A Sermon Against Contention and Brawling
Part One
Today, good Christian people, the unprofitableness and shameful dishonour of contention, strife, and debate shall be declared to you, so that when you see the ugliness and deformity of this most detestable vice — as if it were painted in a picture before your eyes — your hearts[1] may be stirred to rise against it, and to detest and abhor that sin, which is so much to be hated, and so pernicious and hurtful to everyone.
But among all kinds of contention, none is more hurtful than contention in matters of religion. Avoid foolish and unlearned questions, says St. Paul, knowing that they breed strife; it does not become the servant of God to fight or quarrel, but to be gentle toward everyone. (2 Timothy 2:23-24) This contention and strife existed in St. Paul's day among the Corinthians, and it exists in our own day among us English.
For there are all too many who, on the alehouse benches or elsewhere, delight to raise certain questions — not so much for edification as for empty display and for showing off their own cleverness — and who argue and dispute so intemperately that, when neither side will yield to the other, they fall to wrangling and contention, and sometimes from hot words to worse trouble. St. Paul could not bear to hear these words of discord and dissension among the Corinthians: "I hold with Paul, I with Cephas, and I with Apollos." (1 Corinthians 1:12)
What, then, would he say if he heard the words of contention that are now in almost everyone's mouth: "He is a Pharisee"; "He is a Gospeller"; "He is of the new sort"; "He is of the old faith"; "He is a new-fangled brother"; "He is a good catholic father"; "He is a papist"; "He is a heretic"! Oh, how the Church is divided! Oh, how the cities are cut and mangled! Oh, how the coat of Christ, that was without seam, is torn all to pieces! O mystical body of Christ, where is that happy unity,[2] outside of which whoever stands is not in Christ? If one member is pulled away from another, where is the body? If the body is drawn away from the head, where is the life of the body? We cannot be joined to Christ our Head unless we are glued to one another by concord and charity.[3] For whoever is not in this unity is not of the Church of Christ, which is a congregation and a unity together, not a division.
St. Paul says that as long as rivalry (or envy), contention, and factions (or sects) are among us, we are carnal, and walk according to the fleshly nature. And St. James says, "If you have bitter rivalry (or envy) and contention in your hearts, do not boast of it; for where contention is, there is instability and every evil deed." (James 3:14, 16) And why do we not listen to St. Paul, who pleads with us — though he might command us — saying, "I beseech you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no dissension among you, but that you be one whole body, of one mind and one judgment in the truth"? (1 Corinthians 1:10) If his desire is reasonable and honest, why do we not grant it? If his request is for our own good, why do we refuse it?
And if we are not willing to hear his petition, let us at least hear his exhortation, where he says, "I exhort you to walk worthily of the calling in which you are called, with all submission and meekness, with gentleness and softness of mind, bearing with one another in charity, striving to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: for there is one body, one Spirit, one faith, one baptism." (Ephesians 4:1-5)
There is, he says, but one body, of which no one can be a living member who is at variance with the other members. There is one Spirit, who joins and knits all things together in one; and how can this one Spirit reign in us when we are divided among ourselves? There is but one faith; how then can we say, "He is of the old faith," and, "He is of the new faith"? There is but one baptism; and shall not all who are baptized then be one? Contention causes division, and therefore it ought not to exist among Christians, whom one faith and one baptism join in a single unity.
But if we despise St. Paul's request and exhortation, let us at least regard his earnest pleading, in which he very earnestly charges us and, so to speak, conjures us, in this manner:
If there is any consolation in Christ, if there is any comfort of love, if you have any fellowship of the Spirit, if you have any tenderness and compassion, fulfil my joy: be all of one mind, having one charity, being of one accord and one judgment, so that nothing is done through contention or empty pride. (Philippians 2:1-3)
Who is there, with any tenderness of heart, who will not be moved by words so pithy? Whose heart is so stony that the sword of these words — sharper than any two-edged sword — cannot cut it and break it apart? Therefore let us strive to fulfil St. Paul's joy here in this place, which will in the end be to our own great joy in another place.
Let us read the Scripture in such a way that, by reading it, we may become better in our living rather than more contentious in our disputing. If anything needs to be taught, reasoned, or debated, let us do it with all meekness, gentleness, and patience. If anything happens to be spoken improperly, let each bear with the other's frailty. Whoever is at fault, let him rather amend than defend what he has spoken amiss, lest through contention he fall from a foolish error into an obstinate heresy. For it is better to yield graciously than to win the victory with the breach of charity — which happens wherever a man will defend his opinion stubbornly.
