Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
To Bishop Timothy he commends before all things prayer, by which prayer is to be made for all, even for kings; for God wills all men to be saved.
Second, in verse 8, he wills all men to pray in every place.
Third, in verse 9, he likewise commands women to pray, but in modest dress and adornment, in humility and silence: for he does not permit a woman to teach, but wills her to be subject to her husband and to be taught by him, and to attend to the begetting and education of children, and so he asserts that she will be saved, in the last verse.
Vulgate Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-15
1. I exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made for all men: 2. for kings, and for all that are in high station, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and chastity. 3. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 4. who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5. For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: 6. who gave Himself a redemption for all, a testimony in His own times: 7. for which I am appointed a preacher and an Apostle (I speak the truth, I lie not), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8. I will therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up pure hands, without wrath and contention. 9. In like manner also that women in suitable apparel, with modesty and sobriety adorn themselves, and not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly attire: 10. but, as becomes women, promising godliness through good works. 11. Let a woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12. But I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in silence. 13. For Adam was first formed, then Eve: 14. and Adam was not seduced, but the woman being seduced was in the transgression. 15. Yet she shall be saved through childbearing, if she continues in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety.
Verse 1: I Exhort That First of All, Supplications, Prayers, Intercessions, Thanksgivings Be Made
Note: For "I exhort," the Greek is παρακαλῶ, which can be rendered with Vatablus and others as "I admonish, I exhort"; St. Ambrose reads "exhort" — perhaps because in the Greek he reads παρακάλει in the imperative.
Note secondly: The word "therefore" signifies that these things are inferred from what was said in the preceding chapter. For he said that Christ had come to save all sinners, and that in this matter Bishop Timothy must cooperate with Christ and war the good warfare; hence he now infers: "I exhort therefore that first of all supplications be made," — as if to say: O Timothy, that you may rightly fulfill your episcopate for the salvation of sinners, know that the first duty of a Bishop is to give himself to prayer with his own and for his own, and that you will accomplish more by prayer than by preaching (which among the external duties of the active life is the first in a Bishop); for prayer will obtain from God for unbelievers and sinners the light and grace by which they may be converted. So Chrysostom. And it is plain from what follows; for why he wills prayers to be made, he adds the cause when he says: "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who wills all men to be saved."
Note thirdly: The word "of all" can either be referred to what follows, namely to the supplications (as if to say: I will that supplications be made of all, or by all Christians), or to what precedes, namely to "first," as if to say: First of all, that is, before all things, I will that supplications be made; and this is more fitting, and so St. Ambrose and Chrysostom explain it, who interpret it as though the Apostle wills that in the morning before all things we apply ourselves to prayer. "And this," says Chrysostom, "the faithful know, how each day morning and evening prayers are made to the Lord, how supplications are made by the Church for the whole world, and for kings, and for all who are in high station."
Note this passage for morning and evening prayer from the ancient usage of the Church. Thus did David, Psalm 62: "O God," he says, "my God, I watch for Thee from the dawn." Thus did Job, chapter i, 5: "He sanctified them (his sons)," says the Scripture, "and rising at dawn he offered holocausts for each one." Hence St. Dionysius, On the Divine Names chapter III: "Every action," he says, "must be begun by us with prayer, especially in theology," that is, when discourse or disputation about divine things comes up. So Nazianzen did, as is found in his prayer which he used to say when about to set out on a journey: "For Thee, O Christ, I live, to Thee I speak, for Thee, O Christ, I sit, for Thee I walk, since Thou guidest me by Thy hand."
Supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings. — First, Theophylact, Gagnaeus, and, as it seems, Chrysostom, hold the first three — namely, "supplications, prayers, intercessions" — to be the same, but repeated by other names for amplification: for so in Philippians iv, 6, and Ephesians vi, 18, he takes these for the same.
Secondly and better, others distinguish these. First of all St. Thomas holds these to be found distinctly in one and the same prayer or collect: prayer, he says, is the very ascent of the mind to God, as when in the collect it is said, "Almighty everlasting God"; thanksgiving is when there is added, "Who choose the weak things of the world"; this is followed by petition when it is said, "Grant, we beseech Thee"; all of which the supplication through sacred things concludes when it is said, "Through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Thirdly and more fittingly to the Greek, Theodoret, Œcumenius and Cassian, Conferences XI, chapters 12 and 13: "Supplications," they say, are called in Greek δεήσεις, that is, supplications for the removal of evils and sad things, that we may be freed from them. Hence Ambrose and Augustine read "deprecations." "Prayers," in Greek προσευχαί, are called petitions for good things, that they may come to us. "Intercessions," in Greek ἐντεύξεις, are called interpellations, when we accuse those who injure us, says Theodoret; or, as Primasius says, when we intercede for the salvation of others. Finally, "thanksgiving" is offered to God for the goods which have previously come to us.
Note with Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostom and others, that the Apostle is speaking chiefly of public and common prayer, such as the Mass, Litany, and similar. Hence St. Augustine, in epistle 59 to Paulinus, Question V, aptly refers these to the liturgy of the Mass, so that "supplications" are the Confiteor and other prayers of the Mass that are said before the consecration, in which there is frequent deprecation and supplication through Christ, and other sacred things; but "prayers" are those that are said during the consecration. For the Greek προσευχή signifies a prayer made with an oblation (such as is in the consecration) or a vow. Then "intercessions" are said to be made after the consecration, when the people is blessed; for then, says Augustine, "the Bishops as advocates offer those they have received, by the imposition of hands, to the most merciful Power"; namely, when the priest after the consecration asks benefits for himself, for the living and the dead, and when he blesses the people, then he as it were stands before God's mercy, and by his petition offers him to be benefited. When these things are accomplished, "by partaking of so great a Sacrament, the thanksgiving concludes all things (the mysteries of the liturgy and the Mass)." Thus far Augustine. From this passage of St. Augustine it is clear that this rite of the Mass, at least in general and as regards these parts, was in the time of St. Augustine received in the common usage of the Church, as if handed down from elders by the institution of the Apostles. The same is clear from the liturgies of St. James, Basil, and Chrysostom, which both others teach to be genuine, and the Sixth Synod, canon 32, expressly asserts concerning the one which is ascribed to St. James.
No less aptly does Francisco Suarez, Part III, in Question LXXXIII, disputation LXXXIII, section 4, hold that these things are done indiscriminately in any part of the Mass: for in any part the priest now petitions, now beseeches, now again and again gives thanks. And the same is to be imitated by every faithful in private prayer: for David teaches this manner of praying and singing in the Psalms, where he alternates all these affections, so that now he beseeches, immediately petitions, soon gives thanks, again prays, immediately gives thanks, soon beseeches, etc.; for the best prayer is that which proceeds from the affections of the mind; and just as one who indulges his affections mixes and alternates them, the same should be done by one who prays to God affectionately. St. Bernard distinguishes these otherwise in his Sentences: "Beseechings," he says, "are done with reverent affection, prayers with pure affection, petitions with ample affection, thanksgivings with devout affection." He explains each by examples: "The figure of beseeching," he says, "was held by the woman with the issue of blood, Matt. ch. IX, 21, who desiring to be healed said within herself: 'If I shall touch the hem of His garment, I shall be saved.' An example of prayer was given by Magdalene, who purely confessing her sins, with tears bathing the feet of Christ, prayed for pardon. Petition is when one who had prayed for himself now prays for others. So the Apostles prayed for the Canaanite woman: 'Send her away, because she crieth after us.' Thanksgiving was that of Christ when about to raise Lazarus: 'Father, I give thanks to Thee that Thou hast heard Me.'"
Verse 2: For Kings, and All That Are in High Station
For kings, and all that are in high station. — In Greek ἐν ὑπεροχῇ, that is, in dignity, or eminence. "Therefore for the faith, conversion, and salvation of kings and princes, who by their pride shrink from Christian humility, do not despair, but pray, that by the prayers of the humble God may grant salvation to the lofty," says Augustine, Enchiridion 103. Hence we say first, that every faithful person should especially pray for Prelates both ecclesiastical and civil: for these can do much, and on these depend the whole commonwealth and the Church; for as these are, such for the most part are also their subjects: for the whole world is fashioned after the example of the king. Thus Constantine, when converted, converted the world, took away the idols, and erected churches.
Secondly, not only for Christian kings and magistrates, but also for infidels and pagans, such as Nero and the like, who in Paul's time were reigning, the Apostle wishes prayer to be made, and this, as Chrysostom notes, for a threefold cause: First, that Christians should put aside all hatred, since they are commanded to pray for all; for no one can hate the one for whom he prays. Secondly, that the kings and princes themselves might be milder toward the Christians, whom they knew to be praying for them, even while they persecuted and tortured them. Thus in the camp of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, when afflicted by thirst, the Christian legion obtained rain from the Romans, which together with thunder hurled lightnings against the enemies of the Romans. Whence this legion was called κεραυνοβόλος, that is, the Thundering one. Alluding to which, Tertullian, Apology ch. XL, thus expostulates with the Gentiles: "When the summer suspends the winter rains, and the year is in anxiety, you indeed daily fed, and about to dine immediately, busied at the baths and taverns and brothels, immolating water-offerings (that is, sacrifices to draw down water) to Jupiter, announcing barefoot processions to the people, you seek heaven at the Capitol, you await clouds from the panelled ceilings, turned away from God Himself and from heaven. But we, dry from fasts, and squeezed by every continence, deferred from every fruit of life, rolling in sackcloth and ashes, beat heaven with our jealous prayers, we touch God; and when we have wrung out mercy, Jupiter is honored."
