Golden Chain 4019

MATTHEW 10,19-20

4019 (Mt 10,19-20)

Chrys.: To the foregoing topics of consolation, He adds another not a little one; that they should not say, How shall we be able to persuade such men as these, when they shall persecute us? He bids them be of good courage respecting their answer, saying, "When they shall deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak."

Remig.: "How or what," one refers to the substance, the other to the expression in words. And because both of these would be supplied by Him, (p. 383) there was no need for the holy preachers to be anxious about either.
Jerome: When then we are brought before judges for Christ's sake, we ought to offer only our will for Christ. But Christ who dwelleth in us speaks for Himself, and the grace of the Holy Spirit will minister in our answer.
Hilary: For our faith, observing all the precepts of the Divine will, will be instructed with an answer according to knowledge, after the example of Abraham, to whom when he had given up Isaac, there was not wanting a ram for a victim. "For it is not ye who speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you."
Remig., ap. Raban.: Meaning, Ye indeed go out to the battle, but it is I who fight; you utter the words, but it is I who speak. Hence Paul speaks, "Seek ye a proof of Christ who speaketh in me?" (2Co 13,3)
Chrys.: Thus He raises them to the dignity of the Prophets, who have spoken by the Spirit of God. He who says here, "Take no thought what ye shall speak," (1P 3,15) has said in another place, "Be ye always ready to give an answer to him that demandeth a reason of the hope that is in you." When it is a dispute among friends, we are commanded to "be ready;" but before the awful judgment, and the raging people, aid is ministered by Christ, that they may speak boldly and not be dismayed.

MATTHEW 10,21-22

4021 (Mt 10,21-22)

Gloss, ap. Anselm: Having placed the comfort first, He adds the more alarming perils; "Brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father the son; children shall rise against parents, to put them to death."
Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxxv, 3: Wrongs which we suffer from strangers, pain us less than those we suffer from men on whose affections we had counted; for besides the bodily affliction, there is then the pain of lost affection.
Jerome: This we see often happen in persecutions, nor is there (p. 384) any true affection between those whose faith is different.
Chrys.: What follows is yet more dreadful, "Ye shall be hated of all men;" they sought to exterminate them as common enemies of all the world. To this again is added the consolation, "For my name's sake;" and yet further to cheer them, "Whosoever shall endure to the end, he shall be saved." For many are hot and zealous in the beginning, but afterwards grow cool, for these, He says, I look at the end. For where is the profit of seeds that only sprout at first? wherefore He requires a sufficient endurance from them.
Jerome: For virtue is not to begin but to complete.
Remig.: And the reward is not for those that begin, but for those that bring to an end.
Chrys.: But that no man should say, that Christ wrought all things in His Apostles, and therefore it is nothing wonderful that they were made such as they were, since they did not bear the burden of these things, therefore He says, that perseverance was their work. For though they were rescued from their first perils, they are preserved for still harder trials, which again shall be followed by others, and they shall be in danger of snares as long as they live. This He covertly intimates when he says, "Whosoever shall endure to the end, he shall be saved."
Remig.: That is, He who shall not let go the commands of the faith, nor fall away in persecution, shall be saved; he shall receive the reward of the heavenly kingdom for his earthly persecutions. And note that 'the end' does not always mean destruction, but sometimes perfection, as in that, "Christ is the end of the Law." (Rm 10,4) So the sense here may be, "Whosoever shall endure to the end," that is, in Christ.
Aug., City of God, book 21, ch. 25: To endure in Christ, is to abide in His faith which worketh by love.

MATTHEW 10,23

4023 (Mt 10,23)

