On the words of the Gospel,
Matthew 10:16 , Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, etc.
Delivered on a Festival of Martyrs.
1. When the Holy
Gospel was read, Brethren, you heard how our Lord Jesus Christ strengthened His
Martyrs by His teaching, saying, Behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst
of wolves. Now consider, my Brethren, what he does. If but one wolf come among
many sheep, be they ever so many thousands, they will all be put to confusion
by one wolf in the midst of them: and though all may not be torn, yet all are
frightened. What manner of design is this then, what manner of counsel, what
manner of power, not to let in a wolf among the sheep, but to send the sheep
against the wolves! I send you, says He, as sheep in the midst of wolves; not
to the neighbourhood of wolves, but in the midst of wolves. There was then at
that time a herd of wolves, and but few sheep. For when the many wolves killed
the few sheep, the wolves were changed and became sheep.
2. Let us hear then
what advice He has given, who has promised the crown, but has first appointed
the combat; who is a spectator of the combatants, and assists them in their
toil. What manner of conflict has He prescribed? Be, says He, wise as serpents,
and simple as doves. Whoso understands, and holds to this, may die in assurance
that he will not really die. For no one ought to die in this assurance, but he
who knows that he shall in such sort die, as that death only shall die in him,
and life be crowned.
3. Wherefore,
Beloved, I must explain to you, though I have often spoken already on this
subject, what it is to be simple as doves, and wise as serpents. Now if the
simplicity of doves be enjoined us, what has the wisdom of the serpent to do in
the simplicity of the dove? This in the dove I love, that she has no gall; this
I fear in the serpent, that he has poison. But now do not fear the serpent
altogether; something he has for you to hate, and something for you to imitate.
For when the serpent is weighed down with age, and he feels the burden of his
many years, he contracts and forces himself into a hole, and lays aside his old
coat of skin, that he may spring forth into new life. Imitate him in this, you
Christian, who hears Christ saying, Enter ye in at the strait gate. And the
Apostle Paul says to you, Put ye off the old man with his deeds, and put ye on
the new man. You have then something to imitate in the serpent. Die not for the
old man, but for the truth. Whoso dies for any temporal good dies for the old
man. But when you have stripped yourself of all that old man, you have imitated
the wisdom of the serpent. Imitate him in this again; keep your head safe. And
what does this mean, keep your head safe? Keep Christ with you. Have not some
of you, it may be, observed, on occasions when you have wished to kill an
adder, how to save his head, he will expose his whole body to the strokes of
his assailant? He would not that that part of him should be struck, where he
knows that his life resides. And our Life is Christ, for He has said Himself, I
am the way, and the truth, and the life. Here the Apostle also; The Head of the
man is Christ. Whoso then keeps Christ in him, keeps his head for his
protection.
4. Now what need is
there to commend to you in many words the simplicity of the dove? For the
serpent's poison had need to be guarded against: there, there was a danger in
imitation; there, there was something to be feared; but the dove may you
imitate securely. Mark how the doves rejoice in society; everywhere do they fly
and feed together; they do not love to be alone, they delight in communion,
they preserve affection; their cooings are the plaintive cries of love, with
kissings they beget their young. Yea even when doves, as we have often noticed,
dispute about their holes, it is as it were but a peaceful strife. Do they
separate, because of their contentions? Nay, still do they fly and feed
together, and their very strife is peaceful. See this strife of doves, in what
the Apostle says, If any man obey not our word by this epistle, mark that man,
and have no company with him. Behold the strife; but observe now how it is the
strife of doves, not of wolves. He subjoined immediately, Yet count him not as
an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. The dove loves even when she is in
strife; and the wolf even when he caresses, hates. Therefore having the
simplicity of doves, and the wisdom of serpents, celebrate the solemnities of
the Martyrs in sobriety of mind, not in bodily excess, sing lauds to God. For
He who is the Martyrs' God, is our Lord God also, He it is who will crown us.
