Can it at any time or place be unjust to love God with all
his heart, with all his soul, and with all his mind; and his neighbour
as himself? Therefore are those foul offences which be against
nature, to be every where and at all times detested and punished;
such as were those of the men of Sodom: which should all nations
commit, they should all stand guilty of the same crime, by the
law of God, which hath not so made men that they should so abuse
one another. For even that intercourse which should be between
God and us is violated, when that same nature, of which He is
Author, is polluted by perversity of lust. But those actions which
are offences against the customs of men, are to be avoided according
to the customs severally prevailing; so that a thing agreed upon,
and confirmed, by custom or law of any city or nation, may not
be violated at the lawless pleasure of any, whether native or
foreigner. For any part which harmoniseth not with its whole,
is offensive. But when God commands a thing to be done, against
the customs or compact of any people, though it were never by
them done heretofore, it is to be done; and if intermitted, it
is to be restored; and if never ordained, is now to be ordained.
For lawful if it be for a king, in the state which he reigns over,
to command that which no one before him, nor he himself heretofore,
had commanded, and to obey him cannot be against the common weal
of the state (nay, it were against it if he were not obeyed, for
to obey princes is a general compact of human society); how much
more unhesitatingly ought we to obey God, in all which He commands,
the Ruler of all His creatures! For as among the powers in man's
society, the greater authority is obeyed in preference to the
lesser, so must God above all.
So in acts of violence, where there is a wish to hurt, whether
by reproach or injury; and these either for revenge, as one enemy
against another; or for some profit belonging to another, as the
robber to the traveller; or to avoid some evil, as towards one
who is feared; or through envy, as one less fortunate to one more
so, or one well thriven in any thing, to him whose being on a
par with himself he fears, or grieves at, or for the mere pleasure
at another's pain, as spectators of gladiators, or deriders and
mockers of others. These be the heads of iniquity which spring
from the lust of the flesh, of the eye, or of rule, either singly,
or two combined, or all together; and so do men live ill against
the three, and seven, that psaltery of ten strings, Thy Ten Commandments,
O God, most high, and most sweet. But what foul offences can there
be against Thee, who canst not be defiled? Or what acts of violence
against Thee, who canst not be harmed? But Thou avengest what
men commit against themselves, seeing also when they sin against
Thee, they do wickedly against their own souls, and iniquity gives
itself the lie, by corrupting and perverting their nature, which
Thou hast created and ordained, or by an immoderate use of things
allowed, or in burning in things unallowed, to that use which
is against nature; or are found guilty, raging with heart and
tongue against Thee, kicking against the pricks; or when, bursting
the pale of human society, they boldly joy in self-willed combinations
or divisions, according as they have any object to gain or subject
of offence. And these things are done when Thou art forsaken,
O Fountain of Life, who art the only and true Creator and Governor
of the Universe, and by a self-willed pride, any one false thing
is selected therefrom and loved. So then by a humble devoutness
we return to Thee; and Thou cleansest us from our evil habits,
and art merciful to their sins who confess, and hearest the groaning
of the prisoner, and loosest us from the chains which we made
for ourselves, if we lift not up against Thee the horns of an
unreal liberty, suffering the loss of all, through covetousness
of more, by loving more our own private good than Thee, the Good
of all.
Amidst these offences of foulness and violence, and so many iniquities,
are sins of men, who are on the whole making proficiency; which
by those that judge rightly, are, after the rule of perfection,
discommended, yet the persons commended, upon hope of future fruit,
as in the green blade of growing corn. And there are some, resembling
offences of foulness or violence, which yet are no sins; because
they offend neither Thee, our Lord God, nor human society; when,
namely, things fitting for a given period are obtained for the
service of life, and we know not whether out of a lust of having;
or when things are, for the sake of correction, by constituted
authority punished, and we know not whether out of a lust of hurting.
Many an action then which in men's sight is disapproved, is by
Thy testimony approved; and many, by men praised, are (Thou being
witness) condemned: because the show of the action, and the mind
of the doer, and the unknown exigency of the period, severally
vary. But when Thou on a sudden commandest an unwonted and unthought
of thing, yea, although Thou hast sometime forbidden it, and still
for the time hidest the reason of Thy command, and it be against
the ordinance of some society of men, who doubts but it is to
be done, seeing that society of men is just which serves Thee?
But blessed are they who know Thy commands! For all things were
done by Thy servants; either to show forth something needful for
the present, or to foreshow things to come.