1. WHEN we were lately conversing together, in the intimacy of an
old-standing affection, you let me see that you were much pleased by
my taking a passage from the writings of the Apostle Paul to preach
upon to the people. You said further that this was the case, because
the depth of his counsels is difficult to grasp, while the loftiness
of his sentiment rouses the audience, and stimulates the preacher;
and also because his discourses are so fully, for the most part, the
interpreters of his meaning, that the expounder of them finds nothing
to add of his own, and, if he would say ought, fills the part of a
critic rather than of a preacher.
2. However since I recognize herein the feelings of long friendship,
and what is still more precious, the tenderness of your paternal regard,
(for in length of attachment many may participate, but in paternal
love they cannot;) since moreover you consider that I have already done
what you ask satisfactorily, I will comply with what you desire, and
that the more, as I am admonished and stimulated by my own example, an
example not difficult for me to follow, since I shall imitate no great
one, but myself only, thus returning to my own humble customs.
3. As to the plan pursued in my discourse, seeing that the image and
character of the blessed life is delineated therein, I think I have so
arranged the argument of it that it will not be disapproved by others,
certainly not by yourself who are so partial to me, although it is more
difficult to satisfy your judgment than theirs, only your affection
softens its severity and renders it more indulgent to me.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. vii. 23.
4. Now this Letter, written as it is in your absence, has for its
subject the sentence of the Apostle Paul, who calls us from slavery
into liberty, saying, _Ye are bought with a price, be not ye the
servants of men_, shewing that our liberty lies in the knowledge of
wisdom. This opinion has been bandied to and fro by philosophers in
energetic discussions, while they assert that every wise man is free
and every fool a slave.
Sidenote: Ecclus. xxvii. 11.
Sidenote: Eph. iv. 14.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xiii. 43.
5. But this was said long before by the son of David, _The fool
changeth as the moon_. The wise man on the other hand is not dispirited
by fear, nor changed by power, nor exalted by prosperity, nor cast
down by sadness; for where wisdom is, there also is strength of mind,
constancy, and fortitude. Now the wise man remains the same in mind,
neither depressed nor exalted by the vicissitudes of things, he is
not _tossed to and fro as a child, and carried about with every wind
of doctrine_, but continues perfect in Christ, grounded in charity,
rooted in faith. Hence he is not conscious of failure, he knows not the
various losses which befal the soul, but _shall shine forth as the Sun
of righteousness Who shines in the kingdom of His Father_.
Sidenote: Gen. ix. 25.
6. But let us now consider from what source Philosophy more fully
derived this, from what discipline and wisdom of the Patriarchs. Did it
not come first from Noah who, perceiving that his son Ham had foolishly
derided the nakedness of his father, cursed him in these words, _Cursed
be Ham[185], a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren_, and
set his brethren as lords over him, seeing that they had wisely deemed
their fathers old age worthy of honour?
Sidenote: Gen. xxvii. 29.
7. Did not also that source of all good discipline, Jacob, who on
account of his wisdom was preferred to his elder brother, instil into
the breasts of all the riches of this copious subject? So also the
pious father, whose paternal affection was equally strong towards his
two sons, although his judgment varied, (for while the ties of blood
sway the affections, our judgments are formed according to desert,)
and who therefore dispensed to the one grace, to the other mercy,
to the wise grace, to the foolish mercy, seeing that Esau could not
raise himself to virtue by his own proper strength nor make progress
spontaneously, blessed him in rendering him the subject and servant of
his brother, shewing thereby that folly was so much worse than slavery
that slavery itself is a remedy for it; because a fool cannot govern
himself, and unless he has some director he falls by his own will.
8. His father therefore, loving him and careful for his welfare, made
him the servant of his brother that he might be ruled by his counsels.
