HOMILY VI

Although he had delivered a long homily against the Jews on the previous day, and had become hoarse from the length of his Sermon, he now delivered the following discourse.

WILD BEASTS ARE less savage and fierce as long
they live in the forests and have had no experience
fighting against men. But when the hunters capture
them, they drag them into the cities, lock them in
cages, and goad them on to do battle with beast-fighting gladiators.
Then the beasts spring upon their prey, taste human flesh and drink
human blood. After that, they would find it no easy task to keep
away from such a feast but they avidly rush to this bloody ban-
quet.

(2) This has been my experience, too. Once I took up my fight
against the Jews and rushed to meet their shameless assaults, "I
destroyed their reasoning and every lofty thing that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God, and I brought their minds into captiv-
ity to the obedience of Christ.  And after that I somehow acquired
a stronger yearning to do battle against them.

(3) But what is the matter with me? You see that my voice has
grown weaker and cannot again last for so long a time. I think that
what has happened to me is much the same as what happens to a
soldier in battle. He cuts to pieces a number of his foes, courageous-
ly throws himself against the enemy lines,  strews the ground
with corpses, but then breaks his sword; disheartened by this mishap
he must retreat to his own ranks. Indeed, what has happened to me
is worse. The soldier who has broken his sword can snatch another
from some bystander, prove his courage, and show how eager he is
for victory. But when the voice becomes weak and exhausted,
you cannot borrow another from somebody else.

(4) What shall I do, then? Shall I, too, run away? The power your
loving assembly holds over me does not let me run away. I reverence
and respect our father, who is here. I reverence and respect your
eagerness and earnestness. Therefore, I shall entrust the whole under-
taking to his prayers and your charity and I will attempt what lies
beyond my power.

(5) It is true that today's feast of the martyrs invites me to
recount the conflicts they underwent. If I neglect this topic, if I
strip and get ready to enter the arena against the Jews, let no one
accuse me of choosing the wrong time for my discourse. The martyrs
would find a discourse against the Jews more desirable than any
panegyric of mine, since I could never make them more illustrious
than they are.

(6) What need could they have of my tongue? Their own struggles
surpass our mortal nature. The prizes they won go beyond our
powers and understanding. They laughed at the life lived on earth;
 they trampled underfoot the punishment of the rack; they scorned
death and took wing to heaven; they escaped from the storms of
temporal things  and sailed into a calm harbor; they brought
with them no gold or silver or expensive garments; they carried along
no treasure which could be plundered, but the riches of patience,
courage, and love. Now they belong to Paul's choral band while they
still await their crowns, but they find delight in the expectation of
their crowns, because they have escaped henceforth the uncertainty
of the future.s

(7) What need could they have of any words of mine? Therefore,
they will find this topic more desirable than any panegyric of mine
which, as I said before, will bring no increase to their personal glory.
But it could be that they will derive great pleasure from my conflict
with the Jews; they might well listen most intently to a discourse
given for God's glory. For the martyrs have a special hatred for the
Jews since the Jews crucified him for whom they have a special love.
The Jews said: "His blood be on us and on our children" the
martyrs poured out their own blood for him whom the Jews had
slain. So the martyrs would be glad to hear this discourse.

II

If the present captivity of the Jews were going to come to an end,
the prophets would not have remained silent on this but would have
foretold it. I gave adequate proof of this when I showed that all their
bondages were brought upon them after they had been predicted:
the bondage in Egypt, the bondage in Babylon, and the bondage in
the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. I proved that for each of these the
Sacred Scriptures had proclaimed beforehand both a time and a
place. But no prophet defined a duration for the present bondage,
although Daniel did predict that it would come, that it would bring
total desolation, that it would change their old commonwealth and
way of life, and how long after the return from Babylon it would
come to pass.

(2) But Daniel did not reveal that it would come to an end nor
that these troubles would ever stop. Nor did any other prophet.
Daniel did, however, predict the opposite, namely, that this bondage
would hold them in slavery until the end of time The great number
of years which have come and gone since that day are witnesses to
the truth of what he said. And the years have shown neither trace
nor beginning of a change for the better, even though the Jews tried
many times to rebuild their temple. Not once, not twice, but three
times they tried. They tried ill the time of Hadrian, in the time of
Constantine, and in the time of Julian. But each time they tried
they were stopped. The first two times they were stopped by
military force; later it was by the fire which leaped forth
from the foundations and restrained them from their untimely
obstinancy.