Thus that Christians of old were accustomed in the holy mysteries to pray for the king or emperor, even an infidel one (such as then was Nero, Decius, Diocletian), is testified by Justin, Apology II; Origen, book VIII Against Celsus; Arnobius, book III Against the Gentiles; Eusebius, book IV of the History, chapter 26. Thus St. Cyprian, as his Life records, when it was objected against him by the prefect that he as a Christian had conspired against Caesar, freely answered: "We Christians are very far from this fault, who, although Caesar worships other sacred things and other gods, yet because he is our prince, we wish him well and pray, and we beseech our God to lead him to the consideration of true goods."
Hence morally Chrysostom here, homily 6, from the fact that the Apostle exhorts us to pray for all, and consequently for enemies and persecutors, inveighs against those who pray for vengeance against their enemies, saying to God: Repay him for what he did to me; strike him as he struck me. "Let us learn," he says, "to pray as befits Christians; those are the prayers of the Gentiles, such are the prayers reckoned of the Jews. Christians are commanded to give easy pardon to those who have sinned, and to entreat with all earnestness that they be forgiven by God."
And below: "You seem indeed," he says, "when you pray against your enemy, to threaten him with a wound, but in truth you drive the sword against yourself; you do not permit the judge to deal more mildly with you in your own affairs, while you provoke Him against another."
The third reason for praying for Gentile princes was, namely, that they might obtain for them from God the grace of ruling well and peacefully, and that God might in such a way bend and direct their mind and government as was profitable to the Church and to its peace and tranquility.
For, as Plutarch elegantly says, "The Roman Empire was the bond of peace, as an anchor to the tossing world." Hence Tertullian, Apology XXX, replying to the calumny of the Gentiles: "Looking up to heaven," he says, "we Christians with hands outspread, because they are harmless; with head uncovered, because we do not blush; finally without a prompter, because we pray from the heart; ever praying for all Emperors, a long life for them, a secure empire, a safe house, brave armies, a faithful senate, an upright people, a quiet world, and whatever are the wishes of a man and of Caesar."
Thus Jeremiah, ch. XXIX, wrote from Jerusalem to the Jews dwelling in Babylon, that they should pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar and of his sons: "For," he says, "in his peace shall be your peace."
Theodoret adds a fourth, that we should pray for kings not only that through them we may enjoy peace and lead a quiet life, but also that they themselves may be brought from impiety to faith and piety, as the Apostle adds: "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, who will have all men to be saved."
You will say: St. Augustine, book I On the Soul and its Origin, ch. IX, says: "Who would offer the body of Christ, except for those who are members of Christ?" but infidels are not members of Christ, therefore we should not offer or pray for them. I reply: "for them," namely the dead; for Augustine speaks of little ones who have died without faith and baptism, and he says we should not pray for them, because they neither are nor can become members of Christ. But infidels, as long as they live, can become members of Christ, and therefore we should pray for them.
Note thirdly: It is incumbent upon the bishop and the priest to pray for all; for, as Chrysostom says, the priest is as it were a common father of the whole world; it is fitting therefore that he take care of all and provide for all, as God too, in whose ministry he serves, and whose place he fills. For this world is as it were a certain holy temple worthy of God, as Diogenes said in Plutarch at the end of the book On the Tranquility of the Mind, and Philo, book II On Monarchy, at the beginning, and Lactantius, book On the Wrath of God, ch. XIV, indeed the prophet Baruch himself, ch. III, 24: "O Israel," he says, "how great is the house of God!" namely this whole world. The priest has been appointed as the prelate as it were of this divine temple, that he may exercise the priesthood, and intercede for all creatures.
For this reason the pontiff of the old law represented the whole world in his vestment; for, as is said in Wisdom XVIII, 24: "In the long robe was the whole world." Where note: He calls the long robe (poderem) the hyacinth tunic, because it thus extended ποδήρης, that is, down to the feet. And under this hyacinth tunic, by synecdoche, he understands all the other vestments of the pontiff. The linen breeches of the pontiff therefore figured the earth, from which linen is born; the girdle with which the pontiff was girt signified the ocean encircling the earth; the hyacinth tunic, being of violet, that is of an aerial color, represented the air. From this tunic there hung below pomegranates and little bells; the former bore the likeness of lightning, the latter of thunder. Over all these things he was clothed with the ephod, precious and varied, which was a figure of the starry heaven distinguished with various stars: the ephod on the back had two onyx stones, which signified the two hemispheres, or the sun and moon; on the front the ephod had on the breast the Rational, in which were twelve gems, which represented the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Again, these twelve gems had inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, so that the pontiff might remember that he was exercising the priesthood for them, and ought always to pray. On his head the pontiff wore a tiara, on the front of which was affixed a golden plate, with this inscription of the tetragrammaton name קדש לאדני kodes ladonai, that is, holiness to the Lord: this tiara signified the empyrean heaven, and the plate signified God presiding over all. So therefore the pontiff in his vestment represented all creatures and the whole universe, that he might remember he was the minister of the Creator of the world, and might show that every creature stood in need of God's mercy, and that he ought constantly to pray for it both with voice and with garment. Thus from Josephus and Philo, Jerome, in the epistle to Fabiola, where he explains these vestments. Of which I have said more on Exodus XXVIII.
That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life (in Greek ἤρεμον καὶ ἡσύχιον, that is, calm and quiet: so the Syriac, Vatablus, and others) — which will come to pass if the kings and princes themselves prudently administer the commonwealth, and if we obtain this prudence for them by prayer.
In all piety and chastity. — For chastity, the Greek is σεμνότητι. Which word signifies not only chastity but also every honesty and gravity of manners, and is seen in every virtue, says Theophylact. Whence the Syriac translates, in all reverence of God and purity.
Note first: The Apostle wishes us to lead a quiet life, not in idleness and pleasures, but in piety and holiness. So Theophylact.
Note secondly, that peace and quiet are very useful for piety and honesty of life; for war and disturbance, says Ambrose, preserves neither piety nor chastity. For we see, when war is raging, that cities, temples, all sacred things are profaned and plundered, virgins violated, priests captured or put to flight, all things mingled with rapine and slaughters, the laws and all worship of God silenced. "There are three kinds of wars," says Theophylact, "one which is waged by barbarians; another which is waged privately against us by those who are hostile to us; a third, which is excited within us by depraved impulses. The war therefore which presses from the barbarians, the industry and valor of kings settles, whom we also need to assist with prayers. But the other two we ourselves ought to settle, by this reason indeed: that what is inflicted on us by our haters we may overcome with meekness, and compensate the afflictions with our prayers; but that which rises up in ourselves, we may overcome by all the arms of justice."
Verse 3: For This Is Good and Acceptable Before God Our Saviour
3. For this (namely, that prayer be made for all men) is good and acceptable before God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. — Hence it follows that the prayers of the godly avail very much for the conversion and salvation of infidels and other men, so that many owe their salvation to those who pray for them. Thus St. Paul owes his conversion and salvation to the prayers of St. Stephen; for if Stephen had not prayed for Paul, the Church would not have Paul, says St. Augustine, sermon 4 On St. Stephen. Hence it is very useful to commend oneself to the prayers of others, especially those who because of innocence and sanctity are in great favor with God.
Note: He calls not Christ, but God "Saviour," because God wills all to be saved, and therefore gave Christ as Saviour to all. So He called God "Saviour" in chapter I, verse 1.
Verse 4: Who Will Have All Men to Be Saved
4. Who (God) will have all men to be saved. — It is asked how this is true: for if God wills it, since He does whatever He wills, it follows that God will bring it about that all are saved. Again, God wills to damn many, therefore not them, and consequently not all does He will to save. He answers first, St. Augustine, Enchiridion 103, that the word "all" is here taken and distributed not for individuals of the kinds, but for the kinds of individuals; that is, it does not signify each man, but from every kind of man some, e.g. some kings, some commoners; some men, some women; some Jews, some Spaniards, some Belgians, etc., that God wills to save. Beza eagerly seizes upon this exposition.
Secondly, the same Augustine in the same place replies that God wills all to be saved, namely those who are saved: just as a master who alone teaches in some city is said to teach all the boys of that city, because whatever boys are taught are taught by him, as if to say: No one becomes saved without God's will, but all and only those predestined by God, by God's election and will, are saved: therefore we should pray to God for the salvation of all of them. But these restrictions seem to be beside the Apostle's mind: for the Apostle wills us to pray not for some, or only for the saved, but for all men whatsoever; and he adds this reason, that this is acceptable to God, because God wills all men to be saved. Again, this very thing — that God wills all men to be saved — the Apostle proves by another reason, when he adds: "For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a redemption for all"; but Christ died for all men whatsoever, and by His death procured for all the redemption, that is, the price of redemption: therefore God Himself also, who willed Christ to be born, suffer, and die for this end, and indeed sent Him, in order that all men whatsoever should be saved.
Thirdly, St. Augustine, book On Correction and Grace, ch. XV: God, he says, wills, that is makes us will, that all be saved. As Gal. IV, 6, it is said: "God sent the Spirit of His Son crying (that is, making us cry), Abba, Father." But this also does not satisfy the scope and mind of the Apostle, who by these words wishes to show that this is acceptable to God, that all be saved: namely because He wills this very thing not in us but in Himself; for how can this be acceptable to God, unless God Himself wills this very thing in Himself, and is well pleased with it?
