Chapter X.

26. Next there follows here: “Therefore, if thou hast brought84    Obtuleris; Vulgate, offers. thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” From this surely it is clear that what is said above is said of a brother: inasmuch as the sentence which follows is connected by such a conjunction that it confirms the preceding one; for He does not say, But if thou bring thy gift to the altar; but He says, “Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar.” For if it is not lawful to be angry with one’s brother without a cause, or to say “Raca,” or to say “Thou fool,” much less is it lawful so to retain anything in one’s mind, as that indignation may be turned into hatred. And to this belongs also what is said in another passage: “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”85    Eph. iv. 26. We are therefore commanded, when about to bring our gift to the altar, if we remember that our brother hath ought against us, to leave the gift before the altar, and to go and be reconciled to our brother, and then to come and offer the gift.86    The performance of an act of worship does not atone for an offence against a fellow-man. The duties toward God never absolve from man’s duties to his neighbour. Inter rem sacram magis subit recordatio offensarum, quam in strepitu negotiorum (Bengel). But if this is to be understood literally, one might perhaps suppose that such a thing ought to be done if the brother is present; for it cannot be delayed too long, since you are commanded to leave your gift before the altar. If, therefore, such a thing should come into your mind respecting one who is absent, and, as may happen, even settled down beyond the sea, it is absurd to suppose that your gift is to be left before the altar until you may offer it to God after having traversed both lands and seas. And therefore we are compelled to have recourse to an altogether internal and spiritual interpretation, in order that what has been said may be understood without absurdity.

27. And so we may interpret the altar spiritually, as being faith itself in the inner temple of God, whose emblem is the visible altar. For whatever offering we present to God, whether prophecy, or teaching, or prayer, or a psalm, or a hymn, and whatever other such like spiritual gift occurs to the mind, it cannot be acceptable to God, unless it be sustained by sincerity of faith, and, as it were, placed on that fixedly and immoveably, so that what we utter may remain whole and uninjured. For many heretics, not having the altar, i.e. true faith, have spoken blasphemies for praise; being weighed down, to wit, with earthly opinions, and thus, as it were, throwing down their offering on the ground. But there ought also to be purity of intention on the part of the offerer. And therefore, when we are about to present any such offering in our heart, i.e. in the inner temple of God (“For,” as it is said, “the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are;”87    1 Cor. iii. 17. and, “That Christ may dwell in the inner man88    Eph. iii. 17. In interiore homine, a different construction from the Greek, which has εἰς with the accusative. So Vulgate, in interiorem hominem. by faith in your hearts”) if it occur to our mind that a brother hath ought against us, i.e. if we have injured him in anything (for then he has something against us whereas we have something against him if he has injured us, and in that case it is not necessary to proceed to reconciliation: for you will not ask pardon of one who has done you an injury, but merely forgive him, as you desire to be forgiven by the Lord what you have committed against Him), we are therefore to proceed to reconciliation, when it has occurred to our mind that we have perhaps injured our brother in something; but this is to be done not with the bodily feet, but with the emotions of the mind, so that you are to prostrate yourself with humble disposition before your brother, to whom you have hastened in affectionate thought, in the presence of Him to whom you are about to present your offering. For thus, even if he should be present, you will be able to soften him by a mind free from dissimulation, and to recall him to goodwill by asking pardon, if first you have done this before God, going to him not with the slow movement of the body, but with the very swift impulse of love; and then coming, i.e. recalling your attention to that which you were beginning to do, you will offer your gift.89    “Discharge of duty to men does not absolve from duty to God.” The passage has strong bearing upon the relation of morality and religion.

28. But who acts in a way that he is neither angry with his brother without a cause, nor says “Raca” without a cause, nor calls him a fool without a cause, all of which are most proudly committed; or so, that, if perchance he has fallen into any of these, he asks pardon with suppliant mind, which is the only remedy; who but just the man that is not puffed up with the spirit of empty boasting? “Blessed” therefore “are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Let us look now at what follows.