(3) Now I would be glad to ask them a few questions. Why, tell
me, did you recover your own country after spending so many years
in Egypt? And after you had been again dragged away into Babylon,
 wily did you come back to Jerusalem? Again, in the time of Antio-
chus, you suffered many evils, but you came back to your old state,
you again recovered your sacrifices, your altar, your holy of holies,
and all the rest, along with the dignity these things once had. But
nothing such as this has happened ill your present bondage. One
hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred years and many
more than that have passed This is the five hundredth year up to our
own day,! t but we see no hint of such a change for the better on
the horizon. What we do see is that the Jewish fortunes have com-
pletely collapsed; they do not even have a dream to show they might
have ally expectation such as they had in their former captiv-
ities.

(4) Suppose the Jews should plead their sins as an excuse. Sup-
pose they should say: "We sinned against God and offended him.
This is the reason why we are not recovering our homeland. We did
treat shamelessly the prophets who never ceased to accuse us, we did
deny the blood-guilt of which the prophets spoke in tragic phra-
ses, but we will now confess and condemn ourselves for our own
sins." If the Jews should plead this excuse, I will be glad to question
each one of them again.

(5) Is it because of your sins that you Jews have been living for so
long a time outside Jerusalem? What is strange and unusual about
that? It is not only now that your people are living sin fill lives. Did
you, in the beginning, live your lives injustice and good deeds? ls it
not true that from the beginning and long before today you lived
with countless transgressions of the Law? Did not the prophet
Ezechiel accuse you ten thousand times when he brought in the
two harlots, Oholah and Oholibah, and said "You built a brothel
in Egypt; you passionately loved barbarians, and you worshipped
strange gods."

(6) What about this? After the waters of the sea were divided,
after the rocks were broken asunder, after so many miracles were
worked in the desert, did you not worship the calf?. Did you not try
many times to kill Moses, now by stoning him, now by driving him
into exile, and in ten thousand other ways? Did you ever stop
hurling blasphemies at God? Were you not initiated in the rites of
Baal of Peor? Did you not sacrifice your sons and daughters to
demons? Did you not make a display of every form of ungodliness
and sin?

(7) Did not the prophet, speaking in behalf of God, say to you:
"Forty years I was offended with that generation, and I said: 'These
always err in heart.' "' How was it, then, that at that time God did
not turn himself away from you? How is it that after you slew your
children, after your idolatries, after your many acts of arrogance,
after your unspeakable ingratitude, that God even allowed the great
Moses to be a prophet among you and that he worked wondrous and
marvellous signs himself?. What happened in the case of no human
being did happen to you. A cloud was stretched over you in place of
a roof; a pillar instead of a lamp served to guide you; your enemies
retreated of their own accord; cities were captured almost at the first
battle-shout. You had no need of weapons. no need of an army
in array, no need to do battle. You had only to sound your trumpets
and the walls came tumbling down of their own accord. And you
had a strange and marvellous food which the prophet spoke of when
he exclaimed: "He gave them the bread of heaven. Man ate the bread
of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance.

(8) Tell me this. In those days you were guilty of ungodliness,
you worshipped idols, you slew your children, you stoned the
prophets, and you did ten thousand dreadful deeds. Why, then, did
you enjoy such great kindness and good will from Him? Why did He
offer you such protection at that time? Now you do not worship
idols, you do not slay your children, you do not stone the prophets.
Why are you now spending your lives in endless captivity? God was
not one kind of God then and a different kind now, was he? Is it not
the same God who governed those past events and who brings to
pass what goes on today? Tell me this. Why did you have great
honor from God when your sins were greater? Now that your sins
are less serious, tie has turned himself altogether away from you and
has given you over to unending disgrace.

(9) If he turns away from you now because of your sins, lie
should have done so all the more in those days. If he put up with
you when you were living lives of ungodliness, he ought to put up
with you all the more now that you venture no such enormities.
Why, then, has he not put up with you? Even if you are too
ashamed to give the reason, I will state it clearly. Rather, I will not
state it, but the truth of the facts will do so.