If we are Christian people, why do we not follow Christ, who says, "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart"? (Matthew 11:29) A disciple must learn the lesson of his teacher, and a servant must obey the command of his master. Whoever is wise and learned, says St. James, let him show his goodness by his good conversation and by the soberness of his wisdom. (James 3:13) For where there is envy and contention, that wisdom does not come from God, but is worldly wisdom, human wisdom, and devilish wisdom.
But the wisdom that comes from above, from the Spirit of God, is chaste and pure, corrupted by no evil affections; it is quiet, meek, and peaceable, abhorring all desire of contention; it is teachable, obedient, and not unwilling to learn or to give way to those who teach better, for its own correction. For there will never be an end of striving and contention if we contend over who shall be master in the contention and have the upper hand. We shall only heap error upon error if we go on stubbornly defending what was spoken rashly. For it is true that stubbornness in maintaining an opinion breeds contention, brawling, and quarrelling — a vice that, among all others, is most pernicious and pestilent to common peace and quiet.
And since contention stands between two persons and parties (for no one commonly quarrels with himself), it comprises two most detestable vices: the first is the picking of quarrels with sharp and contentious words; the second consists in quarrelsome answering and in returning evil words for evil words. The first is so abominable that St. Paul says, "If anyone who is called a brother is a worshipper of idols, a brawler or picker of quarrels, a thief or an extortioner, with such a man do not so much as eat." (1 Corinthians 5:11)
Now consider here that St. Paul numbers a scold, a brawler, or a picker of quarrels among thieves and idolaters. And many times less harm comes from a thief than from a railing tongue; for the one takes away a man's good name, while the other takes only his riches, which are of far less value and account than his good name. A thief harms only the one he steals from; but he who has an evil tongue troubles the whole town where he lives, and sometimes the whole country. A railing tongue is a pestilence so full of contagion that St. Paul wills Christians to shun the company of such people, and neither to eat nor drink with them.
And though he would not have a Christian woman forsake her husband even if he is an unbeliever, nor a Christian servant leave his master who is an unbeliever and heathen — thus allowing a Christian to keep company with an unbeliever — yet he forbids us to eat or drink with a scold or a quarrel-picker. And in the sixth chapter of First Corinthians he says this: "Do not be deceived; for neither the sexually immoral,[4] nor worshippers of idols, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor those who curse, shall dwell in the kingdom of heaven." (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) It must surely be a great fault that moves a father to disinherit his own natural son; and how can it be otherwise than that this cursed speaking is a most damnable sin, since it causes God, our most merciful and loving Father, to deprive us of his most blessed kingdom of heaven?
Against the other sin — the one that consists in returning taunt for taunt — Christ himself speaks. Our Saviour Christ says:
I say to you, do not resist evil; but love your enemies, speak well of those who speak evil of you, do good to those who do evil to you, and pray for those who hurt and persecute you; that you may be the children of your Father in heaven, who makes his sun to rise on both good and evil, and sends his rain on both the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:39, 44-45)
The teaching of St. Paul, that chosen vessel of God, agrees very well with this doctrine of Christ. He never ceases to exhort and call upon us, saying, "Bless those who curse you; bless, I say, and do not curse. Repay no one evil for evil. If it is possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with everyone." (Romans 12:14, 17-18)
Part Two
In this sermon against strife and brawling, it has been declared to you what great trouble comes from it, and especially from the kind of contention that grows up in matters of religion; and how, when no one will yield to another, there is no end of contention and discord, and the unity that God requires of Christians is thereby utterly neglected and broken; and that this contention consists chiefly in two things: the picking of quarrels, and the making of quarrelsome answers.
Now you shall hear the words of St. Paul, who says:
Dearly beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will avenge," says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21)
These are all the words of St. Paul.
But those who are so full of pride, and think so much of themselves, that they cannot bear so much as one evil word to be spoken about them, will perhaps say: "If I am reviled, shall I stand still like a goose or a fool, with my finger in my mouth? Shall I be such an idiot and blockhead as to let every man say about me whatever he likes, to rail at me as he likes, to spew out all his venom against me at his pleasure? Is it not fitting that one who speaks evil should be answered in kind? If I use this gentleness and softness, I shall both increase my enemy's insolence and provoke others to do the same." Such are the arguments made by those who can endure nothing, in defence of their own impatience.
