii. 19.
2
Col. iii. 12,
 ;

1 6o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

so unto all patience and longsuffering (according to that
which is written) with joyfulness l
and so to think little of

himself, and to esteem himself poor and last ; and so not to

engage in conversation to no profit, but always to meditate
and speak the things of God with mouth and heart so also ;

not to be angry or clamorous, according to that which is

said, Let all bitterness, and anger, and clamour, be put

away from you, with all malice ;
2
— to all the ways of the
Lord, to all practice of virtue and of good and noble living,
to all behaviour of goodness, to all humility of meekness,

not to be proud, high-minded, or puffed up, or to speak

against any one.
6.To all these things must a man force himself, who desires
to approve himself to Christ and to please Him in order
that the Lord, seeing his earnestness and purpose in com-
pelling himself thus to all goodness and simplicity, and
kindness and humility, and charity and prayer, and driving
himself to them by force, may give him His whole self the —
Lord Himself in truth doing all these things purely in him
without labour or forcing, which before he could not do
even by force because of sin that was with him and all ;

the practices of virtue come to him like nature. For from

that time onward, the Lord coming and dwelling in him,
and he in Him, Himself performs in him His own com-
mandments, without effort, filling him with the fruits of the
Spirit. But if a man forces himself only to prayer, until he
shall receive a gift of it from God, but does not in like
manner force and compel and accustom himself to these
other things, he cannot in truth perform them purely and
faultlessly. He should prepare himself in this way to that
which is good to the best of his power for sometimes the ;

divine grace comes to him while asking and praying. For

God is good and kind, and to those who ask Him He gives
what they ask. But if a man has not the things of which we
1 2
Col. i. ii. Eph. iv. 31.
 HOMILY XIX 161

have spoken, and has not accustomed or adapted himself to

them beforehand, even if he receives grace, he will lose it,
and falls by pride, or at least makes no progress or increase
in the grace that came to him, since he does not give him-
self to the commandments of the Lord with a will. For the
dwelling-place and repose of the Spirit is humility, charity
and meekness, and the other commandments of the Lord.
7. One who wishes to please God in truth, and to
receive from Him the heavenly grace of the Spirit, and to
increase and be perfected Holy Ghost, ought, there-
in the
fore, to force himself to all the commandments of God, and

to subdue his heart, however unwilling it may be, according

to the saying, Therefore hold I straight all Thy command-
ments, and all false ways I utterly abhor. 1 As a man
forces and compels himself to perseverance in prayer, until
he has succeeded in this, so in like manner, if he only will,
he forces and compels himself to all the practices of virtue,
and forms a good habit, and thus always asking and praying
the Lord, and obtaining his petition, and receiving a taste
of God, and becoming a partaker of the Holy Ghost, he
causes the gift that was bestowed on him to grow and thrive,
resting in his humility, in charity, in meekness.
8. The Spirit Himself bestows these things upon him,

and teaches him true prayer, true charity, true meekness, to

which before he forced himself, and sought for them, and
cared for them, and meditated upon them, and they were
given him and having thus grown up and been perfected
;

in God, he is permitted to become an heir of the kingdom.

The humble never falls. Whence indeed could he fall,
being lower than all ? A proud mind is a great humiliation ;

a humble mind is a great exaltation and honour and dignity.

Let us therefore force and compel ourselves to humility,
though our heart may dislike it, and to meekness, and to
charity, praying and beseeching God in faith, hope, and
1
Ps. cxix. 128.
i62 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
charity incessantly with such an expectancy and aim, that
He would send His Spirit into our hearts, that we may pray
and worship God in spirit and in truth, 1 9. that the
Spirit Himself may pray in us, that the Spirit Himself may
teach us true prayer, which now we have not, though we
force ourselves to it true humility, which now we cannot
;

attain, even by force may teach us to bring forth in truth

;

bowels of mercies, 1 kindness, and all the commandments of

the Lord, without pain or forcing, as the Spirit Himself
knows how, filling us with His fruits and thus the com-
;

mandments of the Lord being fulfilled by us through His

Spirit, who alone knows the will of the Lord, and the Spirit
having perfected us in Himself and Himself perfected in us,
when we are once cleansed from every defilement and spot
of sin, He will present our souls pure and faultless, like fair
brides, to Christ, we resting in God in His kingdom, and
God resting in us world without end. Glory to His com-
passions and to His mercy and love, that He has vouchsafed
such honour and glory to mankind, has vouchsafed to make
them sons of the heavenly Father, and has called them
brethren of His own. To Him be glory for ever. Amen.
1 2
John iv. 24. Col. iii. 12.
 —

HOMILY XX
Only Christ, the true Physician of the inner man, can
heal the sold, and array it in the garment of grace.

i. naked for want of the divine and

If any one is

heavenly raiment, which is the power of the Holy Ghost

as it is said, If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
none of His x
— let him weep and beseech the Lord, that he
may receive the spiritual raiment from heaven, that his soul,
now naked of the heavenly operation, may be clothed,
because the man who is not clad in the raiment of the Spirit
2
is covered with much shame of vile affections. In the
if any one is naked, he is in great shame and
outer world,
and friends turn away from friends when they are
disgrace,
naked, and kinsfolk from those belonging to them, and
children, seeing their father stripped naked, have turned their
faces away, not to lookupon their father's naked body, and
have gone backwards and covered him, and have not till
then turned their faces to him. In the same way God's
face is turned away from souls that are not clothed with the
raiment of the Spirit in full assurance, from men who have
not put on the Lord Jesus Christ 3 in power and reality.

2. The first man when he beheld himself naked was

ashamed, so great is the disgrace attaching to nakedness.
If then in bodily things nakedness means so much shame,
how much more is the soul which is naked of divine power,
and wears not, nor is clad with the unspeakable, incorruptible
1
Rom. viii. 9.
2
Rom. i. 26. 3
Rom. xiii. 14.
163
64 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
heavenly raiment, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in reality,
covered with still greater shame and disgrace of vile affec-
tions and every one who is naked of that divine glory
;

ought to be as much ashamed of himself and as much

aware of his disgrace, as Adam was when he was naked.
Although he made himself an apron of fig-leaves, he wore
his shame and nakedness none the less, acknowledging his
poverty. Let such a soul then ask of Christ, who gives
glory and arrays therewith in light unspeakable, not making
for itself a cloak of vain thoughts, deceiving itself with the
imagination of a righteousness of its own, or fancying that
it possesses the vesture of salvation.
3. anyone takes his stand upon a righteousness and
If
redemption of his own, not looking for the righteousness of
God which is the Lord, as the apostle says, Who is made to
us righteousness and redemption, 1 he labours in vain and to
no purpose. For all the dream of a righteousness of his own
is at the last day manifested as nothing but filthy rags, as

the prophet Esaias says, All our righteousness is as filthy

rags. Let us then beg and implore God to clothe us with
2.

the garment of salvation? our Lord Jesus Christ, the un-

speakable light, which souls that have once worn it shall
never put off again, but in the resurrection their bodies also
shall be glorified by the glory of the light, with which faith-
ful and noble souls are even now clad, as the apostle says,

He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken

your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in yon.*
Glory to His unspeakable compassion and His inexpressible
mercy.
4. And again, as the woman that was diseased with an
issue of blood,on believing truly and touching the Lord's
hem, once found cure, and the flow of the unclean
at
fountain of her blood dried up, so every soul that has the
1 2
1 Cor. i. 30. Isa. lxiv. 6.
3 4
Isa. lxi. 10. Rom. viii. 11.
 HOMILY XX 165

incurable wound of sin, the fountain of unclean and evil

thoughts, if it only comes to Christ and implores in true
faith, finds saving cure of that incurable fountain of the
passions, and that fountain which sends up the unclean
thoughts and dries up through the power of Jesus only
fails ;

— nothing else can cure this wound. For the enemy at

the transgression of Adam so contrived to wound and
darken the inner man, the directing mind which sees God. 1
Thenceforth his eyes looked clearly upon bad things and
upon the passions, but were shut out from the good things
of heaven.
5. He
was so sore wounded that none could cure him
but the Lord only. To Him alone it was possible. He
came and took away the sin of the world ; 2 that is, He
dried up the unclean fountain of the thoughts of the soul.
As that diseased woman spent all that she had upon those
who professed to be able to cure her, but could be healed
by none, approached the Lord, truly believing and
until she
touching the hem of His garment, and then at once felt the
cure, and the issue of blood staunched, so the soul, wounded
at the beginning with the incurable wound of evil passions,
none, whether righteous men, or fathers, or prophets, or
patriarchs, had force to heal.
6. Moses came, but he could not bestow a complete cure.

Priests, gifts, tithes, sabbaths, new-moons, washings, sacri-

fices, burnt offerings, and every other righteousness, was

performed under the law, and the soul could not get
cured and cleansed from the unclean issue of bad thoughts.
Every righteousness of the soul was unavailing to heal man,
until the Saviour came, the true Physician, who cures with-
out cost, who gave Himself a ransom for mankind. He
alone accomplished the great, saving deliverance and cure
of the soul. He set it free from bondage, and brought it
out of darkness, glorifying it with His own light. He dried
1 2
See below, p. 292. John i. 29.
 ;

i66 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

up the fountain of unclean thoughts that was in it. Behold,
it says, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the
world. 1
7. The
earth could not be cured and healed of so great
an invisible plague by any medicines of her own, that is, by
righteous actions proceeding only from herself; but by the
heavenly divine nature of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Only
by medicine could man find cure and attain life, being
this
cleansed in heart by the Holy Ghost. But as that woman,
though she could not be cured, and remained undone, yet
had feet to come
to the Lord, and coming to find cure and ;

as that blindman, though he could not pass over and come

to the Lord, because he could not see, yet sent a swifter
messenger in his voice, saying Thou Son of David, have
mercy on me, 2 and thus believed and found cure by the
Lord's coming to him and making him to see clearly, so the
soul, though undone by vile affections, and blinded by
the darkness of sin, yet has the power of will to cry out and
call to Jesus, that He would come and work eternal

deliverance for the soul.

8. Had not that blind man cried out, had not that sick

woman come to the Lord, they would not have found cure
so, unless a man comes to the Lord of his own free will and

with whole purpose of heart, and petitions Him with assurance

of faith, he finds no cure. Why
was it that they were at once
cured on believing, while we have not yet seen truly clear,
and have not been cured of the hidden affections? And
yet the Lord takes more thought for the immortal soul than
for the body, —
the soul which, if it once gains clear sight,
according to him who says, Open thou mine eyes 3 shall
never again be blinded, and once cured shall never have
wrecked health. If the Lord came upon earth and took
such care of perishable bodies, how much more of the
1
John i. 29.
a
Mark x. 47,
3
Ps. cxix. 18.
 HOMILY XX 167

immortal soul, made after His own likeness ? It is because

of our unbelief, because of our divided mind, because we do
not love Him with all the heart, nor really believe Him,
that we have not yet found the spiritual cure and salvation.
Let us then believe Him, and come to Him in reality, that
He may speedily work in us the true cure. He has
promised to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, 1 and
to open to them that knock, and to be found of them that
seek, 2 and He that has made the promise cannot lie. To
Him be glory and might for ever. Amen.
1
Luke 2
xi. 13. Matt. vii. 7.
 HOMILY XXI
A Christian man has a twofold warfare set before him, an
inward and an outward, the latter, in withdrawing from
earthly distractions ; the former, in the heart, against the
suggestions of the spirits of wickedness.

i. The man who wishes really to please God, and is in

truth an enemy to the opposite party of evil, has to wrestle
in two conflicts and two contentions — one in the
visible affairs of this by withdrawing from earthly
life,

distractions and from the love of worldly ties and from

affections of sin — the other, in hidden things, by fighting

against the spirits of wickedness themselves, as the Apostle
said, We 'wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the riders of the dark-
ness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. 1
2. When man transgressed the commandment, and was
exiled from Paradise, he was bound down in two ways and
with two different chains. One was in this life, in the affairs
of this life, and in the love of the world, that is to say, the
love of fleshly pleasures and lusts, of wealth, and glory, and
possessions, of wife and children, of kinsfolk, of country, of
and of all other things of sense,
particular places, of clothes,
from which the word of God bids him be loosed by his own
free choice — since what binds every man to the things of
sense is his own consent — in order that, having loosed and
emancipated himself from all these, he may be able to
master the commandment perfectly. But besides this, in
the hidden region, the soul is hedged and hemmed and
walled round, and bound with chains of darkness by the
1
Eph. vi. 12.
1 68
 HOMILY XXI 169

spirits of wickedness, unable to love the Lord as it

would, or to believe as it would, or to pray as it would. On

all both in things manifest and in things hidden,
sides,
contrariety has come down to us from the transgression of
the first man.
3. Accordingly, as soon as a man hears the word of God,

and makes the effort, and casts away the affairs of this life and
the bonds of the world, and denies all the fleshly pleasures,
and looses himself from these, then, when attending con-
stantly upon the Lord and giving all his time to Him, he is
in a position to discover that thereanother wrestling, in
is

the heart, another hidden opposition, and another war with

the suggestions of the spirits of wickedness, and another
Thus standing steadfast and calling
contest in front of him.
upon the Lord in undoubting faith and much patience, and
looking for the succour that comes from Him, he is
enabled to obtain from that source inward deliverance from
the bonds and hedges and earthworks and darkness of the
spirits of wickedness, which are the workings of the hidden
passions. But this war can be brought to nought by the
4.

grace and power of God. By himself no man can deliver

himself from the contrariety and error of thoughts and of
unobserved passions and of devices of the evil one.
If, however, a man is entangled among the things of
sense by the affairs of this world, and meshed in various
earthly bonds, and carried away by the lusts of evil, he does
not so much as discover that there is another wrestling and
pummelling and battle within. Let it be that when a man
makes the effort and takes himself away, and looses himself
from these visible bonds of secular and material affairs and
fleshly pleasures, and begins to attend constantly upon the
Lord, emptying himself of this world, he is then at length in
a position to recognise the inward wrestling of passions in
the field against him, and the inward battle, and the evil
thoughts : if, as I said before, he does not make the effort,
i7o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
and deny the world, and loose himself from earthly desires
with all his heart, and determine wholly and entirely to
cleave to the Lord, he does not discover the error of the
hidden spirits of wickedness, and the hidden passions of
evil, but is a stranger to himself, as one who knows not that

he is wounded, and has hidden passions without being

aware of them. He is still bound to the visible order, and
entangled with the affairs of this world, and does not mind it.
5. The man who has really denied the world, and has

made the effort and flung off the burden of the earth, and
has taken himself away from the vain desires of fleshly
pleasures, and glory, and authority and human honours,
and has withdrawn from them with his whole heart since —
the Lord secretly helps him in this open effort, in proportion
to his denial of the will of the world —
and has taken his
stand to serve the Lord, and attended constantly upon it
with his whole self, body and soul, this man, I say, finds
contrariety, and hidden passions, and unseen bonds, and
secret battle and effort, and hidden striving and thus j

beseeching the Lord, and receiving from heaven the armour

of the Spirit, which the blessed apostle reckons up, the
breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation, and
the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, and arming
1

himself with these, he will be able to stand against the hidden

wiles of the devil amidst the wickednesses of the present.
Having provided himself with this armour by all prayer and
perseverance and supplication and fasting, and all by faith,
he will be able to fight out the battle against the princi-
palities and the powers, and the world rulers; and thus
having overcome the opposing forces by the co-operation of
the Spirit and his own earnestness in all virtues, he will

become meet for eternal life, glorifying the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost to whom be glory and might for
;

ever. Amen.
1
ph. vi. 14.
 HOMILY XXII
Concerning the twofold state of those who depart out of this
life.

i. When the soul of a man departs out of the body, a

great mystery is there accomplished. If it is under the
guilt of sins, there come bands of devils, and angels of the
left hand, and powers of darkness take over that soul, and
hold it fast on their side. No one ought to be surprised at
this. If, while alive and in this world, the man was subject
and compliant to them, and made himself their bondman,
how much more, when he departs is he
out of this world,
kept down and held fast by them. That this is the case,
you ought to understand from what happens on the good
side. God's holy servants even now have angels continually
beside them, and holy spirits encompassing and protecting
them ; and when they depart out of the body, the bands of
angels take over their souls to their own side, into the pure
world, and so they bring them to the Lord ; to whom be
glory and might for ever. Amen.

171
 HOMILY XXIII

As only those bom of the seed royal can wear the costly
royal pearl, so only the children of God are allowed to
wear the pearl of heaven.

i. The which serves for a king's

great, costly, royal pearl,
crown, is and only a king can wear
suitable only for a king,
it. Another man is not allowed to wear such a pearl. So
unless a man is begotten by the royal Spirit of God, and is
made to be of the royal family of heaven and a child of
God, according as it is written, But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become children of God, 1
he cannot wear the costly pearl of heaven, the image of the
inexpressible light, which is the Lord, being no king's son.
For those who possess and wear the pearl, live and reign
with Christ for ever. So said the apostle, As we have worn
the image of the earthy, we shall also wear the image of the
heavenly. 2
2. As long as a horse grazes in the scrub among the wild
animals he is in no subjection to men ; but when he is

caught for the purpose of taming, they put on him a heavy

bridle, untilhe learns to walk properly and in good order.
Then he is exercised by a skilled rider, that he may become
serviceable for war ; then they put armour on him, the
breastplate and the coat of mail, and first they hang up a
bridle and shake it before the horse's eyes, that he may get
accustomed to it and not shy at it and when thus taught
;

by his rider, he learns to war with the enemy. Without

rider and without breastplate, a horse is of no use for war.
But when he has been trained and is accustomed to the
1 2
John i. 12. Cor. xv. 49.
172
 *

HOMILY XXIII ?3
war, he no sooner smells the
battle and hears the sound of
it, than he charges readily upon the enemy of his own
accord, so that the sound that he makes is enough to
strike terror into the foe. In like manner, the soul, which
since the transgression is wild and in no subjection, roams
in the desert of the world with the wild beasts, which are
the spirits of wickedness, in sin withholding service. But
when it hears the word of God, and believes, it is bridled
by the Spirit, and puts away its wild ways and the fleshly
mind, being guided by Christ its rider. Then it gets into
distress, and the process of taming, and difficulty, that it
may be proved, in order that by degrees it may be brought
into subjection by the Spirit, the sin that is in it diminishing
by degrees and disappearing. Thus the soul, putting on
the breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation,
and the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, 2 is
taught to war against its enemies. Thus, being armed with
the Spirit of the Lord, it contends against the spirits
wickedness, and quenches the fiery darts of the wicked one.
Without the armour of the Spirit, it does not come into the
fighting line ; but when it has the Lord's armour, as soon as
it hears and perceives hot battles,
it goeth on, as it says in

Job, with a shout and a cry, z because at the very sound of

its prayer the enemies fall prostrate. Thus having con-
tended and conquered in the battle by the Spirit, it carries
off crowns of victory with great boldness, and thus rests

^,
with the heavenly King ; to whom be glory and might for
ever. Amen.
1
All the MSS. appear to read "approaches"; but the
sense seems to recjuire " roams."

- ')
2
Eph. vi. 14.
3
^
The best approved text of the LXX
in Job xxxix. 25 has
upauyrj " with a leap and a shout," in place of our
words
"the thunder of the captains and the shouting." But other texts have
(or Kpavyfi "with a shout and a
cry," and this must have been how Macarius' read it, "Goeth on"
comes from verse 21.
 HOMILY XXIV
The state of Christians is like merchandise, and like leaven.
As merchants amass earthly gains, so Christians gather
together their thoughts that were scattered about the world.
As leaven turns the whole lump into leaven, so the leaven

of sin permeates the whole race of Adam; but Christ

puts a heavenly leaven of goodness in faithful souls.

i. Christians are like merchants trading for very great

gains. As merchants amass out of the earth earthly gains,
so Christians collect together out of all the earth, by means
of all virtues and the power of the Spirit, the thoughts of
their own heart in this present age. This is the greatest
and the true merchandise. For this world is opposed to
the world above, and this present age to the eternity above.
The Christian therefore, according to holy scripture, must
deny the world, and be translated and pass in mind out of
this present age, in which the mind is placed and exposed
to allurements ever since the transgression of Adam, into
another age, and in frame of thought must live in the world
of the Godhead above, as it is said, But our conversation
1
is in heaven.
2. But there is no succeeding in this unless the soul
will deny this world and shall believe in the Lord whole-
heartedly, in which case the power of the Spirit of God is
able to gather in the heart, now scattered over the whole
earth, to the love of the Lord, and to translate its frame of
1
Phil. iii. 20.
174
 HOMILY XXIV 175

mind into the eternal world. From the time of Adam's

transgression the thoughts of the soul have been scattered
away from the love of God to this present age, being
mingled with material and earthly thoughts. But as Adam,
when he transgressed, took into his system a leaven of evil
affections, so by participation all who were born of him,
and the whole race of Adam, partook of that leaven, and
ever since it has grown and increased, until the affections of
sin have so developed in men that they have come to
fornications and lasciviousnesses and idolatries and murders
and other wrong things, until humanity is all leavened with
evil. To such an extent has the evil developed among
men, that they have come to think that there is no God,
and to worship inanimate stones instead, and to be unable
so much as to take in the notion of a God. To such an
extent has the leaven of wrong affections leavened the race
of the old Adam.
3. In the same manner, the Lord, when He came on
earth, was pleased to suffer on behalf of all, and to pur-
chase them with His own blood, and to put the heavenly
leaven of goodness in faithful souls, when they have been
humbled under sin, and then by a process of growth and
development to fulfil in them every righteousness enjoined
upon them and all virtues, until they are leavened into
one in that which is good, and become with the Lord
one Spirit, according to St. Paul's saying, 1 so that sin and
wickedness cannot even in thought come into the soul so
completely and entirely leavened with the Divine Spirit, as
2
it is said, Charily think eth no evil, and the rest. But
without the previous leavening from heaven, which is the
power of the Divine Spirit, it is impossible for the soul to
be leavened with the goodness of the Lord, and to arrive
at life, even as the race of Adam could never have been
perverted to such malice and wickedness, if the previous
1 2
1 Cor. vi. 17. 1 Cor. xiii. 5.
 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
leavening of malice, which is sin, had not crept into him,
being, as it is, a power of Satan of a spiritual and immaterial
nature.
4. person were to knead flour without first putting
If a
in leaven, however much pains he may think good to take,
turning it over and over, and working it up, the lump
remains unleavened and unfit for food but if leaven is j

put in, it draws to itself the whole lump of flour, and works
it all to leaven, as the Lord said in His comparison of the

kingdom, The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven,

which a woman look and hid in three measures of meal,
until the whole was leavened. 1 If there were meat, and
a person were to take all manner of care of it, but did not
salt it with the salt which destroys worms and prevents ill

odour, the meat stinks and decays and becomes unservice-

able to man. In the same way conceive of all mankind as
being so much meat or dough, and imagine the and the
salt

leaven to belong to another world, the divine nature of the

Holy Ghost. Now if this heavenly leaven of the Spirit,

this good, holy salt of the Godhead, from yonder age and
from yonder home, be not mixed and put into the human
nature of men, there is no ridding the soul of the ill odour
of wickedness, there is no leavening it from the heaviness
and unleavened condition of evil.
5. Whatever the soul may think fit to do of itself, what-

ever care and pains it may take, relying only upon its own
power, and thinking to be able to effect a perfect success by
itself, without the co-operation of the Spirit, it is greatly
mistaken. It is of no use for the heavenly places ; it is of
no use for the kingdom — that soul which supposes that it

can achieve perfect purity of itself, and by itself alone,

without the Spirit. Unless the man who is under the

influence of passions will come
God, denying the world,
to
and will believe with patience and hope to receive a good
1
Matt. xiii. 33.
 HOMTLY XXIV 177

thing foreign to his own

namely the power of the
nature,
Holy Ghost, and unless the Lord shall drop upon the soul
from on high the life of the Godhead, such a man will
never experience true life, will never recover from the
drunkenness of materialism the enlightenment of the
;

Spirit will never shine in that benighted soul, or kindle

in it a holy 'daytime ; it will never awake out of that
deepest sleep of ignorance, and so come to know God of
a truth through God's power and the efficacy of grace.
6. Unless a man is permitted thus through faith to
receive grace, he is not qualified or adapted for the
kingdom ; but on the other hand, if he receives the grace
of the Spirit, and does not at all change his mind, or do
despite to grace by negligence or wrong-doing, and thus
contends for some time without grieving the Spirit, he shall
be enabled to obtain eternal life. As one perceives the
workings of by the passions, by anger, by concupi-
evil
scence, by envy, by heaviness, by wicked thoughts and other
wrong things, so ought one to perceive the grace and power
of God by the virtues, by kindness, by goodness, by cheer-
fulness, by gaiety, by divine gladness, in order to be
likened to and mingled with the good and divine nature,
with the kind and holy workings of grace. When the will
is gradually and progressively tested by time and oppor-

tunity, whether it is continually at one with grace and is

found well-pleasing, it comes gradually to be altogether in the
Spirit, and so being wrought by the Spirit to holiness and

purity is made meet for the kingdom. Glory and worship

to the undefiled Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost for ever. Amen.
 HOMILY XXV
This Homily tenches that no man, without being strengthened
by Christ, is capable of overcoming the stumbling-blocks
of the evil one, and what those who desire the divine
glory must do. It teaches also that through Adam's
disobedience we came down into bondage to carnal
passions,from which we arc delivered by the mystery
that is in the cross. It instructs as besides that
the power of tears and of the divine fire is great.

i. Those upon whom the divine law is written, not with

ink and letters, but implanted in hearts of flesh, these,
having the eyes of their mind enlightened, and reaching
after a hope, not tangible and seen, but invisible and
immaterial, have power to get the better of the stumbling-
blocks of the evil one, not by themselves, but from the
power that never can be defeated. But those who have
not been honoured with God's word, nor instructed by
divine law, are vainly puffed up, 1 and fancy that by their
own free will they can bring to nought the resources of
sin— sin which is only condemned through the mystery
contained in the cross. It lies in the power of man's free

will to resist the devil, but it does not extend to an abso-

lute command over the passions. Except the Lord build
the house, it says, and keep the city, the watchman waketh
but in vain, and the builder laboureth in vain. 2
z
2. You cannot go upon the asp and basilisk, and tread

1 2
Col. ii. 18. Ps. cxxvii. I.
3
This is the LXX version of Ps. xci. 13.
178
 HOMILY XXV 179

under your feet the lion and the dragon, without first
purging yourself as far as human ability goes, and being
strengthened by Him who said to the apostles, Behold,
I have given you power to tread on serpents and scorpions,
and upon all the power of the enemy. If human nature 1

had had force, without the whole armour of the Holy Ghost,
to stand against the wiles of the devil, 2 the apostle would
not have said, The God of peace shall bruise Satan under
your and again, Whom the Lord shall destroy
feet shortly?
with the Spirit of His mouth.* That is why we are bidden
of the Lord to pray, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver
5
tis from the evil one. If we are not delivered by the
superior power from the fiery darts of the wicked one and
admitted to the adoption of sons, our social existence is in
vain ; we are far from the power of God.
3. Accordingly, one who wishes to be a partaker of the
divine glory, and to see as in a glass the form of Christ in
the ruling faculty of his own soul, 6 ought with insatiable
affection and an inclination which is never filled, with all

his heart and all his might, by night and when it is day, to
seek the help which comes mightily from God, of which, as
I have said before, it is impossible to partake, unless a man
first abstains from the luxury of the world, from the desires
of the opposing power, which and is anis alien to the light,
activity of wickedness with no kinship to a good activity,
but wholly estranged from it. Therefore, if you wish to
know why we, who were created in honour and put to live
in paradise, came at last to be compared unto the beasts that
have no understanding and were made like to them? having
fallen from the glory of innocence, understand that, having
become by the transgression the slaves of the fleshly
1
Luke x. 19. 2
Eph. vi. 11. 3
Rom. xvi. 20.
4

6
2 Thess.
Tb
Ilesychius gives
7* ii. 8.
is
5
Matt. vi. 13.
a technical word of the later Greek philosophy.
vuvs (the intelligence) as its equivalent.
7
So the LXX renders Ps. xlix. 12 and 20.
1 8o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
passions, wc shut ourselves out of the happy land of the
living, 1
and being reduced to captivity we are still sitting
by the waters of Babylon* ; and because we are still held in
Egypt, we have not yet inherited the land of promise,
flowing with milk and honey? We have not yet been
leavened with the leaven of sincerity, 4 but are still in the
leaven of wickedness. Our heart is not yet sprinkled with
the blood of God ; for the snare of hell, 5 and the hook of
sin is still fixed in it. 4. We have not yet taken to our-
selves the gladness of Christ's salvation, for the sting of
death 6
is still rooted in us. We have not yet put on the
new man, which after God is created in holiness, 1 since we
have not yet put off the old man which is corrupt according
to the sinful lusts. We have not yet borne the image of
8

the heavenly, 9 nor been made conformed to His glory. 10

We have not yet worshipped God in spirit and in truth 11
because sin reigns in our mortal body. 12 We have not yet
beheld the glory of the incorruptible, 13 for we are still under
the operation of the moonless night. 1 * We have not yet put
on the armour of light, 15 since we have not yet put off the
armour and the darts and the works of darkness. We
have not yet been transformed by the renewing of the mind,
for we are still conformed to this world 16 in the vanity of
the mind. 11 We are not yet glorified with Christ, because
we have not suffered with Him. 18 We do not yet bear in
our body the marks of Him, 19 and are not in the secret of
the cross of Christ, for we are still in the affections and
lusts of the flesh. 20 We are not yet heirs of God and joint