(10) You did slay Christ, you did lift violent hands against the
Master, you did spill his precious blood. This is why you have no
chance for atonement, excuse, or defense. In the old days your
reckless deeds were aimed against his servants, against Moses, Isaiah,
and Jeremiah. Even if there was ungodliness in your acts then, your
boldness had not yet dared the crowning crime. But now you have
put all the sins of your fathers into the shade. Your mad rage against
Christ, the Anointed One, left no way for anyone to surpass your
sin. This is why the penalty you now pay is greater than that paid by
your fathers. If tiffs is not the reason for your present disgrace, why
is it that God put up with you in the old days when you sacrificed
your children to idols, but turns himself away from you now when
you are not so bold as to commit such a crime? Is it not clear that
you dared a deed much worse and much greater than any sacrifice of
children or transgression of the Law when you slew Christ?

III

Tell me this. Will you still dare to call him an imposter and
lawbreaker? Will you not instead go off and bury yourselves some-
where, when you look the facts in the face, since their truth is so
obvious? If Jesus were an imposter and lawbreaker, as you say he
was, you should have been held in high honor for putting him to
death. Phinehas slew a mall and put an end to all God's wrath against
the people?° The Psahnist said: "Then Phinehas stood up and pro-
pitiated him and the slaughter stopped?  He rescued a great many
ungodly men from the wrath of God .by slaying a single lawbreaker.
This should have happened all the more in your case, if indeed the
man you crucified was a transgressor of the Law.

(2) Phinehas, then, was held guiltless after he slew a lawbreaker;
indeed, he was honored with the priesthood. But after you cruci-
fied an imposter, as you say, who made himself equal to God, you
did not receive esteem nor were you held in honor. Instead you
suffered a more grievous punishment than you did when you sacri-
ficed your children to idols. Why is this so? Is it not clear even to the
dullest minds? You committed outrage on him who saved and rules
the world; now you are enduring this great punishment. Is this not
the reason?

(3) Yet even today you abstain from blood which would defile
you and you observe the sabbath. But at the time you slew Christ,
you violated the sabbath. God even promised, through Jeremiah,
to spare your city if you would stop carrying burdens on the
sabbath. Look, you are observing this law now; you are not car-
rying burdens on the sabbath. But God is not reconciled to you
on this account. Since that sin of yours surpassed all sins, it is
useless to say your sins are keeping you from recovering your
homeland. You are in the grip of your present sufferings not be-
cause of the sins committed in the rest of your lives but because
of that one reckless act. If this were not the case, God would not
have turned his back on you in such a way, even if you had sinned
ten thousand times. This is clear not only from all I have already
said but from what I am now going to tell you.

(4) What is this? Oftentimes we have heard God speak to your
fathers through the prophets and say: "You deserve countless
evils. But I do this for my name's sake, that it may not be pro-
faned among the nations." And again: "It is not for your sakes
that I do this, O house of Israel, but for my name's sake."
What God is saying is this: "You deserved heavier  vengeance
and punishment. But so that no one may say that God let the Jews
stay in the power of their enemies because God was weak and
unable to save them, I am helping you and protecting you."

(5) Suppose Christ were a lawbreaker and you crucified him; sup-
pose you had committed countless sins and much worse ones than
the sins of your fathers. God would still have saved you to keep his
name from being profaned. If Christ were a lawbreaker, God
would not have let him be considered a great man, God would not
want people putting the blame on Christ for your misfortunes. If
God clearly overlooks your sins for Iris glory's sake, he would
have done so all the more if you crucified a lawbreaker. He would
have approved of this slaughter and would have blotted out your
sins, many as they are. But when God clearly and completely
turns himself from you, it is obvious that, by his anger and by
abandoning you forever, he is proving even to the most shameless
that he who was slain was not a lawbreaker, but the lawgiver who
has come as the author of countless blessings. You acted outra-
geously against him and you are now held in indignity and dis-
honor. We worship him and, even though heretofore we were held
in greater dishonor than all of you, now, through the grace of
God, we are more venerable than all .of you and are held in higher
esteem.

(6) But the Jews will say: "Where is the evidence that God has
turned away front us?" Does this still need proof in words? Tell
me this. Do not the facts themselves shout it out? Do they not
send forth a sound clearer titan the trumpet's call? Do you still
ask for proof in words when you see the destruction of your city,
the desolation of your temple, and all the other misfortunes which
have come upon you? "But men brought these things upon us, not
God." Rather it was God above all others who did these things. If
you attribute them to men. then you must consider that, even if
men were to have the boldness, they would not have had the power
to bring these things to accomplishment, unless it were by God's
decree.