And yet, if by answering a quarrelsome person quarrelsomely there were any hope of curing his quarrelsomeness, he who answered so would offend less, doing it not out of anger or malice, but only with the intent that the quarrelsome or malicious man might be reformed. But whoever cannot mend another man's fault — or cannot mend it without a fault of his own — had better let one perish than two. So then, if he cannot quiet the man with gentle words, let him at least not follow him into wicked and uncharitable words. If he can pacify him by bearing with him, let him bear with him; and if not, it is better to suffer evil than to do evil, to speak well than to speak evil. For to speak well against evil comes from the Spirit of God, but to return evil for evil comes from the opposite spirit.
And whoever cannot temper or rule his own anger is only weak and feeble, and more like a woman or a child than a strong man; for true strength and manliness is to overcome wrath, and to despise injury and other people's foolishness. Besides this, whoever despises the wrong done to him by his enemy makes everyone see that it was spoken or done without cause; whereas, on the contrary, whoever fumes and chafes at it helps his adversary's case, giving the suspicion that the charge is true. And so, in setting out to avenge evil, we show ourselves to be evil; and while we would punish and avenge another man's folly, we double and increase our own.
But those who are wilful find many pretexts to disguise their impatience. "My enemy," they say, "does not deserve to be treated with gentle words or deeds, being so full of malice and ill will." The less he deserves it, the more you are approved by God, and the more you are commended by Christ, for whose sake you should return good for evil — because he has commanded you to do so, and has himself deserved that you should. Your neighbour has perhaps offended you with a word: call to mind with how many words and deeds, and how grievously, you have offended the Lord your God.
What was man when Christ died for him? Was he not his enemy, and unworthy of his favour and mercy? Even so, with what gentleness and patience does God bear with you and tolerate and endure you, though he is offended by you daily! Forgive, then, a slight trespass in your neighbour, so that Christ may forgive you — who are every day an offender — your many thousands of trespasses. For if you forgive your brother when he trespasses against you, then you have a sure sign and token that God will forgive you, to whom all people are debtors and trespassers. How can you expect God to be merciful to you if you will be cruel to your brother? Can you not find it in your heart to do to another, who is your fellow, what God has done for you, who are but his servant?
Ought not one sinner to forgive another, seeing that Christ, who was no sinner, prayed to his Father for those who without mercy and out of spite put him to death? When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; and when he suffered wrongfully, he did not threaten, but committed all vengeance to the judgment of his Father, who judges rightly. And why do you boast of your Head if you do not labour to be in the body? You can be no member of Christ if you do not follow the steps of Christ, who, as the Prophet says, was led to death like a lamb, not opening his mouth to revile, but opening his mouth to pray for those who crucified him, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)
This example was followed soon after Christ by St. Stephen, and afterward by St. Paul. "We are spoken evil of," says he, "and we speak well; we suffer persecution, and take it patiently; men curse us, and we answer gently." (1 Corinthians 4:12-13) Thus St. Paul taught what he practised, and practised what he taught. "Bless those who persecute you," he says; "bless, and do not curse." (Romans 12:14) Is it such a great thing to speak well to your adversary, whom Christ commands you to treat well? When Shimei reviled David with every vile name, David did not scold in return, but said patiently, "Let him speak evil, if perhaps the Lord will have mercy on me." (2 Samuel 16:11-12)
The histories are full of examples of heathen men who took both insulting and reproachful words, and injurious and wrongful deeds, very meekly. And shall those heathen men surpass us in patience — us who profess Christ, the teacher and example of all patience? When someone raged against Lysander and reviled him, he was not moved at all, but said: "Go on, go on, speak against me as much and as often as you like, and leave nothing out; perhaps by this means you may rid yourself of those foul things with which you seem to be fully loaded. Many men speak evil of everyone because they can speak well of no one." In this way this wise man turned aside the reproachful words spoken to him, attributing them to the natural sickness of his adversary.
When a certain scold or railing fellow reviled Pericles, he answered not a word, but went into a gallery; and later, toward night, when he went home, this scold followed him, raging more and more because he saw that the other set nothing by him. And when he came to his gate, it being dark night, Pericles ordered one of his servants to light a torch and see the scold home to his own house. He not only bore this brawler quietly and patiently, but even repaid an evil turn with a good one — and that to his enemy.
Is it not a shame for us who profess Christ to be worse than heathen people in a matter that chiefly belongs to Christ's religion? Shall philosophy persuade them more than the word of God persuades us? Shall natural reason prevail more with them than religion does with us? Shall human wisdom lead them to what the heavenly doctrine cannot lead us? What blindness, wilfulness — or rather madness — is this! Pericles, provoked to anger with many vile words, answered not a word; but we, stirred by one little word, what foul work we make of it! How we fume, rage, stamp, and stare like madmen!