And thus wise rulers are given to an indiscreet nation, that by their
vigour they may guide the weakness of the people, ruling them by a show
of power, and by this weight of authority constraining them against
their wills to obey those wiser than themselves, and to submit to the
laws. On the foolish son therefore he laid a yoke as on one untamed,
and to him who had said he would live by his sword he denied even
freedom; that he might not fall away through presumption he set his
brother over him, that being subdued by his authority and governance
he might make progress towards conversion. And since there are two
kinds of service, (for that which proceeds from necessity is weaker,
that from free will stronger, for that good is more transcendent which
proceeds not from necessity but from free will,) he therefore first
laid upon him the yoke of necessity, and afterwards imparted to him the
blessing of voluntary subjection.
Sidenote: Ps. cv. 18.
9. It is not then nature which makes a person a slave, but folly; not
manumission which sets free, but discipline. Esau was born free, and
was made a servant, Joseph was sold into slavery, and then elected
to power, to rule over those who bought him. He disdained not to be
sedulous and obedient, but he maintained the height of virtue, he
preserved the liberty of innocence, the dignity of integrity. The
Psalmist therefore says well, _Joseph was sold to be a bond-servant;
they humbled his feet in fetters_. _He was sold_, it is said, _to be
a bond-servant_, but they could not make him a bond-servant; _they
humbled his feet_, not his soul.
Sidenote: Ib. 19.
Sidenote: Eph. vi. 16.
10. For how was that soul humbled of which it is said: _His soul
pierced the iron_? For while sin pierces the souls of others, (for
_the iron_ means sin, which has a penetrating power,) the soul of holy
Joseph was so far from being vulnerable by sin that it pierced through
sin itself. The blandishments of his mistress’ charms moved him not,
and with reason was he insensible to the flames of lust, seeing that he
was consumed by the brighter fire of Divine grace. It is therefore well
said of him also, _The word of the Lord inflamed him_; for thereby _he
quenched the fiery darts of the Devil_.
Sidenote: Gen. xli. 48.
Sidenote: Ib. xlvii. 20.
Sidenote: Ib. 22.
11. How was he a bond-servant who directed the princes of the people
to store up the corn, that thus they might forestall and provide for
future dearth? Or how was he a bond-servant, who gained the whole land,
and reduced all the Egyptians to bondage? And this, not in order to
impose upon them the condition of an ignoble bondage, but that he might
establish a tribute from all but the lands of the priesthood, which he
preserved free from tribute, that among the Egyptians also respect for
the priesthood might be held inviolable.
Sidenote: 1 Esdr. iv. 29, 30, 31.
12. His being sold then did not make him a slave; for though of a truth
he was sold to merchants, yet, if you regard price merely, you will
find many who have bought for themselves maidens of an elegant form,
and then, captivated by love, have basely enslaved themselves to them.
_Apame the concubine of King Darius was once seen sitting at his right
hand, taking his diadem off his head, and placing it on her own, and
with the palm of her left hand striking his face, while the King gazed
upon her with open mouth, glad if she would only smile upon him, and
thinking himself miserable and afflicted if she scorned him, laying
aside his authority, and seeking to soothe and persuade her to be
reconciled to him._
Sidenote: Prov. xvii. 2. ♦LXX.
13. But why should I quote this at so great a length? Do we not often
see parents who have been made slaves by pirates or cruel barbarians
ransomed by their children? Are then the laws of mercy more powerful
than the laws of nature? Is natural affection produced in slavery?
People often buy lions and yet have no mastery over them, nay are
so much their slaves that if they see them becoming enraged and
shaking out their manes on their brawny necks, they run away and hide
themselves. Money then determines nothing, for it often buys masters
over itself, nor do catalogues of auctions, for by them the purchaser
himself is often sold and allotted to another. A contract of sale does
not change a man’s nature, nor deprive wisdom of her liberty. Many free
men, as it is written, serve a wise servant, and _there is a wise slave,
who governs foolish masters_.
Sidenote: Deut. xv. 6.
14. Whom then do you consider as more truly free? Wisdom alone is
free, she sets the poor over the rich, and makes the servants lend
at usury to their to their own masters; lend, that is, not money but
understanding, lend the talent of that Divine and eternal Treasure
which is never wasted, the mere loan of which is precious: to lend
that mystical money of the heavenly oracles of which the Law says,
_Thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow_. This
the Jew lent to the Gentiles, for he received not instruction from them
but imparted it; to him the Lord opened His treasures, that He might
moisten the Gentiles with the dew of His Word, and might become the
Head of the nations, while He Himself had no head over Him.