(7) The barbarian came down upon you and brought all Persia
with him. He expected that lie would catch you all by the sud-
denness of his attack and lie kept you all locked up in the city as
if you were caught in the net of a hunter or fisherman. Because
God was gracious to you at that time-I repeat, at that time-
without a battle, without a war, without a hostile encounter, the
barbarian king left one hundred and eighty-five thousand of his
slain soldiers among you and fled, contented that he alone was
saved. And God often decided countless other battles in this way.
So also now, if God had not deserted you once and for all, your
enemies would not have had the power to destroy your city and
leave your temple desolate. If God had not abandoned you, the
ruin of desolation would not have lasted so long a time, nor would
your frequent efforts to rebuild the temple have been in vain.

IV

These are not my only arguments. I shall use other sources as
well in my efforts to prevail upon you to agree that it was not by
their own power that the Roman emperors did what they did.
They did what they did because God was angry with the Jews and
had abandoned them. If the things that happened were the work
of men, your misfortunes should have ended with the capture
of Jerusalem and your disgrace should not have gone beyond it.
Let me grant, according to your argument, that men demolished
the walls, destroyed the city, and overturned the altar,  Was it
the work of men that you have no more prophets? Men did not
take away the grace of the Spirit, did they? Did men destroy the
other things you held solemn, such as the voice from the propitia-
tory, the power which came in the anointing, the declaration
made by the priest from the stones?

(2) The Jewish religious way of life did not have all its origins
from here below; the greater number and the more solemn things
came from heaven above. For example, God permitted the sacri-
fices. The altar was from here below as were the faggots, the
knife, and the priest. But the rite which was going to enter the
sanctuary and consume the sacrifices had its source from on high;
no man carried the fire into the temple, but a flame came down
from above and by this the ministry for the sacrifice was ful-
filled.

(3) And, again, if they ever had to know something, a voice
came forth from the propitiatory, or mercy-seat, from between the
cherubim, and foretold the future. Again from the stones which
were on the breast of the high priest, which they called the decla-
ration, there came a sort of flashing which indicated the future.
Furthermore, whenever someone had to be chosen and anointed,
the grace of the Spirit would wing its way down and the oil would
run on the forehead of the elect. Prophets fulfilled these minis-
tries. And many a time a cloud of smoke obscured the sanctu-
ary. To keep the Jews from continuing their shameless ways and
attributing their desolation to men, God not only permitted the
city to fall and the temple to be destroyed but he also removed
the things which had their source from heaven above: the fire, the
voice, the flashing of the stones, and all other such things.

(4) The Jews will tell you: "Men waged war on us; men plotted
against us." When they say this, tell them that men would certain-
ly not have waged war against them unless God had permitted it.
Granted that men tore down your walls. Did a man keep the fire
from Coming down from heaven? Did a man stop the voice which
was continually heard from the propitiatory? Did a man stop the
declaration from the stones? Did a man put an end to the anoint-
ing of your priests? Did a man take away all those other things?
Was it not God who withdrew them? Surely, this is clear to every-
body. Why, then, did God take them away? Is it not obvious that
he hated you and turned his back on you once and for all? The
Jews will say: "By no means! The reason why we do not have
these is because we do not have our mother-city." But why do
you not have your mother-city? Is it not because God has aban-
doned you?

(5) Let us, rather, stop their shameless mouths with still more
proof. To do this, let me prove from the Scriptures themselves
that the destruction of the temple was not the reason for destroy-
ing the ritual given to the prophets. The real reason was the wrath
of God. And he is much more provoked to anger now, because of
the Jews' mad rage against Christ, than he was when they wor-
shipped the calf. Surely, when Moses was their prophet, there was
neither temple nor altar. Even though they kept committing
countless acts of ungodliness, his gift of prophecy did not desert
him. To be sure, he was a great and noble man, but, in addition to
hint, there were again seventy other men who, at that time, were
proclaimed as prophets.

(6) This was true not only in Moses' day but also thereafter,
when they had been given a temple and the rest of the ritual.
Even after this temple was burned and they all had been led off to
Babylon, Ezechiel and Daniel saw no holy of holies, stood beside
no altar. But even though they were in the middle of a barbarian
land and  in the midst of unclean transgressors of the Law,
they were filled with the Spirit and foretold the future, predicting
events far more numerous and marvellous than those prophesied
by their predecessors. And they saw divine visions insofar as it was
possible for them to see.
 