Fourthly, St. Thomas, Cajetan, and others: God, they say, wills all to be saved by the will not of good pleasure, but of sign, because, namely, God proposes to all men the doctrine, faith, and precepts of salvation: but this will is not sufficient, for if He only gives all these signs, namely the precepts of salvation, yet in truth God does not will the salvation of all, nor does He will to save all, therefore He feignedly displays these signs to them. For by these signs He signifies that He earnestly desires the salvation of all: for why does He display these signs to all, except to signify that He sincerely wills all to be saved? But if He does not will to save all, and yet by these signs signifies that He wills to save all, then God acts simulatedly and deceitfully: but this is impious to say of that first Truth, Sincerity, and Goodness of God.
I say therefore fifthly: God wills, that is, sincerely desires and from His heart wishes, that all men be saved, and therefore He gave Christ as Redeemer to all, and through Him supplied grace, Sacraments, and all other means necessary for salvation, so far as is on His part, so that if any perish, they perish not by God's will and predestination, but by their own fault and malice. This will of God therefore for saving all is not only of sign, namely which God signified by so many exhortations, precepts, punishments and rewards set before men; but also of good pleasure; yet not complete, consequent, and totally efficacious, but incomplete, antecedent, and efficacious only on God's part. Where note from Damascene, book II On Faith, ch. XXIX: The will of God which is called of good pleasure is twofold, one antecedent, which precedes all foresight of good or evil works of man, and which flows only from God and from God's benevolence toward men; the other is consequent, by which, foreseeing the good or evil works of man, He wills either to save or to damn him completely and efficaciously.
I say therefore that God wills to save all by a will not consequent (for by this He wills to damn the impious, having foreseen their impiety, not to save them), but antecedent; before, namely, the foresight of final impenitence or of anyone's death in sin, so far as on His part, God seriously and from His heart desires and wishes the salvation of all, and calls them all to it, and gives sufficient means for it. But in order that this will be made complete and efficacious — that is, in order that it efficaciously obtain its effect, namely the salvation willed by God — there must be added the condition required by God on the part of man, namely his cooperation, that is, that man use the means prescribed by God for salvation, and merit it through good works. So Damascene, book II On Faith, ch. XXIX; Œcumenius, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Jerome. Indeed St. Augustine, On the Spirit and Letter, XXXIII, and Prosper to the first Vincentian objection; and it is plain from the preceding and following here in the Apostle, as I have said in the first and second exposition. And this is confirmed by St. Peter, Epistle II, ch. III, 9: "God," he says, "is patient on your account, willing that no one perish, but that all return to repentance." And Ezekiel, ch. XVIII, 23: "Is it My will that the impious die, says the Lord God, and not rather that he be converted from his ways and live?" And Christ, Matt. XI, 28: "Come to Me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." And again: "I came not to call the just, but sinners." For this is the end of the incarnation and of the whole economy of Christ, namely that He might invite and call all men to salvation, not superficially, not vocally, not feignedly, but seriously, but from the inmost desire of His soul: for this cause, I say, He underwent so many labors, fatigues, sorrows, and the very death of the cross, so that if any perish, they perish to Christ's great sorrow, and against His will and through their own negligence. So indeed piety and the love of Christ persuade, that we feel these things and more about His so abundant redemption.
Whence beautifully St. Ambrose: "If God," he says, "who is called omnipotent, wills all men to be saved, why is His will not fulfilled? But in the speech a sense is implied, a condition lies hidden." And a little below: "For God wills all to be saved, but if they approach Him: for He does not so will, that they be saved unwilling; but He wills them to be saved, if they also will," etc.
And Jerome on those words of Ephes. I, According to His purpose, who works all things according to the counsel of His will, etc., thus says: "He wills, namely God, those things which are full of reason and counsel; He wills all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth: but because no one is saved without his own will (for we are of free will), He wills us to will the good, that, when we have willed it, He Himself also may will to fulfill in us His counsel."
And Damascene in the cited passage: "Nor must it be hidden," he says, "that God antecedently wills all to be saved and to obtain His kingdom: for He did not form us to punish, but to make us partakers of His goodness, as being good; but sinners He wills to punish, as being just. The first will is therefore called antecedent, and an acceptance proceeding from Himself; but the second will, the consequent, and a permission proceeding from our cause."
Finally, to be silent on others, this is plainly taught by St. Clement of Rome, book II of the Apostolic Constitutions, ch. LIX, as if received from the Apostles, and as a most true opinion, namely that God from the beginning of the world willed all men to be saved, and called all to repentance and salvation through His Prophets and other just men. Then he adds: "We therefore, who have been made worthy to be witnesses of His coming, with James the brother of the Lord, and with the other seventy-two and seven of His deacons, have heard from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and knowing perfectly we say, what is the will of God, good, pleasing and perfect, demonstrated to us through Jesus Christ, that none should perish, but all men, with unanimous mind believing in Him, and bearing unanimous praise to Him, may live forever." Thus he.
You will say: how then is it said in Matt. XX, 28 and elsewhere, that the Son of Man came to give His life not for all, but for many? Some answer: "for many," namely the elect, Christ gave His life efficaciously, but sufficiently for all. But I reply genuinely and simply: "for many," that is, for all: for all are many. For he wishes to say that this benefit of Christ extends not to a few, but to many, namely to the multitude of all men who are, have been, or will be. So often elsewhere by "many" all are understood.
Verse 5: For There Is One God, and One Mediator of God and Men, the Man Christ Jesus
5. For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus. — The one God is the Most Holy Trinity, from which Christ is distinguished as Mediator, that is, as Man: wrongly therefore from this passage do the Arians prove that Christ is not God.
Note: The Apostle here proves what he said, namely that God wills all men to be saved, by this argument: There is one God of all men, both faithful and infidel, that is, Creator, Provider, and Father, who being supremely good loves all men as His sons, and desires them to be saved; and therefore He gave Christ as Mediator, namely that one and the same Christ might be the Redeemer of all men whatsoever, and that through Christ He might join all men to Himself and save them: it is plain therefore that God seriously and sincerely wills all men to be saved. So Theodoret, Anselm, and others.
Note that the name "mediator" first signifies a substantial mean, or bond, by which two parts or extremely distant things are united and joined; thus Christ is a substantial mediator, because in Christ the human and divine natures, which are most distant from each other, are substantially conjoined and united. So Ambrose, Chrysostom, Theodoret. St. Augustine adds, book IX of The City, ch. XV, that Christ was also Mediator, that is, the middle, between God and men by reason of state: because He was at the same time blessed, as God is, and at the same time a wayfarer, as men are.
Secondly, "mediator" signifies him who composes parties at odds and hostile, whether by entreating, by counseling, or by satisfying the injured party, and by perfecting and restoring reconciliation and friendship itself. Whence for "mediator," Vatablus and Erasmus translate "reconciler"; Tertullian, in the book On the Resurrection of the Flesh, translates "sequester." And in this sense Christ is here properly called "Mediator," although this sense presupposes the former: for it was necessary that in Christ the divine and human natures be hypostatically joined, that He might compose the hatreds between God and men. So Augustine above, Chrysostom, Ambrose, and beautifully Theodoret: "One," he says (Christ), "is the reconciler of peace, who joined together those things which were disjoined and distant from each other; the Apostle named Christ a man because he called Him intercessor: for as man He was made intercessor, and just as one who wishes to reconcile two who join hands and contend among themselves, interposing himself in the middle and holding this one with his right hand and that one with his left, leads them to friendship and joins them: so He, having united the divine nature to the human, reconciled an inviolable peace which cannot be dissolved." And Anselm: "There were," he says, "mortal and sinful men; but God, to whom they had to be reconciled in order to be saved, was immortal and without sin. But it was fitting that the Mediator between God and men should have something similar to God and something similar to men, lest by being in both like men He should be far from God, or by being in both like God He should be far from men, and so should not be a mediator. And therefore between mortal sinners and the immortal just one, He appeared mortal with men, just with God."
Note here, that Paul, when he calls Christ "the one Mediator," rebukes Simon Magus and his followers, who, from Plato, taught that not Christ, but the angels or daemons, are the mediators of men to God. Hence in the epistle to the Ephesians (whose bishop was Timothy, to whom Paul writes this) he so often says that we have access to the Father only through Christ. See Colossians II, 18.
From there it follows that Christ is and is called the one Mediator, that is, Redeemer, and in this sense Christ alone is Mediator.
You may ask whether in any other sense the Saints, who intercede for us with God, can be called mediators, or whether this name and this title is owed to Christ alone.
I reply: This is a question about the name; for among Catholics it is agreed that the Saints pray for us, and consequently are our advocates, intercessors, and patrons before God; but with heretics we will not contend much about the name. Let them concede that the Saints intercede for us as advocates before God, even if they deny them the name of mediator and attribute it to Christ alone, we now give the right hands of fellowship. Yet to dispel the shadows which some make in this name, I say that the Saints can in this sense be called mediators, namely because by praying they mediate and intercede for us before God. For in Greek μεσίτης, that is, mediator, is said of whoever in any way interposes himself in the middle between two who are at odds. Thus Moses is called middle and mediator between God and the people, Deut. V, 4, and Gal. III, 19, as I have said there. So Hebr. V, 1: "Every pontiff," he says, "taken from among men, is appointed for men in the things that pertain to God, that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins."
What is this other than that the pontiff is appointed mediator to God for men and for the sins of men? indeed the Apostle here in ch. IV, last verse, calls Timothy a saviour, which is far greater than being a mediator: "This," he says, "doing, you shall save yourself and those who hear you." What else is "you shall save," than "you shall be a saviour"? And in this sense Nazianzen in his oration to Gregory of Nyssa calls the Saints praying for us mediators; Jerome, on Mal. ch. II; Chrysostom, hom. 6 On the Priesthood; Cyril, book XII of the Treasury, ch. X; Gregory, book I, epistle 24, and others.