Sidenote: Is. lv. 1.
15. He then who is wise is free, bought with the price of the heavenly
oracles, with that gold, that silver of the Divine Word; bought with
the price of blood (for it is no small thing to acknowledge one’s
Redeemer;) bought with the price of Grace: he who heard and understood
the words, _Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he
that hath no money, come ye, buy and drink and eat_.
Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 11.
Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 14.
Sidenote: Job xxviii. 18, 19.
16. He is free who going forth to war, if he have seen a beautiful
woman, and when he spoils his enemies’ goods has found her among them
and _has a desire unto her, takes her to wife_, having first _shaved
her head and pared her nails, and taken off from her the raiment
of her captivity_, taking her no longer as a slave but free, for he
understands that prudence and discipline are not liable to a state of
bondage. And therefore the Law says, _Thou shalt not sell her at all
for money_, for truly she is above all price. And Job says, _Take[186]
wisdom into thine ♦inmost parts. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal
it_, for it is more precious than gold and silver.
17. Freedom therefore is not his alone who has never had the auctioneer
for his master, nor seen him raising his finger, but he is more truly
free, who is free within himself, who is free by the laws of nature,
knowing that this law has a moral not merely an arbitrary sanction, and
that the measure of its obligations is in accordance not with the will
of man but with the discipline of nature. Does such a person therefore
seem to you free merely? Does he not rather appear to you in the light
of a censor and director of morals? Hence the Scripture says truly that
_the poor shall be set over the rich, and private men over those who
administer the state_[187].
Sidenote: 1 Tim. i. 9.
Sidenote: Prov. v. 15.
18. Think you that he is free who buys votes with money, who courts
the applause of the people more than the approbation of the wise? Is
he free who is swayed by the popular breath, who dreads the hisses of
the populace? That is not liberty which he who is manumitted receives,
which he obtains as a gift from the blow of the lictor’s palm. For
it is not munificence but virtue that I hold to constitute liberty;
liberty, which is not bestowed by the suffrages of others, but is
won and possessed by a man’s own greatness of mind. For a wise man is
always free, always honoured, always one who presides over the laws
_For the law is not made for the righteous but for the unrighteous_,
for the just man is a law unto himself, having no need to fetch for
himself from a distance the form of virtue, seeing that he bears it
within his heart, having _the works of the law written on the tablets
of his heart_, to whom it is said, _Drink waters out of thine own
cistern, and running waters out of thine own well_. For what is so near
to us as the Word of God? This word is in our hearts, and in our mouth;
we see it not, and yet possess it.
19. The wise man therefore is free, for he who does that which he
wills is free. But it is not every will that is good, but it is the
part of a wise man to will all things which are good, for he hates what
is evil, having chosen that which is good. If therefore he has chosen
what is good, he whose choice is free and who has chosen what he will
do is free, for he does what he wills to do: the wise man therefore
is free. All that the wise man does he does well. But he that does
all things well does all things rightly, and he that does all things
rightly does them all without offence or reproach, without causing
disturbance or loss to himself. Whoever then has this power of doing
all things without offence or reproach, without loss or disturbance to
himself, does nothing foolishly but does all things wisely. For he who
acts wisely has nothing to fear, for fear is in sin. But where no fear
is, there is liberty, and where liberty is, there is the power of doing
what one wishes: the wise man therefore alone is free.
20. He who can neither be compelled nor forbidden is no slave; now
it belongs to the wise man to be neither compelled nor forbidden; the
wise man, therefore, is not a slave. Now he is forbidden who does not
execute what he desires, but what does the wise man desire but the
things which belong to virtue and discipline, without which he cannot
exist? For they subsist in him, and cannot be separated from him. But
if they are separated from him he is no longer wise, seeing that he
is without the use and discipline of virtue, of which he would deprive
himself if he were not the voluntary interpreter of virtue. But if he
be constrained, it is manifest that he acts unwillingly. Now in all
actions there are either corrections proceeding from virtue, or falls
proceeding from malice, or things between the two and indifferent.