Chrys.: Having foretold the fearful things which should come upon them after His Cross, resurrection, and ascension, He leads them to gentler prospects; He does not bid them presumptuously to offer themselves for persecution, but to (p. 385) fly from it; "When they persecute you in this city, flee ye to another." For because this was the first beginning of their conversion, He adapts His words to their state.
Jerome: This must be referred to the time when the Apostles were sent to preach, when it was said to them, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles;" they should not fear, but may shun persecution. This we see the believers did in the beginning, when on a persecution arising in Jerusalem they were scattered throughout all Judaea, and thus the season of tribulation was made the seedtime of the Gospel.
Aug., cont. Faust., xxii, 36: Not that the Saviour was unable to protect His disciples, does He here bid them fly, and Himself give them an example of it, but He instructed man's weakness, that he should not presume to tempt God, when he has anything that he can do for himself, but should shun all evils.
Aug., City of God, book 1, ch. 22: He might have suffered them to lay violent hands upon themselves, that they might not fall into the hands of their persecutors. Therefore if He neither commanded nor allowed this mode of departure from this world to His own, for whom He Himself had promised that He would prepare an eternal mansion; whatever instances may be brought by the Gentiles who know not God, it is clear that this is not lawful for those who believe one true God.
Chrys.: But that they should not say, What then if we fly from persecution, and again they cast us out thence whither we have fled? To remove this fear, He says, "Verily, I say unto you, ye shall not have completed, &c." that is, ye shall not have made the circuit of Palestine and return to Me, before I shall take you to Me.

Raban.: Or; He foretels that they shall not have brought all the cities of Israel to the faith by their preaching, before the Lord's resurrection be accomplished, and a commission given them to preach the Gospel throughout the world.
Hilary: Otherwise; He exhorts to fly from place to place; for His preaching driven from Judaea, first passing into Greece; then, wearied with divers sufferings of the Apostles up and down the cities of Greece, it takes an abiding refuge in the rest of the Gentile world. But to shew that the Gentiles would believe the preaching of the Apostles, but that the remnant of Israel should only believe at His second coming, He adds, "Ye shall not have (p. 386) completed the cities of Israel;" i.e. After the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, that which remains of Israel to fill up the number of the Saints shall be called into the Church in Christ's future coming to glory.
Aug., Ep. 228: Let the servants of Christ then do as He commanded, or permitted them; as He fled into Egypt, let them fly from city to city, whenever any one of them is marked out for persecution; that the Church be not deserted, it will be filled by those who are not so sought after; and let these give sustenance to their fellow-servants whom they know cannot live by any other means. But when the threatening danger is common to all, Bishops, clergy, and laity, let not those who have need of aid be deserted by those whose aid they require.
Either therefore let them all pass to some stronghold, or let those who are obliged to remain, not be deserted by those whose province it is to supply their ecclesiastical needs; that they may either all live, or all suffer whatever their Master will have them to suffer.

Remig.: Be it known moreover, that as this precept respecting endurance under persecution specially belongs to the Apostles and their successors, men of fortitude, so the permission to fly is sufficiently proper for the weak in the faith, to whom the tender Master condescends, lest if they should offer themselves for martyrdom, under the pain they should deny the faith; and the sin of flight is lighter than that of denial. But though by their flight they shewed that they had not the constancy of perfect faith, yet their desert was great, seeing they were ready to leave all for Christ. So that if He had not given them permission to fly, some would have said that they were aliens from the glory of the heavenly kingdom.
Jerome: Spiritually, we may say; When they shall persecute you in one book or one passage of Scripture, let us flee to other volumes, for however contentious the adversary may be, protection will come from the Saviour before the victory is yielded to the enemy.

MATTHEW 10,24

4024 (Mt 10,24)

Chrys.: Because it should come to pass that His disciples among their other persecutions should suffer loss of character, which to many is the most grievous of all calamities, He consoles them from His own example, and those things that were spoken of Him; a comfort to which no other can be compared.
Hilary: For the Lord, the Light eternal, the Captain of the faithful, the Parent of immortality, set before His disciples this solace of the sufferings that should come upon them, that we should embrace it as our glory when we are made like to our Lord in suffering; whence He says, "The disciple is not above his master, nor the slave above his lord."
Chrys.: Understand, so long as he is a disciple or servant, he is not above his master or lord by the nature of honour. And do not here object to me such cases as rarely happen, but receive this according to the common course of things.
Remig.: He calls Himself master and lord; by disciple and servant He denotes His Apostles.
Gloss. ord.: As much as to say, Be not indignant that ye suffer things, which I also suffer, because I am your lord, who do what I will, and your master, who teach you what I know to be profitable for you.
Remig.: And because this sentence seemed not to agree with the foregoing words, He shews what they mean by adding, "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more they of his household?"
Chrys.: He said not here, 'slaves,' but "those of his household," to shew how dear they were to Him; as elsewhere He said, "I will not call you slaves, but my friends." (Jn 15,15)
Remig.: As much as to say, Ye therefore will not seek worldly honours and human glory, while you see me pursuing the redemption of mankind through mocking and contumely.
Chrys.: And He says not only, If they have reviled the master of the house, but expresses the very words of railing, for they had called Him Beelzebub.
Jerome: Beelzebub is the idol of Accaron who is called in the book of Kings, the God of flies; (2 Ki 1:3) 'Bel,' signifying, "idol;" 'zebub,' a "fly". The Prince of the daemons He calls by the name of the foulest of idols, (p. 388) which is so called because of the uncleanness of the fly, which destroys the sweetness of ointment.