1
Ps. cxvi. 9 (LXX cxiv. 9). 2
Ps. exxxvii. 1.
3
Ex. iii. 8, etc.
4
A curious recollection of 1 Cor. v. 8.
6 7
Prov. ix. 18 (LXX). 1 Cor. xv. 55. Eph. iv. 24.
8 9 10
Eph. iv. 22. 1 Cor. xv. 49. Phil. iii. 21.
12 13
11
John iv. 24. Rom. vi. 12. Rom. i. 23.
14
A reminiscence of Ps. xi. 2 "privily " (LXX x. 3).
15
Rom. xiii. 12.
16 Rom. xii. 2.
17 18 Rom.
Eph. iv. 17. viii. 17.
19 20
Gal. vi. 17. Gal. v. 24.
 HOMILY XXV 181

heirs with Christ, 1 for the spirit of bondage is still in us,

not that of adoption. We have not yet become the temple
2

of God and the habitation of the Holy Ghost, 3 for we are

still the temple of idols and the hold of the spirits of
wickedness because of our propensity to the passions.
5. In truth we have not yet acquired simplicity of conduct
or the brightness of the mind. We have not yet had
4
vouchsafed to us the guileless and reasonable milk and the
growth invisible. The day has not yet dawned upon us,
nor the day star risen in our hearts.^ We have not yet
been mingled with the sun of righteousness } 6 nor begun to
flash with His rays. We have not yet received the likeness
of the Lord nor been made partakers of the divine nature. 7
We have not yet become the genuine purple of the King,
nor the unfalsined image of God. We are not yet smitten
with the passionate love of God, or stricken by the spiritual
chanty of the Bridegroom. We are not yet acquainted
with that ineffable communion, and have not experienced
the power and peace that there is in sanctincation. To
sum it all up, we are not yet a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people* forasmuch as
we are still serpents, a generation of vipers?
6. How should we be anything but serpents, we who are
not found in obedience to God, but in the disobedience
which came by the serpent ? How to bewail the calamity
as it deserves, I cannot find. How to cry aloud and weep
to Him that is able to expel the error lodged within me, I
do not know. How shall I sing the Lord's song in a
strange land ? 10 How shall I lament for Jerusalem ? How
shall I flee from the grievous bondage of Pharaoh ? How
am I to quit the foul place of sojourn ? How can I deny
the bitter tyranny? How can I get out of the land of
1 3
Rom. viii. 17. 2
Rom. viii. 15. I Cor. iii. 16.
4 5 6
1 Pet. ii. 2. 2 Pet. i. 19. Mai. iv. 2.
7 8 9
2 Pet. i. 4. 1 Pet. ii. 9. Matt, xxiii. 33.
10 Ps. exxxvii. 4.
 2 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
Egypt ? How can I cross the Red Sea ? how pass the
great wilderness ? how escape perishing from the bite of
serpents ? how conquer the aliens ? How shall I utterly
destroy the heathen within me ? How shall I receive the
oracles of the law of God upon these tables of mine ? How
shall I see the true pillar of light, and of the cloud pro-
ceeding from the Holy Ghost ? How shall I enjoy the
manna of eternal delight ? how drink the water from the
life-giving rock ? How am I to pass over Jordan, entering
into the good land of promise? How am I to see the
Captain of the Lord's host, whom
Joshua the son of Nun,
when he saw Him, immediately down and worshipped ?
fell

7. Unless I go through all this and destroy the heathen

within me, I cannot go into the sanctuary of God l and rest,
nor become a partaker of the glory of the King.
Therefore labour to become a child of God without fault,

and to enter into that rest, 2,

whither the forerunnerfor tis is

entered, even Christ. 3 Labour to be enrolled in the church

in heaven with you may be found at the
the firstborn* that
right hand of majesty 5 of the Most High. Labour to
the
enter into the holy city, the Jerusalem that is at peace, that
is above, above all, where also is Paradise. You have no
other way to be admitted to these wonderful and blessed
types, unlessyou pour out tears day and night, like him
who says, Every night wash I my bed, and water my couch
with my tears* You know well that they that sow in tears
shall reap in joy. 1 The prophet says boldly, Hold not Thy
peace at my tears;* and again, Put my tears into Thy
bottle ; are not these things noted in Thy book ?
9
and, My
2
1
Ps. Ixxiii. 17. Ileb. iv. n.
3 4
Ileb. vi. 20. Ileb. xii. 23.
5 6
Ileb. i. 3. Ps. vi. 6.
7 8
Ps. cxxvi. 6. Ps. xxxix. 13.
9
Ps. lvi. 8. Macarius has, Thou didst set my tears as in Thy
promise. This follows the LXX, except in omitting before Thee after
tears. v
 !

HOMILY XXV 183

ears have been my

meat day and night; 1 and in another
psalm, / have mingled my drink with weeping. 2,

8. For the tear that is really shed out of much affliction

and anguish of heart 3 in the knowledge of the truth, with

burning of the inward parts, is indeed a food of the soul,
supplied from the heavenly bread, of which Mary pre-
eminently partook, when she sat at the feet of the Lord
and wept, after the testimony of the Saviour Himself. He
says, Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be
taken away from her.
41
those precious pearls in the (low
of blessed tears immediate and ready hearing
! that
What a strong, wise mind What keen love of the Spirit of !

the Lord, moving vehemently towards the unsullied Bride-

groom ! What a sting of desire in the soul for God the
Word ! What swift communion of the bride with the
heavenly Bridegroom !

9. Imitate her then, my child ; imitate her whose eyes

were fixed upon nothing but Him only, who said, I am
come to send fire upon the earth, and I would that it were
already kindled. 5 There is indeed a burning of the Spirit,
which burns hearts into flame. The immaterial divine fire

has the effect of enlightening souls and trying them, like

unalloyed gold in the furnace, but of consuming iniquity,
like thorns or stubble for our God is a consuming fire, 6
;

taking vengeance on them that know Him not in flaming

1
fire, and on them that obey not His gospel. It was this

fire worked in the apostles, when they spoke with fiery

that
tongues. It was this fire which shone by the voice round

St. Paul, enlightening his mind, but blinding his sense of

sight ; for not without the flesh did he see the power of that
light. It was this fire which appeared to Moses in the bush.
This fire, in the shape of a chariot, caught up Elias from the
1 2 3
Ps. xlii. 3. Ps. cii. 9. 2 Cor. ii. 4.
4
Luke x. 42. Macarius seems to join this passage with Luke
vii. 38.
5 G
Luke xii. 49. Ileb. xii. 29. 7
2 Thess. i. 8.
 ;

1 84 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

earth. The blessed David was seeking the operation of
this fire when he said, Examine me, Lord, and prove
me: try out my reins and my heart. 1
10. It was this fire
which warmed the heart of Cleopas and those with him
while the Saviour talked after His resurrection. So the
angels and ministering spirits partake of the shining of this
fire, according to what is said, Who maketh His angels
spirits, and His ministers a flaming fire. 2 It is this fire

which burns up the beam that is in the inward eye, making

the mind clear, that, recovering its natural power of penetra-
tion, it may see without interruption the wonderful things of
God, according as one Open Thou mine eyes,
says, that I
may see the wondrous things of Thy law. 3 This fire drives
away devils, and destroys sin ; but it is the power of resur-
rection, and the effectual working of immortality, the
illumination of holy souls, and the strengthening of rational
powers. Let us pray that this fire may reach us also, that
always walking in light, we may never for a moment dash

our feet against, a stone* but shining as lights in the world,

may hold forth the word of everlasting life 5 that enjoying
ourselves among the good things of God we may rest with
the Lord in life, glorifying the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Ghost, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
2 3
1
Ps. xxvi. 2. Heb. i. 7. Ps. cxix. 18.
4 5
Ps. xci. 12. Phil. ii. 15
 HOMILY XXVI
Concerning the worth and value, the power and efficiency of
the immortal soul, and how it is tempted by Satan and
obtains deliverance from the temptations. It contains
also some questions full of very great instruction.

i. Do not regard lightly the immaterial substance of the

soul,beloved one. The immortal soul is a precious vessel.
See how great the heaven and the earth are, and God was
not satisfied with them, but only with thee. Consider thy
dignity and thy nobility, that to thy succour the Lord came
in person, not by the medium of angels, to recall thee who
wert lost, thee who wert wounded, and to restore to thee
the primal fashioning of the pure Adam. For man was
master from the sky above to the things beneath, and
capable of discerning the affections, without any connexion
with devils, pure from sin, the image and likeness of God.
But by the transgression he is lost, and wounded and brought
to death. Satan has darkened his mind. In one thing this
is so, and in another he lives and discerns, and has a will.

2. Question. When the Holy Ghost comes, is not the

natural desire eradicated along with the sin ?

Answer. I have already said that sin is eradicated, and

man recovers the primal fashioning of the pure Adam.
Man, however, by the power of the Spirit and the spiritual
regeneration, not only comes to the measures of the first
Adam, but is made greater than he. Man is deified.
3. Question. Is Satan let loose upon us by measure, or

does he fight as he pleases ?

185
1 86 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
Answer. As for him, his attack is not directed only
against Christians, but against idolaters, and against all the
world. he were allowed to fight as he pleases,
If therefore
he would have demolished all. AVhy ? Because that is his
object and his will. But as the potter puts his vessels in,
and heats the furnace gradually by measure, not overmuch,
lest, if they were baked too violently, they should crack,

and not too little, lest they should be spoiled by being half-
baked and if the silversmith or goldsmith applies the fire by
;

measure, for if the fire is in excess, the gold and the silver
are melted, and get watery, and are spoiled ; and if the
mind of man knows how to measure the burden to the
7

beast, to the camel or whatever animal it is, according to

its burden-bearing capacity ; how much rather does God,

knowing what vessels men are, let loose the enemy power
accordingly, in different degrees ?

4. And as the earth is one, but here is rocky and there

rich,and one part is suitable for vine-culture, another for
growing wheat or barley, so do these fields of human hearts
and wills differ from each other, and so are the gifts of grace
from above bestowed. To one is given a ministry of the
word, to another discernment, to a third gifts of healings. 1
God knows a man's capacity for stewardship, and distributes
His different gifts accordingly. In the like manner with
regard to warfare the enemy power is let loose upon men by
a kind of measure, according as each man is able to receive
and bear the brunt.
5. Question. When a man has received the divine
power, and is in some degree altered by it, does he still

remain in the state of nature ?

Answer. In order that the will may be tested, even after
grace, to see what way it inclines and gives consent, nature
remains as it was before, the hard man in his hardness, and
the light-hearted in his light-heartedness. It sometimes
1
1 Cor. xii. 9.
 ;

HOMILY XXVI 187

happens that an unlearned person is spiritually born again,

and converted to a state of wisdom, and hidden mysteries
are made known to him and yet he remains by nature an
;

unlearned man. Another was made by nature hard and ;

he gives up his will to godliness, and God accepts him

but the hardness of his nature remains, though God is satis-
fied in him. Another is of kindly habits, gentle, and good :

he gives himself to God, and God accepts him but if he ;

does not continue in works of goodness, He is not satisfied.

The whole nature of Adam 1 is liable to change, for better or
for worse, capable of what is wrong, yet, if it so pleases,
without carrying it into effect.
6. a book.
It is like writing in You write what you did
not mean and you erase it again. The book takes
to write,
any kind of writing. So the hard man gave his will to God,
was converted to what is good, was accepted by God for j

God, to show His compassions, accepts men of all kinds,

every sort of disposition. The apostles, when they came
into a city, stayed there some time, and healed some of
those who were
ill, and others not. The apostles them-
selves would have liked to raise all their dead, and bring to
health all who were ill, and they had not entirely their own
way they were not permitted to do all that they liked. In
:

like manner, when Paul was seized by the ethnarch, if the

grace that was with him had but willed it, he would have
made ethnarch and wall to cleave asunder and he a man —
possessed of the Paraclete but the apostle was let down
;

by means of a basket. 2 Where then was the divine power

that was with them ? These things happened providentially,
that in some matters they did signs and wonderful works,
and in some were powerless, in order to show the difference
of faith between those who believed not and those who
believed, and to test and display the freedom of the will,
whether some would take offence at their weaker side. If
1 2
i. e. mankind. 2 Cor. xi. 32 f.
i88 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
the apostles had done every single thing that they liked,
men and their free will would have been planted in God's
service by compulsory force because of the miracles, and
it would no longer have been the work of faith or of
unbelief. Christianity is a stone of stumbling and a rock
1
of offence.
7. What isJob is not without significance, how
written'of
Satan desired him. He was not able to do anything of
2

himself, without leave. What does the devil say to the

Lord? "Give him into my hands surely he will bless Thee :

Thy face." 3 Job is the same to-day, and God is the

same, and the devil is the same. In proportion as a man
finds the help of God, and is zealous and fervent in grace,
Satan desires him, and says to the Lord, " Because Thou
succourest him, and helpest him, he serves Thee let him :

go, and deliver him to me, surely he will bless Thee to Thy
face." So, just because the soul is comforted, grace with-
draws, and the soul is delivered to temptations. The devil
comes, bringing ten thousand evils to bear — despair, giving
it up, wicked thoughts — afflicting the soul, to loosen it and
estrange from hope of God.
it

8. But the prudent soul, when in miseries and affliction,

never despairs, but holds what it holds, and whatever he

may bring to bear, it endures amidst ten thousand tempta-
tions, saying, " If I die for it, I will not let Him go." Then,
if the man endures to the end, the Lord begins to argue
with Satan, " Thou seest how many miseries and afflictions
thou hast brought to bear upon him ; and he has not
listened to thee, but serves Me, and fears Me." Then the
devil is ashamed, and has nothing more to say. In Job's
case, if he had known that in spite of falling into tempta-

tions Job would dare and not be worsted, he would never

2
1
Rom. ix. 33. Luke xxii. 31.
This is the LXX rendering in Job. i. 11, ii. 5. The translators
3

seem to have understood it ironically or perhaps they intended a mark

;
"
of interrogation, "Will he surely?
 HOMILY XXVI 189

have desired him, for fear of being ashamed. So it is still

with those who endure and temptations Satan is

afflictions ;

ashamed and sorry, because he has got nothing by it. The

Lord begins to reason with him, " Behold, I gave thee
permission ; behold, I suffered thee to tempt him. Wast
"
thou able to do anything ? Did he listen to thee at all ?

9. Question. Does Satan know all a man's thoughts and

intentions ?

Answer. If one man, by being with another, knows

about him, and you, who are twenty years old, know the
affairs of your neighbour, can Satan fail to know your

reasonings? He has been with you from your birth. He

1
is six thousand years old. Yet I do not say that he knows
what a man will do before he tempts him. The tempter
tempts, but does not know whether the man will yield or
not yield, till such time as the soul gives up its will into
bondage. Nor do I say that the devil knows all the thoughts
and devices of the heart. Suppose there is a tree with many
branches and many limbs. A man may be able to grasp
two or three branches of the tree. So the soul has many
branches and many limbs. There are some branches of
thought and intention which Satan grasps there are other ;

thoughts and intentions not grasped by Satan. 10. In one

thing the side of evil is the stronger when thoughts spring
up, in another the man's thought is more than conqueror,
receiving succour and deliverance from God, and resisting
sin. At one point the man is mastered, at another he has
his will. Sometimes he comes to God with fervour, and
Satan knows it, and sees that he is acting against him, and
cannot restrain him. Why ? Because he has the will to
cry to God; he has the natural fruits of loving God, of
believing, of seeking and coming. In the outer world, the
husbandman tills the ground but in spite of his tilling, he
;

1
This is a very rough calculation from the LXX chronology of the
Old Testament, which differs from the Hebrew.

Q
 —

i9o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

needs rains and showers from above. If no moisture comes
from above, the husbandman has no profit from his tilling
of the ground. So is it with the spiritual world. There are
two factors to be taken into consideration. The man must
cultivate with a will the ground of his heart, and labour
upon it — for God man's labour and toil and
requires the
travail. But unless clouds of heaven make their appear-
ance from above, and showers of grace, the husbandman
does not profit by his toil.
ii. This is the mark of Christianity —
however much a
man toils, and however many righteousnesses he performs,
to feel that he has done nothing, and in fasting to say,
" This is not fasting," and in praying, "This is not prayer,"
and in perseverance at prayer, " I have shown no persever-
ance; I am only just beginning to practise and to take
pains " ; and even if he is righteous before God, he should
say, " I am not righteous, not I \ I do not take pains, but
only make a beginning every day." He should every day
have the hope and the joy and the expectation of the
coming kingdom and deliverance, and to say, " If to-day
I have not been delivered, I shall to-morrow." As the
man who plants a vine has the joy and the hope in himself,
before ever he embarks upon the toil, and sketches out
vineyards in his mind, and reckons up the income, when
there has been no wine yet, and so enters upon the toil
for the hope and expectation make him labour cheerfully,
and for the time being he incurs many expenses out of
pocket ; and in like manner the man who builds a house,
and the man who tills a field, are at much expense to them-
selves first, in hope of the advantage to come ;so it is
here. If a man does not keep before his eyes the joy and
the hope, " I shall find deliverance and life," he cannot
endure the afflictions, or the burden, and adopt the narrow
way. It is the presence of hope and joy that make him
labour and endure the afflictions.
 HOMILY XXVI 191

12. But as it is not easy for a brand to escape from the

fire, so neither can the soul escape out of the fire of death,
For the most part, Satan,
except with a great deal of trouble.
under pretext of good thoughts, that in such and such a
way you can please God, offers suggestions to the soul, and
underhand seduces it to subtle and specious notions, and it
does not know how to discern that it is being seduced, and
thus it and perdition of the devil. 1 The
falls into the snare
most deadly weapon of the combatant and champion is this,
to enter into the heart and make war there upon Satan,
and to hate himself and to deny his own soul, to be angry
with it and rebuke it, and to resist the desires that dwell
there, and grapple with his thoughts, and fight with himself.
13. If outwardly you keep your body from corruption and
fornication, but inwardly commit adultery, to God you are
an adulterer and a fornicator in your thoughts, and you
have gained nothing by the virginity of your body. If there
is a young woman and a young man, and he by guile
wheedles her till she is corrupted, she then becomes an
object of loathing to her spouse, because she has been
unfaithful. So the incorporeal soul, if it holds fellowship
with the serpent that lurks within, the wicked spirit, goes
a-whoring from God, as it is Everyone that lookelh
written,
upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adidlery
already in his heart. 2.
There is a fornication effected in the
body, and there is a fornication of the soul, when it holds
fellowship with Satan. The same soul is partner and sister
either of devils, or of God and the angels and if it com- ;

mits adultery with the devil, it is unfit for the heavenly

Bridegroom.
14. Question. Is Satan ever quiet, and a man set free
from warfare, or has he war as long as he lives ?
Answer. Satan is never quiet from warring. As long as
ever a man lives in this world and wears the flesh, he has to
1
1 Tim. vi. 9, cp. iii. 7.
2
Matt. v. 28.
192 FIFrY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
war. But when all the fiery darts of the wicked one are
quenched, 1 what harm does it do the man, if Satan does try

conclusions with him? man is a friend of the king's,

and an adversary brings a suit against him. When he has
the king to favour and befriend him, and the king gives him
a helping hand, he takes no harm. When any one succeeds
in passing through all ranks and degrees and becomes a
friend of the king's, no one then can do him any harm.
There are in the outward world cities which receive gifts
and subsidies from the emperor. If they do perform some
service, they lose nothing by it, when they gain and get such
advantages from the emperor. So Christians, even if the
enemy fights against them, have taken up their quarters
with the Godhead, and have put on the power and rest from
on high, and do not mind the war.
15. As the Lord put on the body, leaving behind all
principality and power, so Christians put on the Holy
Ghost, and are at rest. Even if war comes outwardly,
Satan may knock, but they are secured within by the power
of the Lord, and do not mind Satan. He tempted the
Lord in the wilderness forty days, and what harm did it do
Him, to approach His body outwardly ? Inwardly He was
God. So Christians, though outwardly tempted, are in-
wardly filled with the Godhead, and are in nothing injured.
But if any one has reached these measures, he has arrived
at the perfect love of Christ, and at the fulness of the
Godhead. One that is not so, has still war within. For an
hour he is at rest in prayer ; hour he stands in
at another
affliction and at war. Such is the will of the Lord. Because
he is still a child, He practises him in the wars ; and both
things spring up in him, light and darkness, rest and
affliction. They rest in prayer, and at another hour they
are in distress.
16. Do you not hear what Paul says, "Though I have
1
Eph. vi. 16.
 HOMILY XXVI 193

all gifts, though I give my body to be burned, though I

speak with the tongues of angels, and have not charity,
I am nothing} These gifts serve only as inducements.
Those who are contented with them, are but children,
though in the light. Many of the brethren have come to
such measures, and had gifts of healing, and revelation and
prophecy, and because they did not reach the perfect love,
wherein bond of perfeclness, 2 war came upon them,
lies the

and they took no heed, and fell. But if anyone reaches

the perfect love, that man is from thenceforth fast bound,
and is the captive of grace. If anyone approaches within
a little of the measure but does not reach to be fast bound
in love itself, such an one is still subject to fear, and war,
and falling, and unless he takes good care of himself,
Satan throws him.
17. way many have erred when grace came to
In this
them. They thought that they had attained perfection, and
said, "That is enough; we need no more." But the Lord
has no end, and there is no comprehending Him. Christians
do not presume to say, " We have comprehended," 3 but
are humbled, still seeking night and day. In the outer
world, there is no end to learning, and no man knows it
except a scholar who has acquired some degree of learning.
So in the matter before us, God cannot be comprehended
or measured, unless by those who have had a taste of Him,
whom they have personally received, and they recognise
their own incapacity. If a man who has a smattering of
learning goes to a country place, where the people are no
scholars, he is admired by them as a scholar, because they
are altogether illiterate, and have no means of judging.

But let that same man with his small amount of learning
pass a city where there are
into rhetoricians and real
scholars he dare not appear among them, or open his
;

mouth, because the true scholars consider him illiterate.

1 2 3
I Cor. xiii. 1 ff. Col. iii. 18. Phil. iii. 13.
194 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

1 8. Question. If a man who is still at war, and who

still has both these things in his soul — sin and grace — is

removed from this world, where does he go, when both

sides have a hold upon him ?
Answer. He goes where his mind aims, and where his
love is. Only if affliction and war come upon you, you
ought to resist, and to hate it. That the war comes upon
you is not your doing, but to hate it, is and then the Lord, ;

seeing your mind, that you are striving, and that you love
Him with your whole soul, parts death from your soul in
—
one moment which is not hard for Him to do and takes —
you to His bosom and into the light. In a moment of time
He snatches you out of the mouth of darkness, and trans-
lates you at once into His kingdom. For to God all
things are easy to do in a moment of time, if only your love
is set upon Him. God needs man's working, because the
soul is capable of fellowship with the Godhead.
19. I have often already made use of the parable of the
husbandman, how after labouring and putting his seed into
the ground he must wait for the rain from above. Unless
clouds appear and winds blow, the labour of the husband-
man is of no use. The seed lies bare. Apply this to the
spiritual order. If the man rests only upon his own
working, and does not receive in addition something which
his nature cannot supply, he cannot yield to the Lord fruits
worthy of Him. Now what is man's working ? To renounce,
to go out of the world, to pray when it is hard, to be on the
w atch,
T
to love God and the brethren. This is his own
doing. But if he rests upon this working of his own, and
does not hope to receive anything else besides, and the
winds of the Holy Ghost do not blow upon the soul, and
if clouds of heaven do not appear, nor rain from heaven

fall and moisten the soul, the man cannot yield to the Lord

fruits worthy of Him.

20. It is written that when the husbandman sees the

 HOMILY XXVI 195

branch bearing fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth

more fruit, but that which beareth not fruit he rooteth out,
and giveth it to burning. 1 But this is the part of man,
that whether he fasts, or keeps watch, or prays, or does
some fine thing, he should ascribe all to the Lord, and say,
"If God had not enabled me, I could not have fasted, or
prayed, or gone out of the world." In this way, God, seeing
your intention, that you ascribe to God the things that are
yours, which you do of your own nature, bestows upon you
in return the things that are His —
the spiritual things, the
divine and heavenly things. And what are they ? The
fruits of the Spirit, gladness and mirth.
21. Question. But since there are natural fruits like these,
love, faith, prayer, show us the difference, how the natural
things are, and how the spiritual.
Answer. The things which you do of yourself are all
very well, and acceptable to God, but they are not quite
pure. For instance, you love God, but not perfectly. The
Lord comes, and gives a love which is unchangeable, the
heavenly love. You pray in the natural manner with
wandering and doubt ; God gives you the pure prayer, in
Spirit and in In the visible world, the soil of itself
truth. 2.

for the most part produces thorns the husbandman digs, ;

works it carefully, puts in seed, but the thorns which no one

sowed, spring up and multiply; for after the transgression
it was said to Adam, Thistles and thorns shall the earth

bring forth unto thee. z The husbandman again takes trouble,

digs up the thorns, and yet they multiply. Apply this
spiritually. Since the transgression the ground of the heart
brings forth thorns and thistles. The man works it, takes
trouble,and still the thorns of the evil spirits spring up.
Then the Holy Ghost Himself helpeth the infirmities of men, 4
and the Lord puts heavenly seed in that ground of the
1 2
John xv. 2. John iv. 23.
4
3
Gen. iii. 18. Rom. viii. 26.
196 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

heart, and worksand though the seed is cast, the thistles

it ;

and thorns still spring up. Again the Lord and the man
together work the ground of the soul, and yet the evil
spirits and the thorns shoot up there and grow, until the

summer comes, and grace abounds, and the thorns are

withered by the heat of the sun.
22. For though evil is present with nature, yet it no
longer has the same dominion over it, or the same range.
The delicate blades of the wheat may be choked by the
tares ; but when summer comes, after the drying off of the
fruits, the tares harm the wheat no more. If there should
happen to peck of pure wheat, and a mixture of
be thirty
tares of perhaps a quart x is in it, what comparison does it
bear ? swamped in the abundance of the wheat. So
It is
in grace, when the gift of God and grace abounds in the
man, and he is rich in the Lord, and yet evil is present to
some cannot seriously harm the man, nor has it
extent, it

any force or range against him. The coming of the Lord

—
and His provision had this object to liberate those who
were in bondage to evil, and bound over, and subject to it,
and to make them conquerors of the death of sin. Brethren
therefore ought not to think it strange, if some people give
them trouble, with a view to getting rid of evil.
23. In the Old Testament, Moses and Aaron, when they
held the priesthood, had much to suffer. Caiaphas, when
he occupied their seat, himself persecuted and condemned
the Lord yet the Lord, in respect for the priesthood,
;

suffered him to execute the office. The prophets likewise

were persecuted by their own nation. Peter was the suc-
cessor of Moses, entrusted with Christ's new church and
with the true priesthood we have now a baptism of fire
; for
and the Spirit, and a circumcision in the heart. For the
divine and heavenly Spirit lodges in the mind nevertheless j

1
The choenix, translated "a quart," is the eighth part of a modius,
or " peck." The "mixture " therefore would be ^U\ part.
 HOMILY XXVI 197

even these perfect ones, so long as they are in the flesh, are
not free from anxiety, because of the freedom of their will,
but are still subject to fear, and for that same reason are
allowed to be tempted. But if the soul succeeds in reaching
that city of the saints, then, but not before, it is able to
live without trouble and temptations. There, no longer is

there anxiety, or trouble, or weariness, or old age, or Satan,

or warfare, but rest, joy, peace, and salvation. The Lord
is in the midst of them, and He is called the Saviour,
becauses He saves the captives. He is called the Physician,
forasmuch as He and divine medicine,
gives the heavenly
and heals the sufferings of the soul for in some respects ;

they have dominion over the man. To speak of them in

comparison, Jesus is King and God Satan is an usurper ;

and a tyrant.
24. Well, God and His angels wish to adopt this man
for the kingdom with themselves, the devil likewise and his
angels desire to adopt him to themselves. The soul is in
the middle between the two subsistences, and to whichever
side the will of the soul inclines, of that side it becomes a
possession and a son. And as a father, who sends his son
to a foreign country, where he will meet with venomous
creatures by the way, gives him remedies and antidotes, in
order that if the venomous creatures or dragons attack him
he may give them his remedy and kill them * so endeavour, ;

I charge you, to receive the heavenly remedy, the healing

and antidote of the soul, that by means of it you may kill

the poisonous beasts of unclean spirits. It is indeed no

easy matter to get a clean heart ; only with much effort
and labour can a man get a clean conscience and heart,
that the evil may be quite eradicated.
25. It sometimes happens that grace comes to a man
without his heart being cleansed. The reason why those
1
This seems a strange way of using a medicine, but Haywood refers
to the story of Bel and the Dragon, verse 27.
198 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
who have was that they did not believe that after
fallen fell
grace smoke and sin could still be present with them.
But all the righteous have gone the straight and narrow
way to please God, and gone on it to the end. Abraham
was rich toward God, as well as to the world, but he called
himself dust and ashes. 1 David says, A very scorn of men,
and the outcast of the people, a worm and no man. 2 In
like manner all the prophets and apostles were ill-treated
and reviled. The Lord Himself, who is the \Vay, and is

God, when He came for thy sake, not for His own, to be a
pattern to thee of every good thing — see to what humilia-
tion He came, having taken the form of a servant? who is
God, the Son of God, King, the Son of the King, giving
healing remedies and curing those that are wounded, when
He Himself appeared outwardly as one of the wounded.*
26. But do not despise His divine dignity when thou
beholdest Him outwardly humbled as one like us. It was

for our sake that he appeared thus, not for His own.
Consider, at the hour when they cried, Crucify Him,
crucify Him? and the multitude came together, how He
was humbled beyond all men. In the ordinary world, if
there be a malefactor, and he receives sentence from the
magistrate, he is then abhorred by the whole people, and
set at nought. So was the Lord at the hour of the cross.
As a man that was going to die, He was held of no account
by the Pharisees. And when they spat in His face, and
put on Him the crown of thorns, and buffeted Him, what
further humiliation could He have undergone ? It is written,
i" gave My back to the smiters, and I hid not My face from

shame and spitting, and my cheeks from buffeting. 6 If

God condescends to such insults and sufferings and humilia-
tion, thou, who art by nature clay and of mortal nature,

1 2
Gen. xviii. 27. Ps. xxii. 6.
3 Phil. 4
ii. 7. Is. liii. 5.
5
Luke xxiii. 21. 6
Is. 1. 6.
 HOMILY XXVI 199

howsoever thou mayest be humbled, thou wilt never do

anything like Thy Master. God for thy sake humbled
himself, and thou wilt not be humbled for thine own sake,
but art proud and puffed up. He came to take upon
Him thy afflictions and thy burdens, and to give Thee
His own rest and thou art unwilling to bear troubles and
;

to suffer in order to gain healing for thy wounds. Glory

be to His patience and long-suffering for ever. Amen.
 —

HOMILY XXVII
This Homily, like the foregoing, describes at length the
dignity and status of a Christian man. Then it teaches
many useful things concerning free will, intermixing
some questions full of divine wisdom.

i. Know, man, thy nobility and thy dignity, how

honourable thou art, the brother of Christ, the friend of the
King, the bride of the heavenly Bridegroom. He who has
learned to know the dignity of his own soul, is in a position
to know the power and the mysteries of the Godhead, and
thereby to be the more humbled; since by the power of
God a man beholds the greatness of his own fall. But as
He passed through passion and cross before was glorified He
and sat down on the Father's right hand, so thou also must
suffer with Him, be crucified with Him, and so ascend and
sit with Him, and be joined with the body of Christ, and

reign for ever with Him in that world if so be that we

suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. 1
2. For those who prove able to overcome and pass the
fences of evil, enter into the heavenly city, which is at
peace, and is full of many good where the spirits of
things,
just men 2
are at rest. Therefore we ought to take great
pains and strive mightily for this ; for it is not right for
the Bridegroom, who came for thy sake, to sufferand be
crucified, while the bride, for whose sake the Bridegroom
came, idles along and wanders. A harlot gives herself
1
Rom. viii. 17.
2
Heb. xii. 23.
200
 HOMILY XXVII 201

away disorderly to anybody so the soul has given herself

;

away to every devil, and i corrupted by those spirits.