Where however note: In this very thing there is a great difference between Christ and the Saints: for although the Saints by praying for us are mediators, namely ministerial, mediated, and secondary, as Cyril says, book XII of the Treasury, ch. X, yet Christ alone is the principal, immediate, and primary Mediator: for Christ alone immediately by Himself approaches the Father, and prays for all, and demands grace for us as it were by right of His merits; the Saints however pray for us, not by their right or merits, as if they had merited some grace for us, and demanded it for us as a debt; but they pray through Christ and leaning on Christ's merits. Whence St. Bernard, sermon On St. Mary, on that of Apoc. XII: "A great sign appeared in heaven," insinuates that the Saints are not to be called mediators of God and men, but mediators to the Mediator; because to Christ and through Christ they approach God, and pray for us. "There is need," he says, "of a mediator to the Mediator (Christ, who is the one Mediator of God and men), nor is anyone more useful to us than Mary." And in this sense St. Augustine, book II Against the Epistles of Parmenian, VIII, concedes many advocates, but one Mediator: "For whom," he says, "no one intercedes, but He for all, this is the one and true Mediator." For here St. Augustine acts against the Donatists, who thought that the grace of the Sacrament depended on the priest, so that a good priest sanctified by baptizing, but a bad one polluted by baptizing, and accordingly made the priest in a certain way a mediator of redemption. Therefore St. Augustine teaches that the people are secure whether they are baptized by a good or a bad person, because there is one Mediator of God and men, Christ.
And for this reason some Catholics scrupulously enough beware lest they attribute the name of mediator to anyone other than Christ: but since Moses is called mediator, as I have said, and since concerning the thing signified by this name it is established that it can in a certain way and sense apply to the Saints, I do not see what scruple should be made here, if anyone according to the sense already given calls the Saints mediators; nor in this matter did St. Augustine make a scruple: for that he himself does not deny that the priest can be called mediator by praying, is plain, because in the same place he says that Christians do rightly when they commend themselves to the prayers of another.
Finally note: In Christ neither God alone is mediator, nor man alone, but God-man: for He exercised the works of Mediator, or of our redemption, in the humanity assumed by Him; so that the principle which (as the Scholastics speak) of such works is God, or this Man who is God; the principle by which is the humanity, inasmuch as in and through it all these works were perfected, namely all the actions and passions of the Mediator, and this is what Paul here clearly says: "One mediator, etc., the man Christ Jesus." So St. Augustine, book II On Original Sin, ch. XXVIII. See St. Thomas and the Scholastics, Part III, Question XXVI, as if the Apostle were saying: Christ is the Mediator of all, therefore, as I said, God wills the salvation of all; for to procure this, Christ the Mediator was given by God to all, and consequently we must pray for all, that they may become partakers of this redemption of Christ. So St. Augustine, epistle 59, Question VI to Paulinus.
Verse 6: Who Gave Himself a Redemption for All; a Testimony in His Times
6. Who gave Himself a redemption for all; a testimony in His times. — "Redemption," that is, the price of redemption, which the Greeks call λύτρον, by which captives are redeemed from enemies. But the Apostle, in order more effectively to signify that this redemption was made not by money, but by the body and life of Christ, does not simply call it λύτρον, but ἀντίλυτρον, which signifies a substitute price, by which one thing is exchanged for a similar thing, e.g. one life for another's life, one head for another's head: for thus Christ gave His own for our life, as it were our ἀντίλυτρον. So Theophylact.
Note: Some here add and read: "whose testimony has been confirmed," which Ambrose thus explains, as if to say: an open document of this redemption made by Christ was given in Christ's resurrection, in the Apostles' preaching and miracles, by which they proved this redemption. But the words "whose" and "has been confirmed" must be deleted with the Roman, Greek, and Syriac versions, and one should only read, "a testimony in His times," and the sense is, as if to say: Christ gave Himself for all as the price of redemption to the end that this very redemption of Christ might in His times be a testimony, both of divine charity and of faithfulness (by which He promised this redemption to men through the Prophets, and in fact accomplished it), and of philanthropy in this life: for Christ's blood, having been shed, testifies and gives proof of how much God loves us, and how greatly He desires all to be saved; and also of divine equity and justice in the future judgment: for then Christ's passion, cross, and redemption will testify that on God's part nothing was lacking that all, however impious, should not be saved, but that the fault was on their part, in that they refused to obey Christ and embrace His redemption, and consequently are most justly damned. So Anselm.
Morally St. Chrysostom, homily 7 in the moral section, teaches that it is of great ingratitude if we do not respond to Christ's redemption and love by love and mercy toward our neighbors. "Christ," he says, "sacrificed Himself for His enemies, for those who hated Him, for those turned away from Him. That which no one would do for friends, nor for sons, nor for brothers, this the Lord did for His servants, the Immortal for mortals, the Eternal for temporal beings, finally the Son of God for enemies." And below: "For He Himself," he says, "deigned to offer Himself for us: we wretches spurn Him when He is necessarily in need of food, and do not deign to visit Him when He is sick and naked: with what wrath are these things to be punished? to what tortures, to what fires are they liable?"
Verse 7: For Which I Am Appointed a Preacher and an Apostle, a Teacher of the Gentiles in Faith and Truth
7. For which (that is, for which testimony, and to promulgate Christ's redemption) I am appointed a preacher, and an Apostle (I speak the truth, I lie not), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. — Note first: For "preacher," the Greek is κῆρυξ, that is, herald, namely of the cross, of the death and redemption of Christ, not in this or that place, but in the whole world and among all the nations, says Theophylact. Thus St. Francis, when he had fallen among robbers, when asked who he was, answered that he was the herald of the great God.
Note second: "I speak the truth," the Greek adds ἐν Χριστῷ, in Christ, as if Paul swore by Christ that he speaks the truth; but the "in Christ" is not in Ambrose, nor Chrysostom, nor the Roman, nor the Syriac.
Note third: "In faith," that is, in fidelity, as if to say: I exercise the office of teacher with the highest fidelity and truth, I do not teach for gain, not feignedly, not for applause. "We are not," he says in II Cor. II, 17, "as many adulterating the word of God, but from sincerity, but as from God, before God, in Christ we speak." Secondly, the Syriac translates, בחימנותא דשררא behaimanuta desrara, "in the faith of truth," that is, in true and genuine faith. Hence most simply it can here be taken with others as the Evangelical and Catholic faith, as if to say: I do not teach human inventions, but those things which pertain to the faith of the Gospel; and lest you should think there is anything of falsehood or untruth in this my faith and doctrine, I add "and in truth."
Again, He fittingly places faith before truth, because through faith there comes to us as a reward, as it were, the knowledge of truth; for, as the Prophet says: "Unless you believe, you will not understand." Hence beautifully from Plato in the Timaeus, St. Augustine, in his book On the Agreement of the Evangelists, chapter XXXV, says: "As much as eternity avails toward the immutability of that which has come into being, so much does truth avail toward faith. Those two are above, eternity and truth: these two are below, that which has come into being and faith. Therefore, in order that we may be recalled from the lowest to the highest, and that which has come into being may receive eternity, we must come through faith to truth. And because all things that act in contrary directions are reduced through some intermediate, temporal iniquity was alienating us from eternal justice. There was need, therefore, of an intermediate temporal justice, which would be a temporal middle mixed of the lowest and the highest, and thus, neither breaking off from the highest nor accommodating itself to the lowest, would render the lowest things to the highest. Therefore Christ has been called the Mediator of God and men, between immortal God and mortal man, God and man reconciling man to God, remaining what He was, becoming what He was not. He is to us faith in things that have come into being, who is truth in things eternal."
This therefore is the office of the priest and the Apostle, namely, to teach faith and truth. "The lips," says Malachi 2:7, "of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth." And Jerome, on Ezekiel, at the end: "Each thing," he says, "is required of each: for the prophecy of future things is properly required of a Prophet: but the interpretation of the law is the office of the priest." Hence the high priest had inscribed on his Rational "Urim ve-Tummim," that is, doctrine and truth. The moral reason for this inscription was that it might admonish the priest of his office, namely of sound doctrine and of the truth, or integrity (for this is what the word "tummim" signifies in Hebrew) of life. The historical reason, however, was that the dignity of the priesthood might be commended to the people, when they saw him, clothed with the Rational, being instructed by God concerning future events, and pouring forth oracles in God's stead: not that God responded through these words "urim" and "tummim" inscribed on the Rational; but that through the priest clothed with the Rational and arrayed in pontifical vestments, as one already exercising the pontifical office, God revealed those things about which He was consulted. And this writing, urim and tummim, signified this: that the priest clothed with the Rational was in urim and tummim, that is, was receiving from God the doctrine and truth of the doubtful matters about which He was consulted: urim therefore was not the oracle, but the index of the oracle. And when Scripture says that God was consulted or responded through urim, it is to be taken metonymically, namely that God responded through the priest clothed with the Rational, in which was urim; and this so that the priest might bear the type of Christ, the highest Prophet, through whom truth was made and brought from the bosom of the Father, John 1:17 and 18. There was therefore in the priest thus adorned the doctrine and truth of oracles, and there ought also to have been the doctrine of judgments and of the law, and the truth of life. About these things I have said more on Exodus XXVIII.