MATTHEW 10,26-28


4026 (Mt 10,26-28)

Remig.: To the foregoing consolation He adds another no less, saying, "Fear ye not them," namely, the persecutors. And why they were not to fear, He adds, "For there is nothing hid which shall not be revealed, nothing secret which shall not be known."
Jerome: How is it then that in the present world, the sins of so many are unknown? It is of the time to come that this is said; the time when God shall judge the hidden things of men, shall enlighten the hidden places of darkness, and shall make manifest the secrets of hearts. The sense is, Fear not the cruelty of the persecutor, or the rage of the blasphemer, for there shall come a day of judgment in which your virtue and their wickedness will be made known.
Hilary: Therefore neither threatening, nor evil speaking, nor power of their enemies should move them, seeing the judgment-day will disclose how empty, how nought all these were.
Chrys.: Otherwise; It might seem that what is here said should be applied generally; but it is by no means intended as a general maxim, but is spoken solely with reference to what had gone before with this meaning; If you are grieved when men revile you, think that in a little time you will be delivered from this evil. They call you indeed impostors, sorcerers, seducers, but have a little patience, and all men shall call you the saviours of the world, when in the course of things you shall be found to have been their benefactors, for men will not judge by their words but by the truth of things.
Remig.: (p. 389) Some indeed think that these words convey a promise from our Lord to His disciples, that through them all hidden mysteries should be revealed, which lay beneath the veil of the letter of the Law; whence the Apostle speaks, "When they have turned to Christ, then the veil shall be taken away." (2Co 3,16) So the sense would be, Ought you to fear your persecutors, when you are thought worthy that by you the hidden mysteries of the Law and the Prophets should be made manifest?
Chrys.: Then having delivered them from all fear, and set them above all calumny, He follows this up appropriately with commanding that their preaching should be free and unreserved; "What I say to you in darkness, that speak ye in the light; what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops."
Jerome: We do not read that the Lord was wont to discourse to them by night, or to deliver his doctrine in the dark; but He said this because all His discourse is dark to the carnal, and His word night to the unbelieving. What had been spoken by Him they were to deliver again with the confidence of faith and confession.
Remig.: The meaning therefore is, "What I say to you in darkness," that is, among the unbelieving Jews, "that speak ye in the light," that is, preach it to the believing; "what ye hear in the ear," that is, what I say unto you secretly, "that preach ye upon the housetops," that is, openly before all men. It is a common phrase, To speak in one's ear, that is, to speak to him privately.
Rabanus: And what He says, "Preach ye upon the housetops," is spoken after the manner of the province of Palestine, where they use to sit upon the roofs of the houses, which are not pointed but flat. That then may be said to be preached upon the housetops which is spoken in the hearing of all men.
Gloss. ord.: Otherwise; What I say unto you while you are yet held under carnal fear, that speak ye in the confidence of truth, after ye shall be enlightened by the Holy Spirit; what you have only heard, that preach by doing the same, being raised above you bodies, which are the dwellings of your souls.
Jerome: Otherwise; What you hear in mystery, that teach in plainness of speech; what I have taught you in a corner of Judaea, that proclaim boldly in all quarters of the world.
Chrys.: As He said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do he shall (p. 390) do also, and greater things than these shall he do;" (Jn 14,12) so here He shews that He works all things through them more than through Himself; as though He had said, I have made a beginning, but what is beyond, that I will to complete through your means. So that this is not a command but a prediction, shewing them that they shall overcome all things.
Hilary: Therefore they ought to inculcate constantly the knowledge of God, and the profound secret of evangelic doctrine, to be revealed by the light of preaching; having no fear of those who have power only over the body, but cannot reach the soul; "Fear not those that kill the body, but cannot kill the soul."
Chrys.: Observe how He sets them above all others, encouraging them to set at nought cares, reproaches, perils, yea even the most terrible of all things, death itself, in comparison of the fear of God.
"But rather fear him, who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
Jerome: This word is not found in the Old Scriptures, but it is first used by the Saviour. Let us enquire then into its origin. We read in more than one place that the idol Baal was near Jerusalem, at the foot of Mount Moriah, by which the brook Siloe flows. This valley and a small level plain was watered and woody, a delightful spot, and a grove in it was consecrated to the idol. To so great folly and madness had the people of Israel come, that, forsaking the neighbourhood of the Temple, they offered their sacrifices there, and concealing an austere ritual under a voluptuous life, they burned their sons in honour of a daemon.
This place was called, Gehennom, that is, The valley of the children of Hinnom. These things are fully described in Kings and Chronicles, and the Prophet Jeremiah. (2 Ki 23:10, 2 Chron 26:3, Jr 7,160) God threatens that He will fill the place with the carcasses of the dead, that it be no more called Tophet and Baal, but Polyandrion, i.e. The tomb of the dead. Hence the torments and eternal pains with which sinners shall be punished are signified by this word.
Aug., City of God, book xiii, ch. 2: This cannot be before the soul is so joined to the body, that nothing may sever them. Yet it is rightly called the death of the soul, because it does not live of God; and the death of the body, because though man does not cease to feel, yet because this his feeling has neither pleasure nor health, but is a pain and a punishment, it is better named death than life.
Chrys.: Note also, that He does (p. 391) not hold out to them deliverance from death, but encourages them to despise it; which is a much greater thing than to be rescued from death; also this discourse aids in fixing in their minds the doctrine of immortality.29-31
29. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."