There are some who have sin and evil because they choose
to have it, others against their choice. What is the meaning
of this ? Those who have evil of their own choice are
those who have given away their will to evil, and take
pleasure in it, and make friends with it. These have peace
with Satan, and make no war in their thoughts with the
devil. But those with whom it is against their choice,
have the sin that is in them warring in their members,
as the apostle says * and the misty power and the veil is
;

against their choice, and they do not consent to it in their

thoughts, and take no pleasure in it, nor comply with it,
but contend with it by word and deed, and throw their whole
weight against it, and are angry with themselves. These
are far nobler and more honourable in God's eyes than the
others, who of their own choice give away their wills to
evil, and have pleasure in it.

3. Suppose a king were to find a poor maiden, clothed in

rags, and were not ashamed, but took away her soiled
clothes, and washed off her blackness, and adorned her
with splendid clothes, and made her a partner of the king,
and gave her a share of his table and the banquet ; so did
the Lord find the soul wounded and stricken, and gave her
medicine, and took off her the black garments and the
disgrace of sin, and clothed her with royal, heavenly
garments, the garments of the Godhead, all shining and
glorious, and put a crown upon her, and made her a par-
taker of the royal table for joy and gladness. And as when
there is a pleasure garden, and it has there fruit trees, and
all sweet-smelling ones, and there are there many charming

spots, all lovely and filled with fragrance and refreshment,

and whoever goes there is delighted and refreshed so are
;

the souls in the kingdom, all in joy, delight, and peace.

1
Rom. vii. 23.
202 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
Kings and lords they are, and gods for it is written, King ;

of kings, and Lord of lords. 1

4. Christianity, then, is no ordinary thing. This mystery
2
is great. Recognise therefore thy nobility, that thou art
called to kingly dignity, a chosen generation, a royal priest-
hood, and a holy nation? The mystery of Christianity is
foreign to this world. The visible glory of the emperor
and his wealth are earthly, and perishable, and passing
away ; but that kingdom and wealth are divine things,
heavenly and glorious, never to pass away or be dissolved.
For they reign together with the heavenly King, in the
heavenly church, and He is the firstborn from the dead*
and they also are firstborn. And yet, though they are all
this, chosen and approved before God, in their own eyes

they are the least, and highly disapproved ; and this is

fixed in them like a part of nature, to esteem themselves
nothing.
5. Question. Are they then unaware that they have
received something additional, and have acquired what they
had not before, that was foreign to their nature ?

Answer. What I say is that they are not approved, 5 and

that they have made no progress, and they do not know
how they acquired what they had not ; but while they are
all this, grace itself comes and teaches to count them not
their soul dear, 6 for all their progress, but to
count them-
selves naturally the reverse of dear, and dear though they
are to God, to themselves they are not so. With all their
progress and knowledge of God, they are as if they knew
nothing, and rich as they are before God, in their own eyes
they are poverty stricken. But as Christ took the form of a
servant, 1 and conquered the devil by humility, so at the
beginning it was by pride and self-esteem that the serpent

1 2
1 Tim. vi. 15. Eph. v. 32.
3 4
1 Pet. ii. 9. Col. i. 18.
5 6
That is, in their own estimation. Acts xx. 24.
7
Phil. ii. 7.
 HOMILY XXVII 203

overthrew Adam and the same serpent, lurking in hearts,

;

still casts down and destroys the race of Christians by self-

esteem.
6. If a man is free and well born, according to the world,
and possessed of much wealth, and continues to make
money, and increases his income, he loses his senses, and
becomes self-confident, and becomes unbearable, and kicks
and cuffs everybody. That is the way with some people of
no discretion, who, on finding some little enjoyment and
power of prayer, began to be puffed up and to lose their
senses, and to pass sentence and so they fell to the lowest
;

parts of the earth. The same serpent who threw Adam out
by pride, saying, Ye shall be as gods, 1 still suggests pride
in men's hearts, saying, " You are perfect you have ;

enough you have got rich you have no need you are
; ; ;

blessed." There are others in the world, who have riches,

and improve upon them with large incomes, and yet hold
within the bounds of discretion, and neither boast nor are
lifted up, but keep their level, because they know that after
affluence comes dearth and again when loss and dearth
;

befall them, they are not dismayed, but still keep level,
knowing that the turn of plenty will come back and by ;

long training in these matters, they are never surprised, and

in times of increase and plenty are not elated, and if loss
comes upon them, they are not surprised.
7. Christianity is in practice something like this — the
tasting of the truth, the eating and drinking of the truth, to
eat and drink on and on in reality and to good effect.
Suppose there to be a spring, and some one that is thirsty
begins to drink of it, and then before he has done some one
carries him off, and will not allow him to be as much filled
as he desires, that man is the more inflamed for having
tasted of the water, and he makes the more earnest effort to
get it. So in the spiritual order a man tastes and partakes
1
Gen. iii. 5.
 '

?o 4 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

of heavenly sustenance, and then, before he lias done, it
withdraws, and no one enables him to take his fill.
8. Question. Why is he not allowed to take his fill ?

Answer. The Lord knows the man's weakness, that he

is easily lifted up. Therefore He withdraws, and permits
the man to be exercised and put to trouble. If you receive
but a little, and no one can put up with you, you are so
puffed up with it, how much more intolerable you would
have been if some one had given you your fill at once
But God, knowing that weakness, providentially brings you
into troubles, that you may be humble, and the more
earnest in seeking God. A poor man according to the
world found a purse of gold, and was so light with pleasure
that he began to proclaim, " I have found a purse I am ;

a rich man " then by the report

; the loser heard of it, and
recovered it. Another man, who was rich, lost his senses,
and began to kick, and to be insolent to everybody, and to
exalt himself above certain persons, when the emperor
heard of it, and confiscated his property. So it is in the
spiritual realm. If some people taste but a little refresh-
ment, they do not know how to manage it, but lose even
what they had received, for sin tempts them, and darkens
theirmind.
9. Question. How do some fall after the visitation of
grace? Is not Satan shown to be much the weaker?
Where it is day, how can there be night?
Answer. It is is quenched or feeble; but
not that grace
in order that your free-willand your liberty may be tested,
which way it inclines, grace makes way for sin and then ;

you again draw nigh to the Lord with your will, and en-
treat that grace may visit you. How is it written, Quench
not the Spirit? 1
The Spirit cannot be quenched, but is
always light ; but you, if you are careless and do not with
your own will correspond, are yourself quenched and lose
1
1 Thess. v, 19.
 HOMILY XXVII 205

the Spirit. In like manner it says, Grieve not the Holy

Spirit, whereby ye were sealed unto the day of redemption. 1
You see that it lies in your own will and freedom of
determination to honour the Holy Spirit and not to grieve
Him. I assure you that freedom of choice remains even
in perfect Christians, who are subjugated to what is good
and intoxicated with it, and the consequence is that, though
put to the proof by ten thousand evils, they turn to that
which is good.
10. As when persons of rank and wealth and high birth

by their own will and choice forsake their wealth and birth
and dignities, and go and put on poor sordid clothing, and
dishonour instead of respect, and bear hardship, and are
held of no account, this is all left to their own discretion.
You may believe me, that even the apostles, perfected as
they were in grace, were not hindered by that grace from
doing as they desired, if they wished occasionally to do a
thing that was not pleasing to grace. Our nature is

susceptible of good and bad, and the adverse power acts

by persuasion, not compulsion. You have free choice to
incline which way you will. Do you not read that Peter
was to be blamed, 2 and that Paul went and reproved him.
In spite of being what he was, he was still to be blamed.
And Paul, for all his spirituality, of his own will, engaged in
a dispute with Barnabas, and they grew so sharp that they
withdrew from one another. 3 And that same Paul says,
Ye that are spiritual, restore such an one, considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted* There the spiritual !

are tempted, because their freedom of will remains and ;

the enemies keep plying them as long as they are in this

world.
11. Question. Could not the apostles sin, if they chose?
or was grace too mighty for their wills?
1 2
Eph. iv. 30. Gal. ii. II.
3 i
Acts xv. 39. Gal. vi. 1.

R
2o6 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
Answer. They could not sin, because they could not
choose to sin, being in light and in such grace. I du not
say that grace in them was weak. What I say is that grace
permits even perfect spiritual persons to have the use of
their will, and power to do what they choose, and to turn
in which direction they like. And human nature, which is
weak, has power to turn, even when good is present with it.
If there are people in full armour, with breastplate and
other arms, they are then well protected inside, and the
enemies do not attack them or if they attack, it is within
;

the power of their will either to make use of those arms,

and to fight and struggle with the foe, and to carry off
the victory, or to take a liking to that foe, and• come to
terms with him, and refrain from fighting, in spite of
the armour. In the same way, Christians, arrayed with
perfect power, and possessed of the armour of heaven,
can, if they are so minded, take a liking to Satan, and
come to terms with him, and desist from the war. Nature
is liable to change, and a man can, if he pleases, become
a son of God or a son of perdition. His freedom of will

remains.
12. It is one thing description of bread and
to give a
table, and another and take the relish of that bread,
to eat
and to be strengthened in all your members. It is one
thing to speak in words about a delicious drink, and another
to go and draw from the very spring, and to take your
fill of the delicious drink. It is one thing to discourse of

war, and of noble combatants and w arriors, and another to

T

go yourself into the fighting-line, and to close with the

enemy, and to go in and out, and to take and give, and to
carry off the victory. In spiritual things the same holds
good. It is one thing to give descriptive accounts with a

certain head-knowledge and correct notions, and another in

substance and reality, in full experience, and in the inward
man, and in the mind, to possess the treasure and the grace
 HOMILY XXVII 207

and the taste and the effectual working of the Holy Ghost.
Those who utter bare words, make a parade and are puffed
up by their mind. 1 Our speech, it says, and our preaching
was not with enticing words of mans wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power; and again 2,

elsewhere, The end of the commandment is love out of a

pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned?
A man like that does not fall. To many who sought after
God, the door has been opened, and they have seen a
treasure, and have entered into it and in the midst of ;

their joy, while they were saying, "We have found a

treasure," He has shut the doors upon them. Then they
began to cry aloud, and to mourn, and to seek the more.
" We found a treasure and have lost it." Grace withdraws
of set purpose, that we may seek more earnestly. The
treasure is shown, to encourage us to seek after it.

13. Question. Some say that after grace a man has

passed from death unto life. Can then one who is in the
light have impure thoughts?
Answer. It is written, Having begun in the Spirit, do ye
4
now finish in the flesh ? It says again, Put on the whole
armour of the Spirit, that ye may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. 5 Naturally enough, these are two
different places--one where he was when he put on the
armour, and one where he is when he fights with the princi-
palities and powers —
in the light, or in the darkness. Again,
That ye may be able lo quench the fiery darts of the wicked
one, 6 and again, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, 7 and
who were once enlightened,
again, It is impossible for those
and have tasted the gift of God, and were made partakers
of the Holy Ghost, and fell away, to renew them again?
There those who were enlightened and have tasted fall
!

1 2
Col. ii. iS. 1 Cor. ii. 4.
3
1 Tim. i. 5. * Gal. iii. 3.
5
Eph. vi. 11. c
Eph. vi. 16.
7
Eph. iv. 30. « Ilcb. vi. 4.
2o8 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES'
away. You see that a man has the power of will to agree
with the Spirit, or to grieve Him. Certainly he takes up
arms with a view to going to battleand contending against
the foe ; certainly he was enlightened, in order to campaign
against the darkness.
14. Question. What does the apostle mean by saying,
Though I have all knowledge and all prophecy, and speak
with the tongues of angels, I am nothing ? l
Answer. We ought not to understand it to mean that the
apostle is nothing; but in comparison with that charity
which is perfect, these things are little, and he who is in
these measures may fall ; but he who has charity is beyond

falling. I can assure you, that I have seen men who

had come by all the spiritual gifts and were partakers of
the Spirit, who, not having attained perfect charity, fell.

One, a nobleman by birth, renounced the world, sold his

possessions, gave his slaves their liberty ; being a man of
prudence and understanding, he was renowned for his strict
and holy life and meanwhile, conceiving an opinion
;

of himself and getting proud, at last he came down to

debaucheries and a thousand bad things. 15. Another in
time of persecution gave his own body, and was a confessor.
When peace was restored, he was set free, and had a great
name. His eyelids were injured by having been smoked.
This man, being much glorified and called to prayers, took
victuals, and gave to his servant, and his mind was as if he
had never heard the word of God. Another gave his body
under persecution, and was hung up, and scraped, and then
flung into prison. There he was religiously served by one
of the sisters-regular. He contracted a familiarity with
her, while in prison, and fell into fornication. Observe the
fall of the rich man who sold his possessions, and of him
who gave his body to martyrdom. 16. Another, a prudent
ascetic, who lived with me in the same dwelling and prayed
1
1 Cor. xiii 1 ff.
 HOMILY XXVII 209

with me, was so rich in grace that in praying beside me he

would be struck speechless, grace boiled so within him.
There was given him also the gift of healings, and he not
only drove away devils, but those who were bound hand
and foot and had dreadful sufferings he would cure by the
imposition of his hands. Then he relaxed his care, and
being much glorified by the world, and taking pleasure in
it, he became vain, and fell into the lowest depths of sin.
Observe the fall of one who had the gift of healing. You
see how men fall, before reaching the measures of charity.
For one who arrives at charity is bound and intoxicated ;

he is drowned, and carried captive to another world, as if he

had no consciousness of his own nature.
17. Question. What is the meaning of the things which
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into
1
the heart of mail ?
Answer. At that time, the great and the righteous men,
and kings and prophets, were aware indeed that the Re-
deemer was coming but that He should suffer and be
;

crucified, and His blood poured out upon the cross, they
neither knew, nor had they heard it neither had it entered ;

into their heart that there should be a baptism of fire and

of the Holy Ghost, and that in the church bread and wine
should be offered, the symbol of His flesh and blood, and
that those who partake of the visible bread eat spiritually
the flesh of the Lord, and that the apostles and Christians
and are endued with power from on
receive the Paraclete,
high, 2,
and are with the Godhead, and their souls
filled

mingled with the Holy Ghost. This the prophets and kings
knew not, neither did it enter into their heart. Now,
Christians have a very different wealth, and their hearts are
set upon the Godhead ; but for all this joy and comfort,
they are still and trembling.
under fear
8. Question. What fear and trembling?
1
1 Cor. ii. 9. ? Luke xxiv. 49.
 2io FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
Answer. That they may make no mistake, but correspond
with grace. man possessed of treasures, who is
It is like a
journeying to places where there are robbers. He is glad
of the riches and the treasure j but he is in fear lest the
robbers should set upon him and spoil him of them ; and
as one who carries his blood in his hands, so is he. Look,
so far as outward things go, we have all made our renuntia-
tion, and are strangers, without possessions, and deprived of
fleshly fellowship. Now, there lies the body in prayer the ;

brethren must say whether the mind is in correspondence

with the body. Artisans and foremen in the world usually
apply their whole body to their business and their mind
too, both night and day. Now look well to yourself.
Your body is strange to this world ; is your mind alienated
from the age ? do you never wander into the world ? Every
man of the world, soldier, or merchant, wherever his body
•is, has his mind also there fixed, and there is his treasure.
It is written, Where your treasure is, there will your heart
be also. 1 19. What treasure is your mind after? Is it

wholly and entirely Godwards, or not? If it is not, you

must tell me what it is that hinders. Certainly they are
evil spirits, Satan and the devils, who have hold of the
mind, and put fetters on the soul. The devil is very wily,
and has many conjuring tricks, and loopholes, and all
manner of shifts, and keeps hold of the ranges and thoughts
of the soul, and will not allow it to pray properly and to
draw nigh to God. For nature itself is capable of fellow-
ship with the devils and spirits of wickedness, and likewise
with angels and the Holy Ghost. It is the temple of

Satan, or the temple of the Holy Ghost. Examine your

mind, brethren; which are you in fellowship with? angels,
or devils? Whose temple are you? a habitation of God, or
of the devil ? With what treasure is your heart filled ? grace,
or Satan? Like a house that has been filled with evil
1
Matt. vi. 21.
 HOMILY XXVII 211

it must be thoroughly cleansed, and

smells and fiithiness,
and filled with all fragrance and treasures, that
set in order,
the Holy Ghost may come instead of Satan, and may rest
in the hearts of Christians.

20. Not the moment, however, that he hears the word of

God, does a man come to be of the good side. If hearing
made him of the good side at once, there would no longer
be conflicts, or critical battles, or a race. Without further
ado, if only he had heard, he would have come into peace
and to perfect measures. But the facts are otherwise.
You lake away the man's free will, if you say so, and deny
the existence of the opposite power, wrestling with the
mind. What we say is this, that the man who hears the
word comes to compunction, and after that, grace purposely
withdraws, for the man's good, and he enters into training
and the discipline of battle, and engages in a struggle and
contest with Satan, and only after a long race and contest
carries off the prizes of victory,and becomes a Christian.
If merely hearing made a man more ado
to belong without
to the good, then all the theatre-people and the whore-
mongers will go into the kingdom and the life. No one
will give them this without effort and striving, because it

is a straight and narrow way. By this rough way we have

to travel, and to endure, and bear affliction, and so to enter
into life.

21. If it were possible to succeed without effort, Christi-

anity would no longer be a stone of stumbling and a rock

of offence.
1
There would be no faith and unbelief. You
would make man a creature of necessity, incapable of turn-
ing to good or evil. It is only to one who can turn to

either side that a law is given —

one who is at liberty to do
battle with the adverse power. No law is laid down for a
nature that under necessity. The sun, the heaven and the
is

earth, call for no legislation such creatures are of a nature

;

1
Rom. ix. 33.
212 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
governed by necessity, and for this reason they are not
liable to reward or punishment. Reward and glory are
prepared for him who turns to the good ; hell and punish-
ment are prepared for this convertible nature, capable of
fleeing from the evil and throwing its weight upon the
right-hand side, the side of good. you say that he is
If
not of an alterable nature, you make the good man un-
deserving of praise. For one who is good and kind by
nature does not deserve praise for it, though he may be
very desirable. What is not good by choice is not
praiseworthy, however desirable it may be. Praise is only
deserved by one who by his personal resolution with effort
and struggle makes the good his own through free-will and
choice.
22. As if when the Persians have a camp on one side
and the Romans a camp on the two winged youths
other,
of equal powers should come forth from them and engage
in a struggle, so the opposing force and the mind are in
equipoise. Satan has power to influence and entice the
soul to his own and the soul has equal power to resist
will,

and to refuse any compliance with him. Both powers, good

and evil, act by suasion, not by compulsion. A choice like
this may count upon divine assistance, and is able in its
struggle to receive weapons from heaven, and by them to root
out evil and conquer it. To resist sin is in the power of the
soul, though without God it cannot conquer the evil or root
it out. Those who say that sin is like a mighty giant and
the soul like a little child are wrong. If things were so
ill-matched, sin like a giant and the soul like a little child,
the Law-giver would be unjust, in having given man a law
to struggle against Satan.
23. This is the foundation of the way to God — in much
patience, in hope, in humility, in poverty of spirit, in meek-
ness to travel along the way of life ; and it is by these
things that a man can come to have righteousness in himself.
 HOMILY XXVII 213

By righteousness we mean the Lord Himself. These com-

mandments, which so enjoin us, are like milestones and
waymarks that stand by the king's highway, which leads
wayfarers up to the heavenly city. We read, Blessed are
the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are the
merciful, blessed are the peacemakers} That is what you
may call any one does not travel by this
Christianity. If
way, he has wandered where there is no way he uses a ;

bad foundation. Glory to the compassions of the Father

and the Son and the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
1
Matt. v. 3.
 HOMILY XXVIII
This Homily describes and bewails the calamity of the soul,
that by reason of sin the Lord does not dwell in it ; and
concerning John the Baptist, that none among those
bom of women is greater than he.

i. As once God was wroth with the Jews, and gave

Jerusalem openly over to its enemies, and they which hated
them were lords over them} and there was no longer any
feast there, or any offering; so, being wroth with the
soul, He gave it over to its enemies, both to devils and to
passions and so, when these had seduced it, they ruined
;

it and no longer was there any feast there, or any

utterly,
incense or offering sent up by it to God, its tokens being
filled in the streets, 2 dreadful beasts and serpent spirits of

wickedness making their domicile within it and as a house, j

if it has not the master resident in it, gets clothed with

darkness and shame and abuse, and filled with dirt and
so the soul which has not its Master with His angels
filth,

making merry in it, gets filled with the darkness of sin, and
the shame of passions, and all manner of disgrace.

,
1
Vs. cvi. 41.

()
2
This curious expression reads like a quotation or a reference to
some prophetic passage, but I am unable to trace it. If the text is
right the soul's tokens seem to answer to ihe or
advertisements, of Ezek. xvi. 24. Their "being filled" in the streets
is perhaps a way of saying that the streets are filled with them. Other
translators construct the sentence differently

\-
in the public ways being filled with frightful beasts."

^ \£,
as Haywood, " her tokens
;

The grammar
would admit of this, but it makes litlie sense. I suspect, however,
that
" being forgotten."
is a primitive error for

214
or
 HOMILY XXVIII 215

2. Alas for the no one walks in it, nor hears in

street, if
it the voice of man, becauseit becomes the habitation of

wild beasts. Alas for the soul when the Lord takes not
His way in it, and drives not out of it with His voice the
spiritual wild beasts of wickedness. Alas for the house
when the master does not live in it. Alas for the land when
it has not the husbandman to till it. Alas for the ship
when it has not the steersman, because it is carried along
by the waves and surges of the sea and is lost. Alas for
the soul when it has not Christ, the true steersman, in it,

because finding itself in the sea of the bitterness of darkness,

and tossed by the surge of passions, and storm-beaten by
the winds of evil
spirits, it ends by gaining perdition. Alas
for the soul, when it has not Christ to till it carefully, that
it may be able to bring forth good fruits of the Spirit ;

because left desolate, and filled with thorns and thistles, its

fruit in the end is the burning of fire. Alas for the soul
when it has not Christ, its Master, living in it ; because,
left desolate, and being filled with the noisome odour of
passions, it finds itself the habitation of iniquity.