Verse 8: I Will Therefore That Men Pray in Every Place, Lifting Up Pure Hands
8. I will therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up pure hands without anger and contention. — What the Apostle had set forth concerning his own doctorate and apostleship, he had inserted, as it were parenthetically, on account of the false apostles; now he returns to the prayer which he commended at the beginning of the chapter, as if to say: What I said about praying for all, I wish to apply not only to the priests, but to all men and women.
Note: He wills men to pray in every place, which Ambrose, Anselm, St. Thomas and other Latins understand of private prayer to be made in any place, as if to say: Not only in church, but in the fields, woods, workshop, on a journey, in a ship, at table, in bed, and in any place, it is lawful for any man to pray, and I urge him to pray. To this end the ancients used brief but frequent and ardent prayers, which they call ejaculatory, and these were either vocal or only mental. Concerning these, St. Augustine, in epistle 121 to Proba, chapter IX: "It is said," he says, "that the brethren in Egypt have indeed frequent prayers, yet very brief and as it were rapidly thrown out, lest that vigilantly erect attention, which is most necessary to one praying, should vanish and be dulled through prolonged hours. And by this they themselves sufficiently show that this attention, just as it is not to be blunted if it cannot endure, so if it has endured, is not quickly to be broken off: for let much speaking be far from prayer, but let not much supplication be lacking, if fervent attention perseveres." And below: "For the most part this business is conducted more by groans than by speech, more by weeping than by speaking."
The reason why the Apostle wills us to pray in every place is, first, that which St. Augustine gave in sermon 130 on Good Friday concerning the cross and the thief, because through Christ every place has been made an oratory for Christians: "To the Jews," he says, "God commanded that they should leave the whole earth and offer sacrifices in one place, and pay their vows, because the whole earth was then unclean with the smoke of altars, and the stench of pyres, and other defiled things which were brought upon it from the profane sacrileges of the Gentiles. But for us now, since Christ at His coming has cleansed the whole earth, every place has been made an oratory. And therefore the Apostle exhorts and commands us to pray without ceasing everywhere, saying: I wish that men pray in every place, lifting up holy (for thus St. Augustine reads instead of 'pure') hands." The other reason is, that prayer is as necessary to the soul, as food is to the body. This is beautifully taught by St. Antiochus, who lived 900 years ago, whose homilies are extant in the appendix of the Library of the Holy Fathers, hom. 106: "Prayer," he says, "joined with mourning, and poured out to God in spirit, is the nourishment of the mind, just as bread is to the body." And how useful, happy, and divine this is, he declares when he adds: "Blessed indeed is the mind to which it is granted at the time of prayer to be able to address God with no interrupting hindrances. Such a one is just like the eaglet, when it lifts itself on high; for the whole, happily and divinely alienated from itself by exchange, glistens with radiant splendor." And again, how prayer makes one humble and meek, he declares when he adds: "Continuous and unbroken prayer, through familiar converse with God, calls the mind away from all the prudence and pride of the world, and offers it present to God, and the more closely it joins it to God, with the greater fear together with mildness," that is, meekness, it fills it. Finally, he teaches that continuous prayer is necessary for subduing all vices and concupiscences, when he says: "Those who desire to shake off from themselves the rotten putridness of sins, must always devote themselves to prayer, namely by interior speech of the mind, even if they dwell outside the houses of prayer."
Secondly however, the Greeks explain this passage of public prayer, especially of sacrifice and synaxis, and this fits more aptly with what precedes and follows; for he treated of public prayer in verse 1, and in public the hands must be washed and lifted up pure, but not in private. Again, since he wishes women to pray in adorned attire, therefore he speaks of public prayer. For what does it matter in what attire a woman uses, when she prays privately in her chamber? He speaks therefore of public prayer, which must be made in any place, that is, in an oratory dedicated to public prayer, as if to say: The Jews pray only in the temple of Jerusalem, but I wish Christians to pray in any church and in every place which is dedicated to prayer.
For prayer made in church is more efficacious than that which is poured out at home, as St. Chrysostom teaches, hom. 3 On the Incomprehensible Nature of God, when, refuting an objection of certain ones (such as is that of our Novatians) he says thus: "We can pray even at home, they say; but we cannot hear a homily and doctrine except in church. You deceive yourself, O man. For even though there is also at home the faculty of praying to God, nevertheless it cannot be that you pray as well at home as in church, where there are so many Fathers, where the cry, raised by happy fellowship, is borne to immortal God. You do not entreat in the same way when alone you beseech the Lord, and when with your brethren. For in this kind there is something more, namely concord, harmony, the bond of love and charity, the cries of the priests. For the priests preside for this reason, that the prayers of the people, which by themselves are weaker, embraced by those stronger, may be carried up together into heaven." Add that the place itself often excites devotion of praying, and on account of the Saints who lived or rest there, is celebrated by God with miracles and other gifts and benefits. For this reason St. Jerome so greatly longed for Bethlehem, and invited thither Marcella, Paulina and others, as he professes in the epistles given to them. For the same reason St. Chrysostom desired to approach the thresholds of the Apostles, that he might kiss the chains of Peter and Paul, as he himself writes, hom. 8 on chapter iv to the Ephesians. See Bellarmine, book III On the Veneration of the Saints.
Lifting up pure hands. — In Greek ὁσίους, that is, holy, both by bodily washing them, as the Jews in Exodus chapter 19 are commanded to sanctify themselves by washing their garments; and spiritually, that is, by keeping the hands free from anger, as follows, and contention, fights, rapine, avarice, turpitude, and by sanctifying them through almsgiving. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Œcumenius. Hence Tertullian in his Apology, chapter 30, instead of "pure" reads "innocent." Whence also Augustine, sermon 93 On the Season: "In the hands," he says, "we ought to take up works; if therefore the works are such that you can lift them on high in the sight of the Lord, you can also exclude your adversaries within yourself. Therefore if we wish to conquer them, let our hands, that is, our acts, and our conversation, not be on earth, but in heaven." So Horace, book 1, Satire 4, said "to live with pure hands," meaning to live diligently and according to virtue.
Note, the Christians of old were accustomed to wash their hands before prayer: and this, first, for the sake of honor and reverence; especially because, as is clear from the 6th Synod, canon 101, those communicating received the sacred host, not in the mouth as is now done, but with hands extended in the form of a cross, the men with bare hands, the women with hands covered by a pure linen cloth which they called Dominicale, as is clear from the Council of Auxerre, canon 36; then bringing the host to their mouth with their hands, they took it. Secondly, that they might be admonished of purity of soul. Clement clearly has this, book 8 of the Constitutions, ch. 38; and Tertullian, On Prayer, ch. 11: "What reason is there," he says, "to pray with hands washed indeed, but with spirit defiled."
Indeed for this reason, not only with washed hands but also clothed in white garments they used to enter the church, as St. Chrysostom teaches, hom. 23 on Matthew. And for this reason, besides holy or lustral water, water was placed at the doors of the church for purification, as is clear from Eusebius, book 10 of the History, ch. 4. In place of this washing succeeded and remained the vessel of holy water, placed at the entrance of the church for the expiation of light sins, and now only the priests at Mass wash their hands.
Note secondly: This rite of washing, like many others, seems to have flowed and passed from the Jews to the Christians; for that the Jews did not adore God except with washed hands, Aristeas teaches in his book On the 72 Interpreters. He adds the reason, namely that testimony, and accomplish all things, because all things are performed by the hands. That the Gentiles did the same is clear from Tibullus, book I, Elegy II:
Casta placent superis, pura cum veste venite, Et manibus puris sumite fontis aquam.
Chaste things please those above; come with pure garment, And with pure hands take the water of the fountain.
See more in Baronius, year of Christ 57, pages 534 and 549.
Note thirdly: Lifting up the hands is the posture of one praying. Hence it was the custom of the ancients, both of the Jews and of the Christians, to pray with hands elevated. This is clear from Exodus 17:11: "And when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel was conquering; but if he let them down a little, Amalek was prevailing." Psalm 133:2: "Lift up your hands to the holy places," that is, toward the sanctuary. Psalm 140:2: "Let my prayer be directed as incense in Thy sight; the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice," as if to say: As the incense, which is daily morning and evening burned and offered to God, ascends to God, and is most pleasing and sweet to God; so also let my prayer, which as incense from my heart, burning with holy desires, evaporates, ascend to Thee, O Lord, and be sweet and pleasing to Thee. Again, let the prayer which I pour forth with hands lifted up to Thee, O Lord, please Thee as the evening sacrifice, namely the daily lamb, which was sacrificed both at evening and in the morning.
Where note: He says "evening" rather than "morning," because the evening sacrifice was more honored: First, because it was as it were the end and consummation of the whole day. Secondly, because it was a type of the Eucharist to be instituted by Christ in the evening at the Last Supper. Thirdly, because it was offered for the sins committed throughout the day, with contrition and sorrow of soul, of which evening and darkness are the symbol. So Theodoret there.
The same custom was that of the Gentiles by nature's leading. Whence Apuleius, book On the World: "This," he says, "is the posture of those praying, that we pray with hands extended to heaven." And Eusebius, book 4 On the Life of Constantine, ch. 28, recites a law of Constantine by which he commanded even the Gentiles to keep holiday on the Lord's Day and to address their vows to God with hands as well as souls lifted up to heaven. In this posture also among the Romans the image of Piety was depicted; and that Constantine wished his own image to be depicted in this same posture, Eusebius is witness, book 3 of his Life, ch. 3.