The wise man follows virtue not compulsorily but voluntarily, for all
things that are pleasing he does, as flying from malice, and admits
not so much as a dream of it. So far is he from being moved by things
indifferent, that no forces have the power to move him hither and
thither as they do the herd of men, but his mind hangs as in a balance
in equal scales, so that it neither inclines to pleasure, nor in any
respect directs its desires however slightly to things which ought to
be avoided, but remains unmoved in its affections. Whence it appears
that the wise man does nothing unwillingly or by compulsion, because
were he a slave he would be so compelled; the wise man therefore is
free.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. ix. 1.
Sidenote: Gal. ii. 4.
21. The Apostle likewise gives this definition, saying, _Am I not an
Apostle, am I not free?_ Truly he was so free that when certain persons
had _come in privily to spy out his liberty_, he _gave place_, as he
himself says, _by subjection, no not for an hour, that the truth of
the Gospel might be preached_. He therefore who yielded not preached
voluntarily. Where free will is, there is the reward of free will;
where obligation is, there is the service of obligation. Free will
therefore is better than obligation; to will is the part of the wise
man, to obey and to serve is the part of the fool.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. ix. 17.
Sidenote: Gal. v. 13.
22. This is also the Apostle’s definition, who says, _For if I do this
thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will a dispensation
is committed to me_. On the wise man therefore a reward is conferred,
but the wise man acts willingly, according to the Apostle therefore
the wise man is free. Wherefore he also exclaims, _Ye have been called
unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh_. He
separates the Christian from the Law, that he may not seem to yield to
the Law against his will; he calls him to the Gospel, which the willing
both preach and practise. The Jew is under the Law, the Christian
is by the Gospel; in the Law is bondage, in the Gospel, where is the
knowledge of wisdom, is liberty. Every one therefore who receives
Christ is wise, and he who is wise is free, every Christian therefore
is both wise and free.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. ix. 19.
Sidenote: S. John xv. 15.
Sidenote: Gal. v. 13.
Sidenote: Ps. lxxxi. 6. LXX.
Sidenote: Phil. ii. 6.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. ix. 24, 27.
23. But the Apostle has taught me something even beyond freedom itself,
namely that to serve is real freedom, _Though I be free from all_, he
says, _yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the
more_. What is that which surpasses liberty but to have the Spirit of
grace, to have charity? Liberty renders us free to men, but charity
renders us beloved by God. Wherefore Christ also says, _But I have
called you friends_. Good indeed is charity; whereof it is said,
_By love of the Spirit[188] serve one another_. Christ also became a
servant that He might make all free. _His hands served in the baskets_:
He Who _thought it not robbery to be equal with God, took upon Him the
form of a servant_, and was made all things to all men, that He might
bring salvation to all. Following this example, Paul was both, as it
were, under the Law, and lived without the Law, for the benefit of
those whom he desired to gain: to the weak he voluntarily became weak
that he might strengthen them; _he ran so as to obtain, he kept under
his body that he might be victorious over heavenly powers in Christ_.
24. To the wise man therefore even bondage is freedom; whence we may
gather that even to be in power is bondage to the fool, and what is
worse, while he rules over a few, he serves more and severer masters.
For he serves his own passions, his own lusts, their tyranny he can
escape neither by night nor day, for he carries these masters within
his own breast, and suffers within himself an intolerable bondage.
For there is a double bondage, one of the body, another of the soul;
now the lords of the body are men, but the lords of the soul are evil
dispositions and passions, from which liberty of the mind alone frees
the wise man and enables him to depart from his bondage.
Sidenote: Job xiii. 19–21.
25. Let us seek therefore that truly wise man, that truly free man, who
although he live under the dominion of many, says freely, _Who is he
that will plead with me? from Whose sight I shall not be able to hide
myself, only do Thou withdraw Thy hand far from me, and let not Thy
dread make me afraid_.