3. As the husbandman, when he goes to till the ground,

must take the proper tools and clothing for tilling, so Christ,
the King, the heavenly and true husbandman, in coming to
humanity, which had been laid desolate by sin, put on the
body, and carried the cross for His tool, and so tilled the
desolate soul, and took out of it the thorns and thistles of
evil spirits, and plucked up the tares of sin, and burned up
with fire every weed of its sins ; and thus tilling it with the
wood of the cross He planted in it that fairest paradise of
the Spirit, bearing every fruit that is sweet and desirable for
God as its owner.
4. And as in Egypt, during the three days' darkness, the
son saw not his father, nor brother, brother, nor true friend
his friend, because the darkness hid them, so when Adam
transgressed the commandment and fell from his former
2i6 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
glory,and came under the power of the spirit of the world,
and the veil of darkness fell upon his soul, from his time
and until the last Adam, the Lord, they saw not the true
Father in heaven, or the good, kind mother, the grace of
the Spirit, or the sweet and desired Brother, the Lord, or
the friends and kindred, the holy angels, with whom He
rejoiced, making merry and keeping festival. And it was
not only until the last Adam, but even to this day those
upon whom the Sun of righteousness? Christ, has not arisen,
and in whom the eyes of the soul have not been opened
and enlightened by the true light, are still under the same
darkness of sin, wrought upon by the same influence of
pleasures, subject to the same punishment, not yet having
eyes to behold the Father.
5. This is a thing which every one ought to know, that
there are eyes deeper within than these eyes, and a hearing
deeper within than this hearing. As these eyes sensibly
behold and recognise the face of a friend or beloved one,
so the eyes of the worthy and faithful soul, being spiritually
enlightened with the light of God, behold and recognise
the true Friend, the sweetest and greatly longed for Bride-
groom, the Lord, while the soul is shone upon by the
adorable Spirit ; and thus beholding with the mind the
desirable and only inexpressible beauty, it is smitten with
passionate love of God, and is directed into all virtues of the
Spirit,and thus possesses an unbounded, unfailing love for
the Lord it longs for. What therefore is more blessed than
that everlasting voice of John, when he shows the Lord
before our eyes, saying, Behold, the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. 2,

6. Truly among them that are born of women there is

none greater than John the Baptist? He is the fulfilment

of all the prophets. All the prophets prophesied of the
Lord, showing His coming afar off: John prophesied of
1 2 3
Ma!, iv. 2. John i. 29. Matt. xi. II.
 ! —

HOMILY XXVIII 217

the Saviour and showed Him before all eyes, crying aloud
and saying, Behold the Lamb of God 1 What a sweet and
beautiful voice of him who shews then and there Him whom
he heralded Greater than John is none of them that are
!

born of women. But he that is least in the kingdom of

heaven is greater than he 2
— the apostles, born of God from
above, who received the first fruits of the Comforter Spirit
for they were allowed to be His fellow- judges and partners
of His throne they have been made redeemers of men.
;

You find them dividing the sea of evil powers, leading

believing souls through. You find them husbandmen,
tilling the vine of the soul. You find them bridesmen,
marrying souls to Christ : / have espoused you, it says, to
one Husband. 3 You
them giving life to men. In short,
find
you find them in sundry parts and in divers manners*
serving the Spirit. This is the little one who is greater
than John the Baptist.
7. As the husbandman governs a yoke of oxen and tills

the ground, so the Lord Jesus, the fair true Husbandman,

yoked the apostles two and two and sent them forth, tilling
with them the ground of those who hear and truly believe.
Only this is worth saying, that the kingdom of God and the
preaching of the apostles is not in the word of hearing only,
like one who knows a set of words and rehearses them to
others, but the kingdom is in power and effectual working
of the Spirit. This was the sad case of the children of the
Israelites ; always studying the scriptures, and in fact making
the Lord the theme of and yet not receiving the
their study,
truth itself, So
they parted with that inheritance to others.
those who rehearse to others words of the Spirit, while they
do not themselves possess the word in power, part with the
inheritance to others. Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
1 2
John i. 36. Matt. xi. 11.
3 4
2 Cor. xi. 2. Heb. i. 1.
 HOMILY XXIX
God works the dispensations of grace upon mankind after
a twofold manner, intending to require the fruits of it

by a just judgment.

i. The wisdom of God, being infinite and incompre-

hensible, works the-dispensations of grace incomprehensibly
and unsearchably upon the human race in various fashions
for the testing of our free will, so that those who love Him
with their whole heart, and will endure every danger and toil

for God's sake, may be made manifest. To some the gifts

and endowments of the Holy Ghost come in advance, directly
they draw near in faith and prayer, without labour, or sweat,
or toil. Sometimes, while they are still in the world, God
gives them grace, not idly, nor out of season, nor at random,
but in an unspeakable and incomprehensible wisdom, in
order to try the determination and free will of those who
have so quickly received the grace of God, whether they
were sensible of the benefit and of the kindness and sweet-
ness of God that was shewn them, in proportion to the
grace received without pains of their own, in return for
which they ought to show diligence, and run well, and fight
hard, and to bear the fruit of will and purpose and love,
and to give back a requital for their spiritual gifts, by yielding
themselves wholly up to the love of the Lord, and accom-
plishing His will alone, and perfectly withdrawing from all
carnal affection.
2. To even when they have withdrawn from the
others,
world, and have renounced this age, according to the
218
 HOMILY XXIX 219

gospel, and pass their lime in much perseverance in prayer

and fasting and diligence and the other virtues, God does
not immediately grant the grace and the refreshment and
rejoicing of the Spirit, being patient with them and reserving
the gift. And this He does, not idly, nor unreasonably, not
at random, but with unspeakable wisdom, for the testing
of their free will, to see whether they have counted God
x
faithful and true who promised to give to them that ask and
to open the door of life to them that knock, to see whether
after believing His word in truth they continue to the end
in full assurance of faith and diligence, asking and seeking,
and will not prove faint-hearted, and draw back, and give up,
and in unbelief and hopelessness despise the quest, not
persevering to the end, because of the putting off of the time,
and because of the testing of their will and purpose.
3. For he who does not receive at once, is the more

kindled through God's delay and patience, and the more

desirous of the good things of heaven, and every day adds
to his longing and diligence, his running and striving, and
every disposition of virtue, his hunger and thirst after that
which is good, not slacking for the sinful suggestions which
are present in the soul, or turning aside to despise or forget
or despair ; nor again under pretence of patience will he
give himself over to slackness, using this argument, that
" Some day or other I shall receive the grace of God," and
from this enticed by sin into carelessness. On the contrary,
so long as the Lord Himself in His delay is patient over
him, testing the faith and love of his will, the man himself
ought the more keenly, the more laboriously, without giving
in, without turning faint, to seek the gift of God, having once

for all believed and assured himself, that God is true and
cannot lie, who has promised to give His grace to those who
ask with faith to the end, in all perseverance.
4. For God is faithful and true in His leading of faithful
1
IIc\ xi. 11.
220 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
souls, and they have set to their seal that He is true,
1
accord-
ing to the true word. Therefore in accordance with this
intuition of faith they examine themselves to see in what
respects they on their part are lacking — in labour, in striving,
in diligence, in faith, in love, or in the rest of the dispositions
of virtue; and thus examining with all minute exactness,
they force and constrain themselves to the best of their
power to please the Lord, having once for all believed that
God, being true, will not cheat them of the gift of the
Spirit, if they continue to the end with all diligence serving

Him and waiting upon Him, but that they will have the
heavenly grace vouchsafed to them, while they are still in
the flesh, and will obtain eternal life.

5. And so they set in motion all their love towards the

Lord, denying everything and looking only for Him
else,

with much desire and hunger and thirst, and always waiting
for the refreshment and consolation of grace, and not
willingly finding consolation or refreshment or binding
attachment in anything of this world ; but always resisting
material attractions they look only for the help and succour
of God, when Lord Himself is secretly present already
the
to souls that take upon them this kind of diligence, and
purpose of heart and endurance, and helps them, and
preserves them, and confirms them unto every fruit of
virtue, even though they are in trouble and distress, even
though they have not yet in certainty of the truth and in
manifestation to the soul received the grace of the Spirit
and the refreshment of the heavenly gift, and have not
had experience of it in full consciousness, because of the
unspeakable wisdom of God, and His inexpressible judg-
ments, in which He tries believing souls in various ways, with
a view to a love which is of the will and of purpose. For
there are bounds and measures and degrees of choice and
purpose, and of the will to love, and of disposition to obey
1
John iii. 33.
 HOMILY XXIX 221

all His holy commandments with might and main ; and

when up the measure of their love and duty,
souls thus fill

they are permitted to receive the kingdom and the eternal

life.

6. For God His judgments, and with

is just and just are
Him there is no respect of persons and He judges each ;

in proportion to the varying benefits with which He has

—
endowed mankind benefits of body or of spirit, whether
knowledge, or understanding, or discernment — and will

require the fruits of virtue accordingly, and will render to

each the due reward of his works in the day of judgment.
He will and will render to every man
come, we are told,
according to his deeds, and mighty men shall be mightily
1

tormented, for mercy will soon pardon the meanest / 2

and the Lord says, The servant which knew his lord's will,
and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will,
shall be beaten with many stripes ; but he that knew not,
and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few
stripes; and unto whom much is given, of him shall much
be required, and to whom men have committed much, of
him they will ask the more? The knowledge and under-
standing I have mentioned may be variously thought of,
either according to grace and the heavenly gift of the Spirit,
or in conformity with the natural intelligence and discern-
ment, and through the instruction of the divine scriptures.
Of each man will be required the fruits of virtue in propor-
tion to the benefits conferredupon him from God, whether
natural, or givenby God's grace. Therefore every man is
inexcusable before God in the day of judgment, for every
man will be required to answer of his will and purpose
according to what he knew of the fruits of faith and love
and every other virtue towards God, whether he knew by
hearing, or had never heard the word of God.
7. For the faithful, truth-loving soul, looking to the
1
Rom. ii. 6. a
Wisd. vi. 6. 3
Luke xii. 47, 48.
S
 ;

222 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

eternal blessings laid up for the righteous, and to the
unspeakable benefit of the grace of God that is to visit it,

esteems itself, and its diligence and pains and labour, all
unworthy in comparison with the unspeakable promises of
the Spirit. This is the poor in spirit, whom the Lord
pronounced blessed; this is he who hungers and thirsts
after righteousness this is he who is contrite in heart.
Those who take upon them this purpose and diligence and
pains and longing after virtue, and continue therein to the
end, will be enabled to obtain life and the eternal kingdom
in truth. Therefore let no brother be exalted against his
brother, or proceed to form an opinion of himself under the
cheating influence of sin, to think, " Behold, I for my part
possess a spiritual gift." It is not fit that Christians
should have these notions. You know not what the morrow
may do for him you arc ignorant what his end will be,
;

and what your own. Let each give heed to himself, and
examine his own conscience at all times, and try the work
of his heart, what diligence and striving towards God his
mind has and looking towards the perfect mark, of liberty,
;

and of freedom from passions, and of the Spirit's rest, let

him run without stopping and without sloth, never satisfied
with any spiritual gift or with any righteous attainment.
Glory and adoration to the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, for ever. Amen.
1
Matt. v. 3, 6.
 HOMILY XXX
The soul that is to enter into thekingdom of God must
be bom of the Holy Ghost; and how this is effected.

i. Those who hear the word ought to give proof of the

work of the word in their own souls. The word of God is
no idle word, but has its own work upon the soul. For
this reasonsometimes called a u work," with a view to
it is

the "work" being found in the hearers. May the Lord,

then, grant the work of the truth in the hearers, in order
that the word may be found fruitful in us. For as the
shadow precedes the body, but the shadow manifests the
body, while the truth is the body itself, so the word is like
a shadow of the truth of Christ. But the word precedes
the truth.
Fathers upon earth beget children of their own nature,
from their own body and soul, and when they are begotten
they educate them carefully with all diligence as their own
children, until they become full-grown men and successors
and For the aim and whole care of the fathers from
heirs.
the outset to beget children and to have heirs, and if
is

they had not begotten them, they would have had great
sorrow and grief, and on the other hand they had corre-
sponding joy when they had begotten them. Their kinsfolk
and neighbours likewise rejoice.
2. In the same way our Lord Jesus Christ, taking thought

for the salvation of man, employed from the outset all His pro-
vidential care through the fathers and the patriarchs, through
223
22 4 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
the law and the prophets, and in the end came Himself,
and despising the shame of the cross, endured death and ;

allthis toil and care of His was in order that He might

beget children from Himself, from His own nature, being
pleased that they should be begotten of the Spirit from
above, of His own Godhead. And as those fathers, if they
have no children, are grieved, so the Lord, who loved
mankind as His own image, willed to beget them of the
seed of His own Godhead so, if any of them will not come
;

to such a birth, tobe born of the womb of the Spirit of the

Godhead, Christ is submitted to great grief, after suffering
for them and enduring so much to save them.

3. For the Lord wills all men to have the privilege of

this birth. He died for all, and called all to life. But life
is the birth from above of God. Without it the soul cannot
live. The Lord says, Except a man be born from above,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. 1 And so, on the
other hand, as many as believe the Lord, and come and
receive the privilege of this birth, cause joy and great
gladness in heaven to the parents that begat them ; and all

angels and holy powers rejoice over the soul that is born of
the Spirit and has become spirit itself. For this body is a
similitude of the soul, and the soul is the image of the
Spirit and as
; the body without the soul is dead, and
unable to do anything at all, so without the heavenly soul,
that is, without the Divine Spirit, the soul is dead from the
kingdom, being unable to do any of the things of God
without the Spirit.

4. As the portrait painter keeps an eye upon the king's

face and draws, and when the king's face is towards him,
attending to him at his painting, he draws the portrait
easily and well, but when he turns his face away, he cannot
draw, because the face is not gazing at the painter; in like
manner Christ, the good artist, for those who believe Him
1
John iii. 3.
 HOMILY XXX 225

and gaze continually at Him, straightway portrays after His

own image a heavenly man. Out of His own Spirit, out of
the substance of light itself, the ineffable light, He paints a
heavenly image, and bestows upon it its good and gracious
Spouse. If a man does not gaze constantly at Him, over-
looking everything else, the Lord will not paint His image
with His light. We must therefore gaze upon Him,
own
believing and loving Him, throwing away all else, and
attending to Him, in order that He may paint His own
heavenly image and send it into our souls, and thus, wearing
Christ, we may receive eternal life, and even here may have
full assurance and be at rest.

5. As the golden coin, if it does not receive the imprint

of the king's image, does not come upon the market, and is
not stored in the king's treasuries, but is discarded, so the
soul, if it has not the image of the heavenly Spirit in light
unspeakable, even Christ imprinted on it, is not fit for the
treasuries above, and is discarded by the good merchants
of the kingdom, the apostles. He who was invited, and did
not wear the wedding garment, was cast out as an alien into
the alien darkness, for not wearing the heavenly image.
This is the mark and Lord imprinted upon souls,
sign of the
being the Spirit of light unspeakable. And as a dead man
is useless, and of no use to those of the place, and so they

carry him outside the city and bury him, so the soul which
does not bear the heavenly image of the divine light, the
life of the soul, is cast away and discarded for a dead soul ;

is of no use to that city of the saints, not bearing the

luminous and Divine Spirit. For as in the world the soul
is the life of the body, so in the eternal heavenly world the
life of the soul is the Spirit of the Godhead. Without the
life of the Spirit, this soul is dead to those above, and of
no use.
6. He and come to the
therefore that seeks to believe
Lord, should entreat that he may receive here on earth the
226 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
Divine Spirit ; for that Spirit is the life of the soul, and for
this cause the Lord came, that He might give life to the
soul here on earth, even His Spirit. For He says, While ye
have the light, believe in the light ; the night cometh, when
ye can no longer work. 1
Therefore if any man has not
sought, while here, and received life for his soul, even the
divine light of the Spirit, when he departs out of the body,
he is separated forthwith in the regions of darkness on the
left hand, not entering into the kingdom of heaven, having
his end in hell with the devil and his angels. 2.

As gold or silver, when cast into the fire, becomes purer

and better attested, and nothing can impair it, such as wood
or hay —
for it devours everything that comes near it, for
they also become fire —
so the soul going up and down in
the fire of the Spirit and in the divine light will suffer no
harm by any of the evil spirits. Even if anything shall draw
nigh it, it is consumed by the heavenly fire of the Spirit.
Or as a bird, when aloft on the wing, is in no anxiety, fear-
ing not the bird-catchers nor evil beasts, for up so high it
derides them, so the soul, receiving the wings of the Spirit,
and flying into the heights of heaven, is above everything,
and derides them all.
7. And Israel after the flesh, when Moses that day divided

the sea, went through it below but these, being God's ;

children, walk on the top over the sea of bitterness of the

evil powers. Their body and their soul have become the
house of God.
In that day when Adam fell, God came walking in the
garden. He wept, as it were, beholding Adam, and said,
"After what good things, what evils hast thou chosen!
After what glory, what shame dost thou wear How dark !

art thou now how ill-looking how corrupt

! After what ! !

light, what darkness hath covered thee " And when Adam !

fell and died from God, his Maker bewailed him ; angels,
1 2
John xii. 36 ; ix, 4. Matt. xxv. 41.
 HOMILY XXX 227

and all powers, the heavens, the earth, and all the
the
creatures mourned over his death and fall, for they saw him
that had been given them for their king become the servant
of a hostile and evil power. Therefore he clothed himself
with darkness in his own soul, a bitter and an evil darkness,
for he was made a subject of the prince of darkness. This
was he who was wounded by the robbers, and became
half dead, as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. 1
8. Lazarus also, whom the Lord raised, who stank so

that no one could go near the sepulchre, was a symbol of

Adam whose soul had come to stink and was filled with
blackness and darkness. But thou, when thou hearest of
Adam, and the wounded man, and Lazarus, let not thy
mind go off as it were to the hills, but be thou within in
thy soul, for thou thyself bearest the same wounds, the
same stench, the same darkness. We all are his sons, of
that dark race, and all partake of the same stench. The
malady from which he suffered, we all, who are of Adam's
seed, suffer from the same. Such a malady has befallen
us, as Esaias says, It is not a wound, nor a bruise, nor

an inflamed sore ; it is not possible to apply a mollifying

ointment, nor oil, nor to make bandages. 2 Thus were we
wounded with an incurable wound the Lord alone could ;

heal it. For this reason He came in His own person •

because none of the ancients, nor the law itself, nor the
prophets, were able to heal this wound. He alone by His
coming healed that sore of the soul, that incurable sore.
9. Let us then welcome our God and Lord, the true

healer, who alone is able to come and cure our souls, after
He has laboured so much for our sake. He is always
knocking at the doors of our hearts, that we may open to
Him, that He may enter in and rest in our souls, and we
may wash and anoint His feet, and He may make His
abode with us. The Lord in that passage reproached the
1
Luke x. 30. a
Is. i. 6, LXX.
228 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
man who and again He says else-
did not wash His feet; 1

where, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man

will open unto. Me, and I shall come in unto him? To this
end He endured to suffer many things, giving His own body
unto death, and purchasing us out of bondage, in order
that He might come to our soul and make His abode with
it. For this cause the Lord says to those on the left hand
in the day of judgment, that are sent by Him to hell with
the devil, / was a stranger, and ye took Me not in ; I was
an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat ; I was thirsty, and
ye gave me no drink? His food and His drink, His clothing
and shelter and rest is in our souls. Therefore He is
always knocking, desiring to enter into us. Let us then
receive Him, and bring Him within into ourselves ; because
He is our food and our drink and our eternal life, and every
soul that has not now received Him within and given Him
rest,or rather found rest in Him, has no inheritance in the
kingdom of heaven with the saints, and cannot enter into
the heavenly city. But Thou, Lord Jesus Christ, bring us
thereunto, glorifying Thy name, with the Father and the
Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen.
2 3
1
Luke vii. 44. Rev. iii. 20. Matt. xxv. 42, 43.
 HOMILY XXXI
The believer ought to be changed in mind, and gather up
all his thoughts in God; for in these all service of God
consists.

i. The believer ought to ask of God to be changed in

his purposes, by an alteration of heart from bitterness to
sweet, and remember how the blind man was healed, the
woman with an issue of blood likewise obtained healing
by the touch of His hem, the nature of lions was tamed,
the naturefire was deadened.
of Because God is the
highest good and unto Him thou oughtest to gather up
;

thy mind and thoughts, and to think of nothing else, but

to watch expectantly for Him.
2. Let the soul, therefore, be as one that gathers in
straying children and admonishes the thoughts which sin
has scattered, and bring them home into her body, always
watching for the Lord in fasting and chanty, when He shall
come and gather her in truth. The future being uncertain,
let her set her hope yet more upon her Pilot, with a good

hope, and remember how Rahab, when living among

aliens, believed the Israelites, 1 and was admitted to share
their privilege, while the Israelites in their affections turned
back into Egypt. As therefore Rahab received no harm
by dwelling among the aliens, but her faith made her at
home in the portion of the Israelites, so sin shall not harm
those who in hope and Redeemer, who
faith wait for the
at His coming changes the thoughts of the soul, and makes
* Josh. ii. 9.

229
 —

230 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

them godlike, heavenly, good, and teaches the soul prayer
prayer true, undistracted, unwandering. Fear not, He
says, / go before thee, and will level the mountains ; I
will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut in sunder
the bars of iron. 1 And
Beware, He says, that there
again,
be not a secret thought of wickedness in thy heart; say
not in thy heart, This nation is strong and powerful.'1
3. If we do not become slothful and give over the field
to the unruly thoughts of evil, but compel our minds to
obey our will, forcing our thoughts to the Lord, assuredly
the Lord will come to us with His will and take us in unto
Himself in truth. All well-pleasing and all service are in
the thoughts. Therefore endeavour to please the Lord,
always looking for Him within, seeking Him in thy thoughts,
and forcing and constraining thine own will and purpose to
stretch upwards continually towards Him. Then see how
He comes unto thee and makes His abode with thee. 3 In
proportion as thou gatherest up thy mind to seek Him, He
is far more constrained by His own tender compassion
and kindness to come to thee and give thee rest. He
stands contemplating thy mind, thy thoughts, thy inten-
tions, observing how thou seekest Him, whether with thy
whole soul, not indolently, not carelessly.
4. And when He sees thy diligence to seek Him, then
He manifests Himself and appears to thee, and imparts to
thee of His ownand makes the victory thine,
succour,
delivering thee from thine enemies. Having first contem-
plated thy seeking unto Him, and how thy whole expecta-
tion is without ceasing fixed on Him, He then teaches and
gives thee true prayer, true chanty, which is Himself in
thee made all things— paradise, tree of life, pearl, crown,
husbandman, sufferer, incapable of suffering, man,
builder,
God, wine and living water, lamb, bridegroom, warrior,
armour, Christ all in all.
2 3
1
Is. xlv. 2. Deut. xv. 9; vii. 17. John xiv. 23.
 HOMILY XXXI 231

And as the babe knows not how to take care of itself, or

do for itself, but looks only to its mother, waiting until she
has pity on it and takes it up, so faithful souls always hope
only in the Lord, ascribing all righteousness to Him. As
without the vine the branch is dried up, so is he who
desires to be justified without Christ. As is the robber
and the thief, who does not enter through the entrance,
but climbeih up some other way, 1 so is he who is justified
to himself without the Justifier.

5. Let us therefore take and make an

this body of ours,
altar of it, and lay upon it every intention of ours, and
beseech the Lord that He would send from heaven the great
invisible fire, and consume the altar and everything upon
it, and that all the priests of Baal, which are the opposing

activities, may fall and then we shall see the spiritual

;

rain coming in the soul like a man's footprint, 2 so that it

becomes the promise of God in us, as it is said in the
prophet, / will raise up and build again the tabernacle of
David which is fallen, and will build again the ruins
thereof? in order that the Lord with His own loving kind-
ness may shine upon the soul which is dwelling in night
and darkness, in the drunkenness of ignorance, so that it
may wake to soberness and walk without stumbling, per-
forming the works of day and of life. For where the soul
feeds, thence is it nourished, either from the world, or from
the Spirit of God ; and God is there nourished, and lives,
and rests, and goes up and down.
6. To conclude, every one, if he will, shall prove himself,

whence he is nourished, and where he lives, and what con-

dition he is in, so that having thus perceived, and gained
an accurate estimate, he may give himself perfectly to the
movement towards that which is good. Well, in praying,
take heed to yourself at prayer, observing your thoughts
1
John x. 1.
2
So the LXX has it in 1 Kings xviii. 44.
3
Amos ix. 11 ; cp. Acts xv. 16,
2 32 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

and your motions, where they come from, whether from

God or from the adversary, and who it is that supplies
your heart with nourishment, the Lord, or the world-rulers
of this age. And when, soul, thou hast proved and
known, ask the Lord with labour and longing for heavenly
nourishment and growth and the motions of Christ, accord-
ing to the saying, Our conversation is in heaven, 1 and not,
assome imagine, in a shape or fashion. Behold, the mind
and disposition of those who have only a form of godliness
is like the world. Behold their agitation, and the fluctua-
tion of their purposes, their unstable judgment, their
timidity and fear, according to that which is said, Groaning
and trembling shalt thou be upon the earth} According
to their unbelief and the confusion of their unstable
thoughts, they are tossed about every hour, like all the
rest of men. Such men only differ from the world in
fashion, not in mind, 3 and only in bodily observances of
the outer man ; while in heart and mind they are pulled
this way and that way in the world, and are involved in
earthly ties and those of unprofitable cares, not having
gained the peace from heaven in their hearts, as the
apostle says, Let the peace of God rule in your hearts 4 -
the peace which reigns and renews the minds of believers
in the love of God and of all the brotherhood. Glory and
worship to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
for ever. Amen.
1
Phil. Hi. 20.
2
Gen. iv. 12, LXX.
3 The MSS.usually followed in this translation omit here the "not."
If that reading is adopted, then the word translated " mind
" must be
taken to mean " in theory."
4
Col. iii. 15.
 HOMILY XXXII
The glory of Christians abides even now in their souls, and
will be manifested at the time of resurrection, and will
glorify their bodies in correspondence with their piety.

i. The languages of this world differ. Every nation has

a language of its own. But Christians learn one new
language, and are all instructed under one wisdom of God,
not a wisdom of this world, nor of this passing age. And
as Christians walk in this creation, they come upon new and
heavenly sights, and upon glories and mysteries, taking
occasion by what meets their senses.
There are various kinds of tame animals, as horse and ox.
Each of them has its own body and its own voice. So also
among wild beasts the lion has its own body and its own
;

voice, and the stag likewise. And among creeping things

there is great variety, and among winged creatures there are
many forms of body. The body and voice of the eagle is
one, the body and voice of the hawk is another. There are
the same varieties in the sea —
many bodies unlike each
other and in the earth there are many seeds, but each seed
;

has its own fruit. There are many trees but some trees ;

are bigger and some smaller, and the crops that they bear
are very different ; for each kind of tree has a flavour of its

own. And there are herbs, and great differences between

them — some profitable for health, others only for fragrance.
But each tree produces from within the clothing which
meets the eye, leaves, and blossoms, and fruits. The seeds
likewise bring forth from within the clothing that we see.
233
234 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

The lilies themselves produce their raiment from within, and

adorn the sward.
2. Even so those Christians, to whom it has been granted
to gain in this life the heavenly raiment, have that raiment
dwelling in their souls and when it is foreordained of God
;

that this creation should be dissolved, and that heaven and

earth should pass away, then the heavenly raiment, which
here and now had clothed and glorified their souls, and
which they had possessed in their hearts, that same shall
assuredly enrobe with glory their naked bodies also, which
rise from the tombs, the bodies which awake in that day,
even with the invisible heavenly gift and raiment which
Christians receive even now.
But as the sheep or the camels, when they find grass,
greedily and hastily get to the food and store up provender
within themselves, and in time of hunger bring up the same
from their maw, and chew the cud, and have for their food
what they had before laid in ; so in like manner those who
have now seized the kingdom of heaven, and living in spirit
have tasted of the heavenly food, at the time of resurrection
have that same to cover and to warm all their members.
3. As then we spoke of the variety of seeds, that many
are sown in the same ground and yield a diversity of fruits,
all unlike each other and likewise of trees, that some are
;

bigger and some less, but one ground holds the roots of
them all even so the heavenly church, being but one, is
;

without number, and each is adorned by the glory of the

Spirit in a manner peculiar to himself. For as the birds
produce out of their own bodies the raiment of their feathers,
—
and great is the variety among them for some flit along
near the ground, while others soar in the air — or as the
heaven is and contains in itself many stars, some
one,
brighter, some greater, some smaller, but all are fixed in the
heaven ; so the saints are in divers manners rooted in the
one heaven of the Godhead and in the earth invisible. So
 HOMILY 235

also the thoughts which come to Adam * are different when

they come, but the Spirit coming into the heart makes one
thought and one heart, for both those above and those
below are governed by the same Spirit.
2
4. But what are the animals that divide the hoof ? Since
with their cloven hoof they make straight way, they are set
for a figure of those who walk uprightly in the law. But as
the body's shadow is from the body itself, but cannot fulfil
—
any fleshly function for a shadow cannot bind up wounds,
or give food, or speak —
and yet it is from the body itself,
and shows in advance the coming of the body, so the ancient
law is a shadow of the new covenant. The shadow reveals
the truth beforehand, but it had no ministration of the
Spirit. Moses, clothed in flesh, could not enter into the
heart, and take away the filthy garments of darkness. Only
spirit of spirit and fire of fire dissolves the power of the
evil darkness. Circumcision, in the shadow of the law,
foreshows the true circumcision of the heart approaching.
The baptism of the law is a shadow of the true
That realities.

baptism washed the body but here a baptism of fire and

;

Spirit cleanses and washes the polluted mind. 5. There

3
a priest compassed with infirmity entered into the holy
place offering sacrifice for himself and for the people; here
the true High Priest, even Christ, entered once for all into
the tabernacle not made with hands and the altar above,
ready to cleanse those who ask Him, and the conscience
that has been defiled. For He says, / will be with you until
the end of the world.* The high priest had on his breast
two precious stones, and they bore the names of the twelve
patriarchs. What was done there was a type. For in such
a manner the Lord put on the apostles and sent them as
evangelists and heralds of the whole world. You see how
the shadow shows the approach of the reality. Yet just as
1 2
Used collectively as elsewhere. Lev. xi. 3.
3 4
Heb. v. 2. Mat•, xxviii. 20.
236 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
the shadow has no function to perform, and heals no troubles,
so neither could the ancient law heal the wounds or troubles
of the soul ; for had no life.
indeed it

6. The conjunction of two particular things makes a

perfect whole —
for example, two covenants. Man was
made after the image and similitude of God he has two :

eyes, two eyebrows, two hands, two feet, and if he should

chance to have but one eye, or one hand, or one foot, it is
something to find fault with. If a bird has but one wing,
it cannot possibly fly with it. So the nature of mankind, if
it remains naked and by itself, and does not receive the

mixture and communion of the heavenly nature, has failed

to be put right. It remains naked and deserving of blame

in its own nature, in great defilement. For the soul itself

was surnamed the temple and habitation of God, and the
King's bride ; for it says, / will dwell in them, and walk in
them. 1 So it pleased God because He came down from
;

holy heavens and embraced thy reasonable nature, the flesh,

which is of the earth, and mingled it with His divine Spirit,
in order that thou, the earthy, mightest receive the heavenly
soul. And when thy soul has communion with the Spirit,
and the heavenly soul enters into thy soul, then art thou a
perfect man in God, and an heir, and a son.
7. But as neither the ages above nor those below can
take in the greatness and incomprehensiblcness of God, so
neither the worlds above nor those on earth are able to
comprehend His minuteness, and how He makes Himself
small to those who are minute and small. As His greatness
is incomprehensible, so also is His minuteness ; and it
comes to pass that He arranges for thee to be in afflictions,
and sufferings, and humiliations ; and the things which
thou deemest to be contrary to thee, these prove to be for
thy soul's good. If thou desirest to be in the world, and
to become rich, misfortune meets thee. Thou beginnest to
1
2 Cor. vi. 16.
 ; ;

HOMILY XXXII 237

think with thyself, " Because I have failed in the world,

what if I were to go away and renounce and serve God ?"
it

When thou art come to this point, thou hearest the com-
mandment saying, "Sell what thou hast l hate fleshly society ;

serve God." Then thou beginnest to thank thy misfortune

in the world, that "on that account I am found obedient to
the commandment of Christ." Well then, in part, so far as
outward things go, thou hast changed thy mind, and with-
drawn from the world and from fleshly society it behoves :

thee therefore to be changed in mind likewise from the

fleshly temper to the heavenly temper. Well, at the very
sound thereof, thou beginnest to discriminate, and thou no
longer hast rest, but only care and trouble to gain what thou
hast heard of. 8. And when thou deemest thyself to have

done all by renouncing, the Lord taketh account with thee.