Chrys.: Having set aside fear of death, that the Apostles should not think that if they were put to death they were deserted by God, He passes to discourse of God's providence, saying, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them does not fall to the ground without your Father?"
Jerome: If these little creations fall not without God's superintendence and providence, and if things made to perish, perish not without God's will, you who are immortal ought not to fear that you live without His providence.
Hilary: Figuratively; That which is sold is our soul and body, and that to which it is sold, is sin. They then who sell two sparrows for a farthing, are they who sell themselves for the smallest sin, born for flight, and for reaching heaven with spiritual wings. (margin note: see Ps 124,7) Caught by the bait of present pleasures, and sold to the enjoyment of the world, they barter away their whole selves in such a market. It is of the will of God that one of them rather soar aloft; but the law proceeding according to God's appointment decrees that one of them should fall. In like manner as, if they soared aloft they would become one spiritual body; so, when sold under sin, the soul gathers earthly matter from the pollution of vice, and there is made of them one body which is committed to earth.
Jerome: That He says, "The hairs of your head are all numbered," shews the boundless providence of God towards man, and a care unspeakable that nothing of ours is hid from God.
Hilary: For when any thing is numbered it is carefully watched (p. 392) over.
Chrys.: Not that God reckons our hairs, but to shew His diligent knowledge, and great carefulness over us.
Jerome: Those who deny the resurrection of the flesh ridicule the sense of the Church on this place, as if we affirmed that every hair that has ever been cut off by the razor rises again, when the Saviour says, "Every hair of your head" - not is saved, but - "is numbered." Where there is number, knowledge of that number is implied, but not preservation of the same hairs.
Aug., City of God, book xxii, ch. 19: Though we may fairly enquire concerning our hair, whether all that has ever been shorn from us will return; for who would not dread such disfigurement. When it is once understood that nothing of our body shall be lost, so as that the form and perfectness of all the parts should be preserved, we at the same time understand that all that would have disfigured our body is to be united or taken up by the whole mass, not affixed to particular parts so as to destroy the frame of the limbs; just as a vessel made of clay, and again reduced to clay, is once more reformed into a vessel, it needs not that that portion of clay which had formed the handle should again form it, or that which had composed the bottom, should again go to the bottom, so long as the whole was remoulded into the whole, the whole clay into the whole vessel, no part being lost.
Wherefore if the hair so often shorn away would be a deformity if restored to the place it had been taken from, it will not be restored to that place, but all the materials of the old body will be revived in the new, whatever place they may occupy so as to preserve the mutual fitness of parts. Though what is said in Luke, "Not a hair of your head shall fall to the ground," (Lc 21,18) may be taken of the number, not the length of the hairs, as here also it is said, "The hairs of your head are all numbered."
Hilary: For it is an unworthy task to number things that are to perish. Therefore that we should know that nothing of us should perish, we are told that our very hairs are numbered. No accident then that can befal our bodies is to be feared.