(7) Tell me this. Why is it that you have no prophets now? Is it
not clear that it is because God has turned his back on your reli-
gion? Why did he turn his back on you? It is again obvious that
he did so because of him whom you crucified' and because of your
recklessness in committing that outrage. What makes this so obvi-
ous? It is obvious from this: when you Jews lived the life of un-
godliness before, you got everything; now, after the cross,
although you seem to be living a more moderate life, you 'endure a
greater vengeance and have none of your former blessings.

V

The prophets clearly and distinctly put the truth before you so
that you could learn the reason for your troubles. hear how Isaiah
predicted not only the blessings that will come to all through
Christ but also your senseless arrogance. He said: "By his stripes
we were healed," and by these words he foretold the salvation
which has come to all through the cross. Then, to show the kind
of men we are, he went on to say: "We had all gone astray like
sheep, each turned aside on his own way." In describing the
manner of his execution on the cross, he said: "Like a lamb led to
the slaughter or a sheep before the shearer, he was silent and
opened not his mouth. In his humiliation his legal trial was taken
away.

(2) And where can we see that all these things came true? In
Pilate's unlawful court of law. Although they testified to so many
things against him, as Matthew said, Jesus made no answer to them.
Pilate, the presiding official, said to him: "Do you hear what witness
these men bear against you?  And he made no answer but stood
there silent. This is what the heaven-inspired prophet meant when he
said: "Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearer,
he was silent." Then he showed the lawlessness of the law court
when he said: "In his humiliation his legal trial was taken away."
No one at that time cast a truly just vote against him, but they
accepted the false testimony against him. What was the reason for
this? Because he did not wish to proceed against them.

(3) If he wished to do so, he would have stirred up everything
and shaken the world to its depths. When he was on the cross, he
split the rocks, darkened the earth, turned aside the rays of the sun,
and made night out of day over the whole world. If he did this on
the cross, he could have done it in the courtroom. Yet he did not
wish to do it but, instead, showed us his mildness and moderation.
This is why Isaiah said: "In his humiliation his legal trial was taken
away." Then, to show that Jesus was not just anybody, he went on
to say: "Who shall declare his generation?  Who is this man of
whom Isaiah said: "His life is taken from the earth?  This is
why Paul also said: "Our life is hidden with Christ in God. When
Christ, our life, shall appear, then you too will appear with him in
glory."

(4) But let me return to the topic which I proposed to discuss and
prove, namely, that the Jews are enduring their present troubles
because of Christ. It is time now to bring in my witness, Isaiah, who
spoke these words. Where, then, did he say this? After he spoke of
the trial, death, and ascension, after he said:  "His life is taken
from the earth," he went on to say: "And I shall give the ungodly
for his burial, and the rich for his death." He did not simply say
"the Jews," but "the ungodly." What could be more ungodly than
those who first received so many good things and then slew the
author of those blessings?

(5) If these prophecies have not been fulfilled, if you Jews are not
now held in dishonor, if you are not now bereft of everything your
fathers had, if your city did not fall, if your temple is not in ruins, if
your disaster has not surpassed every tragedy, then you Jews should
refuse to believe me. But if the facts shout out and prophecy has
been fulfilled, why do you keep up your foolish and unavailing
impudence?

(6) Where are the things you held as solemn, where is your high
priest, where are his robe, his breastpiece, and stones of declara-
tion?so Do not talk to me about those patriarchs   of yours who
are hucksters and merchants and -filed with all iniquity. Tell me,
what kind of priest is he if the ancient oil for anointing priests no
longer exists nor any other ritual of consecration? What kind of a
priest is he if there is neither sacrifice, nor altar, nor worship?
 
 
Do you wish me to speak of the laws governing the priesthood
and how priests were consecrated in olden times? In this way you
would find out that those among you who are today called patri-
archs are not priests at all. They act the part of priests and are play-
ing a role as if they were on the stage, but they cannot carry the
role because they are so far removed from both the reality and
even the pretense of priesthood.