" Why dost thou boast ? Did not I create thy body and
thy soul ? Did not I make the gold and silver ? What
hast thou done ? " The soul begins to make confession and
to beseech the Lord, and say, " All things are Thine. The
house I am in is Thine. My clothes are Thine. From
Thee is my food, and of Thee am I supplied for every
need." Then the Lord begins to reply :
" I thank thee.

The goods are thine own. The good will is thine own
and because of thy love towards Me, since thou hast made
Me thy refuge, come, I will now give thee what hitherto
neither thou hast gained, nor do men have it upon earth.
Take Me, thy Lord, with thine own soul, that thou mayest
ever be with Me in joy and gladness."
9. A woman espoused to a husband brings all that she
has and her whole dowry, and out of her great affection
casts it into the hands of her husband, and says this " I :

have nothing of my own. All that I have is yours and ;

my dowry is yours, and my soul and my body are yours."

So also the wise soul is virgin to the Lord, having
1
Matt. xix. 2il
238 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
communion But as He, when He came
with His Holy Spirit.
upon and was crucified, so it behoves thee
earth, suffered
also to suffer with Him. When thou withdrawest from the
world, and beginnest to seek God, and to discriminate, then
thou findest thyself at war with thine own nature in its old
habits and the custom that thou hast grown up with ; and
in warring against custom, thou discoverest thoughts that
oppose thee, and war against thy mind, and these thoughts
drag thee and make thee stray into the material world from
which thou earnest out. So thou beginnest to wage conflict
and battle, setting in motion thoughts against thoughts,
mind against mind, soul against soul, spirit against spirit;
and there the soul is in agony of fear. 10. For there is

revealed a certain hidden, subtle power of darkness seated

in the heart and the Lord is nigh thy soul and body,
;

seeing thy battle, and puts in thee secret heavenly thoughts,

and begins to give thee rest in secret. But He suffers thee
to be chastened for a while, and grace provides that thou
shouldest come into these very afflictions and when thou ;

comest into rest, grace makes herself known to thee, and

shows thee that it was for thy benefit that she permitted
thee to be exercised. It is as when a rich man has a child,
and the child a tutor. For a while he makes him smart
with straps and the chastisement, and the stripes, and the
j

weals appear grievous, until the child becomes a man, and

then he begins to thank the tutor. So does grace chastise
thee by design, until thou comest unto a perfect man. 1
The husbandman flings the seed in every direction;
ii.

and he who plants a vine wishes that all of it should bear

fruit. So he applies the pruning-hook, and if he finds no
fruit, he is grieved. So the Lord wishes His word to be
sown in the hearts of men. But as the husbandman is
grieved at the unrepaying ground, so the Lord is grieved at
the unrepaying heart which bears no fruit. As the winds
1
Eph. iv. 13.
 HOMILY XXX11 239

blow everywhere, over all creation, and as the sun lightens

upon all the world, so the Godhead is everywhere, and is

everywhere found. If thou seekest Him in heaven, He is

found there in the thoughts of the angels. If thou seekest
Him upon earth, He is found here also in the hearts of men.
But few out of many are found the Christians who are well
pleasing toHim. Glory and majesty to the Father, and to
the Son, and the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
 HOMILY XXXIII
We ought to pray to God continually and with attention.

i. It behoves us to pray, not by bodily habit, nor with a

habit of crying, nor by a custom of silence, or of bending
the knees, but soberly, taking heed to our minds, to wait
upon God, until He shall come to us and visit the soul
through all its modes of egress and its paths and senses,
and so to be silent when we ought, and to cry out when we
ought, and to pray with loud crying, so long as the mind is
strong towards God. As the body, when at work, is entirely
occupied with the work on which it is engaged, and all the
members of it help one another, so let the soul be entirely
given up to asking and love towards the Lord, not wander-
ing and carried about with thoughts, but with all its might
endeavouring and gathering itself up with all its thoughts,
and bent upon waiting for Christ.
2. And thus will He lighten upon it, teaching it the true
asking, giving it the pure spiritual prayer, which is worthy of
God, and the worship which is in spirit and in truth. 1 But
as one who has taken up the profession of merchandise is
not content with a single device for getting gain, but presses
forward to increase and multiply his gain in every direction,
afterone device pursuing another, and then running on to
another expedient, and always shying off from what is
unprofitable, runs to that which is more lucrative so let us ;

also fit our souls out with versatility and skill, to obtain the
1
John iv. 24.
240
 HOMILY XXXIII 241

great true gain, even God, who teaches us truly to pray. In

thisway the Lord rests upon the soul's good intention,
making it a throne of glory, and sitting and resting upon it.
That was what we heard from the prophet Ezekiel, concern-
ing the spiritual creatures harnessed to the chariot of the
Lord. He representsthem to us as eyes all over, as the
soul is that carries God, or rather is carried by God ; it

becomes all eye.

3. As a house that has its master at home is full of all

orderliness and beauty and seemliness, so the soul which

has its Lord with it, and abiding in it, is full of all beauty.
It has the Lord with His spiritual treasures for its inhabitant

and its charioteer. But woe to the house whose master is

away, and whose lord is not present. It is desolate, and
broken down, full of all uncleanness and disorder. There,
as the prophet says, sirens and demons dwell. 1 In the
deserted house are cats and dogs, and all uncleanness.
Woe to the soul that does not arise from its grievous fall,
nor receive the fair Master of the house, even Christ, for its
inhabitant, but remains in its uncleanness, and has within it
those who persuade and compel it to have enmity with its
own Bridegroom, and desire to corrupt its thoughts from
Christ.
But when the Lord sees that to the best of its ability
4.
itself, always seeking and waiting for the
the soul recollects
Lord night and day, and crying to Him, even as He com-
manded to pray without ceasing in everything, 2 He will
avenge it, as He promised, 3 cleansing it from the evil within
it,and will present it unto Himself a bride without blemish
and without spot.*
Now if you believe that these things are true, as indeed
they are, take heed to yourself, whether your soul has found
the light to guide it, and the true meat and drink, which is
1
Is. xxxiv. 13, 14; LXX. 2
1 Thess. v. 17 f.
3
Luke xviii. 7. * Eph. v. 27.
 *4» FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
the Lord. you have not, seek night and day,
If
that you
may receive When you see the sun, seek the true
for you are blind.
Sun
When you behold the light, look into
your soul whether you have
found the true Light, the good
Light. All the things which meet
the senses are a shadow
of the true of the soul.
realities There is another man
within besides the man who is seen
; and eyes, which
Satan
has blinded, and ears, which
he has deafened; and Jesus
came to make this inward man whole. To whom be the
glory and the might, with the Father
and the Holy Ghost
for ever. Amen.
 HOMILY XXXIV
Concerning the glory of Christians which shall be vouchsafed
to their bodies at the resurrection, and they shall be
enlightened together with the soul.

i. As the bodily eyes see everything clearly, so to the

souls of the saints the beauties of the Godhead are manifest
and visible, and Christians are mingled with them and think
upon them. To the bodily eyes that glory is hidden, but
to the believing soul it is clearly revealed the soul which —
was dead, which the Lord raises out of sin, even as He
wakens the dead bodies also, and prepares for it a new
heaven and a new earth, and a sun of righteousness, giving
it all things out of His own Godhead. There is a true world,
and a living earth, and a fruitful vine, and a bread of life,
and living water as it is written, I believe to see the goodness
;

1
of the Lord in the land of the living, and again, Unto them
that fear the Lord shall the sun of righteousness arise, with
healing in his wings ; 2 and the Lord said, I am the true vine, 3
and again,/ am the bread of life* and again, He that drinheth
of the water that I shall give him, there shall be in him a well
5
of water springing up into everlasting life.
2. For the whole coming of the Lord was for man's sake

— man who lay dead in the grave of the darkness of sin, of

the unclean spirit and of evil powers that now in this —
world He might raise man up and quicken him, and cleanse
him from all blackness, and enlighten him with His own
1 2 3
Ps. xxvii. 13. Mai. iv. 2. John xv. r.
4 5
John vi. 35. John iv. 14.

243
244 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

light, and array him in His own garments, the heavenly

garments of His own Godhead. But at the resurrection of
the bodies, whose souls were raised before and glorified
before, then the bodies also are glorified with them, and are
enlightened by the soul which had been enlightened and
glorified in this life. For the Lord is their home, their
tabernacle and their city. They are clothed with the habi-
tation from heaven, not made with hands, 1 the glory of the
divine light, as being made children of light. They will

gaze upon each other with no evil eye ; for evil has been
taken away. There is there no male nor female, bond nor
2
free, changed into a divine nature, being
for all alike are
good, and Gods, and children of God. There brother will
then speak peace to sister without confusion, for ail are one
thing in Christ, at rest in one light. One will gaze upon
another, and in the gazing will forthwith shine back in truth,
at the true contemplation of light inexpressible.
3. Thus in many shapes and many varying divine glories
they look upon each other, and each is astonished and
3
rejoices with joy unspeakable, gazing upon the other's
glory. You see how the glories of God are beyond all
utterance, and are incomprehensible, of light inexpressible,
and of mysteries eternal, and of good things without number.
As, in the world of sense, it is impossible for any one to
comprehend in number the plants, or seeds, or various
blossoms of the earth, and it is out of the question for any
one to measure or understand the entire wealth of the
earth or as in the sea it is impossible for a man to com-
;

prehend the living creatures in it, or their number, or their

kinds, or their differences, or the measure of its water or
the measure of its place or as in the air it is impossible to
;

know the number of the birds, or their kinds or variety ; or

as it is impossible to comprehend the greatness of the sky,
or the positions of the stars, or their courses ; so is it impos-
1 2 3
2 Cor. v. 1. Gal. iii. 28. 1 Pet. i. 8.
 HOMILY XXXIV 245

sible to speak or to recount the wealth of Christians, which

is infiniteand incomprehensible. For if these creatures are
so infinite and incomprehensible to men, how much more
He that created and prepared them !

A man ought therefore rather to rejoice and be glad

because such wealth and such an inheritance is prepared
for Christians, that no one can utter it or reckon it up.
With all diligence and humility therefore we ought to set
ourselves to the Christian's contest and to receive that
wealth. For the inheritance and portion of Christians is
God Himself. The Lord Himself, it says, is the portion
of mine inheritance and of my cup. 1 Glory to Him who
gives Himself, and mingles His own holy nature with the
souls of Christians, for ever. Amen.
1
Ps. xvi. 5.
 HOMILY XXXV
Concerning the old Sabbath and the new.

i. In the shadow of the law given by Moses God com-

manded that every man should rest on the sabbath and do
nothing. This was a type and shadow of the true sabbath
given to the soul from the Lord. For the soul to which it
has been granted to be set free from base and foul thoughts
both keeps true sabbath and enjoys true rest, being idle and
at leisure so far as the works of darkness are concerned.
There, in the typical sabbath, although they rested in
bodily fashion, their souls were in bondage to wickednesses
and sins. This, the true sabbath, is true rest, the soul
being idle and cleansed from the suggestions of Satan, and
resting in the eternal rest and joy of the Lord.
2. As then He enjoined that even the unreasoning animals
should rest on the sabbath day, that the ox should not be
forced under the yoke of necessity, and that they should
not lade the ass — the animals also were
for to rest from
their heavy works — so when the Lord came and gave the
true eternal sabbath, He gave rest to the soul which was
burdened and heavy laden with the burdens of the iniquity
of unclean imaginations, and labouring perforce at the
works of unrighteousness, as being in bondage to bitter
masters; and He lightened it of the burdens, hard to be
borne, of vain and impure imaginations and He took
;

away the yoke, the bitter yoke, of the works of unrighteous-

ness, and refreshed the soul when it was wearied with the
imaginations of uncleanness.
246
 HOMILY XXXV 247

3.The Lord calls man to rest, saying, Come, all ye that

labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; 1
and as many souls as are obedient and draw near, He makes
them rest from all these heavy, burdensome, unclean
thoughts, and they are idle from all iniquity, keeping a true,
delicious, holy sabbath, and celebrate a festival of the
Spirit, a festival of joy and gladness unspeakable ; and they
God, out of a pure
perform a pure service, well pleasing to
heart. This is and the holy sabbath. Let us
the true
therefore beseech God that we also, may enter into this
rest,
2
that we may be idle from base and evil and vain
imaginations, that thus we may be able to serve God out of
a pure heart, and celebrate the feast of the Holy Ghost.
Blessed is he who enters into that rest. Glory to Him
whose good pleasure it is, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for
ever. Amen.
1 2
Matt. xi. 28. Heb. iv. 11.
 '

HOMILY XXXVI
Concerning the twofold resurrection of souls and bodies,
and of the divers glory of the risen.

i. The resurrection of dead souls even now. The

is

resurrection of bodies is in that day. But as the stars,

though fixed in heaven, are not all equal, but one differs
1
from another in brightness and magnitude, so in spiritual
things there are advances, according to the measure of faith,
in the Spirit Himself, 2 one man richer than another. The
scripture says, He that speaketh in a tongue speaketh by
the Spirit of God. He is a spiritual man, speaking to God.
But he that prophesieth, edifieth the church. 2 The latter
had the greater abundance of grace. The one edifies
himself only ; the other his neighbour also.
This is like a grain of corn sown in the earth ; the same
4
grain out of the same heart produces many grains differing
from each other. And again the ears, some are larger,
some smaller, but all are gathered into one threshing-floor,
one barn ; though they differ, one bread is made of them.
2. Or as in a city there are multitudes of people, and some
are infant children, some men, or young men ; but all drink
water of one well, and one bread, and have one
all eat of
air to breathe or as lamps are, one with two wicks and
;

one with seven, but where the greater abundance of light

2
1
Cor. xv. 41.
I Rom. xii. 3 f . ; 1 Cor. xii. 9.
*
1 Cor. xiv. 2 ff.
4 "ground
It looks as if the MSS. were at fault, and some word like
were wanted.
248
 HOMILY XXXVI 249

is, the illumination is greater. So as many as are in fire

and light cannot be in darkness ; but there is much differ-

ence. If a father has two sons, one a child, the other a

young man, he sends the one abroad to foreign cities and
countries, but the little one he keeps continually under
guard, because he can do nothing. Glory be to God.
Amen.
 ;

HOMILY XXXVII
Concerning Paradise and the spiritual law.

i. Thefriendship of the world, according to that which

is written, is enmity with God. 1 For which cause the
scripture bids every one to keep his own heart with all
diligence, 2 that keeping in it the word, like a paradise, a
man may enjoy grace, not hearing the serpent that winds
within, when he counsels the things that make for pleasure,
whereby is engendered the wrath that and
slays a brother,
the soul that brings it forth perishes, but hearing the Lord
when He says," Take heed to faith and hope, through which
is engendered love towards God and man, which gives eternal

life." Into this paradise Noe entered, keeping the com-

mandment and working, and through love was redeemed
from the wrath. Keeping this paradise, Abraham heard
the voice of God. Keeping this, Moses received glory in
his countenance. David likewise keeping this worked,
from whence he gained the mastery of his enemies and ;

Saul too, so long as he kept his heart, prospered, but when

at last he transgressed, at last he was forsaken. For the
word of God follows each man by measure according to
proportion. So long as a man holds fast, he is held fast
and so long as he guards, he is guarded.
2. For this cause the whole company of holy prophets,

apostles, martyrs, kept the word in their hearts, caring for

nothing else, but despising earthly things, and abiding in
1 2
Jas. iv. 4. Prov. iv. 23.

250
 HOMILY XX^VII 251

the commandment Holy Ghost, and preferring before

of the
all things the Spirit's love of God and the Spirit's good,

not in word only or in mere knowledge, but in word and

deed as well, by actual practice, choosing poverty instead
of wealth, dishonour instead of glory, suffering instead of
pleasure, affliction instead of enjoyment, and for that reason
love instead of wrath. For as they hated the sweet things
of life, they rather loved those who took them away, as
working with them to the purpose, forbearing to know good
and evil. 1 They neither denied those who were good, nor
blamed those who were evil, esteeming all alike to be
envoys of the Master's dispensation. Therefore they had
a well-disposed benevolence towards all. AVhen they heard
the Lord say, Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven? then they
reckoned those who wronged them as benefactors, because
from them they received occasion for their own forgiveness.
When again they heard, As ye would that men should do
unto you, do ye also unto them, 3 then they began to love
good men also according to conscience. Leaving their
own righteousness, and seeking the righteousness of God,
they naturally found love also included in it.
3. For the Lord, in giving many commandmentsconcerning

love, bade us seek the righteousness of God? for He knows

that it is the mother of love. There is no other way to be
saved but through our neighbour according as He enjoined,
;

Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven} This is the spiritual

law, written in faithful hearts, the fulfilling of the first law. 6
I came not, He says, to destroy the law, but to fulfil. 1
How is it fulfilled? Let me tell you. The first law, by
reasonable occasion of him who sinned, condemned, over
and above, him that was sinned against for wherein thou ;

judgest another thou condemnest thyself. 8 So says the

1 2
Gen. iii. 5. Luke vi. 37.
3
Matt. vii. 12. * Matt. vi. 33.
6
Luke vi. 37.
6
Rom. xiii. 10.
7
Matt. v. 17. 8
Rom. ii. I.
2 52 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
law : In the midst of judgment, judgment ; in the midst of
striking, a stroke}
4. Forgiveness is the fulfilling of the law. We have
called it a " first law " ; not that God has set two laws
before men, but one law, which is spiritual in its nature,
but in regard to retribution, it awards to each man the
retribution which him that forgives, and
is just, forgiving

contending with him that contends. With the clean, it

says, thou shalt be clean, and with the froward thou shalt
wrestle. 2 Therefore those who spiritually fulfil it, and are
•

favoured in proportion, came to love with a spiritual love

not only those who did them good, but also those that
reproached them and persecuted them, looking" for a recom-
pense of good things. Of good things, I say not because ;

they acquiesced in the wrongs done to them, but because

they did good to the souls of the wrongdoers. They com-
mitted them to God as the means by which they obtained
the beatitude as it says, Blessed are ye, when they shall
;

revile you, and persecute you. 3

5. It was under a spiritual law that they were taught to

be thus minded. While they endured, and preserved their
inward meekness, the Lord, looking upon the patience of
the heart under attack and of the love that lost not its self-
control, broke through the middle wall of partition 4 and ,

they cast away perfect hatred, and their love was no longer
against the grain, but with relief. The Lord brought to
nought the sword that turned every way, 5 which stirs the
thoughts, and they entered into that within the veil, whither
the forerunner is for us entered, even the Lord 6 and they ;

revelled in the fruits of the Spirit, and having beheld things

1
The words are taken from the
version of Deut. xvii. 8. LXX
It
is probable that like some
of his copyists, understood
Macarius,
the word a<pi], which in the LXX
renders "stroke," to be a<p4\, a
word not otherwise found, but supposed to be equivalent to &<pe0is,
"forgiveness."
a
Ps. xviii. 26, LXX. 3
Matt. v. 11. * Eph. ii. 14.
5 6
Gen. iii. 24. Heb. vi. 19 f.
 ;

HOMILY XXXVII 253

to come in security of heart, no longer, as the apostle says,

1
in a glass, and darkly, they said what eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
how many things God hath prepared for them that love
Him. 2
But I will ask this wonderful question. 6. Question.
If it has not entered into the heart of man, how do you
come to know it — especially when you confessed in the
3
Acts that you were men of like passions with us?
Answer. Well, listen what answer Paul makes to this.
But God, he says, hath revealed them unto us by His
Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the depths
of God. But lest any one should say that to them the
4,

Spirit was given because they were apostles, but that we are
naturally incapable of it, he says elsewhere in prayer, That
God would give you to be strengthened with might in the
inward man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts 5 and
again, But the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is liberty ; 6 and again, But if any have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. 7
7. Let us therefore pray to partake of the Holy Spirit in

full assurance and experience, and to enter in whence we came

out, and that for the future the serpent may be kept away
from us, the parent of wrath, the counsellor of vain glory,
and surfeiting so that having gained a
the spirit of carking ;

firm faith we may keep the commandments of the Lord,

and may grow up in Him unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature? that we may no longer be under
dominion to the deceit of this world, but may be in the full
assurance of the Spirit, and not disbelieve, that the grace
of God has pleasure even in sinners when they repent (for
that which is bestowed according to grace is not measured
1 2
1 Cor. xiii. 12. 1 Cor. ii. 9.
3 *
Acts xiv. 15. 1 Cor. ii. 10.
5 6
Eph. iii. 16 f. 2 Cor. iii. 17.
7
Rom. viii. 9. 8
Eph. iv. 13.

U
254 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
by comparison with previous infirmity ; otherwise grace is

no more grace;) 1 but believing in the Almighty God may

come with simple and not over-anxious heart to Him who
through faith bestows the participation of the Spirit, and
not through comparison of the works of nature ; for it says,
Ye received not the Spirit by the works of the law, but by
the hearing of faith. 2,

8. Question. What is the meaning of the text, / had

rather speak five words in the church with my under-
standing ? 3
Answer. The word church is understood of two several
things, the assembly of the faithful, and the compound
soul. When it is taken spiritually, of the individual man,
the church denotes him as a compound whole. " Five
words" mean the comprehensive virtues which build up
the whole man in varying modes of distribution. As he
who spoke in the Lord comprehended all wisdom in his
five words, so he who follows the Lord builds up godliness
to abundance through the five virtues. Five they are, and
they comprehend all first prayer, then temperance, alms,
;

poverty, patience. These, performed with longing desiie

and set purpose, are words of the soul spoken by the Lord
and heard by the heart. The Lord works, and then the
Spirit speaks without sound, and the heart performs in
outward manifestation, in proportion as it desires.

9. And as these virtues contain all virtues, so they are

productive of each other. If the first is wanting, there is

an end of all. Likewise through the second come those

that follow, and so on. How shall any one pray except
under the operation of the Spirit ? And the scripture bears
me out when it says, No man can say that Jesus is the

Lord, but by the Holy Ghost* And how will a man perse-
vere who enters on a course of temperance without prayer
2
1
Rom. xi. 5. Gal. iii. 2.
3 4
1 Cor. xiv. 19. 1 Cor. xii. 3.
 HOMILY XXXVII 255

and with no assistance ? And he who is not temperate in

everything, how shall he do alms to the hungry or the
wrongdoer? And he who does no alms, will not himself
willingly submit to poverty. And again, resentment is akin
to the desire of money, whether it has or whether it has

not. But the virtuous soul is thus built up into the church,
not because of what it has done, but because of what it has
desired. It is not his own work that saves a man, but He
who bestows on him the power. If any one therefore
endures the marks of the Lord, 1 let him not pride himself
on anything, even if he have done some ordinary thing, but
only on having loved and taken pains with a view to action.
Never think that you have been beforehand with the Lord
in your virtue, according to him who says, It is He that
worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. 2
10. Question. What then does the scripture charge a
man to do?
Answer. We have already said that a man has by nature
the power of taking pains, and this is what it demands. It
charges therefore that a man should first consider, and that
when he has considered, he should love, and should use his
will to take pains. But to have the mind influenced, or to
endure the labour, or to accomplish the work, this the grace
of the Lord bestows on the man who has willed and believed.
Man's will therefore is like a material support. Where the
will is not present, even God Himself does nothing, though

He could, because of man's freedom. The effectual working

of God depends upon the will of man. On the other hand,
if we give our whole will, He ascribes to us the whole work.

Wonderful is God in all things, and altogether beyond the

grasp of our understanding but we men endeavour to speak
;

some portion of His wonders, relying upon the scripture,

or rather made intelligent by it. For who, it says, hath
known the mind of the Lord?* But He says Himself,
a
1
Gal. vi. 17. Phil. ii. 13.
3
Rom. xi. 34.
256 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
How often would I have gathered thy children together,
and ye would not, 1 so that we believe by this that it is He
who gathers us, and demands of us nothing but the will.

But what is it that manifests the will, except voluntary

labour ?

ii. For as iron when it saws, and fells, and delves, and
plants, gets worn itself and fails but there is another who
;

sets it in motion and applies it, and when it is battered

makes it red hot and renews it so although man becomes
;

worn ang! wearied in working that which is good, yet the

Lord works secretly in him, and when he is wearied and
battered, comforts and renews his heart, as the prophet says,
Shall the axe boast itself apart from him that heweth, or
the saw exalt itself apart from him that draws it ? 2 So
is it also with regard to evil, when a man obeys it and

makes himself ready for it. Then Satan also draws and
sharpens him, as the robber his sword. We have likened
the heart to iron, because of its insensibility to things
and its great hardness. But we ought not, like insensible
iron, to be ignorant of Him who holds us — otherwise we
should not change quickly from the word which ouris

husbandman to the suggestion of the evil one — but rather,

like the ox and ass, to know Him who
and guides us drives
according to disposition; for it says, The ox knoweth his
owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel knoweth
Me not? Let us therefore pray to receive the knowledge
of God, and to be instructed in the spiritual law to the
accomplishment of His holy commandments, glorifying the
Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
1 2 3
Matt, xxiii. 37. Is. x. 15. Is. i. 3.
 HOMILY XXXVIII
Great exactness and intelligence is required to discern
true Christians, and who these are.

i. Many who appear to be righteous are taken for

Christians. It is a task for skilled men and experts to
try whether such men have stamp and image
really the

of the King, lest perchance they should be counterfeits of

the works of skilled men, and skilled men wonder at them
and criticise them. But people who are not skilled cannot
1
test deceitful workers, for they too wear the shape of
monks and Christians. For the false apostles also suffered
for Christ and they also preached the kingdom of heaven.
That is why the apostle says In perils more abundant, in
afflictions above measure, in prisons more abundant?
wishing to show that he had suffered more than they.
2. Gold is easily found but pearls and precious stones
;

which do for a king's diadem are seldom found, for many

times none that will do are found. So Christians also are
built up into the crown of Christ, that those souls may be
made partakers with the saints. Glory to Him who so
loved that soul, suffered for it, and raised it up from the
dead. But as a veil was put over the face of Moses, that
the people might not gaze upon his face, so now a veil lies

upon your heart, that you may not behold the glory of God.
When this is taken away, then He shines forth and mani-
fests Himself to Christians, to those who love Him and seek
1 2
2 Cor. xi. 13. 2 Cor. xi. 23.
257
258 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
Him in truth, as He says, / will manifest Myself to him,
and willmake My
abode with him. 1

3. Let us endeavour then to come to Christ, who cannot

lie, that we may obtain the promise, and the new covenant,
which the Lord has made new 2
through His cross and
and sin and brought
death, having burst the gates of hell
and given them the Comforter within,
out the faithful souls,
and brought them into His kingdom. Let us reign
then with Him, even we, in Jerusalem, His city, in the
heavenly church, in the choir of the holy angels. The
brethren who have been long time exercised and tried,

these can succour the less experienced, and feel for them.
For some who had made themselves sure, and had
4.

been mightily worked upon by grace of God, have found

their members so sanctified that they reckoned that con-
cupiscence does not occur in Christianity, but that they had
acquired a sober and chaste mind, and that from henceforth
the inward man was raised aloft to divine and heavenly
things, so that they really imagined such an one to have
come already to the perfect measures. And when the man
imagined that he was already near the calm haven, billows
rose up against him, so that he found himself again in the
middle of the ocean, and was carried where sea was sky
and death was ready. Thus sin entered after all, and
wrought manner
of evil concupiscence?
all And again a
certain class of persons having some grace vouchsafed to
them, and having received a drop, so to speak, out of the
whole deep sea, find it hour by hour, and day by day, such
a work of wonder, that the man who is under its influence
is amazed and astounded at the strange, surprising opera-
tion of God, to think that he should be given such wisdom.
After this, grace enlightens him, guides him, gives him peace,
1
John xiv. 21, 23.
6
Perhaps is a mistake for " inaugurated" —
the word used in Heb. x. 20.
3
Rom. vij. 8.
 HOMILY XXXVIII 259

makes him good in every way, being itself divine and heavenly,
so that in comparison with that man kings and potentates,
wise men and nobles are esteemed as least and worthless.
After a time and season things change, so that of a truth
such a man
esteems himself a greater sinner than all others ;
and again at another season sees himself like a great
colossal king, or a king's powerful friend ; again at another
season sees himself weak and a beggar. Then themind
falls into perplexity, why things should be thus and then
thus. Because Satan in his hatred of the good suggests
evil things to those who attain virtue, and strives to
overthrow them. That is his occupation.
5. But do not submit to him, while you work at the
righteousness that is accomplished in the inner man, where

stands the judgment seat of Christ, together with His un-

defiled sanctuary, that the testimony of your conscience
may glory in the cross of Christ, who has purged your con-
science from dead works, 1 that you may serve God with
your spirit, that you may know what you worship, accord-
ing to Him who said, We worship that which we know}
Obey God who guides you. Let your soul have com-
munion with Christ, as bride with bridegroom. For this
mystery is great, it says ; but I speak concerning Christ
and 3 the blameless soul. To Him be the glory for ever.
Amen.
1
Heb. 2 3
ix. 14. John iv. 22. Eph. v. 32.
 HOMILY XXXIX
Why the Holy Scripture was given to us by God.

i. As a king writes letters to those upon whom he wishes

to confer patents and special gifts, and signifies to them all,
" endeavour to come quickly to me, that you may receive
from me royal gifts " ; and if they do not come and receive
them, they will be none the better off for having read the
letters, but, on the contrary, are liable to be put to death for
not choosing to go and be honoured by the king's hand ;

so God, the King, has sent to men the holy scriptures as

His letters, declaring by thern that they should pray to God
and believing should ask and receive a heavenly gift of the
substance of His Godhead for it is written, That we
;

should be made partakers of the divine nature} But if

man will not come, and ask, and receive, he is none the
better off for having read the scriptures, but is rather liable
to death, because he did not choose to receive from the
heavenly King the gift of life, without which it is impossible
to obtain immortal life, which is Christ. To whom be
glory for ever. Amen.
1
2 Pet. i. 4.