Thus He adds, "Fear not, ye are better than many sparrows."
Jerome: This expresses still more clearly the sense as it was above explained, that they should not fear those who can kill the body, for if the least animal falls not without (p. 393) God's knowledge, how much less a man who is dignified with the Apostolic rank?
Hilary: Or this, "ye are better than many sparrows," teaches that the elect faithful are better than the multitude of the unbelieving, for the one fall to earth, the other fly to heaven.
Remig.: Figuratively; Christ is the head, the Apostles the hairs, who are well said to be numbered, because the names of the saints are written in heaven.

MATTHEW 10,32-33

4032 (Mt 10,32-33)

Chrys.: The Lord having banished that fear which haunted the minds of His disciples, adds further comfort in what follows, not only casting out fear, but by hope of greater rewards encouraging them to a free proclamation of the truth, saying, "Every man who shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father which is in heaven." And it is not properly "shall confess me," but as it is in the Greek, "shall confess in me," shewing that it is not by your own strength but by grace from above, that you confess Him whom you do confess.
Hilary: This He says in conclusion, because it behoves them after being confirmed by such teaching, to have a confident freedom in confessing God.
Remig.: Here is to be understood that confession of which the Apostle speaks, "With the heart men believe unto justification, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Rm 10,10) That none therefore might suppose that he could be saved without confession of the mouth, He says not only, "He that shall confess me," but adds, "before me;" and again, "He that shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."
Hilary: This teaches us, that in what measure we have borne witness to Him upon earth, in the same shall we have Him to bear witness to us in heaven before the face of God the Father. (p. 394)
Chrys.: Here observe that the punishment is manifold more than the evil done, and the reward more than the good done. As much as to say, your deed was more abundant in confessing or denying Me here; so shall My deed to you be more abundant in confessing or denying you there. Wherefore if you have done any good thing, and have not received retribution, be not troubled, for a manifold reward awaits you in the time to come. And if you have done any evil, and have not paid the punishment thereof, do not think that you have escaped, for punishment will overtake you, unless you are changed and become better.
Raban.: It should be known that not even Pagans can deny the existence of God, but the infidels may deny that the Son as well as the Father is God. The Son confesses men before the Father, because by the Son we have access to the Father, and because the Son saith, "Come, ye blessed of my Father." (Mt 25,34)
Remig.: And thus He will deny the man that hath denied Him, in that he shall not have access to the Father through Him, and shall be banished from seeing either the Son of the Father in their divine nature.
Chrys.: He not only requires faith which is of the mind, but confession which is by the mouth, that He may exalt us higher, and raise us to a more open utterance, and a larger measure of love. For this is spoken not to the Apostles only, but to all; He gives strength not to them only, but to their disciples. And he that observes this precept will not only teach with free utterance, but will easily convince all; for the observance of this command drew many to the Apostles.
Raban.: Or, He confesses Jesus who by that faith that worketh by love, obediently fulfils His commands; he denies Him who is disobedient.

MATTHEW 10,34-36

4034 (Mt 10,34-36)