Many people will make a great matter of every trifle, and out of the spark of a little word will kindle a great fire, taking everything in the worst way. But how much better it is — and how much more like the example and teaching of Christ — to make a great fault in our neighbour rather into a small one, reasoning with ourselves in this way: he spoke these words, but it was in a sudden heat; or it was the drink that spoke them, not he; or he spoke them at someone else's prompting; or he spoke them not knowing the truth; he spoke them not against me, but against the man he took me to be.
But as for evil speaking: whoever is ready to speak evil against other people, let him first examine himself, whether he is faultless and clear of the fault he finds in another. For it is a shame when someone who blames another for a fault is guilty of it himself — either the same fault, or a worse one. It is a shame for a blind man to call another man blind; and it is more shameful for a man who is wholly blind to call another half-blind who is only dim-sighted. This is to see a straw in another man's eye when one has a plank in one's own.
Then let him consider that whoever habitually speaks evil will commonly be spoken evil of in return, and that whoever says whatever he pleases will be compelled to hear what he would rather not, to his own displeasure. And let him remember the saying that we shall give an account for every idle word. How much more, then, shall we have to answer for our sharp, bitter, brawling, and quarrelling words, which provoke our brother to anger and so to the breach of his charity!
And as for evil answering: however much we are provoked by other people's evil speaking, we shall not imitate their quarrelsomeness by answering in kind, if we consider that anger is a kind of madness, and that an angry man is, for the time being, as it were in a frenzy. Therefore let him beware lest in his fury he say anything he may afterward have just cause to be sorry for.
And whoever wants to argue that anger is not fury — that he has the use of his reason even when he is most angry — let him reason with himself in this way when he is angry: "I am now so moved and chafed that within a little while I shall be of another mind. Why, then, should I now say anything in my anger which afterward, however much I might wish it, cannot be unsaid? Why should I do anything now, while I am, as it were, out of my wits, that I shall be very sorry for when I come to myself again? Why does not reason, why does not godliness — yes, why does not Christ — obtain from me now what time will obtain from me later?"
If a man is called an adulterer, a usurer, a drunkard, or by any other shameful name, let him earnestly consider whether he is so called truly or falsely. If truly, let him amend his fault, so that his adversary may not afterward justly charge him with such offences. If these things are laid against him falsely, let him still consider whether he has given any occasion to be suspected of them; and so he may both cut off the suspicion from which the slander arose, and in other matters live more carefully.
And by conducting ourselves in this way, we may take no harm — but rather much good — from the rebukes and slanders of our enemy. For the reproach of an enemy may be to many people a sharper spur to the amendment of their lives than the gentle admonition of a friend. When Philip, king of Macedon, was spoken evil of by the chief rulers of the city of Athens, he thanked them heartily, because through them he was made better in both his words and deeds: "For I take pains," he said, "by both my sayings and my doings, to prove them liars."
Part Three
In the last part of the sermon against strife and brawling, you heard how we may answer those who persist in their quarrelsome sayings in contention, and who will avenge with words whatever evil other men do to them; and finally how we may order ourselves according to God's will, and what to bear in mind regarding such people when we are provoked to contention and strife with railing words. Now, to go on with the same matter, you shall learn the right way to refute and overcome your adversary and enemy.
This is the best way to discredit[5] an adversary: to live in such a way that all who know your honesty may testify that you are slandered undeservedly. If the fault you are slandered with is such that, for the defence of your good name, you must make an answer, then answer quietly and gently, in this way — that these faults are charged against you falsely. For it is true, as the Wise Man says: "A soft answer assuages anger, but a hard and sharp answer stirs up rage and fury." (Proverbs 15:1)
The sharp answer of Nabal provoked David to cruel vengeance, but the gentle words of Abigail quenched the fire again when it was all in a flame. And a special remedy against malicious tongues is to arm ourselves with patience, meekness, and silence, lest by trading words with the enemy we be made as evil as he.