260
 ;

HOMILY XL
That all the virtues and all the vices are bound each to

other, and like a chain are linked one to another.

1.Concerning exterior discipline, and what practice is

best and first, know this, beloved, that all the virtues are
bound up together. The one is linked to the other, like a
kind of spiritual chain ;
prayer to love, love to joy, joy to
meekness, meekness to humility, humility to service, service
to hope, hope to faith, faith to obedience, obedience to
simplicity. 1 And on the opposite side, evil things are
bound one to another, hatred to anger, anger to pride,
pride to vainglory, vainglory to unbelief, unbelief to hard-
ness of heart, hardness of heart to carelessness, careless-
ness to sloth, sloth to sullenness, sullenness to want of
endurance, want of endurance to love of pleasure. The
other parts of vice likewise are dependent upon each other
so also on the good side the virtues are dependent on each
other and connected.
2. But the chief of all good endeavour, the topmost of
right actions, is perseverance in prayer. From it we may
daily gain increasingly the rest of the virtues through asking
them of God. By it is formed, in those to whom it is

vouchsafed, the fellowship of the holiness of God and of

and the attachment of the disposition of
spiritual energy,
the mind to the Lord in love unspeakable. The man who
compels himself every day to persevere in prayer is enflamed

* Or generosity.
261
202 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
with divine affection and fiery longing by spiritual love
towards God, and receives the grace of the sanctifying
perfection of the Spirit.
3. Question. Since there are some who sell their goods,

and emancipate their slaves, and perform commandments,

yet do not seek to receive the Spirit in this world, living
thus, do they not go into the kingdom of heaven ?
Answer. This is a subtle matter. Some say that there
is one kingdom and one hell but we say that there are
;

many grades and differences and measures, both in the

kingdom and in hell. As there is one soul in all the
members, which operates aloft in the brain, and also moves
the feet beneath, so the Godhead contains all creatures, the
heavenly, and those under the bottomless pit, and is every-
where fulfilled in the creation, although it transcends the
it is infinite and incomprehensible.
creatures, because This
Godhead upon men, and providentially orders all
looks
things according to reason and when some pray, not
;

knowing what they seek, and some fast, others continue in

service; God being a just judge, gives to each a reward
according to the measure of faith. What they do, they do
for the fear of God ; but not all these are sons, or kings,
or heirs.
4. And in the world there are some who are murderers,
others fornicators, and others extortioners, while others
distribute their own possessions to the poor. Upon both
these classes theLord keeps His eye, and to those who do
good He gives refreshment and reward. For there are
superior measures, and there are little measures, and in
light and glory there are differences, and in hell itself and
punishment appear poisoners and robbers, as well as others
who have committed only little sins. Those who say that
there is one kingdom and one hell, and that there are no
degrees, say ill. How many worldly people there are who
are now continually at theatres and other disorderly things,
 HOMILY XL 263

and how many there are now who pray and fear God On !

these and those alike God keeps an eye, and, like a just
judge, prepares refreshment for the one and punishment for
the other.
5. As men harness horses and drive chariots and race
them against each other, while each struggles to overcome
and conquer his opponent, so is there a spectacle in the
heart of those who strive, the evil spirits wrestling with the
soul, and God and the angels beholding the contest. At
each hour many fresh devices are set on foot by the soul,
and likewise by iniquity within. The soul has many secret
devices, and in due time produces them and gives them
birth. Iniquity likewise has many devices and inventions,
and gives birth hour by hour to fresh devices against the
soul. The mind is charioteer, and harnesses the chariot of
the soul, holding the reins of the thoughts ; and thus it runs
against the chariot of Satan, where he too has harnessed
against the soul.
6. Question. If prayer is rest, how do some say, "We
cannot pray," and will not continue in prayer?
Answer. Rest itself, when it abounds, produces com-
passion and other forms of service, such as to visit the
brethren, to serve them with the word. Nature itself desires
to go and see the brethren, to speak a word. Nothing
thrown in the fire can remain in its own nature. It cannot
help becoming fire. If you throw pebbles into the fire,
they become a little lime. 1 The man who wishes to
plunge at large into the and to get into the middle of
sea,
the ocean, is submerged and disappears from sight, while
the man who goes in step by step wishes to come up and
float on the top and get out at the haven to see the people

on shore. So in the spiritual world a man enters into the

depth of grace, and again bethinks him of his companions,
1
According to another reading, 6 for ohiyos, "the stone
becomes lime."
26 4 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
and nature itself desires to go to one's brethren to fulfil

duties of charity, and to prove the word.

7. Question. How can the two things be in the heart
together, grace and sin ?

Answer. As when there is fire outside a brazen vessel,

then when you put fuel under, the vessel gets hot, and the
inside of it boils and bubbles up, because the fire outside
burns up beneath ; but if a man pays no attention, and puts
no fuel under, the fire begins to get less hot, and almost to
go out ; so grace, which is the heavenly fire, is both inside
you and outside you. So if you pray, and give your thoughts
to the love of Christ, see how you supplied the fuel, and
your thoughts become fire, and are plunged in longing after
God ; and even if the Spirit withdraws a little, as though It
were outside yon, still It is within you, and Its signs are
seen outside you. But if one is careless, lending himself a
little either to worldly affairs or to wandering, iniquity comes
back and enters into the soul, and begins to afflict the
whole man. The soul therefore remembers its former rest,
and begins to be afflicted, and to suffer without intermission.
8. The mind has again given heed to God. The former
rest has begun to draw near it. It begins to seek more

earnestly. "I beseech Thee," it says, "O Lord." Little

by little is added to it the fire which kindles and refreshes
the soul, as the hook lifts the fish out of the depth by little
and little. If this were not so, and he were not to taste of
bitterness and death, how could he have discerned the
bitter from the sweet, and death from life, and given thanks
to the life-giving Father and Son and Holy Ghost, for
ever ? Amen.
 ;

HOMILY XLI
Very deep are the secret chambers of the soul, which grows
in part with the growth of grace or of wickednesses.

. The precious vessel of the soul is of great depth, as it

says in a certain place, He seeketh oat the deep, and the

heart. 1
When man
swerved from the commandment, and
came under sentence of wrath, sin took him for her subject
and being herself like a great deep of bitterness in subtilty
and depth, she entered within and took possession of the
ranges of the soul, even to the deepest inner chambers of it.

In such fashion as this let us liken the soul and sin when
mixed with it, as if there should be a great big tree with
many branches and it has its roots in the deepest parts of
the earth. which had come in, taking possession
So the sin
of the ranges of the deepest chambers of the soul, came to
be customary and to have the first say, growing up with
each man from infancy, and going up and down with him,
and instructing him in evil things.
2. When therefore the influence of divine grace has over-
shadowed the soul according to the measure of each man's
faith, and he receives help from on high, still grace has

overshadowed him only in part. Let not a man imagine

that his whole soul has been enlightened. There is still a
large range of wickedness within, and the man has need of
much labour and pains, corresponding to the grace given
him. That is the reason why divine grace began to visit
1
Ecclus. xlii. 18.

265
266 FIFTY SPIRITUAL• HOMILIES
the soul only in part, though it had power to cleanse and
perfect the man in the turn of an hour, in order to test the
man's purpose, whether he preserves his love towards God
entire, not complying with the evil one in anything, but
lending himself wholly to grace. In this way the soul,
approving itself time after time, and grieving grace in
nothing, nor using it despitefully, is helped by this method
of little by little ; and grace itself finds range in the soul,
and strikes root even to the deepest parts and reasonings of
it, when the soul on many occasions approves itself and
corresponds with grace, until the whole soul is embraced by
the heavenly grace, which thenceforth reigns in the vessel
itself.

3. But if any one is not very humble, he is delivered to

Satan, and is stripped naked of the divine grace that was given
him, and is tempted with many afflictions, and then his
self-esteem is shewn in its true colours, because in reality he
is naked and wretched. He who is rich in the grace of
God ought to be very humble and contrite of heart, and to
consider himself as poor and having nothing. None of it is
his own. Another gave it him, and takes it away when He
pleases. He who humbles himself thus before God and
men is able to keep the grace that was given to him, as the
Lord says, He that humbleth himself shall• be exalted. 1
Elect though he be of God, let him be reprobate to him-
self; and being really faithful, let him consider himself
unworthy. Such souls are well pleasing to God, and arc
quickened in Christ, to whom be glory and might for
ever. Amen.
1
Luke xiv. II.
 "

HOMILY XLII

Not external things, but internal, advance or injure a

man, namely the Spirit of grace or the spirit of
wickedness.

i. Suppose there is a great city, and it is deserted, the

walls all broken down, and it be taken by enemies, its
greatness is of no use. Care then must be taken in pro-
portion to its greatness that it should have strong walls, that
the enemy may not come in. In like manner, souls adorned
with knowledge and intelligence and acuteness of mind are
like great cities. But careful inquiry must be made whether
they are fortified with the power of the Spirit, lest the enemy

should get into them and lay them waste. The wise men
of the world, Aristotle, or Plato, or Socrates, 1 being prudent
in knowledge, were like great cities, but they were made
waste by enemies, because the Spirit of God was not in
them.
2. But as many simple folk as are partakers of grace are
like little cities fortified by the power of the cross. They
only fall from grace for two causes, and perish either because
they cannot bear the afflictions that are brought upon them,
or because, having tasted the sweets of the pleasures of sin,
they continued in them. Those who tread the way cannot
go through without temptations. As in childbirth the
beggar and the queen have the same pangs, and as the rich
man's land and the poor man's alike, if they receive not the
1
Some MSS. have " Isocrates.
267
268 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
necessary culture, cannot bear worthy fruits, so in the culture
of the soul not the wise man, not the rich man, reigns in
grace, unless through endurance, and afflictions, and many
a labour. The life of Christians ought to be of that kind.
As honey, being sweet, does not admit of anything bitter or
poisonous, so Christians are good to all who come near
them, good or bad, as the Lord says, Be ye good, like your
heavenly Father. 1 The thing that injures and pollutes a
man is from within. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
2

as the Lord says ; because the things which defile the man
are from within.
3. From within, creeping and advancing in the soul, is

the spirit of wickedness, calculating, inciting, which is the

veil of darkness, the oldman, which those who flee to God
must put off, and put on the heavenly, new man, which is
Christ. 3 Nothing outside can hurt a man, only the spirit
of darkness dwelling in the heart, alive and active ; so that
every one in his thoughts ought to possess the conflict, that
Christ may shine upon his heart. To whom be glory for
ever. Amen.
1 2
Cp. Luke vi. 36, Matt. v. 48. Matt. xv. 19.
3
Cp. Eph. iv. 22 f., Col. iii. 8f.
 HOMILY XLIII

Concerning the progress of a Christian man, the whole

power of which depends upon the heart, as is here
described in various ways.

i. As many lamps and burning torches are kindled from

the fire, but all the torches and lamps are kindled and shine
from a single nature, so Christians are kindled and shine
from a single nature, the divine fire, the Son of God, and
have their torches burning in their hearts, and shine before
Him while on earth, as He For it says, Therefore
did.
hath God, even Thy God, anointed Thee with the oil of
gladness. 1 That is why He was called Christ, in order that
we also, being anointed with the same oil with which He
was anointed, might become Christs, of the one substance
and one body. It says again, Both He that sanctifieth and
they which are sanctified are all of one. 2 2. Christians,

then, in one direction are like lamps containing the oil in

themselves, that is, the fruits of righteousness but if it be :

not kindled from the lamp of Godhead within them, they

are nothing. The Lord was the burning lamp, 3 because of
the Spirit of the Godhead which abode substantially in Him
and set on fire His heart according to His human nature.
As if there were a rotten pouch filled with pearls, so
Christians ought to be lowly and easily despised in the
outward man, but inwardly in the inner man they have the
pearl of great price* Others are like to whited sepulchres,
1 2
Ps. xlv. 7. Ileb. ii. II.
3 4
Cp. John v. 35. Matt. xiii. 46.

X 269
 ;

2 7o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

outwardly painted and decorated, but within full of dead
men's bones, 1 of much stench and unclean spirits. They
are dead from God, and clothed with all shame and filthi-
ness and with the darkness of the adversary.
3. The apostle says that the child, so long as he is little,
2
is under tutors and governors of evil spirits, which spirits

do not wish the child to grow up, lest he should become

a full-grown man, and begin to aim at the advantage of the
house, and to claim the lordship. The Christian ought
at all times to have God in remembrance ; for it is written,
Thou Lord thy God with all thy heart 3
shalt love the
that he may love the Lord not only when he goes into the
place of prayer, but that in walking, and talking, and eating,
he may have the remembrance of God, and love and
dutiful affection for Him. It says, Where thy mind is,

there also is thy treasure} To whatever thing a man's heart

is tied, and where his desire draws him, that is his God.
If the heart at all times desires God, He is the Lord of his
heart. But if a man after renouncing and making himself
without possessions, and without home, and fasting — if this

one is still tied to the man that he is, or to worldly affairs,

or to house, or to the charm of

where his heart is
parents,
tied and his mind is captive, that is his God, and he is found
to have gone out of the world by the front door, but to have
entered and thrown himself into the world by the side door.
As sticks thrown into the fire cannot resist the power of
the fire, but are forthwith burned up, so the devils desiring
to fight with a man to whom the Spirit has been vouchsafed
are burned and consumed by the divine power of the fire,
if only the man is at all times cleaving to the Lord, and

keeping his trust and his hope towards Him. And even if
the devils are strong as strong mountains, they are burned
by prayer, like wax by fire. But meantime great is the
1 2
Matt, xxiii. 27. Gal. iv. 2.
3 4
Deut. vi. 5. Cp. Matt. vi. 21, Luke xii. 34.
 HOMILY XLIII 271

struggle and the them which awaits the soul.

battle against
There are livers of dragons, and mouths of lions. There
1

is fire which flames into the soul. As the 'perfect evildoer,

drunk with the spirit of error, is insatiable to evil, either
murdering, or committing adultery, so Christians, when
they have been baptized into the Holy Spirit, are without
experience of evil ; but those who have grace, but are still

mingled with sin, these are subject to fear, and travel

through fearful places. 4. For as merchants on a voyage,
though they find a wind to suit them and the sea calm, but
have not yet reached the haven, are always subject to fear,
lest suddenly a contrary wind should stir and the sea rise

into billows, and the ship be in peril, so Christians, even if

they have in themselves a favourable wind of the Holy
Spirit blowing, are nevertheless yet subject to fear, lest the
wind of the adverse power should rise and blow on them, and
stir disturbance and billows for their souls. There is need
therefore of great diligence, that we may arrive at the haven
of rest, at the perfect world, at the eternal life and pleasure,
at the city of the saints, at the heavenly Jerusalem, at the
church of the firstborn. 2 Unless a man gets through these
•

measures, he is under much fear, lest in the meantime the

evil power should effect some fall.
5. As a woman who has conceived carries her babe within

in the dark, so to speak, and in covert but if by and by ;

the child comes forth at the proper time, it sees a new

creation, which it never saw before, of sky and earth and
sun, and immediately friends and kinsfolk with cheerful
countenances receive it into their arms but if through ;

some derangement it happens that the child is displaced,

then the surgeons whose business it is are obliged to use
the knife, and the child is thus found to pass from death
to death, from darkness to darkness so think of what —
happens in the spiritual world. As many as have received
1
See Homily XV. 50. 2
Heb. xii. 23.
272 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
the seed of the Godhead, these have it invisibly, and
because of sin which dwells there also they conceal it in
dark and obscure places. If therefore they make them-
selves sure, and preserve the seed, these in due time are
visibly born again, and then at the dissolution of the body
the angels and all the companies above receive them with
cheerful countenances. But if after receiving the weapons
of Christ to fight manfully a man grows slack, such a one
is immediately delivered over to the enemies, and at the

dissolution of the body passes from the darkness which now

encompasses him to another and a worse darkness, and to
perdition.
6. Suppose there to be a garden with many fruit trees

and other sweet-smelling plants, and that it were all well

tilled and laid out for beauty, and that it had also a small

wall by way of hedge to preserve it, and suppose that a

vehement stream goes through there, though but a little of
the water dashes against the wall and saps the foundation,
it gets itself a course, and little by little breaks up the

foundation, and finds entrance and tears its way, and roots
up all the plants, and mars all the tilling, and makes it
fruitless. So is it with man's heart. It has its good

thoughts ; but the streams of evil also are always near the
heart, desiring to cast itdown, and to incline it to its own
side. Then if the mind be ever so little light, and yield
to unclean thoughts, behold, the spirits of error have found
scope, and have entered in, and have overturned the
beauties that were there, and have destroyed the good
thoughts and laid the soul waste.
7. As the eye is little in comparison of all the members,

and the pupil, small as it is, is a great vessel, because it

sees at one glance sky, star, sun, moon, cities and other
creatures,and likewise these things, seen at the glance, are
formed and imaged in the little pupil of the eye so is the ;

mind in the heart, and the heart itself is but a little vessel,
 HOMILY XLIII 273

and yet there are dragons, and there lions, and there
venomous beasts, and all the treasures of wickedness and ;

there are rough uneven ways, there chasms there likewise ;

is God, there the angels, there life and the kingdom, there

light and the apostles, there the heavenly cities, there the
treasures, there are all things.
For as is a fog laid upon all the world, so that man sees
not man, so is the darkness of this age, laid upon all
creation and upon every nature of man from the trans-
gression for which cause, being
; overshadowed of the
darkness, they are in night, and pass their lives in dreadful
places. And as is smoke in a single house, so is
a thick
sin, with its filthy thoughts, settling upon the thoughts of

the heart, and creeping over them, and an infinite multitude

of devils.
8. As in the natural order, when a war is in preparation,
the wise men and the great personages do not go to it, but
fear death and stay away and raw recruits, and the poor,
;

and the ignorant are put forward and it so falls out that
;

they get a victory over the enemies, and pursue them out of
their borders, and receive from the king rewards of victory
and crowns, and come to promotions and dignities, and
those great ones are found to be behind them so is it in ;

the spiritual order. The ignorant begin by hearing the

word, and do the work thereof with the love of the truth in
their thoughts, and receive from God the grace of the
Spirit; while the wise, and those who seek the word in
subtle fashion, these fly from the war, and make no
advancement, and are found behind those who fought
and conquered.
9. As, when the winds blow vehemently, they move all
the creatures under heaven, and succeed in making a great
sound, so the power of the enemy buffets and carries the
thoughts along, and shakes the depths of the heart at will,
and scatters the thoughts for its own advantage.
274 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
Like tax-collectors sitting in the narrow ways, and laying
hold upon the passers-by, and extorting from them, so do
the devils spy upon souls, and lay hold of them and when ;

they pass out of the body, if they are not perfectly

cleansed, they do not suffer them to mount up to the
mansions of heaven and to meet their Lord, and they are
driven down by the devils of the air. But if whilst they
are yet in the flesh, they shall with much labour and effort
obtain from the Lord the grace from on high, assuredly
these, together with those who through virtuous living are
at rest, shall He promised, Where I am,
go to the Lord, as
there shall alsoMy. servant be, 1 and to endless ages they
reign with the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,
now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
1
John xii. 26.
 HOMILY XLIV
What change and renewal is wrought in a Christian man
by Christ, who has healed the afflictions and diseases of
the sotd.

i. He who conies to God, and desires to be in truth a

partner of Christ's throne, ought to come with a view to
this end, may be changed and altered from his
that he
former condition and conduct, and be made a good and
new man, who brings nothing of the old man with him.
// any man be in Christ, it says, he is a new creature. 1
This was the very purpose of the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, to change and alter and renew nature, and
to create afresh this soul that was overturned by passions
through the transgression, mingling it with His own Spirit,

the Spirit of Godhead. New mind, and new soul, and new
eyes, new ears, a new spiritual tongue, and in short new
—
men altogether this was what He came to make of those
who believe Him, or let us say new bottles, anointing them
with His own light of knowledge, that He might change
their wine into new wine, which is His Spirit for new wine, ;

He says, must be put into new bottles. 2

2. As the enemy, when he had got man into subjection,

made him new for himself, enveloping him in lusts of

wickedness, and anointing him with the
spirit of sin poured

into him the wine of and

all evil doctrine
iniquity so the ;

Lord, having delivered him from the enemy, made him

1 2
2 Cor. v. 17. Matt. ix. 17.

275
276 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
new, anointing him with His own Spirit, and poured into
him the wine of life, the new doctrine of the Spirit. He
who changed the nature of the five loaves into the nature
of a multitude, and gave a voice to the irrational nature of
an ass, and converted the harlot to chastity, and prepared
the nature of burning fire to bedew those who were in the
furnace, and tamed for Daniel the nature of savage lions ;

He is able also to change the soul, which was waste and

had become savage, from sin into His own goodness and
loving-kindness and peace, by the holy and good Spirit of
promise. 1
3. As a shepherd knows how to cure the scabby sheep,
and to protect it from wolves, so Christ, the true shepherd,
when He came, was alone able to cure and to convert man,
the lost and scabby sheep, from the scab and leprosy of sin.
The priests and Levites and teachers before were unable to
cure the soul by the oblations of gifts and sacrifices, and by

their sprinklings of blood, wherewith indeed they were un-

able even to cure themselves. For it is not possible, it says.
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. 2
But the Lord said, showing the impotence of the physicians
of the time, Ye will surely say unto me this parable,
Physician, heal thyself ; 3
as much as to say, u I am not
likethem, who cannot so much as heal themselves. I am
the true physician, and the good shepherd, who lay down
My life for the sheep who am able to heal all manner of
*

sickness and all manner of disease of the soul. 5 I am the

sheep without spot, that was offered once, and that am able
to cure those that come to Me." The true healing of the
soul is from the Lord only. Behold, it says, the Lamb of
6
God, that taketh away the sin of the world, that is to say,
of the soul that has believed Him, and that loves Him with
a whole heart.

1
Eph. i. 13.
2
Heb. x. 4.
3
Luke iv. 23.
4 5 6
Tohn x. 15. Matt. iv. 23. John i. 29.
 HOMILY XLTV 277

4. The good Shepherd, then, heals the scabby sheep.

Sheep cannot heal sheep. And except man, the reasonable
sheep, be healed, there is no entrance for him into the
heavenly church of the Lord. It is thus said even in the

law through shadow and image. Concerning the leper, and

him who has a blemish, the Spirit speaks figuratively, with
this meaning A leper, or one that hath a blemish, shall not
;

enter into the assembly of the Lord x but it charged the ;

leper to go to the priest, and with much entreaty to take

him to the house of his tabernacle, and [ask him] to lay his
hands upon the leprosy, indicating the spot where the
leprosy had attacked him, and to heal it. After the same
manner, Christ, the true high priest of good things to come, 2
bending over souls that are afflicted with the leprosy of sin,
enters into the tabernacle of their body, and heals and cures
their disorders. Thus the soul will be enabled to enter into
the heavenly church of the saints of the true Israel. For
any soul that bears the leprosy of the sin of the passions,
and has not come to the true high priest, and been healed
now in the camp of the saints, cannot enter into the heavenly
church. For [that church] being without blemish, and pure,
seeks souls that are without blemish and pure. Blessed,
says the scripture, are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God. 3
5. The soul which really believes Christ must be changed
and altered from its present evil condition to a new con-
dition which is good, and from its present lowly nature into
another nature which is divine, and be itself made new by
the power of the Holy Ghost. Thus can it be fit for the
heavenly kingdom. These things can be obtained by us if

we believe and love Him in truth, and live by all His holy
commandments. If in the time of Elisaeus the casting of
light wood upon the waters brought up the heavy iron, how

1
Lev. xxi. 17 ff. ; cp. Num. v. 2. a
Heb ix. n.
3
Matt. v. 8.
278 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
much more in this case will the Lord send forth His light,

buoyant, good, and heavenly Spirit, and by means of Him

bring up the soul that is sunk in the waters of wickedness,
and make it light, and wing it to the heights of heaven, and
alter and change it out of its own nature.
6. In the visible world, no one can pass and get across

the sea of himself, without having the light and buoyant

ship, built of wood, which alone is able to walk over the
waters —for if a man treads upon the sea, he is drowned
and perishes. In the same way no soul can of itself cross
and pass over and get beyond the bitter sea of sin, and the
dangerous deep of the wicked powers of the darkness of
the passions, unless he shall receive the buoyant, heavenly,
winged Spirit of Christ,which walks over all wickedness
and passes on, whereby he shall be enabled to arrive by a
straight, right course at the heavenly haven of rest, at the
city of the kingdom. And as those who are in the ship
do not draw, or drink of the sea, nor have their clothing or
their food from it, but bring these things with them from
abroad in the ship, so the souls of Christians do not take
from this world, but from above, out of heaven, heavenly
sustenance, and spiritual clothing; and living thereby,
embarked in the ship of the good, life-giving Spirit, pass
beyond the adverse evil powers of principalities and
dominions. And as all ships are built of one substance
of wood, that by means of them men may get over the
bitter sea, so from one Godhead's heavenly light of the
divers gifts of the one Spirit, all Christian souls receive
power and fly high over all wickedness.
7. But since the ship needs also a pilot, and a sweet,

well-tempered wind to make a good passage, the Lord

Himself becomes all these in the faithful soul, carrying it
over the terrible storms and the wild waves of wickedness,
and the blasts of the violent winds of sin, mightily and
skilfully and expertly, as He knows how, dispersing their
 HOMILY XLIV 279

tempest. Without Christ, the heavenly pilot, it is impos-

sible for any to pass the wicked sea of the powers of
darkness, and the gusts of bitter temptations. They go up,
it and down again to the deep. 1 But
says, to the heavens,
Christ possesses all a pilot's knowledge, both of wars and
temptations, treading over the wild waves. For in that He
Himself, it says, was tempted, He is able to succour them
that are tempted. 21

So our souls must be altered and changed from their

8.

present condition to another condition, and a divine nature,

—
and be made new instead of old that is, good and kind
and faithful, instead of bitter and faithless, and being thus
made fit, be restored to the heavenly kingdom. The
blessed Paul writes thus of his own change, and of the
apprehension wherewith he was apprehended of the Lord :

7 follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also

I was apprehended by Christ? How then is he appre-
hended of God ? Like as if some usurper were to seize
and carry off a captivity, and it were then apprehended or
caught by its true sovereign, so when Paul was under the
influence of the usurping spirit of sin, he persecuted the
church and made havoc of it. But since he acted through
zeal forGod according to ignorance, supposing himself to
be contending for truth, he was not disregarded, but the
Lord apprehended him, shining about him unspeakably,
the heavenly King and true, vouchsafing His own voice to
the man, and striking him like a slave, 4 set him free.

Behold the Master's goodness and power of changing, how

He is able to change souls that were enveloped in sin and
had relapsed into wildness, and in a moment of time to
convert them to His own goodness and peace !