Jerome: He had before said, "What I say to you in darkness, that speak ye in the light;" He now tells them what will follow upon that preaching, saying, "Think not that I am come to send peace upon earth; I am not come to send peace, but a sword."
Gloss. interlin.: Or connect it with what has gone before, As the fear of death ought not to draw you away, so neither ought carnal affection.
Chrys., Hom. xxxv: How then did He enjoin them, that when they should enter any house they should say, "Peace be to this house," as also the Angels sung, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace to men." (Lc 2,14) That is the most perfect peace when that which is diseased is lopped off, when that which introduces strife is taken away, for so only is it possible that heaven should be joined to earth. For so does the physician save the rest of the body, namely by cutting off that which cannot be healed. So it came to pass at the tower of Babel; a happy discord broke up their bad union. So also Paul divided those who were conspired together against him. For concord is not in all cases good; for there is honour among thieves. And this combat is not of His setting before them, but of the plots of the world.
Jerome: For in the matter of belief in Christ, the whole world was divided against itself; each house had its believers and its unbelievers; and therefore was this holy war sent, that an unholy peace might be broken through.
Chrys.: This He said as it were comforting His disciples, as much as to say, Be not troubled as though these things fell upon you unexpectedly; for this cause I came that I might send war upon the earth - nay He says not 'war,' but what is yet harder, "a sword." For He sought by sharpness of speech so to rouse their attention, that they should not fall off in time of trial and difficulty; or say that He had told them smooth things, and had hid the difficulties. For it is better to meet with softness in deeds than in words; and therefore He stayed not in words, but shewing them the nature of their warfare, He taught them that it was more perilous than a civil war; saying, "I am come to set a man against his father, and daughter (p. 396) against her mother, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." So this warfare will be between not acquaintances merely, but the nearest and dearest kindred; and this shews Christ's very great power; that His disciples after having heard this, yet undertook the mission, and brought over others.
Yet was it not Christ who made this division, but the evil nature of the parties; when He says that it is He that does it, He speaks according to the manner of Scripture. As it is written, "God hath given them eyes that they should not see." (Is 6,10) Here is also a great proof that the Old Testament is like the New. For among the Jews a man was to put his neighbour to death if he found him making a calf, or sacrificing to Baalphegor; so here to shew that it was the same God who ordained both that and these precepts, He reminds them of the prophecy, "A man's foes are they of his household." For this same thing happened among the Jews; there were Prophets, and false Prophets; there the multitude was divided, and houses were set against themselves; there some believed one part, and some another.
Jerome: These are almost the words of the Prophet Micah. (Mic 7:6) We should always take note when a passage is cited out of the Old Testament, whether the sense only, or the very words are given.
Hilary: Mystically, a sword is the sharpest of all weapons, and thence it is the emblem of the right of authority, the impartiality of justice, the correction of offenders. The word of God, we may remember, is likened to a sword; (margin note: Ep 6,17, Heb 4:12) so here the sword that is sent upon the earth is His preaching poured into the heart of man. The five inhabiting one house, whom He divides three against two, and two against three, we may explain thus; The three are the three parts of man, the body, the soul, and the will; for as the soul is bestowed in the body, so the will has power of using both in any way it chooses; and thence when a law is given it is given to the will. But this is only found in those who were first formed by God. By the sin and unbelief of the first parent, all the generations of men since have had sin for the father of their body, and unbelief for the mother of their soul. And as each man has his will within him, there are thus five in one house.
When then we are renewed in the laver of baptism, by virtue of the word we are set apart from (p. 397) our original guilt, and severed, as it were, by the sword of God, from the lusts of this our father and mother, and thus there is great discord made in one house; the new man finding his foes within, he seeks with joy to live in newness of spirit; they which are derived from the old stock, lust to remain in their old pleasures.
Aug., Quaest in Matt., q.3: Otherwise, "I am come to set a man against his father;" for he renounces the Devil who was his son; "the daughter against her mother," that is, the people of God against the city of the world, that is, the wicked society of mankind, which is spoken of in Scripture under the names of Babylon, Egypt, Sodom, and other names.
"The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law," that is, the Church against the Synagogue, which according to the flesh, brought forth Christ the spouse of the Church. They are severed by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. "And a man's foes are they of his household," those, that is, with whom he before lived as intimates.
Raban.: For no other mutual rights can be preserved between those who are at war in their creeds.
Gloss. interlin.: Otherwise; He mean, I am not come among men to strengthen their carnal affections, but to cut them off with the sword of the Spirit; whence it is rightly added, "And a man's foes are they of his household."
Greg., Mor., iii, 8: For the subtle enemy when he sees himself driven out of the hearts of the good, seeks out those who most love them, and speaking by the mouth of those who are dearest, endeavours while the heart is penetrated by love, that the sword of conviction may pierce to the inmost bulwarks of virtue.

MATTHEW 10,37-39


Golden Chain 4019