(7) Recall how ill those days Aaron was made a priest, how many
sacrifices Moses offered, how many victims he slew, how he bathed
Aaron, anointed the lobe of his ear, his right hand and right foot.
Only then did Moses lead Aaron into the holy of holies; only then
did he bid him remain there a set number of days. But it is worth
your while to hear his very words. "This is the anointing of Aaron
and the anointing of his sons.TM2 "And the Lord spoke to Moses
saying 'Take Aaron with his sons, their vestments, and the oil of
unction, the calf for sin, and a ram, and gather together the com-
munity at the entrance of the meeting tent.' And Moses spoke to the
whole assembly: 'This is the word which the Lord has commanded.'
And after he brought them forward" (for I must cut the account
short), "he washed them with water, put the tunic [on Aaron],
girded him with the sash, clothed him with the robe, placed the
ephod on him,  girded him and fastened it around him. He then set
the breastpiece on him with the declaration of doctrine and truth on
it, and put the miters on his head, and on the miter, the gold plate.
Taking the anointing oil he sprinkled the altar with it and conse-
crated it and the vessels; the laver and its base he also consecrated.
And he poured some of the oil on Aaron's head and did in like
manner to his sons. And he brought forward the calf. After he
sacrificed it, when Aaron and his sons had put their hands upon it,
he took some of its blood and put it on the horns of the altar and
purified the altar. And he poured the blood on the base of the altar
and consecrated it by performing the rite of atonement Over it. After
lie burned portions of the calf, some within on the altar, others
outside the camp, he brought in a ram and offered it for a holocaust.


(8) And again he brought a second ram, the ordination ram.
Aaron and his sons laid their hands on it and Moses immolated its 
He took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right
ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot.
And he did the same thing to Aaron's sons. Then he took some parts
of the sacrifice and put them into Aaron's hands and those of
his sons and in this way he made the offering. And again he took
the blood and some oil and sprinkled Aaron and his vestments
with it, and his sons and their vestments. He consecrated them
 and ordered them to cook the flesh at the entrance to the tent
of meeting and to eat it there. And he said: 'You shall not go forth
from the entrance to the tent of meeting for seven days until the
day when the day of your ordination is complete."'

(9) Moses said that by all these rites Aaron was ordained, puri-
fied, and consecrated, and that they appeased God. But we find
none of these today: no sacrifice, no holocaust, no sprinkling of
blood, no anointing with oil, no tent of meeting where they must sit
for a definite number of days. This makes it obvious that the priest
among the Jews today is unordained, unclean, under a curse, and
profane; he only provokes God's wrath. If a priest could not be
ordained in any other way than by these rites, and these rites no
longer exist, then there is no possible way that their priesthood
could have continued to exist. You see that ! was right when I said
they had gotten somewhere far off and had been far removed from
both the reality and even the pretense of the priesthood.

VI

We can also learn from other sources how awesome was the dig-
nity of the priesthood. Indeed, there was a day when some wicked
and evil men revolted against Aaron, quarreled with him over his
position in the community, and tried to drive him from his leader-
ship. Moses, the mildest of men, wanted to persuade them by the
facts themselves that he had not brought Aaron to the leadership
because he was a brother, relative, or member of his family, but that
it was in obedience to God's decree that he had entrusted the
priesthood to him. So he ordered each tribe to bring a staff, and
Aaron was instructed to do the same.

(2) When each tribe had brought a staff, Moses took all of them
and put them inside the meeting tent. Once he had put them there,
he gave orders that they await the decision of God which would
come to them through those staves. Then all the other staves kept
their same appearance, but a single one-Aaron's-blossomed and put
forth leaves and fruit. So the Lord of nature used leaves instead of
letters to teach them that he had again elected Aaronfin

(3) God said in the beginning: "Let the earth bring forth vegeta-
tion," and he stirred up its power to bear fruit; in Aaron's day, he
also took that dry and fruitless wood and made it blossom without
earth or root. That staff was thereafter a proof and witness both of
the wickedness of those men and of God's choice. It uttered no
word, but the very sight of it, in tones clearer than any trumpet's
call, urged every man never to attempt such things as did Aaron's
foes.

(4) Not only ill this case but at another time and in another way
God made clear his choice of Aaron. Many men conspired against
Aaron in their lust for the leadership for which God selected him.
(And leadership is the kind of thing many men fight over and de-
sire.) Moses ordered them to bring their censers, put incense in them,
and to wait for a decision from heaven. As they were burning
their incense, the earth split apart and gulped down all their sup-
porters, and a flame from heaven consumed those who had taken up
their censers.