Sidenote: Ps. li. 6.
26. And King David, who followed him, said, _Against Thee only have
I sinned_. For being supported by the royal dignity, and being, so to
speak, master of the laws, he was not subject to them but was liable to
God alone, Who is the Lord of hosts.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. ii. 15.
Sidenote: Job xxvii. 2.
Sidenote: Ib. xxv. 5.
27. Hear another free man; _But with me it is a very small thing that
I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not
mine own self_, for I know nothing _against_ myself, ... _but He that
judgeth me is the Lord_. The freedom of the spiritual man is a true
freedom, because _he judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged
of no man_, because he knows himself to be subject to nothing which
has any participation in the creature, but to God alone, Who only is
without sin, of Whom Job also says, _God liveth Who hath taken away my
judgment_, for the just man can only be judged by Him _in Whose sight
the heavens are not clean, nor the light of the stars pure and clean_.
28. Will any one bring forward those verses of Sophocles which say
‘Jupiter, and no mortal man is ruler over me?’ How much more ancient is
Job, how much older is David? Let them acknowledge then that they have
borrowed from us the more excellent of their sayings.
Sidenote: Ps. xlv. 8.
29. Who then is wise but he who has arrived at the very mysteries of
the Godhead, and has known the hidden things of wisdom to be manifested
to him. He then alone is wise who has taken God as his guide, to
conduct him to the secret resting-place of truth, and although but a
mortal man has become by grace the heir and successor of the eternal
God, and partaker, as it were, of His sweetness, as it is written,
_Wherefore God, even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of
gladness above thy fellows_.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. vii. 5.
Sidenote: Rom. viii. 37.
30. Now if any man will examine more closely these matters, he will
perceive what great assistance the wise man finds and what great
obstacles the foolish, in the very same things; that to the one freedom
is an aid, to the other bondage is an impediment. For the wise man
rises as a conqueror, having vanquished and triumphed over lust, fear,
sloth, sadness and other vices. This he does until he casts them out
from the possession of his mind, driving and excluding them from all
its bounds and limits, for as a cautious general he knows how to guard
against the incursions of robbers, and those hostile stratagems which
the wicked enemies of our soul are frequently attempting with their
fiery darts; for we have both wars in peace and peace in war. Whence
also he says, _Without were fightings, within were fears_. But _in all
these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us_. He
says this because he was terrified neither by straits nor persecutions,
nor hunger, nor danger, nor death.
Sidenote: Gen. iv. 14.
31. But he who fears these things, who dreads death, how is he not
a slave? Truly he is a slave, and that in a miserable bondage; for
nothing so subjects the mind to all kind of bondage as the fear of
death. For how can the abject and vile and ignoble sense raise itself
up, when it is deeply sunk in the pit of corruption, through the lusts
of this life. Behold, how much he is a slave: _I shall be hid_, he says,
_and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall
come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me_. Therefore
as a slave he received a sign, but even thus he could not escape death.
Thus the sinner is a slave to fear, to cupidity, to avarice, to lust,
to malice, to anger, nay, he is a greater slave than if he were set
under tyrants.
32. But they are free who live by the laws. Now true law is right
reason, true law not sculptured on tablets, nor engraved in brass, but
impressed on the mind, and fixed in the senses; for the wise man is not
under the law, but is a law unto himself, bearing the work of the Law
in his heart, inscribed and formed therein by a kind of pen natural to
himself. Are we then so blind as not to see the manifest characters of
things, and the images of virtues? And how unworthy is it that whole
nations should obey human laws, that they may become thereby partakers
of liberty: but that wise men should neglect and abandon the true
law of nature formed according to the image of God, and true reason,
the sign-bearer of liberty; since there is so much liberty therein,
that when children we are unconscious of any bondage to vice, being
removed from anger, free from avarice, ignorant of lust. How miserable
therefore, that we who are born in liberty should die in bondage!
Sidenote: Exod. xvii. 12.