If we shall have wrestled well, we shall be crowned by Him, who has crowned
already those whom we desire to imitate.
by Saint Augustine
Image Credit James Shepard
1. When the Holy
Gospel was read, Brethren, you heard how our Lord Jesus Christ strengthened His
Martyrs by His teaching, saying, Behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst
of wolves. Now consider, my Brethren, what he does. If but one wolf come among
many sheep, be they ever so many thousands, they will all be put to confusion
by one wolf in the midst of them: and though all may not be torn, yet all are
frightened. What manner of design is this then, what manner of counsel, what
manner of power, not to let in a wolf among the sheep, but to send the sheep
against the wolves! I send you, says He, as sheep in the midst of wolves; not
to the neighbourhood of wolves, but in the midst of wolves. There was then at
that time a herd of wolves, and but few sheep. For when the many wolves killed
the few sheep, the wolves were changed and became sheep.
2. Let us hear then
what advice He has given, who has promised the crown, but has first appointed
the combat; who is a spectator of the combatants, and assists them in their
toil. What manner of conflict has He prescribed? Be, says He, wise as serpents,
and simple as doves. Whoso understands, and holds to this, may die in assurance
that he will not really die. For no one ought to die in this assurance, but he
who knows that he shall in such sort die, as that death only shall die in him,
and life be crowned.
3. Wherefore,
Beloved, I must explain to you, though I have often spoken already on this
subject, what it is to be simple as doves, and wise as serpents. Now if the
simplicity of doves be enjoined us, what has the wisdom of the serpent to do in
the simplicity of the dove? This in the dove I love, that she has no gall; this
I fear in the serpent, that he has poison. But now do not fear the serpent
altogether; something he has for you to hate, and something for you to imitate.
For when the serpent is weighed down with age, and he feels the burden of his
many years, he contracts and forces himself into a hole, and lays aside his old
coat of skin, that he may spring forth into new life. Imitate him in this, you
Christian, who hears Christ saying, Enter ye in at the strait gate. And the
Apostle Paul says to you, Put ye off the old man with his deeds, and put ye on
the new man. You have then something to imitate in the serpent. Die not for the
old man, but for the truth. Whoso dies for any temporal good dies for the old
man. But when you have stripped yourself of all that old man, you have imitated
the wisdom of the serpent. Imitate him in this again; keep your head safe. And
what does this mean, keep your head safe? Keep Christ with you. Have not some
of you, it may be, observed, on occasions when you have wished to kill an
adder, how to save his head, he will expose his whole body to the strokes of
his assailant? He would not that that part of him should be struck, where he
knows that his life resides. And our Life is Christ, for He has said Himself, I
am the way, and the truth, and the life. Here the Apostle also; The Head of the
man is Christ. Whoso then keeps Christ in him, keeps his head for his
protection.
4. Now what need is
there to commend to you in many words the simplicity of the dove? For the
serpent's poison had need to be guarded against: there, there was a danger in
imitation; there, there was something to be feared; but the dove may you
imitate securely. Mark how the doves rejoice in society; everywhere do they fly
and feed together; they do not love to be alone, they delight in communion,
they preserve affection; their cooings are the plaintive cries of love, with
kissings they beget their young. Yea even when doves, as we have often noticed,
dispute about their holes, it is as it were but a peaceful strife. Do they
separate, because of their contentions? Nay, still do they fly and feed
together, and their very strife is peaceful. See this strife of doves, in what
the Apostle says, If any man obey not our word by this epistle, mark that man,
and have no company with him. Behold the strife; but observe now how it is the
strife of doves, not of wolves. He subjoined immediately, Yet count him not as
an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. The dove loves even when she is in
strife; and the wolf even when he caresses, hates. Therefore having the
simplicity of doves, and the wisdom of serpents, celebrate the solemnities of
the Martyrs in sobriety of mind, not in bodily excess, sing lauds to God. For
He who is the Martyrs' God, is our Lord God also, He it is who will crown us.
If we shall have wrestled well, we shall be crowned by Him, who has crowned
already those whom we desire to imitate.
Image Credit James Shepard
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