(5) Moses did not want anyone to forget, with the passage of
time, what had happened. Nor did he want men of a later day to
remain ignorant of God's wondrous decision. Therefore, he gave
orders that those bronze censers be picked up and beaten into plates
for the altar. Just as the very sight of the voiceless staff sent forth
a voice, so these bronze plates would speak to all men thereafter, to
exhort and advise them never to imitate the madness of those men
of old, for fear that they might suffer the same judgment.

(6) Do you see how priests were chosen in former days? But
everything that goes on among the Jews today is a ridiculous sport, a
trading in shame, filled with outrages beyond number. Tell me, then.
Do you let yourself be led by these men who stubbornly oppose
God's laws in their every word and deed? Do you rush to their
synagogues? Are you not afraid that a bolt of lightning may come
down from above and consume your head? Even if a man is not a
thief himself but is seen in a den of robbers, he pays the same
penalty as they. You do know tiffs, do you not? But why talk about
robbers and their crimes?

(7) Surely you all know and remember the time when some evil
tricksters in our midst tore down the statues? You remember how
not only those who did this reckless deed but also those who were
seen simply standing there when it happened were all arrested and
dragged off to court together. And you remember that they all paid
the supreme penalty. Tell me, then. Are you all agog to run off to
a place where they outrage the Father, blaspheme the Son, and
reject the Holy Spirit, the giver of life? Are you not afraid, do you
not shudder to set foot inside those profane and unclean places? Tell
me. What defense or excuse will you have since it is you who have
thrust yourself into ruin and perdition, since it is you who have
hurled yourself from the precipice?

(8) Do not tell me that the Law and the books of the prophets
are there. These do not make it a holy place? Which is the better
thing? Is it better to have the books there or to speak out the truths
they contain? Obviously it is better to speak out these truths and to
keep them in your heart. Tell me, what about this? The devil quoted
Scripture. This did not make his mouth holy, did it? You cannot
say it did, since the devil kept on being the devil. What about the
demons? Just because they spoke out and proclaimed: "These men
are servants of the most high God and they proclaim to you a way of
salvation," do we on this account rank them among the apostles?
By no means! Just as before, we keep right on turning our backs (m
them and hating them.

(9) If spoken words do not make the mouth holy, does the pres-
ence of the Scriptures make a place holy? But how could this be
right? This is my strongest reason for hating the synagogue: it does
have the Law and the prophets. And now I hate it more than if it
had none of these. Why is this? Because in the Law and the prophets
they have a great allurement and many a snare to attract the more
simple-minded sort of men. This is why Paul drove out the demon
which did not remain silent but spoke out. As the author of Acts
says: "Being very much grieved, he said to the spirit, 'Go out of
her.' Why? Because the demon kept shouting: "These men are
servants of the most high God. 

(10) As long as the demons remained silent, they did not deceive
people by their words; when they spoke out, they did so with the
intention of enticing many of the simpler sort  into listening
and heeding them in these other matters. The demons wish to open
the door to their deceits and to create confidence in their lies. And
so they give some admixture of truth, in the same way that those
who mix lethal drugs smear the lip of the cup with honey to make
the harmful potion easy to drink.

(11) This is why Paul was very much grieved and why he hurried
to stop up the demons' mouths when they took to themselves a dig-
nity which ill became them. This is why I hate the Jews. Although
they possess the Law, they put it to outrageous use. For it is by
means of the Law that they try to entice and catch the more simple-
minded sort of men. If they refused to believe in Christ because
they did not believe in the prophets, the charge against them would
not be so severe. As it is, they have deprived themselves of every ex-
cuse because they say that they do believe in the prophets but
they have heaped outrage on him whom the prophets foretold.

VII

In short, if you believe the place is holy because the Law and the
books of prophets are there, then it is time for you to believe that
idols and the temples of idols are holy. Once, when the Jews were at
war, the people of Ashdod conquered them, took their ark, and
brought it into their own temple. Did the fact that it contained the
ark make their temple a holy place? By no means! It continued to be
profane and unclean, as the events straightway proved. For God
wanted to teach the enemies of the Jews that the defeat was not due
to God's weakness but to the transgressions of those who wor-
shipped him. And so the ark, which had been taken as booty in war,
gave proof of its own power in an alien land by twice throwing the
idol to the ground so that the idol was broken. The ark was so far
from making that temple a holy place that it even openly attacked
it.