You may ask, what is the reason of this posture and rite? I answer: The first reason is that this is the posture of a suppliant, of one petitioning and hoping for help from on high: just as those about to drown extend their hands as if asking for help. The second reason Clement of Alexandria gives, book 7 Stromata, that the elevation of the hands signifies and excites the elevation of the mind to God, which is as it were the soul of prayer. "We extend our head and hands to heaven," says Clement, "and we raise our feet at the last acclamation of prayer, with the promptness and eagerness of the spirit pursuing the essence which is apprehended by understanding, and trying together with the word to lead the body away from the earth; we compel the soul, erect and uplifted by desire of better things, to go forward into the holy places, with great spirit despising the bond of the body."
Tertullian gives the third, in his Apology, ch. 30, that by the extension of hands we offer ourselves to God and as it were give ourselves into His hands. "The very posture of the praying Christian," says Tertullian, "is ready for every torment," as if the one praying said: "I am at hand, bind and strike if Thou wilt, or surely have mercy." The fourth is, that by this rite we designate the vehemence of affection; as if to bring force upon God, and through great confidence to wish to grasp by hand what we ask. For so the consul Bebianus is reported to have done when about to die, when God showed Himself to him to be seen, as the poem written about him has it, which is extant in vol. 8 of the Library of the Holy Fathers. The fifth is given by St. Cyprian, Exhortation to Martyrdom, ch. 8; Theodoret, Question 34 on Exodus; Nyssen, in the Life of Moses; Minucius, in the Octavius; Jerome, on chapter 11 of Mark, and other ancients: namely that by this gesture we attest the merits of Christ crucified, and offer them to the Father as the most efficacious means for obtaining what we seek. For which reason the priest at Mass often prays with hands extended in the form of a cross. Hence also Prudentius, in hymn 6 "On the Crowns," asserts that certain holy martyrs, snatched to torments, while praying so conformed their body that they might exhibit the form of the cross, namely so that they might attest that they were worshippers of Christ crucified, and were ready to suffer and die for Him. The sixth reason is moral, namely that by this posture the one who prays attests that he does not wish to obtain the thing he asks while remaining torpid; but wishes also to set his hands to the work. Hence the Psalmist, Psalm 118: "I lifted up," he says, "my hands to the commandments which I loved;" and Lamentations 3:41, Jeremiah exhorts us to lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord. The seventh is symbolic, which St. Ephrem gives, treatise On Prayer, namely that by this extension our prayer is, as it were, armed as with a bow, "because in it we extend our hands, and as it were direct an arrow at the enemy." For which reason Christ rightly complains in Blessed Hippolytus, book On the Consummation of the Age: "I," He says, "made your hands, that you might extend them to prayers and supplications; but you have extended them to plunderings and slaughters, and mutual killings." Furthermore, Tertullian thus depicts the gesture of the first Christians in praying, Apology ch. 30: "Christians," he says, "looking up to heaven with hands extended, because innocent; with head uncovered, because we do not blush; without a prompter; because we pray from the heart. We are always praying for all Emperors, for them a long life, a secure empire, a safe house, strong armies, a faithful senate, an upright people, a quiet world, and whatever are the wishes of a man and a Caesar."
Without anger and contention. — "Without anger," that is, without the memory of injuries, says Chrysostom, without desire of vengeance, indeed with reconciliation and forgiveness of injuries: for he understands this positive condition through the negation of anger; it is meiosis. Christ teaches the same, Matthew 5:23: "If thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest, that thy brother hath something against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming offer thy gift." For nothing so disturbs the soul, nothing so turns it away from God and prayer, and renders it incapable of divine inspiration and grace, as anger. Hence Chrysostom, hom. 8: "Let no one," he says, "be so bold as to proceed to pray to God while harboring enmities."
Note: For "contention," the Greek is διαλογισμῶν, which Œcumenius translates as "hesitation"; Chrysostom, as "disputation," by which someone, he says, disputes within himself, thinking: Do you suppose God will hear me? Do you suppose I obtain what I ask? To this hesitation is opposed confidence, which is necessary for the one praying. "Believe," says Christ, Mark 11:24, "that you will receive, and they shall come to you." James 1:6: "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering."
Secondly and better, here is understood the contention which is wont to follow from the anger of which he spoke before: for he who is angry disputes within himself about the causes and modes of vengeance, and is full of a tumult of thoughts as it were conflicting with one another, which disturb the peace of the mind and render it utterly unfit for praying. Hence St. Ambrose, book 5 On the Sacraments, ch. 5, by "disputation" understands the wandering of the mind, which in prayer ought to be excluded by attention of soul, which is as it were the soul of prayer.
Verse 9: In Like Manner Also Women, in Adorned Attire, with Modesty and Sobriety
9. In like manner also women. — Supply and repeat, "let them pray in every place, lifting up pure hands," equally as the men.
In adorned attire (in Greek κοσμίῳ, that is, honest, decent, and, as Vatablus has it, modest; and, as the Syriac, chaste; for this adorns women: for excessive, dishonest and indecent attire does not adorn them, but disfigures and besmirches them, especially in the temple, where they are about to pray. Whence in explaining he adds:) with modesty and sobriety (that is, modestly, soberly, moderately and chastely) adorning themselves. — Demades rightly said that modesty in a woman is the citadel of beauty: for those who lack it and adorn themselves shamelessly, prostitute themselves and their beauty. St. Cyprian, in his book On the Habit of Virgins, reads, "with modesty and chastity," and so the Syriac and Erasmus translate it; for σωφροσύνη signifies this also; though it more signifies sobriety, as Our [translator] renders it.
Note: The first virtue of a woman, especially in a public place and in the temple, is modesty, especially in the adornment of the body, to which this sex, because it lacks other gifts of mind and judgment with which men are endowed, is more inclined. Whence the female kind is φιλόκοσμον (adornment-loving), says Jerome, epistle 12 to Gaudentius. Hence the economist: "While they prepare (or polish), while they dress, a year passes." And that vulgar adage of Plautus: "A ship and a woman are never sufficiently adorned"; and: "Whoever seeks work and trouble, let him acquire for himself a wife or a ship." The Apostle therefore wishes them to be of an attire not sordid, nor lascivious, but grave, moderate and honest, which befits a Christian matron, and which signifies a chaste, grave and well-composed soul. Hence secondly, he wishes women to go forth not unkempt and uncomposed, but honestly adorned, each according to her state. So Ruth, in chapter 3, completely and richly clothed herself in more cultivated garments when she was still marriageable. So Judith adorned herself, ch. 10, verse 3. So Esther came in royal attire to Ahasuerus. And so a woman would sin, if against her husband's will she should use a meaner dress or attire. Whence St. Augustine, epistle 199 to Ecdicia, gravely rebukes her, because, eager for continence, she had changed her dress against her husband's will.
St. Basil in his Shorter Rules, question 210, thus defines an adorned habit: "That," he says, "which is accommodated to each one's intended end with becomingness and dignity, taking account of the time, place, person and usefulness: for one garment is fitting in winter, another in summer; one for one laboring, another for one resting; one for one ministering, another for the master; one for the soldier, another for the citizen; one for a man, another for a woman."
Not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly attire (in Greek ἱματισμῷ πολυτελεῖ, that is, with sumptuous attire); but what befits women, promising (ἐπαγγελλομένας, that is, presenting, and, as the Syriac and Ambrose, professing) godliness through good works. — Note: For "braided hair," the Greek is πλέγμασιν, that is, foldings and curlings, with which women, with the curling-iron, that is, a heated needle, twist their hair in varied flexings through grades and knots, that they may walk forth as curl-headed and adorned with curls.
Secondly, for "godliness," the Greek is θεοσέβειαν, that is, reverence and worship of God; the Syriac translates as "fear of God." Therefore piety here is understood as toward God, not toward parents or children, as if to say: Let them clothe themselves so honestly and modestly as it befits Christian women to be clothed, who "through good works," that is, through a good life and Christian morals, profess, not levity, not luxury, not lasciviousness, but piety and worship of God. Furthermore, St. Bernard, epistle 42 to Henry, Archbishop of Sens, extends these words to Bishops and Ecclesiastics: "'Not in costly attire,' he says; but it is cried out specifically to women, so that a Bishop should blush to be caught in himself with what he had heard rebuked even in the more fragile sex. Learn, O Pontiffs, what gold does in the bridle!"
Here is a moral passage about the decent adornment of women. Thus St. Peter, epistle I, chapter III, verse 3, describes wherein lies the true adornment of a Christian woman: "Of whom," he says, "let there not be the outward braiding (crisping) of hair, or wearing of gold, or putting on of apparel; but the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptibility of a quiet and modest spirit, which is rich in the sight of God." Where note, the true adornment of a woman is internal, namely the integrity and incorruption of a quiet and modest spirit, or, as Jerome reads, silent.
A quiet spirit, says Cajetan, is opposed to inconstancy, which is familiar to women; a modest and silent spirit, to anger and garrulity. So it is said of the king's bride, Psalm 44:14: "All the glory of the king's daughter is within." Otherwise a woman devoted to external adornment and neglecting the internal, internally represents Hecuba, externally Helen, says Nazianzen in his Poem against unkempt women. Indeed St. Augustine, sermon 18 On the Words of the Apostle: "The ornaments," he says, "of this body, that is, of the external man, the more they are sought, the greater are the detriments of the interior: but the less the ornaments of the exterior man are sought, the more the interior man is adorned with beautiful morals." Indeed, she who adorns herself excessively on the outside, even though she be most chaste, yet does not lack suspicion of unchastity. The witness is Claudia Festalis, who, as Ovid sings in the IV Fasti,
Casta quidem, sed non est credita; rumor iniquus Laeserat, et falsi criminis acta rea est. Cultus, et ornatos varie fudisse capillos Obfuit, ad rigidos linguaque prompta sonos.
