HOMILY II
Concerning the kingdom of darkness,
that is, of sin, and that God alone is able to take away sin from us, and to
deliver us out of the bondage of the evil prince.
1. THE
kingdom of darkness, the evil prince, having taken men captive at the
beginning, enveloped and clothed the soul in the power of darkness, as a man
might clothe another. “And that they may make him king, and clothe him with
royal garments, so that from head to foot he may wear royal apparel.”[1] In
this manner the evil prince clothed the soul and all its substance with sin. He
defiled it all, and brought it all into captivity to his kingdom, leaving not
one member of it free from him – not the thoughts, not the understanding, not
the body; he clothed it all with the purple of darkness. For as it is the body
that suffers, not one part or member of it, but the whole is liable to suffer
together, so the whole soul suffered the passions of un-happiness and sin. The evil
one clothed the whole soul, which is the indispensable part or member of man, with
his own unhappiness, which is sin, and thus the body became liable to suffering
and decay.
2. For
when the apostle says, “Put off the old man”[2], he means a complete man, with
eyes for eyes, ears for ears, hands for hands, and feet for feet. For the evil
one has defiled the entire man, soul and body, and dragged him down, and has
clothed the man with an “old man”, polluted man, unclean, at enmity with God, not
subject to the law of God[3], and all identified with sin, that he may no
longer see as the man himself wishes, but may see wrongly, and have feet that
are swift to do evil, and hands that work iniquity, and a heart that devises
evil things. Let us therefore beseech God that He would put off the old man
from us; because He alone is able to take away sin from us, for those that have
taken us captive, and that detain us in their kingdom, are too mighty for us. But
He has promised to deliver us from this sore bondage. When there is a hot sun
and a wind blowing, the sun and the wind each have a body and nature of their
own, but no one can separate between sun and wind, unless God, who alone can,
should make the wind to cease from blowing. In like manner sin is mingled with
the soul, though such has its own nature.
3. It
is impossible to separate between the soul and sin, unless God should stop and
repress this evil wind, which dwells in the soul and in the body.
A
man watches a bird flying, and wishes to fly himself, but he cannot, because he
has no wings. Even so the will is present[4] with a man to be pure, and blameless,
and without spot, and to have no wickedness in him, but to be always with God;
but he has not the power. To fly into the air of God and the liberty of the
Holy Ghost may be his wish, but unless wings are given him, he cannot. Let us
then beseech God to bestow upon us the wings of a dove, even of the Holy Ghost,
that we may fly to Him and be at rest[5], and that He would separate and make
to cease from our souls and bodies, that evil wind, which is the sin that
dwelleth in the members of our souls and bodies. None but He can do it. Behold,
it says, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.[6] He alone
has shewn this mercy
To those
men who believe Him, redeeming them from sin; and for those who are always
waiting for Him, and hope, and seek without ceasing, He achieves this
unutterable salvation.
4.
As in a gloomy black night a fierce wind blows, and stirs and searches and
shakes all the plants and seeds, so when man falls under the power of the darkness
of the devil’s night, and is in night and darkness, he is agitated by that
dreadful wind of sin that blows, and is shaken and stirred, and searched
through all his nature, his soul, his thoughts, his understanding; and all the
limbs of his body are shaken, and no member of either soul or body escapes free
and immune from the sin that that dwelleth in us. In like manner there is a day
of light and a divine wind of the Holy Ghost, which blows and refreshes the
souls that are in the day of the light of God. It penetrates al the substance
of the soul and its thoughts, and all the being and all the members of of the
body, refreshing and resting them with a divine, unspeakable rest. This is what
the apostle declared when he said, We are not children of the night or of
darkness, for ye are all the sons of light and the sons of day.[7] And as
yonder, in the state of error, the old man put on man as a complete whole, and
wears the garment of the kingdom of darkness, the garment of blasphemy, ragged,
unclean, and abominable; so here, all who have put off the old man, which is
from beneath the earth – all whom Jesus has stripped of the clothing of the
kingdom of darkness – have put on the new and heavenly man, Jesus Christ, once
more corresponding, eyes to eyes, ears to ears, head to head, to be all pure,
and wearing the heavenly image.
5.
The Lord has clothed them with the clothing of the kingdom of ineffable light,
the clothing of faith, hope, charity, of joy, peace, goodness, kindness, and
all the other divine and living clothing of the light of life, of inexpressible
rest, that, as God Himself is love, and joy, and peace, and kindness, and
goodness, so the new man may be through grace. And as the kingdom of darkness,
and sin, are hidden in the soul until the day of resurrection, when the bodies also
of sinners shall be covered with the darkness that is now hidden in the soul,
so the kingdom of light, and the heavenly image, Jesus Christ, now mystically
enlightens the soul, and reigns in the soul of the saints, but is hidden from
the eyes of man, and only with the eyes of the soul is Christ truly seen, until
the day of resurrection; but then the body also shall be covered and glorified
with the light of the Lord, which is now in the man’s soul, that the body also
may reign with the soul which now receives the kingdom of Christ and rests and
is enlightened with eternal light. Glory to His mercies and His tender
compassion, for that He has such pity on His servants, and enlightens them, and
delivers them from the kingdom of darkness, and bestows upon them His own light
and His own kingdom. To Him be glory and might for ever. Amen
END
NOTES:
[1] The source of the quotation, if it is one, seems not to
be known. It os intended, apparently, to give the idea of a complete
envelopment.
[2] Col. 3:9
[3] Rom. 8:7
[4] Rom. 7:18
[5] Ps. 4:6 (4:8?)
[6] John 1:29
[7] 1 Thess. 5:5