(2) Look at it in another way. What sort of ark is it that the Jews
now have, where we find no propitiatory, no tables of the law, no
holy of holies, no veil, no high priest, no incense, no holocaust, no
sacrifice, none of the other things that made the ark of old solemn
and august? It seems to me that the ark the Jews now have is no
 better off than those toy arks which you can buy in the market
place. in fact it is much worse. Those little toy arks cannot hurt
anybody who comes close to them. But the ark which the Jews now
have does great harm each day to those who come near it.

(3) "Brethren, do not become children in mind, but in malice be
children, and rescue from their untimely anguish those who are
frightened by these things. Teach them what should really terrify
them and make them afraid. They should not be terrified by that ark
but they should be afraid that they will bring destruction to the
temple of God. How will they destroy the temple of God? By
constantly rushing off to the synagogue, by a conscience which is
inclined toward Judaism, and by the untimely observance of the
Jewish rites.

(4) "You who would be justified in the Law have fallen away
from grace." This is what you must fear. On that day of judg-
ment you must be afraid of hearing him who will judge you say:
"Depart, I know you not." "You made common cause with those
who crucified me. You were obstinate toward me and started up
again the festivals to which I had put an end. You ran to the syna-
gogues of the Jews who sinned against me. I destroyed the temple
and made rains of that august place together with all the awe-in-
spiring things it contained. But you frequented shrines that are no
better than hucksters' shops or dens of thieves."

(5) The cherubim and the ark were still there, the grace of
the Spirit still abounded in the temple when Christ said: "You have
made it a den of thieves" and "a house of business." And He
said this because of the transgressions and blood-guilt of the Jews.
Now, after the grace of the Spirit has abandoned them, after all
those august solemnities have been taken away, they are still stub-
born with God and carry on their irreligious rites. What worthy
name can we find to call their synagogues?

(6) The temple was already a den of thieves when the Jewish
commonwealth and way of life still prevailed. Now you give it a
name more worthy than it deserves if you call it a brothel, a strong-
hold of sin, a lodging-place for demons, a fortress of the de .vii, the
destruction of the soul, the precipice and pit of all perdition, or
whatever other name you give it.

(7) Do you wish to see the temple? Don't run to the synagogue;
be a temple yourself. God destroyed one temple in Jerusalem but he
reared up temples beyond number, temples more august than that
old one ever was. Paul said: "You are the temple of the living
God. Make that temple beautiful, drive out every evil thought, so
that you may be a precious member of Christ, a temple of the Spirit.
And make others be temples such as you are yourselves. When you
see the poor, you would not find it easy to pass them by. When ally
of you see some Christian running to the synagogue, do not look the
other way. Find some argument you can use as a halter to bring him
back to the Church. This kind of almsgiving is greater than giving to
the poor, and the profit from it is worth more than ten thousand
talents.

(8) Why do I speak  of being worth more than tell thousand
talents? Or worth more than the whole visible world? A human
being is worth more than the whole world. Heaven and earth and sea
and sun and stars were made for his sake.
 
(9) Consider well, then, the dignity and worth of the man you
save. Do not think lightly of the care you show to him. Even if a
man gives away more money than you can count, he does not do as
great a thing as the man who saves a soul, leads it from its error, and
takes it by the hand along the road to godliness. The man who gives
to the poor takes away the poor man's hunger; the man who sets a
Judaizing Christian straight, wins a victory over godlessness. The first
man gave consolation to the poor; the second put a stop to reckless
transgression. The first freed the body from pain, the other snatched
a soul from the fires of hell.

(10) I showed you the treasure; do not forsake the profit. You
cannot dare put the blame on your poverty or excuse yourself be-
cause you are indigent. The only expense is one of phrases; the only
cost is one of words. Therefore, let us not shrink back from the task
but, with all the zeal and desire we possess, let us go hunting for our
brothers. Even though they be unwilling, let us drag them into our
own houses, let us sit down with them at table and put a meal before
them. Let us do tiffs so that after they have broken their fast
before our eyes, after they have given us a full and sufficient guar-
antee of their conversion and return to better ways, they may help
both themselves and us to a share in eternal blessings through the
grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom
and with whom be glory to the Father together with the Holy Spirit,
now and forever, world without end. Amen.

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