514. GOSPEL ACCORDING TO CHAP. XIV.
But heresyindeed,likeEve with a woman's obstinacy,tries
Eph.5,3.the affectionof faith. And the Apostle says thatwe must
Heb.is fleefrom covetousness,lestentangled in the customs of the
5- . Gentiles,we be unable to come to the kingdom of Christ.
6,n. Thereforeboth he who has bought a farm isa strangertothe
kingdom, and he who has chosen the yoke of the law rather
than the giftof grace,and he also who excuses himself
becausehe has married a wife.
Aug.in It follows,And the servantreturned,and toldthesethings
f?en-ai! to his Lord. AUG. Not for the sake of knowing inferior
lit.C. 1.'.
beings does God requiremessengers,as though He gained
aught from them, forHe knows allthingsstedfastlyand un
changeably. But He has messengersforour sakesand their
own, because to be present with God, and stand before
Him so as to consultHim about His subjects,and obey
His heavenly commandments, is good for them in the
orderof theirown nature.
CYRIL. But with the rulersof the Jews who refusedtheir
John7, call,as they themselves confessed,Have any of the rulers
believedon Him? the Master of the household was wroth,
as with them that deserved His indignationand anger;
whence itfollows,Then themasterofthehousebeingangry,S(c.
.PSEUDO-BASIL. Not thatthe passionof anger belongs to the
inPs.37.Divine substance,but an operationsuch as in us iscaused by
anger,iscalledthe anger and indignationof God. CYRIL.
Thus it was that the master of the house is said to have
been enraged with the chiefsof the Jews, and in theirstead
were calledmen taken from out of the Jewish multitude;
Acts2, and of weak and impotent minds. For at Peter'spreach-
*l **' ing,firstindeed threethousand,then fivethousand believed,
and afterwardsmuch people; whence itfollows,He saidunto
His servant,Go out straightwayinto the streetsand lanes
of thecity,and bringin hitherthepoor,and themaimed, and
thehalt,and the blind. AMBROSE. He invitesthe poor,the
weak, and the blind,to shew that weakness of body shuts
out no one from the kingdom of heaven, and that he is
guiltyof fewer sins who lacks the incitement to sin; or
that the infirmitiesof sin are forgiventhrough the mercy
of God. Therefore He sends to the streets,that from the
Gre_ broaderways they may come to the narrow way.
Horn.86. Because then the proud refuse to come, the poor aie