CAPUT X.---26. Deinde hic sequitur: Si ergo obtuleris munus tuum ad altare, et illic recordatus fueris quod frater tuus habet aliquid adversum te; relinque ibi munus tuum ante altare, et vade, prius reconciliare fratri tuo : et tunc veniens offer munus tuum. Hinc utique apparet de fratre dictum superius; quoniam sententia quae sequitur, ea conjunctione connectitur ut superiori attestetur: non enim ait, Si autem obtuleris munus tuum ad altare; sed ait, Si ergo obtuleris munus tuum ad altare. Nam si irasci fas non est fratri suo sine causa, aut dicere Racha, aut dicere Fatue; multo minus fas est animo tenere aliquid ut in odium indignatio convertatur. Quo pertinet etiam quod alio loco dicitur, Non occidat sol super iracundiam vestram (Ephes. IV, 26). Jubemur ergo illaturi munus ad altare, si recordati fuerimus aliquid adversum nos habere fratrem, munus ante altare relinquere, et pergere ac reconciliari fratri, deinde venire et munus offerre. Quod si accipiatur ad litteram, fortassis aliquis credat ita fieri oportere, si praesens frater sit non enim diutius differri potest, cum munus tuum relinquere ante altare jubearis: si ergo de absente, et, quod fieri potest, etiam trans mare constituto aliquid tale veniat in mentem, absurdum est credere ante altare munus relinquendum, quod post terras et maria pererrata offeras Deo. Et ideo prorsus intro ad spiritualia refugere cogimur, ut hoc quod dictum est sine absurditate possit intelligi.

27. Altare itaque spiritualiter in interiore Dei templo ipsam fidem accipere possumus, cujus signum est altare visibile. Quodlibet enim munus offerimus Deo, sive prophetiam, sive doctrinam, sive orationem, sive hymnum, sive psalmum, et si quid tale aliud spiritualium donorum animo occurrit, acceptum esse non potest Deo, nisi fidei sinceritate fulciatur, et ei fixe atque immobiliter tanquam imponatur, ut possit integrum atque illibatum esse quod loquimur. Nam multi haeretici non habentes altare, id est veram fidem, blasphemias pro laude dixerunt; terrenis videlicet opinionibus aggravati, votum suum tanquam in terram projicientes. Sed debet esse sana etiam offerentis intentio. Et propterea cum tale aliquid oblaturi sumus in corde nostro, id est in interiore Dei templo; Templum enim Dei sanctum est, inquit, quod estis vos (I Cor. III, 17); et, 1243In interiore homine habitare Christum per fidem in cordibus vestris (Ephes. III, 17): si in mentem venerit quod aliquid habeat adversum nos frater, id est, si nos eum in aliquo laesimus; tunc enim ipse habet adversum nos: nam nos adversus illum habemus, si ille nos laesit: ubi non opus est pergere ad reconciliationem; non enim veniam postulabis ab eo qui tibi fecit injuriam, sed tantum dimittes, sicut tibi dimitti a Domino cupis, quod ipse commiseris: pergendum est ergo ad reconciliationem, cum in mentem venerit quod nos forte fratrem in aliquo laesimus; pergendum autem non pedibus corporis, sed motibus animi, ut te humili affectu prosternas fratri, ad quem chara cogitatione cucurreris, in conspectu ejus cui munus oblaturus es. Ita enim etiam si praesens sit, poteris eum non simulato animo lenire, atque in gratiam revocare veniam postulando, si hoc prius coram Deo feceris, pergens ad eum non pigro motu corporis, sed celerrimo dilectionis affectu; atque inde veniens, id est, intentionem revocans ad id quod agere coeperas, offeres munus tuum.

28. Quis autem hoc facit, ut fratri suo vel non irascatur sine causa, vel Racha non dicat sine causa, vel eum fatuum non appellet sine causa, quod totum superbissime admittitur; vel forte si in aliquo horum lapsus fuerit, quod est unum remedium, supplici animo veniam deprecetur; nisi quisquis inanis jactantiae spiritu non inflatur ? Beati ergo pauperes spiritu; quoniam ipsorum est regnum coelorum. Nunc jam videamus quod sequitur.