9. All things are possible with God ; as it proved in the

1 2 3
Ps. cvii. 26. Ileb. ii. 18. Phil. iii. 12.
4
This is perhaps a reference to the custom by which the lictor
touched the head of a slave with a red in the presence oi the magistrate,
as an act of emancipation.
28o FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
case of the robber. In a moment of time he was changed
through faith, and restored to paradise. This was the
purpose of the Lord's coming, to alter and create our souls
anew, and make them, as it is written, partakers of the divine

nature, 1 and to give into our soul a heavenly soul, that is

the Spirit of Godhead leading us to all virtue, that we might
be enabled to live eternal life. May it be that with all our
hearts we should believe His inexpressible promises, be-
cause He is true that We must love the Lord,
promised. 2
and be diligent every way in all virtues, and ask persistently
and continually, so as to receive the promise of His Spirit
completely and to perfection, that our souls may be brought
to life while we are still in flesh. For if the soul shall not
receive in this world the hallowing of the Spirit through
much and prayer, and be made partaker of the divine
faith
nature, being mingled with grace whereby it shall be able
to fulfil every commandment unblameably and purely, it is
not made for the kingdom of heaven. What good thing a
man has gained here, the same in that day will be his life,
through the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
for ever. Amen.
1 2
2 Pet. i. 4. Heb. x. 23.
 ;

HOMILY XLV
No art, no wealth of appearing of
this world, but only the
Christ, is able to cure man, whose great kinship with
God this Homily sets forth.

i. He that has chosen the solitary life ought to consider

all things that are concerned with this world as alien and
strange to himself. One who in truth pursues the cross of
Christ, denying all things, yea, and his own
ought life also,
1

to have his mind nailed to the love of Christ, esteeming

the Lord before parents, brethren, wife, children, kindred,
friends, possessions. This Christ set forth, when He said,
" Every one that hath not left father, or mother, or brethren,
or wife, or children, or lands, and followeth Me, is not
worthy of Me." 2 In nothing else is salvation and peace
found for men, as we have been told. How many kings
have appeared of the race of Adam, possessing all the
earth, thinking great things because of their royal power
and yet none of them, for all this kind of advantages, had
the power to discern the evil which had invaded the soul in
consequence of the first man's transgression, and had
darkened it, that it knew not the change which had passed
—
over it that the mind at first was pure and saw its Master,
being in honour, and now, because of its banishment, is
clothed with shame, the eyes of the heart being blinded,
that it may not behold that glory, which our father Adam
before his disobedience beheld.
2. There have been also divers kinds of wise men
1
Luke xiv. 20. 2
Matt. x. 37 if.

281 .
282 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

according to the world ; of whom some have displayed

excellence by means of philosophy; others have been
admired for their expertness in sophistry, others have dis-
played oratorical skill; others have been men of Letters and
poets, and have composed histories according to the con-
ventional plan. There have also been different kinds of
artificers, who have practised the arts according to the
world. Some have carved in wood all kinds of birds and
fishes, and figures of men, and in those have endeavoured
to display their excellence. Some have taken in hand to
fashion portraits, statues in bronze and the like ; others have
erected great and beautiful buildings ; others, mining the
earth, bring up the silver and gold that perishes, others
precious stones. Others, possessing personal beauties, were
elated by the comeliness of their countenances and were the
more enticed by Satan, and fell into sin. And all these
artificers of whom I have spoken, being held by the serpent
who dwells within, and not knowing the sin that abode
with them, have been captives and slaves to the evil power,
gaining no advantage from their science and their art.
3. The world, then, which is filled with all varieties, is

like a rich man, who possesses splendid great houses,

and gold and silver, and divers properties, and service
of all sorts in abundance and yet is oppressed by
;

sufferings and sicknesses all at the same time, and all his
kinsfolk stand beside him, with all his riches, unable to
relieve him of his infirmities. No pursuit belonging to this
life, not brethren, not wealth, not courage, nor all other
things that we have mentioned, relieve of sin the soul
which has been immersed by sin, and cannot discern things
clearly. Only the appearing of Christ is able to cleanse
soul and body. Let us then rid ourselves of all temporal
care, and devote ourselves to the Lord, crying to Him
night and day. This visible world, and the satisfaction
found in it, appear to solace the body, but so much the
 HOMILY XLV 283

more do they sharpen the maladies of the soul, and increase

the mischief from which it suffers.

4. certain prudent man, 1 desiring to spare no pains in

the inquiry, made it his business to gain an experience of all

the things that come to pass in this world, if he might by

chance by them. He had recourse to kings, poten-
profit
tates, rulers,and found no saving cure from that quarter to
apply to his soul, and after spending a long time with them
was none the better for it. He went again to the wise men
of the world and the orators he quitted them also in the
:

same way, having gained no benefit from them. He made

the tour of the painters, and of those who raise the gold
and silver from the earth, and of all the artists, and was
unable to discover any remedy for his own wounds. At
last, taking leave of them, he began to seek God for him-

self, God who heals the diseases and maladies of the soul.

But while he kept an eye upon himself and thought these

matters over, his mind was found wandering among those
very things from which he had ostensibly withdrawn because
he hated them.
5. As some woman who and possesses
in the world is rich
much money, and a fine house, is bereft of protection, and
those who set upon her to injure her and to lay her build-
ings waste are many and she, not brooking the affront,
;

goes about seeking a powerful man to marry her, well

suited for the purpose and educated in all directions ; and
when after much anxiety she gains such a husband, she
rejoices over him, and finds in him a strong wall ; in the
same way the soul, after the transgression, having been for
a long time afflictedby the adverse power, and having
widow and desolate? deserted
fallen into great isolation, a
by the heavenly Husband because of the transgression of
the commandment, and made the sport of all the opposing
1
Macarius appears to be summing up the experiences of Ecclcsiastes.
2
1 Tim. v. 5.
284 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
powers ; for they drove her out [of her wits, bewildering
her out of her heavenly understanding, so that she does
not see what they have done to her, but thinks that she was
made like that from the beginning ; then, having learned,
by being told, of her desolation and unprotected state, she
groaned before the clemency of God, and found life and
salvation —why? Because she returned to her kindred.
For there is no tie of blood or suitableness like that
between the soul and God, and between God and the soul.
God made the various kinds of birds some to burrow —
in the ground, and to have their sustenance and satisfaction
from thence ; for some He ordained that they should dive
under the waters, and have their life from thence. He
fashioned two worlds —
one above, for the ministering
1
spirits, and appointed that they should have their social
life there ; the other below for men, under this atmosphere.

He created also heaven and earth, sun and moon, waters,

trees that bear fruit, all manner of races of animals. But
innone of them does God find rest. All the creation is

governed by Him and yet ; He did not fix His throne in

them, or establish communion with them, but was well
pleased with man alone, entering into communion with
him, and resting in him. Seest thou the kinship of God
with man, and of man with God ? Therefore the sagacious
and prudent soul, after going the round of all created
things, found no rest for herself, except in the Lord and ;

the Lord was well pleased in nothing except in man alone.

6. If you open your eyes towards the sun, you find his

orb in the sky, but his light and his beams inclining
to the earth, and all the power of its light and its
radiance bearing down upon the earth. So also the Lord
is seated at the right hand of the Father above all princi-

pality and power, 2 but He keeps His eye intent upon the
hearts of men on earth, that He may bring those who wait
2
1
Heb. i. 14. Eph. i. 21.
 HOMILY XLV 285

for the succour that He gives, up to where He is ; because

He says, Where I am, there shall My servant also be, 1

and Paul again, He hath raised us up together with Him

and made us sit together with Him at His right hand in
heavenly places. 2
Animals without reason are much more sagacious than
we. They are all joined each to its own kind, wild to
wild, and sheep to their own species; and you you do —
not ascend to your heavenly kin, which is the Lord, but
give yourself over and consent in your thoughts to the
thoughts of evil, making yourself an ally of sin, and fighting
on its side against yourself, thus making yourself prey
for the enemy to devour ; as if a bird were caught by the
eagle and eaten up, or a sheep by the wolf, or a child that
knows nothing were to stretch out its hand to the serpent,
and were bitten by it and killed. The parables have as it
were their living counterparts in the spiritual reality.
7. As a wealthy maiden, betrothed to a husband, may

receive ever so many presents before the marriage, orna-

ments, or dresses, or costly vessels, but is not satisfied until
the time of the wedding comes and she is made one with

him, so the soul, when engaged as a bride to the

it is

heavenly Bridegroom, receives as an earnest from the Spirit

gifts of healings, it may be, or of knowledge, or of revela-

tion, but it is not satisfied with these, until it attains the

complete union, namely, charity, which can never change
nor fail, which sets those who have longed for it free from
passion and from agitation.
Or as a babe that is decked with pearls and costly
clothes, when it is hungry, thinks nothing of the things
that it wears, but despises them, and cares only for its

nurse's breast, how it may get the milk ; so reckon it to

be, I pray you, even with the spiritual gifts of God. To
whom be glory for ever. Amen.
1 2
John xii. 26. Eph. ii. 6.
 HOMILY XLVI
Concerning the difference between God's word and the
world's, and between God's children and the children
of this world.

i. The Word of God

God, and the word of the world
is

is world and there is a great difference and distance

;

between the Word of God and the word of the world, and
between the children of God and the children of the world.
Everything that is begotten resembles its parents. If then
the offspring of the Spirit shall choose to give up to itself

the word of the world and the things of the earth and the
glory of the present order, it is mortified and perishes, being
unable to find the true satisfaction of life. Its satisfaction

is only there, whence was begotten. As the Lord says,

it

he who is encompassed by cares of this life and bound by

earthly bonds is choked, and becometh unfruitful from the
Word of God. 1 In like manner also he who is possessed
by a fleshly intention, who is a man of the world, if he
should wish to listen to the Word of God, is choked, and
becomes like one devoid of reason ; for, being accustomed
to the deceits of evil, when such men hear about God, they
are as it were oppressed by tiresome discourse, and their
minds are sick of it.

2. Paul says, The natural man receiveth not the things

of the Spirit; for they are foolishness unto him. 2 And
the prophet says, The word of God was to them as vomit. 3
1
Mark iv. 19. 2
1 Cor. ii. 14.
5
The reference is to Is. xxviii. 13, in the version of Theodotion.
286
 HOMILY XLVI 287

You see that it is not possible to live except according to

the word that each was born to. You must listen to
another way of putting it. If the carnal man gives himself
up to be changed, he begins by dying in that quarter, and
becoming unfruitful as regards that former life in wicked-
ness. But as if a man is subject to a disease or a fever,
although his body is prostrate upon the bed, unable to
accomplish any of the activities of the earth, his mind is not
quiet, but plucked this way and that, in concern about his
business, and seeks the physician, sending his friends to
him so the soul, weak with passion from the transgression
;

of the commandment, and in a state of impotence, comes

to the Lord and believes and finds His help and when ;

it has denied its former evil life, although it still lies in

its old weakness, unable to accomplish in truth the works

of life, yet to be zealously concerned about the life, to
ask of the Lord, to seek the true Physician — this it has
and can.
3. It is not as some say, who
wrong are led astray by
teachings, that man is dead once for all, and cannot accom-
plish anything good whatsoever. A babe has no force to
accomplish anything, and is unable to go on its own feet
to its mother; but yet it rolls itself, and makes a noise,
and cries, seeking after its mother. The mother mean-
while pities it, and rejoices that the little one seeks after
her with pains and crying; and though the babe cannot
come to her, yet because of the child's much seeking the
mother comes to it herself, all over-mastered by love for
her babe, and takes and cherishes it, and nurses it
it up,
with great affection. This is what God does, in His kind-
ness towards man, with the soul that comes to Him and
longs for Him. Nay, much more, impelled by charity, He
of His own accord, in the goodness which is inherent in
Him and is all His own, cleaves to the intention of that
soul, and becomes one spirit with it, according to the
 ;

288 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

apostolic saying. 1 When the soul cleaves to the Lord,
and the Lord pities and loves, coming to it and cleaving
to it, and the intention from that time remains continually
faithful to the grace of the Lord, they become one spirit,
one composite thing, one intention, the soul and the Lord
and while the body belonging to it is prostrate upon earth,
the intention of the soul has its conversation wholly in the
heavenly Jerusalem, mounting even to the third heaven,
and cleaving to the Lord, and ministering to Him there.
4. And He, while sitting in the throne of majesty on
high, in the heavenly city, is wholly in company with the
soul, in the body that belongs to it. He has set her image
above in Jerusalem, the heavenly city of the saints, and
has set His own image, the image of the unspeakable light
of His Godhead, in her body. He ministers to her in the
city of the body, while she ministers to Him in the heavenly
city. She has inherited Him in heaven, and He has
inherited her upon earth. The Lord becomes the soul's
inheritance, and the soul becomes the inheritance of the
Lord. If the intention and mind of sinners in darkness
can be so far from the body, and is able to sojourn at
a distance, and to travel in a moment to distant countries,
and oftentimes, while the body is prostrate on the earth,
the mind is in another country, in company with him or
her whom it loves, and sees itself living there ; if, I say, —
the soul of the sinner is so light and volatile that his mind
is not debarred from places far away, much more does the

soul from whom the veil of darkness has been taken away
by the power of the Holy Ghost, and her mental eyes have
been enlightened through the heavenly light, and she has
been perfectly delivered from the passions of shame, and
has been made pure through grace, serve the Lord wholly
in heaven in the spirit, and serve Him wholly in the
body, and find herself so expanded in thought as to be
1
1 Cor. vi. 17.
 HOMILY XLVI 289

everywhere and where she wills, and, where He wills, to

serve the Lord.
5. This is what the apostle says, That ye may be able to
comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length,
and height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness
of God. 1 Consider the unspeakable mysteries of the soul
from which the Lord takes away the darkness that lies

over her, and reveals her, and is revealed to her how He

;

expands and extends the thoughts of her mind to the

breadths and lengths and depths and heights of all creation,
visible and invisible. great and divine work and
wonderful indeed is the soul. In fashioning her, God
made her such as to put no evil in her nature, but made
her after the image of the virtues of the Spirit. He put
in her the laws of virtues, discernment, knowledge,
prudence, faith, charity, and the other virtues, according
to the image of the Spirit.

6. Even now in knowledge and prudence and charity

and faith the Lord is still found and manifested to her. He
has put in her intelligence, divers faculties, will, the ruling
mind. He has seated in her much other subtlety besides.
He made her mobile, volatile, unwearying. He bestowed
on her to come and go in a moment, and in her thoughts
to serve Him
where the Spirit wills. Altogether He created
her such as to be His bride, and capable of fellowship with
Him, that He might be mingled with her, and be one spirit
with her, as the apostle says, He that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit.
2
To whom be glory for ever. Amen.
1 2
Eph. iii. 18, 19. I Cor. vi. 17.
 HOMILY XLVII
An allegorical interpretation of the things done under the
Law.

i. The
glory of Moses which he had upon his coun-
tenance was a figure of the true glory. For as in that case
the Jews were not able to look steadfastly upon the face of
Moses, 1 so now Christians receive that glory of light in
their souls, and the darkness, not bearing the radiance of
the light, is blinded and banished. They were made
known to be the people of God by circumcision here, :

God's peculiar people receive the sign of circumcision

inwardly in their heart. The heavenly knife cuts away
the unwanted portion of the mind, which is the impure
uncircumcision of With them was a baptism sancti-
sin.

fying the flesh with us, a baptism of Holy Ghost and

;

fire, for this is what John preached He shall baptize you ;

with Holy Ghost and fire. 2

2. There they had an outer tabernacle and an inner, and

into the first the priests went continually, accomplishing the

services; but into the second went the high priest alone once
every year, with blood, the Holy Ghost this signifying, that
the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest? Here,
on the other hand, those who have the privilege enter into
the tabernacle not made with hands, whither the forerunner
4
is for us entered, even Christ. It is written in the law

1 2
2 Cor. iii. 7. Matt. iii. 11.
3 4
Heb. ix. 6 ft. Ileb. vi. 20.
290
 ;

HOMILY XLVII 291

that the priest should take two doves, and kill the one, and
sprinkle the living one with its blood, and loose it and let
1
it fly free. That which was done was a figure and shadow
of the truth ; for Christ was slain, and His blood sprinkling
us has made us to grow wings, for He has given us the wings
of the Holy Ghost, that we may fly without hindrance into
the air of the Godhead.
3. To them was given a law written upon tables of stone;
but to us, spiritual laws, engraven upon fleshy tables of the
heart y
2
for it says, I will put My
laws in their hearts, and
upon minds will I write them.* All those things
their
were temporary and to be done away but now all are ;

accomplished in truth on the inner man. The covenant is

within, and the battle within. In short, whatsoever things
happened unto them were done in a figure, and were
written for our admonition.*
God foretold to Abraham the future, saying, Thy seed
shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and they
shall afflict it, four hundred years. 5
and make it to serve

This was fulfilled in the image of the shadow. The people

became a stranger, and was enslaved by the Egyptians, and
was afflicted in clay and brick. 6 Pharaoh set over them
superintendents and taskmasters, that they should do their
works by compulsion and when the children of Israel
j

groaned unto God by reason of their tasks, 1 then He

looked upon them through Moses 8 and having smitten
the Egyptians with many plagues, He brought them out
of Egypt, in themonth of flowers, when first the pleasant
spring appears, and the gloom of winter is passing off.
4. And the Lord spake unto Moses, to take a lamb with-
out blemish, and to slay it, and to smear the blood of it upon
the doors and the lintels, that he that destroyed the firstborn

1
confused remembrance of Lev. xiv. 4 ff. and 22 ff.
3 4
2
2 Cor. iii. 3. Hel». x. 16. 1 Cor. x. n.
5 6 7 8
Gen. xv. 13. Ex. i. 14. Ex. ii. 23. Ex. ii. 25.
 — ;

292 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

of the Egyptians might not touch them. 1 The angel that

was sent saw the sign of the blood from afar and removed
but he entered into the houses that were not signed, and
slew all Moreover He commanded leaven
the firstborn.
to be put away out of every house, and enjoined that they
should eat the lamb that was slain with unleavened bread
and bitter herbs, and that they should eat it with their loins
girt, and their shoes upon their feet, and with their staves

in their hands and thus He commanded them to eat the

;

Lord's passover with all haste in the evening, and not to

break a bone of the lamb. 5. He brought them forth also

with silver and gold, 2

commanding them to borrow every-
one of his Egyptian neighbour vessels of gold and of silver ;

and they came out of Egypt while the Egyptians were

burying their firstborn, and joy was theirs for their riddance
of the squalid bondage, and grief and wailing to the others
for the destruction of their children. Wherefore Moses says,
This is the night in which God promised to deliver us. 3
All these things are a mystery of the soul, redeemed by
the coming of Christ. For Israel is interpreted to be the
mind beholding God. 4
He is set free from the bondage
of darkness, from the Egyptian spirits. 6. For since at

the transgression man died the dreadful death of the soul,

and received curse upon curse Thistles and thorns shall
the ground bring forth unto theef and again, Thou shalt till
the ground, and it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her
fruits
6
—
thorns and thistles sprouted and sprang up in the
ground of his heart. His enemies by guile took away his
glory, and clothed him with shame. His light was taken
away, and he was clothed in darkness. They murdered
his soul. They scattered and divided his faculties and
1 2 3
Heb.
xi. 28. Ps. cv. 37. See note below on § 9.
4
A
similar interpretation is found in an apocryphal work quoted by
Origen mjoann. t. II. 31 (in Brooke's edition, vol. i., p. 97), "Israel,
the man beholding God." Cp. above, Horn. xx. § 4.
6 6
Gen. iii. 18. Gen. iv. 12.
 HOMILY XLVII 293

dragged his mind down from its height, and became

Israel
the man who is bondservant to the true Pharaoh, and he
set over him his overseers and taskmasters, those spirits

of wickedness which compel him, whether he will or no,

to do his wicked works, and to fulfil the tale of mortar and
of brick. These withdrew him from his heavenly state of
mind, and brought him down to -material, earthly, clayey
works of wickedness, and words and devices and reason-
ings that are vain. Taken from her proper height, the soul
found herself in a kingdom of hatred to man, where bitter
rulers compel her to build them the evil cities of sin.
7. But if the soul groans and cries unto God, He sends

forth to her the spiritual Moses, who delivers her from the
bondage of the Egyptians but she cries and groans first,
:

and only then begins to receive deliverance, being herself

also 1
delivered in the month of new blossoms, 2 in the
springtime, when the ground of the soul can put forth the
fair and blossoming boughs of righteousness, and the bitter
winter storms of the ignorance of darkness are over, and of
the great blindness that comes of shameful deeds and sins.
Then also He bids all old leaven 3 to be removed out of
each house, namely the deeds and dispositions of the old
man which waxeth corrupt* to cast away, as far as possible,
wicked thoughts and uncleanly imaginations.
8. The lamb must be slain and sacrificed, and the blood

of it be smeared upon the doors for Christ, the true, good

:

Lamb, without blemish, was slain, and the lintels of the

heart were anointed with His blood, that the blood of
Christ shed upon the cross might be to the soul for life
and deliverance, and to the devils of Egypt for woe and
death. The blood of the Lamb without blemish is indeed
woe to them, and joy and gladness to the soul. Then,
1
i.e. like Israel.
2
TheLXX translates "the month Abib " in Ex. xiii. 4 and else-
where by " the month of the new things."
3 4
1 Cor. v. 7. Eph. iv. 22.
2 94 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
after the anointing, He bids to eat the lamb at even, and
the unleavened bread, with bitter herbs, with loins girt and
shoes on feet, and staff in hand. Unless the soul be
prepared beforehand on every side, to the best of her
power, through good works, it is not given to her to eat
of the lamb. And though the lamb be sweet, and the
unleavened bread excellent, yet the bitter herbs are bitter
and harsh ; for with much affliction and bitterness the soul
eats of the lamb and of the good unleavened bread, while
the sin that is with her afflicts her. 9. And it says that it

shall be eaten
at even. The time of even is midway between
light and darkness. So the soul being near this deliver-
ance is midway between light and darkness, while the
power of God stands firm and will not suffer the darkness
to come over the soul and swallow it up. And as Moses
said, This is the night of the promise of God, 1 so Christ,
when the book was given Him in the synagogue, as it is
written, called it the acceptable year of the Lord, and the
day of redemption. 2 There it was a night of retribution ;

here, a day of redemption. And rightly so for all those ;

things were a figure and shadow of the truth, and in a

mystical prefiguration sketched the true salvation of the
soul that has been shut up in darkness, and secretly bound
with fetters in the lowest pit? and shut in with gates of
brassf and cannot be set at liberty without the redemption
of Christ.
10. So He brings the soul out of Egypt and the bondage
in it, the firstborn of Egypt being destroyed at the exodus.
Already a part of the power of the true Pharaoh falls.

1
It seems probable that Macarius had in view the passage Ex. xii. 42,
where, in the second half of the verse, Aquila and Symmachus used an
expression for " a night of observations " which might be understood as
"a night of expectation," and so "of promise." Above, in § 5, this
is still further paraphrased.
2
Luke iv. 19. The second phrase seems to be taken from ph.
iv. 30.
3 4
Ps. Ixxxviii. 6. Ps. cvii. 16.
 HOMILY XLVII 295

Mourning possesses the Egyptians. They groan for grief

at the salvation of the captive. He commands them to
borrow of the Egyptians vessels of gold and of silver, and to
take them and go out. The soul in going out of the dark-
ness takes back her vessels of silver and gold, namely her
1
own good faculties purified seven times in the fire, in
which God is served and satisfied. The devils that were
neighbours to her wasted and held and squandered her
faculties. Blessed is redeemed out of dark-
the soul that is

ness, and woe to the soul that does not cry and groan to
Him that is able to rescue her from those hard and bitter
taskmasters.
11. The march away, when they have
children of Israel
kept the passover. The soul moves onwards, when it has
received the life of the Holy Ghost, and has tasted of the
Lamb, and been anointed with His blood, and has eaten
the true bread, the living Word. A pillar of fire and a
pillar of cloud went before the Israelites, protecting them :

the Holy Ghost strengthens these, warming and guiding the

soul in a way that can be felt. When Pharaoh and the
Egyptians knew of the people's escape, and of their own
loss of their bondservice, he took courage to pursue, even
after the destruction of the firstborn. He hastily harnessed
his chariots, and with all his people he made speed after
them to destroy them ; but when he was now on the point
of getting in among them, a cloud stood betwixt them,
hindering and darkening the one, and guiding the other
with light and protecting them. Not to prolong this dis-
course by developing the whole story, take the parable in
all particulars as referring to spiritual things.
12. When first the soul escapes from the Egyptians,
the power of God draws near and helps it, leading it to
the truth. But when the spiritual Pharaoh, the king of the
darkness of sin, perceives that the soul is in revolt and
1
Ps. xii. 6.
2 96 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
is escaping from his kingdom, he catches up the faculties
so long held in possession —
goods and, for these are his —
clever as he is, hopes that the soul will come back to him.
But when he learns that it is fleeing from his tyranny for
—
good and all a more audacious thing than the slaughter
of the firstborn and the stealing of the faculties he dashes —
at it, fearing that if the soul clean escapes, no one will
be found to fulfil his will and work. He pursues it with
afflictions and temptations and invisible wars. There it
is tested ; there it is tried there appears its love towards
;

Him who brought it out of Egypt. For it is delivered

over to be tested and tried in all manner of ways. 13. It

beholds the power of the enemy desiring to get at it and

do it and not able to do so. Between it
to death, and
the Egyptian the Lord stands.
spirits It beholds before

it a sea of bitterness and affliction or despair. It can

neither win its way back, seeing the enemy ready for it,
nor move forward, for the terror of death, and afflictions
grievous and manifold encompassing it, make it to see
death. The soul therefore loses all opinion of itself,
1
having the sentence of death in itself because of the
swarm of evil ones that surrounds it. And when God sees
the soul fallen into the terror of death, and the enemy
ready to swallow it up, then, then indeed He gives it a little

succour, dealing patiently with the soul, and testing it,

whether it stands fast in faith, whether it has love towards

Him. For so has God appointed the way that leadeth unto
2
life, be with affliction and distress, and much testing,
to
and very bitter temptations, that from thence the soul may
afterwards arrive at the true land of the glory of the
children of God. When therefore the soul gives up all

opinion of and renounces itself, because of the

itself

exceeding and the death before its eyes, in that

affliction

instant with a strong hand and an uplifted arm He rends

1 2
2 Cor. i. 9. Matt. vii. 14.
 HOMILY XLVII 297

the power of darkness through the shining of the Holy

Ghost, and the soul passes through the dreadful places,
escaping and passing through the sea of darkness and of
the all-devouring fire.

14. These are mysteries of the soul which are truly

brought to pass in a man who earnestly endeavours to come
to the promise of life, and redeemed out of the kingdom
is

of death, and receives the earnest from God, and partakes

of the Holy Ghost. Thereupon the soul delivered from
amidst her and having passed through the bitter sea
foes,
by the power of God, and beholding her enemies destroyed
before her eyes, whose bondservant she was before, rejoices
with joy unspeakable and full of glory, 1 comforted by God,
and at rest in the Lord. Then the Spirit which she has
received sings a new song unto God, with the timbrel, that
is the body, and the invisible strings of the harp, which is

the soul and its most subtle faculties, and the key of divine
grace for striking the chords, and lifts up praises to Christ
who quickeneth. For as it is the breath that speaks, when
it passes through the pipe, so is the Holy Ghost through

holy men who bear the Spirit, singing hymns and psalms,
and praying to God with a pure heart. Glory to Him who
has delivered the soul from the bondage of Pharaoh, and
has made her His own throne, and house, and temple, and
His pure bride, and has brought her into the kingdom of
eternal life, while yet in this world.
In the law, unreasoning animals were offered in
15.
sacrifice, and unless they were slain, the offerings were not

acceptable ; and now, unless sin be slain, the offering is not

acceptable with God, nor true. The people came to Marah,
where was a well that gave bitter water, unfit to drink. So
God commanded Moses, when he was in despair, to throw
a tree into the bitter water, and when the tree was thus cast
in, the water was made sweet, and being converted from its
1
1 Pet. i. 8.
298 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
bitterness became serviceable and fit for the people of God
to drink. In the same way the soul has been made bitter
from drinking the poison of the serpent and becoming like
to his bitter nature, and made sinful. AVherefore God casts
the tree of life even into the bitter fountain of the heart,
and it is converted from its bitterness and made sweet, being
mingled with the Spirit of Christ ; and thus being made
good for use it passes on to the service of its Master, for it
becomes spirit clothed in flesh. Glory to Him who con-
verts our bitterness into the sweetness and goodness of the
Spirit. Woe to him in whom the tree of life has not been
cast ! He cannot obtain any change for the good.
1 6. The rod of Moses bore two images. To enemies it
presented itself as a serpent, biting and destroying ; to the
Israelites as a staff, on which they found support. Thus
the true wood of the cross, which is Christ, is the death of
the enemy, the spirit of wickedness ; but to our souls, it is

a staff,and a sure prop, and life, upon which they rest.