Chaste indeed, but not believed to be so; an unjust rumor Had wounded her, and she was tried as guilty of a false crime. Her dress, and her variously poured-out adorned locks Were hurtful to her, and her tongue prompt to harsh sounds.
On the contrary, Plutarch in the Life of Phocion praises Phocion's wife, who, when another very noble woman had displayed to her her necklaces and feminine adornment, as women are wont to do, replied: "But my ornament and feminine adornment is Phocion." Hence Clement of Alexandria rightly, in book II of the Paedagogue, ch. 10: "I praise," he says, "and admire the city of the Lacedaemonians, which permitted only courtesans to wear flowery garments and golden adornment, namely thus removing from honorable women the zeal for adornment, in that it conceded that only courtesans might adorn themselves."
Tertullian wrote against this luxury of garments and adornment a notable book On the Adornment of Women, in which first, ch. 1, he teaches that chastity consists not only in the integrity of the flesh, but also in simple cleanliness of dress. Secondly, ch. 2, that this luxury is a sign of an unsound conscience, and brings temptation and danger to onlookers. Thirdly, ch. 5, that those who adorn themselves so much with colors and dyes, deform, transfigure, adulterate the nature, work and image of God, and as it were correct and rebuke God the artificer. Fourthly, ch. 10, that the colors of garments, works of gold and gems were invented by the demon, and he proves this from the book of Henoch, which St. Jude cites. Fifthly, ch. 11, that this adornment is that of Gentiles and handmaidens of the devil. Sixthly, ch. 12, that these are the enticements and indications of harlots. Seventhly, ch. 13, that Christians are called not to delights, but to severity, crosses and martyrdoms. The same in the book On the Habit of Women, ch. 1, teaches first, that women in their habit ought to mourn and expiate the ignominy and sin of Eve their mother. Secondly, ch. 4, that luxury is a sign either of ambition or of prostitution. Thirdly, ch. 6, that gems are the shells of the sea, or are dug out from the foreheads of dragons, so that thus a woman is adorned by the serpent. Finally, that they are most gravely punished by God. For Isaiah 3:17 says: "The Lord shall make bald the crown of the daughters of Sion, and the Lord shall lay bare their hair; and there shall be instead of a sweet smell a stench, and instead of a girdle a cord, and instead of curled hair baldness, and instead of a stomacher a hairshirt."
Therefore Tertullian thus exhorts women: "Come forth now, decked out with the medicines and ornaments of the Apostles, taking from simplicity whiteness, from chastity blush, your eyes painted with modesty, and with the silence of the spirit inserting into your ears the word of God, attaching to your necks the yoke of Christ. Submit your head to your husbands, and you will be sufficiently adorned. Occupy your hands with wool, fix your feet at home, and they will please more than in gold. Clothe yourselves with the silk of probity, the byssus of sanctity, the purple of chastity. Painted in such a way, you will have God as your lover."
Cyprian follows Tertullian, in the book On the Discipline and Habit of Virgins; for he says: "More precious is the adornment of those whose modesty is cheap. If you comb yourself more attractively, and walk forth notably through public places, you allure the eyes of youth upon yourself, so that even if you yourself do not perish, you yet destroy others, and as it were present yourself as a sword and poison to those who see you, you cannot be excused as though you were chaste and modest in mind: your wicked adornment and immodest habit refute you." Then he asserts that the authors and inventors of this paint and luxury are the demons: "The apostate angels," he says, "taught how to paint the eyes by drawing blackness around them, to stain the cheeks with the lie of redness, to change the hair with adulterous colors, and to overthrow all the truth of the mouth and head by the assault of their corruption." Thirdly, he shows that those who adorn themselves too much wish to correct God's work, and consequently are contumelious toward God. "The Lord said," he says: "'Let us make man to Our image'; and does anyone dare to change and convert what God has made? They lay hands on God, since they strive to reform and transfigure that which God has formed, not knowing that everything which is born is God's work; whatever is changed is the devil's. If a painter had painted an image, and another should lay hands on it, would not a grave injury be done to the painter? Then will you bear it with impunity, that you lay hands on God's image?" Fourthly, he threatens these who adorn and paint themselves with God's judgment and punishments: "Do you not fear," he says, "that in the resurrection the artificer will not recognize His own work, and will say: This is not My work, this is not Our image, you have polluted the skin with a false dye, you have changed the hair with adulterous color, the face has been overcome by lying, the figure is corrupted, the countenance is alien. You will not be able to see God, since you have not the eyes which God made, but those which the devil infected. Him you have followed, having imitated the reddish and painted eyes of the serpent, corrupted by your enemy, you will burn together with him."
How unbecoming this luxury and adornment is, both elsewhere and especially in the temple, Chrysostom here teaches, and from him Theophylact: "Are you going to dance," he says, "that you go to the church? are you here seeking nuptials and the delights of lasciviousness? have you come to provide a spectacle of yourself? must your bridal chamber now be prepared? This is not the habit of a suppliant; you came to entreat God for your sins, to seek pardon with groaning and tears: why do you strive to adorn yourself with wicked and ill-timed zeal?"
Finally, by the example of Praetextata, which I described from Jerome on I Thessalonians 5:19, God shows how greatly this luxury displeases Him. Wherefore Blessed Thomas More rightly said to a certain noble girl, who with much labor and pain folded her hair so that her forehead might appear broader, and constricted her bosom and tunic, so that she might appear of slender body: "Unless God repays you with hell for this so great labor of yours, He will surely do you a great injury." The same man seriously affirmed that he was most persuaded that, considering how many in this life by such labor purchase hell, with even half of it they could have gained heaven. Whence also St. Paula, as St. Jerome witnesses in her Epitaph, expiated this luxury, light though it was, in herself with such great penitence and so many tears; and when, says Jerome, she was admonished by us to spare her eyes, she replied: "The face must be disfigured, which I often painted with rouge and white lead and antimony against God's precept; for the body must be afflicted, which devoted itself to many delights; long laughter must be paid for by weeping; soft linens, and silks, and costly things, must be exchanged for the harshness of the hairshirt: I, who pleased my husband and the world, now strive to please Christ."
Verse 12: But I Permit Not a Woman to Teach, Nor to Usurp Authority Over a Man
12. But I permit not a woman to teach, in the church and in the public assembly, where common prayer is conducted, of which he has so far treated. Whence I Corinthians 14:34: "Let the women," he says, "keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted to them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law saith; but if they would learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for a woman to speak in the church." For as Theophylact notes, some women in Paul's time had received the gift of prophecy; therefore, lest they should think it lawful for themselves to speak and prophesy in the church, the Apostle here forbids them this, both for the sake of the honor, modesty, weakness and talkativeness of women, says Chrysostom; and from a zeal for reverence and subjection toward the husband, which requires that, when he is present and speaking, the woman be silent, especially in the church and in sacred matters; for privately at home Priscilla taught the faith of Christ to the eloquent man Apollos, Acts 18:26. And in Titus 2:4 the Apostle wishes that mothers should privately teach their daughters and maidservants prudence and modesty; and the believing woman is commanded to convert and instruct the unbelieving husband, I Corinthians 7:16. So St. Cecilia taught the faith of Christ to her bridegroom Valerian, St. Natalia to Adrian, St. Monica to Patricius, St. Martha to Marius; Theodelinda to Agilulphus, king of the Lombards; Clotilde to Clovis, Flavia Domitilla [converted] Flavius Clemens. For, as Chrysostom says, hom. 60 on John: "Nothing is more powerful than a good wife for instructing and informing her husband in whatever she wishes, nor will he so easily endure friends, or teachers, or rulers, as a wife who admonishes and counsels; for there is a certain pleasure in wifely admonition, since she most loves (or, as others read, is loved) what she counsels."
Add, the Apostle here forbids not only that a woman should teach publicly, namely in the church, but also does not permit her to teach privately, if she should wish to do so as if by office or authority. Whence follows:
Nor to usurp authority (in Greek αὐθεντεῖν, that is, to usurp authority) over a man (supply: I do not permit to a woman), but to be in silence. — In Greek ἡσυχίᾳ, that is, in quiet. This silence, this modesty, this restraint adorns a woman far more than a precious garment, says Chrysostom. And, as Euripides says in the Heraclidae: "For a woman the most beautiful gift is silence and modesty, and to remain tranquil within." Hence Nazianzen so praises his sister Gorgonia: "What is more prudent than silence? who knew divine things more, both from divine oracles and from her own intelligence and sagacity? who again spoke less than she, containing herself within the womanly bounds of piety?"
From this passage of the Apostle, Epiphanius, in heresy 49, which is that of the Quintilianists, refutes them for assuming women to the episcopate or to the presbyterate, in honor and grace of Eve.
For if the Apostle does not permit a woman to teach, indeed not even to speak in the church, what, if he had seen what we have seen in this age, namely a woman as the head, ruler and teacher of some Church? would he not have exclaimed: A horrible monster! surely by God's just judgment they choose for themselves such a monstrous head, who refuse to recognize the head appointed by Christ, namely St. Peter, and the successors of St. Peter.
Verse 13: For Adam Was First Formed, Then Eve
13. For Adam was first formed, then Eve: and Adam was not seduced, but the woman being seduced was in the transgression. — as if to say: A woman must be silent and learn (not teach), and be subject to the man, because the man surpasses her, both in the dignity of first creation: for Adam was first created, then Eve from Adam; and in the vigor of reason; for Eve lightly and rashly permitted herself to be seduced, but not Adam. So Chrysostom, who notes that by the example of the first woman Eve, all other women are here tacitly accused by Paul of rashness and levity.