There were formerly types and shadows of these true
realities. The ancient service is a shadow and image of the
present service. Circumcision, the tabernacle, the ark, the
pot and the manna, the priesthood, the incense, the wash-
ings, and, in short, all that was done in Israel, and in the
law of Moses, and in the prophets, was done with reference
to this soul, made image of God, and fallen under
after the
the yoke of bondage, and under the kingdom of the dark-
ness of bitterness.
17.For God desired to have communion with her, and
espoused her to Himself as the King's bride, and He
cleanses her from pollution, and washing her makes her
bright from her blackness and her shame, and quickens her
out of the state of death, and heals her of her shattered
condition, and gives her peace, reconciling her enmity.
For creature though she is, she has been espoused as bride
to the King's Son and by His own power God receives
;
 HOMILY XLVII 299

her to Himself, gradually accommodating Himself to her

changes, until He has increased her with His own increase.
For He and lengthens her to an endless
stretches her out
and immeasurable increase, until she becomes a bride
without blemish and worthy of Him. First he begets her
within Himself, and increases her through Himself, until
she receives the full-grown measure of His love. For being
Himself a perfect Bridegroom, He takes her as a perfect
bride into the holy, mystical, undefiled fellowship of
marriage; and then she reigns with Him to endless ages.
Amen.
 ,

HOMILY XLVIII
Concerning perfect faith in God.

i. The Lord in the gospel, wishing to bring His own

disciples to a perfect faith, said, He that is faithful in little,

is faithful also in much ; and he that is unfaithful in little,

is unfaithful also in much. l What is the little ? and what

is the much? The little are the promises of this world,
which He has undertaken to supply to those who believe
Him, such as food, raiment, and the other things which are
for the refreshment or health of the body, and so on ;

enjoining that we should not be anxious at all concerning

these, but with confidence in Him to trust that the Lord is
always a provider for those who take refuge in Him. The
much are the gifts of the eternal and imperishable world,
which He has undertaken to supply to those who believe
Him, and who are incessantly anxious concerning those
things, and who ask Him for them. Because He has given
commandment to that effect. Seek ye only, He says, His
kingdom and righteousness ; and all these things shall be
added unto you, 2 that in this way each one may be proved
by these little and temporal things, whether he believes
God because He has undertaken to supply them, while we
;

are free from anxiety about such things and are only con-
cerned about eternal things to come.
2. Then it is manifest that he believes concerning things
imperishable, and is really seeking eternal good things, if

1
Luke xvi. . 2
Matt. vi. 33.

300
 HOMILY XLVIII 301

he preserves sound concerning the things of which

his faith
we have spoken. For every one of those who obey the
word of truth ought to prove and examine himself, and
indeed to let himself be examined and proved by spiritual
men, how far he has believed and given himself to God,
whether really and truly according to His word, or in fancied
justification and faith, imagining that he has faith within
him. A man is proved and tested by the question whether
he is faithful in the little, that is, concerning temporal
things. How that is show you.
done, I will

Do you say that you believe the kingdom of heaven to

be vouchsafed to you, and that you have been born from
above and made a son of God, and a fellow-heir of Christ,
to reign with Him through all eternity, and to take pleasure
in light unspeakable during endless and innumerable ages
like God? No doubt you will say, "Yes; that was why
I withdrew from the world and have given myself to God"

3. Examine yourself, then, whether earthly cares do not still

hold you, and much thought concerning the food and

clothing of the body, and other attentions and refreshments,
as though you came by them of your own power, and were
to make provision for yourself, when you were enjoined to
have no anxiety at all concerning yourself. If you believe
that you will receive things immortal, eternal, abiding, and
abounding, how much more do you not believe that the
Lord will supply you with these passing and earthly things,
which God has given even to ungodly men, and to beasts
and birds, even as He gave you commandment that you
should not be anxious at all about them, saying, Take no
thought what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or where-
withal ye shall be clothed ; for after all these things do the
x
Gentiles seek But if you still have anxiety concerning
!

and have not trusted yourself wholly to His

these things,
word, know that you have not yet believed that you shall
1
Matt. . 25, 32.
302 FIFrY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES

receive the good things eternal, which are the kingdom of

heaven, although you imagine that you believe, while you
are still found unfaithful in the small things that perish.
And body is of more value than raiment, so
again, as the
is more value than the body. Do you believe,
the soul of
then, that your soul is receiving healing at Christ's hand
from the eternal wounds which with men are incurable, the
wounds of the passions of sin, for the sake of which healing
the Lord also came hither, that He might now cure the
souls of the faithful of those incurable wounds, and cleanse
them from the foulness of the leprosy of evil, He, the only —
true physician and healer ? 4. You will say, " Certainly

I believe it. For this I stand, and this is my expectation."

Know, then, after searching yourself, whether bodily ailments
do not carry you off to earthly physicians, as if Christ,
whom you believed, could not heal you See how you !

deceive yourself, because you imagine that you believe,

when you do not yet believe, as you ought, in truth. For
if you believed the eternal, irremediable wounds of the

immortal soul, and its disorders of evil, to be cured by

Christ, you would have believed Him able to cure also the
temporary disorders and maladies of the body, and would
have had recourse to Him only, to the neglect of medical
attentions and remedies. He who created the soul has
made the body also and He who heals that immortal part,
;

is able to cure the body also of its temporary disorders and

maladies.
5. But you will say,no doubt, "God has given to the
body for its healing the herbs of the earth and its
drugs,
and has prepared the appliances of physicians for the
disorders of the body, ordaining that the body which is of
the earth should be cured by the various specifics of the
earth." I agree with you that this is so. But take heed,
and you will know how the matter stands, — to whom these
things are given, and for whom God has ordained them,
 HOMILY XLVIII 303

according to His great and infinite kindness and love

towards man. When man from the commandment
fell

which he had received, and came under the sentence of

wrath, and was banished, as it were, into captivity and
disgrace, or to toil in some mine, from the pleasure of
paradise into this world, and came under the power of
darkness, and was reduced to unbelief by the error of the
passions, he fell thenceforward under the disorders and
maladies of the flesh, instead of being free from disorder
and malady, as before. And certainly all that are born of
him have fallen under the same disorders. 6. God, there-
fore, ordained these remedies for the weak and unbelieving,

not willing to destroy utterly the sinful race of men, because

of His great loving-kindness, but gave medicine to the men
of the world, and to all who are without, for solace, and
healing, and care of the body, and permitted them to be
used by those who could not yet entrust themselves wholly
to God. But you, a monk, who have come to Christ, and
desire to be a son of God, and to be born from on high of
the Spirit, and are expecting promises higher and greater
than the first man had, for all his freedom from disorder,
even that God should please to give you the presence of the
Lord, —you, who are become a stranger to the world, ought
to possess a belief, and a conception, and a manner of Hie,
new and strange beyond all the men of the world. Glory
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, for
ever. Amen.
 ;

HOMILY XLIX
It is not enough to have got rid of the pleasure of this world,

unless a man gels the blessedness of the other.

i. When a man has quitted his home, and renounced

this world, and has rid himself of the pleasure of the
world, and of possessions, and of father and mother, for
the Lord's and has crucified himself, and made
sake,
himself a stranger and poor and needy, but does not find
in himself divine comfort instead of the comfort of the
world, nor feel the pleasure of the Spirit in his own soul
instead of the temporal pleasure, and is not clothed in
the inward man with the garments of the light of the
Godhead instead of those garments that perish, and does
not know to satisfaction, instead of this temporal and
carnal fellowship, the fellowship of the heavenly Bride-
groom in his own
and has not the joy of the Spirit
soul,
within instead of the tangible joy of this world, and does
not receive the solace of heavenly grace and a divine repletion
in the soul in the appearing to him of the glory of the
Lord, as it is written ;
* and, in short, instead of this
temporal enjoyment, does not obtain even now in his own
soul an enjoyment incorruptible, greatly to be desired
this man is become salt without savour; this man is

beyond all men miserable ; this man has been deprived

of things here, and failed to enjoy divine gifts. He does
1
The reference is to Ps. xvii. 15, where the LXX version of the
last clause is, J shall be filled to repletion in the appearing of Thy
glory.
304
 ;

HOMILY XLIX 305

not know divine mysteries through the working of the

Spirit in the inner man.
2. For this is the reason why a man is made a stranger
to the world, in order that his soul may pass in mind into
another world and age, according to the apostle. Our con-
x
versation, he says, is in heaven and again, Though we
2
walk on earth, we do not war after the flesh. Therefore,
one who renounces this world must firmly believe that we
ought in mind to pass even now through the Spirit into
another age, and there to have our conversation and
pleasure and enjoyment of spiritual good things, and to be
born of the Spirit in the inner man, as the Lord said, He
3
that belicvcth in Me, hath passed from death unto life.

Because there is another death besides the death that is

seen, and another life besides the life that is seen. The
scripture says, She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she
4
liveth ; and, Let the dead bury their dead 5 ; Because the

dead shall not praise Thee, Lord, but we, the living, shall
6
bless Thee.

3. For as the sun, when he has risen upon the earth,

is all upon the earth, but when it comes to sunset,
there
he gathers all his beams together, betaking himself to his
own home ; so the soul which is not begotten from above
of the Spirit is all on the earth, spread abroad in thought
and mind all over the earth, even to the ends of it ; but
when it is permitted to receive the heavenly birth and
fellowship of the Spirit, it gathers all its thoughts together,
and taking them still with it, enters in unto the Lord, into
the dwelling from heaven, not made with hands, and all

its thoughts become heavenly and pure and holy, making

their way into the divine air. Delivered from the prison
of the darkness of the wicked ruler, who is the spirit of
the world, the soul finds pure and divine thoughts, because
1 2 3
Phil. iii. 20. 2 Cor. x. 3. John v. 24.
4 6
1 Tim. v. 6. 5
Luke ix. 60. Ps. cxv. 17, 18.
3o6 FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
it has seemed good to God to make man partaker of the
1
divine nature.
4. If, you are going to withdraw from all the affairs
then,
of this life, and if you persevere in your prayer, shall you
not esteem this labour rather to be full of rest, and shall
you not consider the little affliction and pain to be charged
with joy and recreation exceeding great? If your body
and your soul had been consumed away hour after hour
throughout life for the sake of good things so great, what
did that come to ? Oh, the unspeakable compassion
of God, that He bestows Himself in free gift upon
those who believe, that in a little space of time they
should inherit God, and God should dwell in man's body,
and that the Lord should find a fair home in man As !

God created the heaven and the earth for man to dwell
in, so He created man's body and soul for a dwelling for

Himself, to inhabit and take His rest in the body as in

His own house, having for His fair bride the lovely soul,
made after His own image. The apostle says, / have
espoused you to one husband, to present you as a chaste
2
virgin to Christ and again, Whose house we are. 3
;

As the husband with diligence treasures up all good

things in his house, so the Lord lays up and treasures in
the soul and body, which are His house, the heavenly
wealth of the Spirit. Neither the wise by their wisdom
nor the prudent by their prudence were able to comprehend
the subtilty of the soul, or to speak of as it is, but only
it

those to whom through the Holy Ghost that comprehension

is and the exact knowledge concerning the soul
revealed,
is Consider here, and discern, and understand,
declared.
how. Listen. He is God the soul is not God. He is
;

the Lord it is a servant.

; He is Creator it is a creature. ;

He is the Maker; it the thing made. There is nothing

common to His nature, and to that of the soul. But by
1 2 3
2 Pet. i. 4. 2 Cor, xi. 2, Ifeb. iii. £.
 HOMILY XLIX 307

reason of His infinite, unspeakable, inconceivable love and

compassion, it pleased Him to dwell in this thing of His
making, this intelligent creature, this precious and extra-
ordinary work, as the scripture says, that we should be a
hind of first/ruits of His creatures, 1 for His wisdom and
fellowship, for His own habitation, for His own precious
and pure bride.
5. When such good things are set before us, and such
promises have been promised, and such has been the good
pleasure of the Lord towards us, let us not neglect, my
children, nor delay to press to the life eternal, and to give
up ourselves entirely to pleasing the Lord. Let us, then,

beseech the Lord that by His own power of Godhead He

would deliver us from the prison of the darkness of the
passions of shame, and would cause His own image
and handiwork to shine up, making the soul sound and
pure, and so we may be permitted to have the fellowship
of the Spirit, glorifying the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, for ever. Amen.
1
Jas i. 18.
 :

HOMILY L
It is God that works wonders through His saints.

i. Who was it that shut the doors of heaven? Elias?

or was it God in him, who commanded the rain? I trow
that He who wields power over heaven was Himself seated
in his mind, and that by his tongue the Word of God
forbade rain to come down upon and spake
the earth,
again, and the gates of heaven were opened, and the rain
came down. Likewise also Moses put down a rod, and
it became a serpent, and he spake again and it became

a rod and he took ashes of the furnace and sprinkled,

;

and it became boils and again he smote, and there came

;

lice and frogs. Could the nature of men do these things ?

He spake to the sea, and it was divided to the river, and
;

it was turned into blood. Well, it is plain that a heavenly

power was dwelling in his mind, and did these signs
through Moses.
2. David, how was he unarmed, to engage in battle
able,
with such a giant ? And when
he hurled the stone at the
Philistine, by David's hand the hand of God guided the
stone, and it was the divine power itself that slew him
and gained the victory. David could never have done it
he was too weak in body. Joshua, the son of Nun, when
he came to Jericho, besieged it seven days, unable to do
anything by his own nature but when God commanded,
;

the walls fell down of themselves. And when he entered

into the land of promise, the Lord said to him, "Go
308
 HOMILY L 309

forward to battle " Joshua answered, " As the Lord liveth,

;

I will not go without Thee."

1
And who is it that com-
manded the sun to stand still another two hours in the
conflict of battle?— his nature alone, or the power that was
with him? And Moses, when he engaged with Amalek,
if he stretched out his hands towards heaven unto God,

smote Amalek, but if he dropped his hands, Amalek

prevailed.

3. But when you hear of these things happening, let

not your mind travel far away but since these things were
;

a figure and shadow of the realities, apply them to yourself.

When you shall stretch out the hands of your mind, and
your thoughts, towards heaven, and shall be minded to
cleave to the Lord, Satan shall get the worst of it with
your thoughts. And as at Jericho the walls fell by the
power of God, so now also the walls of evil that hinder
your mind, and the cities of Satan, and your enemies, shall
be utterly destroyed by the power of God. Thus, in the
shadow, the power of God was continually present with
the righteous, doing visible wonders and the divine grace
;

dwelt in them inwardly as well. Likewise upon the pro-

phets also it wrought, and ministered the Spirit in their
souls, to prophesy, and to speak, when there was need to
say great things to the world. For they did not speak
at all times, but when the Spirit that was in them would.
Yet the power was always with them.
4. If, then, the Holy Ghost was poured out to such an

extent upon the shadow, how much rather upon the New
Covenant, upon the cross, upon the coming of Christ,
where the outpouring and drunkenness of the Spirit took
effect. It says, / will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh. 2

This is what the Lord Himself meant when He said, I will

1
This seems to be a reminiscence of the narrative of Num. xiii., xiv.,
after the return of Joshua and the spies. But Moses is the speaker.
Cp. Ex. xxxiii. 15.
2
Acts ii. 17.
3io FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES
be with you until the end of the world. 1 For every one that
seeketh, findeth. 2 If ye, being evil, know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him* with
power and much assurance, as the apostle 4
says.
Such found by measure, and time, and
things, then, are
much labour, and patience, and affection towards Him,
5
the senses of the soul being exercised, as the scripture says,
through good and through evil, that is, through the crafts
and plots and manifold besetments and lyings in wait of
evil on the one hand, and on the other through the various
gifts and divers helps of the working and power of the

Spirit. He who discovers the plotting of evil, defiling the

inward man by means of the passions, and is not acquainted
himself with the help of the Holy Spirit of truth, strength-
ening his infirmity, and renewing his soul in gladness of
heart, such an one goes his way without discernment, not
discovering as yet the manifold dispensation of the grace
and peace of God. And on the other hand, he who is

helped by the Lord, and found in spiritual mirth and

is

heavenly gifts he should imagine that he is

of grace, if

no longer liable to be injured by sin, is deceived without

his knowing it, not discerning the subtilty of evil, and not
understanding the gradual growth of infancy to maturity
in Christ. For through the supply of the Holy and Divine
Spirit faith increases and makes progress, and at the same
time every stronghold of wicked thoughts passes gradually
to complete casting down. 6
Every one of us, therefore, ought to search whether he
has found the treasure in this earthen vessel, 1 whether he
has put on the purple of the Spirit, whether he has seen
the King and found rest in His near presence, or still

1 2
Matt, xxviii. 20. Matt. vii. 8
5
3
Luke xi. 13. 4
Thess. i.
I 5. Heb. v. 14.
7
6
The reference is to 2 Cor. x. 4. 2 Cor. iv. 7.
 HOMILY L 311

serves in the outermost parts of the house. The soul has

many members, and great depth ; and besides, sin has
come in and taken possession of all its members and of

the ranges of the heart. Then, when man seeks, grace

comes to him, and takes possession, it may be of two
members of the soul. So the inexperienced man, being
comforted by grace, imagines that grace has taken posses-
sion of all the members of his soul, and that sin is rooted
out. But the greatest part is still under the power of sin,
and only one part under grace and he is cheated and
;

knows it not.
We might write at greater length concerning these things
to your sincerity of disposition, but we have given you thus
briefly a starting point, that like men of understanding you
may go to work upon it and search out the power of the
words and become yet more understanding in the Lord,
and increase your singleness of heart in His grace and in the
power of the truth, so that holding fast your own salvation
with all certainty, and being delivered from all interference
of wickedness and craft of the adversary, you may have
the privilege to be found unfallen and uncondemned in
the day of judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ ; to whom
be glory for ever. Amen.
 1

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE
REFERENCES
PAGE PAGE
Gen. i. 26 . ii7, 141 Psalm vi. 6 . l82
ii. 24 29 xi. 2 . l80
iii.
5 203, 251 xii. 6 • 295
iii. 18 . . 133, 195» 292 xvi. 5 . IOO, 245
iii. 24 252 . xvii. 15 304 •

iv.12 .
39 (twice), 232, 292 xviii. 26 . 252
•

xv. 13 . . 291 xxii. 6 . 90, 198

xviii. 27 . 9o. 198 xxvi. 2 . . I84
Exod. i. 14 291 xxvii. 13 IO, 243
ii. 23 f. . . 291 xxxiv. 7 . . 117
iii. 8 ISO xxxiv. 8 . . us
vii. 1 . 70 xxxviii. 5 5
xii. 2 .
53 xxxix. 13 . 182
xii. 42 . . 294 xlii 3 .l82f.
XV. II .
95 xlv. 7 io, 23, 269
xxxii. 24 . 80 xlix. 12 • 141, 179
xxxiii. 15. 309 liii.
5 • 45
xxxiv. 28. .
54 lv. 6 • 13
Lev. ii. 13 .
5 lvi. 8 . 182
xi. 3 235 lxxiii. 17 . 1^2
xiv. 4 . 291 lxxxviii. .
294
xxi. 17 277 xci. 12 . 184
Num. v. 2 . 277 xci. 13 . . . 178
xxi. 8 . 83 cii. 9 . • 183
Deut. iv. 24 26 ciii. 18 • 74
vi. 5 112, 270 civ. 15 . 10
vii. 17 . 230 cv. 37 . 292
xv. 9 . 230 cvi. 41 . 214
xvii. 8 . 252 cvii. 16 . 294
Josh. ii. 9 . 229 cvii. 26 • 279
v. 14 . 182 cxv. 17 f. . • 305
1 Kings xviii. 44 . 231 cxvi. 9 . 180
xix. 12 .
57 cxix. 18 . . 166, 184
2 Kings vi. 15 . 128 cxix. 128 . . 161
Job i. 1 188 cxxvi. 6 . . 182
i. 20 . 48 cxxvii. 1 . . . 178
xxxix. 25 • 173 cxxxvi. 37 . 82
312
 .

INDEX 313

TAGE I'AGE
Psalm cxxxvii. 1 . . ISO Matt. vi. 29 52.

cxxxvii. 4 . l8l vi. 32 . 301 .

Prov. ix. 18. . l80 vi 33 73, 251, 300

iy. 23 . 250 vii. 7 f. • 167, 310
Isaiah i. 3 . • 256 vii. 12 • 251
i.6 . . 227 vii. 14 . 296
iv.5 . 92 viii. 29 • 85
x. 15 . 256 ix. 17 • 275
xxviii. 13 . . 286 x• 37 . 28l
xxxiv. 13 f. . 241 x. 39 . 123
xlv. 2 • 230 xi. 11 2l6. 217
1.6 . . I98 xi. 12 . I
58
liii.
5 . I98 xi. 28 . 247
lxi. 10 . I64 xi. 29 157 f•
lxii. 5 . . 65 xiii. 33 . 176
lxiv. 6 . I64 xiii. 46 . 269
Ixvi. 2 • 57 xv. 19 IIS •, 116, 268
Ter. 37
ii. . • 105 xviii. 14 • 33
viii.4 • 30 xix. 21 237 •

Ezek. i. 4 etc. . 1 f xix. 28 .

59 •

i. 8 . . 8 2, xxi. 43 34 •

xvi. 3 f . . •
97, 107 xxiii. 27 . 138, 269 f.
xxxiii. 11. . 88 xxiii. 33 . 181
Amosix. 11 . . 231 xxiii. 37 . . 250
Zech. xi. 2 . . 106 xxiv. 2 • 32
Mai. iv. 2 . 143, iS 1, 216, 242 xxiv. 47 . . 128
Wisdom vi. 6 . 221 xxv. 1 f. . •23f.
Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 21 . . 76 xxv. 31 2
xlii. 18 . . 216 xxv. 41 226
.

Bel and the Dragon 2 7. . 197 xxv. 42 f. 228

.

2 Maccabees i. 19. . 79 xxviii. 20 235» 309 f.

Matt. iii. 11 . . 290 Mark i. 24 . 85 .

iii. 17 . . 84 iii. 11 • 85, 93

iv. 23 . 276 iv. 19 286 .

v. 3f. . .2 [3, 222, 277 x. 47 . 166

V. II . 252 Luke iv. 19 294
.

v. 13 • 5 iv. 23 276 .

v. 14 . 4 vi. 36 , 158, 268

v. 15 f. . . 4 vi- 37 2 551 (twice)
v. 17 • 251 vii. 44 . 228
v. 20 . . 98 ix. 23 •
43
v. 28 . 191 ix. 60. 305
v. 39 . 14 x. 19 179
vi. 10 . 16 x. 30 227
vi. 13 • 179 x. 41 97
vi. 21 . i. I2, 210, 270 x. 42 97
vi. 22 f. .
4 xi. 8 36
vi. 25 f. . . 3°i xi. 9 f. 36
 314 INDEX
PAGE
Luke xi.
PAGB
13 • 36, l67,3IO John xiv. 2 !I . I54, 258
xi. 34 4 . xiv. 23
xii. 47 f.
•
154, 23, 258
221 .
xiv. 30
xii. 49 . 72, 183 XV. 1
xiii. 24
• 243
• • 158 • XV. 2
xiv. 11 • 195
. 266 xv. 5 . 102
xiv. 16 f. 121
.
xvi. ss
xiv. 26 3o, 43, 123, 281
• 51
xvii. 16
xiv. • 138
32 . 129 xvii. 22
xv. 7 • 125
. 106 Acts ii. 13
xv. 10 •
59
• 33 ii. 17 . 60
xvi. 10
300 . ii. 22 f.
xviii. 7 •
59
11,36,241 vii. 22 7o
xxi. 18 . no ix. 15. . 126
xxi. 19 5i, 73
• xiv. 15
xxii. 31 • 253
39, 188
f. • • • xiv. 22 5i
•
xxiii. 21 .
. 198 xv. 16 231
xxiv. 49 209
.
. xv. 39 . 205
John i. 1
92 . xx. 24 . 202
?' 5 • 136, 144 Rom. i. 23 . 180
i. 12 . 172 i. 26 • 163
i. 29 13, 84 165, 166,
f. ii. 1 • 251
216, 217, 276 ii. 4 f.
• 3i
iii.
3 •
224 ii. 6 . 221
iii. 16 128 ii.
.
15 64 r, 122
ni 33 220
•
. vi. 6
iv. 10
• 7
. 10 vi. 12 . 180
iv. 14 • 27, 243 vii. 8
iv.22
• 258
.259 vii. 18
• 13
iv. 23 f. . 162, 180, 195, 240 vii. 23 . 201
v. 24 40, 125, 305
.
vii. 24 •
7
•35 269
. viii. 112
3 .

V1 •35 10, 27, 243 viii. 7 1 1

vi. 58 . 27 viii. 9 • 163, 253
viii. 35 • . 100 viii. n .
52 , 53, 164
viii. 44 • 39 viii. 15 .
. i8r
yiii. 51 .
100
.
viii. 17 .
180. 181
ix. 4 226
. viii. 26 .
195
x. 1
231
• viii. 32 128
. 14 • 55 viii. 35 •
72
x. 15 276
. ix. 5
x. 27 31 f.

55
• 1X •
33 188 211
xii. 26 • 274, 285 xi. 5
,

254
xii. 36 .
226
. xi. 22
xiii. 27 95
112
. xi. 34
xiv. 2
.
255
68
. xii. 2 180
xiv. 6 . . 98
. xii. 3 248
xiv. 15 158 xii.
. . .
19 159
 INDEX 315

I>AGE PAGE
Rom. xiii. io . 251 2 Cor. iii. 7 . , . 290
xiii. 12 . . ISO iii. 17 • 253
xiii. 14 . . • •
I63 iii. 18 .53'.
xvi. 20 . 179 •
iv. 7 15 1
»
310
1 Cor. i. 21 . I50 . iv. 11 • 52
i. 23 f. . . . 84 . v. 1 5 l > 244
i. 30 . 151, I64 - 3 5i. 53
ii. 2 . . 84 . v. 4 • 52
ii. 4 207 . v. 17 275
ii. 9 • 27, 209, 253 vi. 14 144
ii. 10 253 • vi. 16 236
ii. 13 72 . x. 3 305
ii. 14 72, 286 x. 4 f. . 3IO
ii. 15 72 . •5 73 f-

iii. 16 . l8l xi. 2 217 ,

306
iv. 11 . 91 xi. 6 147
iv. 20 .
147 xi. 13 257
v. 7 •
293 xi. 23 257
v. 8 . l80 xi. 32 f. . 187
vi. 16 • 135 xii. 7 63
vi. 17 . : io, 74 (twice), 135, Gal. i.
4 22
175, 288, 289 ii. n 205
ix. 10 . iii. 2 254
ix. 27 . 108 iii.
3 207
x.4 . 27 iii. 28 244
X. II . 291 iv. 2 270
xi. 1 -
91 iv. 26 . 60
xi. 5 . . . 96 v. 24 180
xii. 3 254
. vi. 1 205
xii. 9 f. . . 186, 248 vi 14 . 6
xii. 12 . 17 vi. 17 180
xii. 13 . . 27 Eph. i. 13 . 276
xiii. 1 f. . .192 f., 208 i. 18
xiii. 5 • .175 i. 21 284 .

xiii. 12 . • 253 ii. 6 285

xiv. 1 . 29 ii. 14 67 252 ,

xiv. 2 . 248 iii. 10 26 .

xiv. 4 f. . . . .
58 iii. 16 253 •

xiv. 19 .
254 iii. i8f . 289 .

xiv. 33 57 iii. 19 156

. 26 •

18,
•

no iv. 3 17
.

xv. 41 . 248 iv. 13 18, 126, 156, 238, 253

xv. 49 . 180 iv. 17 . 180
•55 • . 180 iv. 22 f. . ! 180, 268, 293
2 Cor. 1.9 . . 296 iv. 30 . 205, 207, 294
i. 22 . 141 iv. 31 . . 160
ii. 4 . . .
183 v. 27 . . 241
111.
3 . no 291 v. 32 • 202 259 ,
3i6 INDEX
PAGE I '.I

Eph. vi. ii . . 179, 207 Heb. i.

3 . 182
vi. 12 I68 . i•
7 . 184
vi. 14 170 . 1. 14 117, 284
vi. 16 . 131, 192, 207 ii. 11 125, 268
Phil. ii. 7 . I98, 202
. ii. 18 . 279
ii. 12 . 23, I07 iii. 6 . 306
ii, 13 • 255 iv. 11 182, 247
ii. 15 . I84 v. 2 •
235
iii. 8 . 113 v. 14 . 310
iii. 12 . 279 vi. 4 . 207
iii. 13 . 193 vi. 19 f. . 252
iii. 20 40, 144, 174, 232, 305 vi. 20 182, 290
Col. i. 11 . . l60 ix. 6 f. . 290
i 18 . 202 ix. 11 • 277
i. 26 2 ix. 14 •
259
ii. 15 . . 7 x. 4 • 276
ii. 18 . 178, 207 x. 16 . 291
iii. 9 12
. x. 23 . 280
iii. 12 .
159, 162 x. 29 . 74
iii.15 . • 232 xi. 11 . 219
•
iii.18 . • 193 xi. 25 f. 7c
1 Thess. i.
5 . 310 xi. 28 . 292
iv. 9 . 115 xi.37 . 91
iv. 17 55 •
xii.22 27
.

v 5 • 14 . xii. 23 !, 200, 2/1

v. 17 f. . 241 . xii. 29 26, 183
v. 19 . 124, 146, 204 Tas. i. 2 135
•

2 Thess. i. 8 . • 185 •
i. 18 307
•

ii. 8 179 •
iv. 4 . 25
1 Tim. i. 5 . 207 . 1 Pet. i. 8 155 244, 297
ii. 8 . Ill i. 20 2
iii. 7 . . .191 ii. 2 . l8l
v. 5 . . . 283 ii. 9 l8l, 202
v. 6 . 305 2 Pet. i. 4 iS 260, 280, 306
vi. 9 . 191 i. 19 . I8l
vi. 15 . 202 1 John iv. 17 . 22
Heb. i. 1 . . 217 Rev. iii. 20 . . 228

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