Hence Primasius beautifully says: "The Apostle teaches that women ought to be subject to men, because they are both later in order and earlier in fault."
Verse 14: Adam Was Not Seduced, but the Woman Being Seduced Was in the Transgression
14. Adam was not seduced, but the woman being seduced was in the transgression. — "Seduced," in Greek ἀπατηθεῖσα, that is, deceived, as if to say: The woman, when it is asked: How is Adam said not to have been seduced, since he was deceived by Eve, and accepted and ate the forbidden fruit? The Master of the Sentences answers first, in Book II, dist. XXII, that Eve alone is said to have been seduced, because Eve alone believed the three things which the serpent had promised, if she ate of the forbidden fruit: namely, first, that they would not die; secondly, that they would become like God; thirdly, that they would have knowledge of good and evil. But most of the Fathers disagree, who hold that Adam also believed these things, and this is gathered from Gen. III, 22, where God, mocking Adam's credulity and his desire for omniscience and a kind of divinity: "Behold," He says, "Adam has become as one of Us, knowing good and evil."
Secondly, Ambrose more aptly reads, "the woman, having been seduced, became transgression," that is, she was the originator of transgression for the man, not the contrary.
Thirdly, others repeat from the preceding verse the word "first," as if to say: Adam first was not seduced, but Eve. So Theodoret, Œcumenius, Haymo.
Fourthly, others explain it thus, as if to say: It was not persuaded to Adam, but to Eve, that God had not commanded that they should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; therefore Adam was not seduced, but knowingly and prudently violated the precept of God.
Fifthly and more plainly, "Eve was seduced," because she was deceived by the serpent who wished to deceive her. Hence she also confesses herself deceived by this deceiver, saying: "The serpent deceived me." But Adam "was not seduced," that is, deceived by the serpent: for the serpent did not dare to attack the man, but the woman, whom he knew he could deceive more easily.
Hence also Adam did not excuse himself as having been deceived by the serpent or by anyone else, but only as having been allured by his wife (for Eve did not wish to deceive Adam, but only to entice him to eat of her fruit), and that he had only eaten so as to humor her as a companion: "The woman," he says, "whom Thou gavest to be with me, gave me of the tree, and I did eat."
Note however: As soon as Adam consented to the woman and became disobedient, he wished to eat of the tree of life, lifted up in pride, fell into blindness, and believed the serpent's promises and wished to become like God, and hoped from eating the fruit to gain omniscience, as I have said. For this is what God said, mocking him: "Behold, Adam has become as one of Us, knowing good and evil." So Theophylact, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Anselm, Augustine, book XIV De Civitate, ch. XVII; Jerome, book I Against Jovinian. As if Paul were saying: Therefore the woman, as having been seduced by the serpent, is inferior to the man in reason and prudence; therefore she ought to be subject to him. Secondly, therefore justly did God, as a punishment for the sin by which she enticed the man to sin, subject her to the man. And, as Chrysostom and Œcumenius say, once the woman taught badly, and perverted the man and everything: therefore let her teach no further, but be silent, and learn from the man to do rightly. Hear Tertullian, book De Habitu Mulierum, addressing the woman: "Thou," he says, "art the devil's gateway, thou art the unsealer of that tree, thou art the first deserter of the divine law; thou art she who persuaded him whom the devil was not strong enough to attack; thou didst so easily destroy man, the image of God; on account of thy desert, that is, death, even the Son of God had to die."
Verse 15: Yet She Shall Be Saved Through Childbearing, If She Continue in Faith
15. Yet she shall be saved through childbearing, if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification with sobriety. — St. Thomas holds that the little word "per" (through) is meant to signify not merit, but condition, as if to say: The woman shall be saved, even if she be not a virgin, but marry, and walk in the state of matrimony and the bearing of children. Hence Vatablus translates: the woman shall be saved as subject to the generation of children: so that it is a Grecism, διὰ τεκνογονίας, that is, τεκνογονοῦσα, "through childbearing," i.e., bearing children, or she shall be saved in the bearing of children. So the Greeks say, δι' ἀρρωστίας, that is, ἀρρωστῶν. For often διά, that is "through," is taken for ἐν, that is "in," as in Rom. IV, 11, Abraham is called the father of those who believe, "through the foreskin," that is, in the state of foreskin (uncircumcision); and II Cor. VI: "Through glory and dishonor, through infamy and good report," that is, in prosperity and adversity. This sense is confirmed by the words which the Apostle adds: "She shall be saved," he says, "through childbearing, if she continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety." Thus he attributes the cause of salvation to faith, love, and sobriety, not to the procreation of children: for the procreation of children is a natural and indifferent thing, and not meritorious, unless it be referred to some higher spiritual good, namely to piety and the pious education of children.
Secondly, some in Theophylact understand by "the bearing of children" the childbearing of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which saved women; for she gave birth to Christ, and in Him to many Christian sons and daughters. But this is too remote and foreign.
Thirdly, St. Augustine, book XII De Trinitate, ch. XVII, understands by "the bearing of children" the production of good works: but this is mystical.
I say therefore, fourthly, plainly and properly: the preposition "per" (through) here signifies the cause and merit, namely of the labors which a woman suffers in childbirth and in the education of children in the Christian faith and morals, through which she shall be saved. Note: Under "generation" the Apostle includes "education"; for education is as it were the complete generation and formation of children. So Chrysostom, as if Paul said: Granted that the woman should not teach, yet pious occupation befits her, and so she shall be saved not by handling books (libri), but by the handling of children (liberi). Let our novel little female know-it-alls hear this, who for the sake of their heresy and Scripture contentiously dispute with men at table, in ships, in carriages, in churches. Let them hear what St. Basil replied to Demosthenes, the cook of the Emperor Valens, when he was prattling on behalf of the Arians: "Thine," he said, "is to cook the meat, not to expound the Gospel."
Thus St. Monica was saved, and saved many through the diligent education and care of St. Augustine, concerning which St. Augustine speaks in book III of the Confessions, ch. XI and following. Such also was Placilla, the wife of the Emperor Theodosius, whose extraordinary piety and ardent zeal in educating her children may be seen in Nicephorus, book XII of his History, chs. XXIII and XXIV.
If she continue in faith and love. — So the Roman texts read; but the Greek now and the Syriac read ἐὰν μείνωσιν, "if they shall remain," namely the children, as if to say, says Chrysostom: The mother shall be saved, if she takes care that her children remain in the faith and love of Christ, and in holiness, with sobriety added; in Greek σωφροσύνη, which, with Jerome, Against Jovinian, can be translated as chastity, or purity, or even modesty; yet more, as I said before, it signifies sobriety and temperance.
Morally Theophylact: "What then," he says, "if a mother, infected with wicked and shameless morals, has rightly educated her children? It is hardly likely that she would do so; nevertheless, if it happens, she will receive a reward for these. But what if she be good and honest, yet tolerates her children being bad? What if she neglects them and indulges them? She will have the example of punishment and vengeance, that which befell Eli. But if she does all things, and omits nothing pertaining to care, yet she may not be able to bring her children to the right path; which rarely happens: nevertheless she shall not be defrauded of the reward of her sweat; since even the Son of God, doing and saying everything, yet had few who would obey Him."
Let mothers here learn that their treasure is their children, on whom they ought to spend all their care, not so much to enrich them as to educate them well. Thus Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, as Valerius Maximus relates, book IV, ch. IV, when a Campanian matron, a guest at her house, was showing her her ornaments, the most beautiful of that age, drew her into conversation until her children should return: "And these," she said, "are my ornaments." Hence St. Chrysostom here in homily 9 in his moral section: "We have," he says, "a great and precious deposit, namely our children; let us guard them with great care, and do everything lest a cunning thief steal them from us; no possession, no estate ought to be equally pleasing and dear to us: for all these things are sought for the children. If therefore we have greater care for possessions than for those for whose sake they are acquired, that is surely most absurd and foolish. Let us therefore train the tender souls of our children to virtue and piety, and let us seek all other things in the second place: for if they are wicked, money will profit them nothing; but if they are good, they will suffer nothing from poverty. Do you wish to leave your son rich? Teach him to be good and kind: for so he will also be able to make the family estate more abundant." And below: "For children not properly instructed, it is better to be poor than rich: for poverty restrains even the unwilling, and keeps them within the limits of virtue; but riches do not allow even the willing to live chastely and temperately, but make them go astray and pervert them." Then he exhorts and instructs mothers thus to rightly educate their daughters: "Mothers, take up the care of your daughters likewise: that care is very easy for you. Take care diligently that they be continually at home. Above all, teach them to be pious and religious, to despise money, to be despisers of outward adornment; and so at last give them in marriage. If you so instruct them, you will save not only them, but also the husbands who shall take them; and not only the husbands, but also the sons and grandsons. For from the best root come stronger shoots, which always advance to better things, and the reward of all these shall be rendered to you." And finally he concludes the matter with this notable sentence: "Thus indeed it is fitting for a virgin to come forth from her father's house and be joined in matrimony, just as a wrestler from the wrestling-school, so that she may have the most diligent skill in all household matters, and may be like leaven, which transforms the whole mass into its own beauty." Particular precepts on the education of daughters are assigned to mothers by St. Jerome, in his epistles to Laeta, to Calantia, and to Gaudentius, in volume I.