But those who cannot bear a single evil word will perhaps, to excuse themselves, cite what is written: "He who despises his own good name is cruel." We also read, "Answer a fool according to his folly." (Proverbs 26:5) And our Lord Jesus held his peace at certain evil sayings, but to some he answered carefully. He heard men call him a Samaritan, a carpenter's son, a wine-drinker, and he held his peace; but when he heard them say, "You have a devil in you," he answered that earnestly. (John 8:48)
It is true, indeed, that there is a time when it is fitting to answer a fool according to his folly, lest he seem wise in his own conceit; and there is a time when it is not profitable to answer a fool according to his folly, lest the wise man be made like the fool. When our disgrace (or the reproach done to us) is bound up with danger to many others, then it is necessary in answering to be quick and ready. For we read that many holy men of good zeal have both spoken and answered sharply and fiercely against tyrants and evil men; and these sharp words came not from anger, rancour, malice, or a desire for vengeance, but from a fervent desire to bring them to the true knowledge of God, and away from ungodly living, by an earnest and sharp rebuke.
In this zeal St. John the Baptist called the Pharisees a brood of vipers; St. Paul called the Galatians fools; the men of Crete he called liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons; and the false apostles he called dogs and crafty workmen. And this zeal is godly and to be approved, as is plainly proved by the example of Christ, who, though he was the fountain and spring of all meekness, gentleness, and softness, yet called the obstinate Scribes and Pharisees blind guides, fools, whitewashed tombs, hypocrites, serpents, a brood of vipers, a cursed and wicked generation. He also rebuked Peter sharply, saying, "Get behind me, Satan." (Matthew 16:23)
Likewise St. Paul reproved Elymas, saying, "O you who are full of all craft and guile, enemy of all justice, you never cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord; and now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, and not see for a time." (Acts 13:10-11) And St. Peter reproved Ananias very sharply, saying, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart, that you should lie to the Holy Spirit?" (Acts 5:3)
This zeal has been so fervent in many good men that it has stirred them not only to speak bitter and vehement words, but also to do things that might seem to some to be cruel — though in truth they were very just, charitable, and godly, because they were done not out of anger, malice, or a contentious mind, but out of a fervent zeal for the glory of God and the correction of sin, and were carried out by men called to that office. For in this zeal our Lord Jesus Christ drove the buyers and sellers out of the temple with a whip. In this zeal Moses broke the two tablets he had received from God's hand when he saw the Israelites dancing about a calf, and caused twenty-three thousand of his own people to be killed. In this zeal Phinehas the son of Eleazar thrust his sword through Zimri and Cozbi, whom he found joined together in the act of lechery.
Now, therefore, to return again to contentious words — and especially in matters of religion and the word of God, which ought to be handled with all modesty, soberness, and charity — the words of St. James ought to be well noted and kept in memory, where he says that from contention arises every evil. And the wise King Solomon says, "Honour is due to the man who keeps himself from contention, and all who meddle with it are fools." (Proverbs 20:3)
And because this vice is so hurtful to the fellowship of a commonwealth, in all well-ordered cities these common brawlers and scolds are punished with a notable kind of penalty, such as being set on the cucking-stool, the pillory, or the like. And they are unworthy to live in a commonwealth who do all they can, by brawling and scolding, to disturb its quietness and peace. And from what does this contention, strife, and discord arise, but from pride and vainglory?
Let us therefore humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, who has promised to rest upon those who are humble and lowly in spirit. If we are good and quiet Christian people, let it show in our speech and our tongues. If we have forsaken the devil, let us use devilish tongues no longer. Whoever has been a railing scold, let him now be a sober counsellor. Whoever has been a malicious slanderer, let him now be a loving comforter. Whoever has been an empty railer, let him now be a spiritual teacher. Whoever has abused his tongue in cursing, let him now use it in blessing. Whoever has abused his tongue in evil speaking, let him now use it in speaking well.
Let all bitterness, anger, railing, and blasphemy be put away from you. If you can, and it is possible, do not be angry at all. But if you cannot be wholly free of this passion, then so temper and bridle it that it does not stir you to contention and brawling. If you are provoked with evil speaking, arm yourself with patience, gentleness, and silence, either saying nothing or else being very soft, meek, and gentle in answering. Overcome your adversaries with kindness and gentleness. And above all things keep peace and unity: be no peace-breakers, but peace-makers. And then there is no doubt that God, the Author of comfort and peace, will grant us peace of conscience, and such concord and agreement that with one mouth and one mind we may glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To whom be all glory, now and ever. Amen.
Original: "stomachs" (= spirit, temper; the seat of anger or indignation).↩︎
Source reading uncertain here: the OCR dropped a word or two, and the standard text reads "where is that most happy unity."↩︎
The 1859 text reads "charity," retained for its technical sense (Greek agapē).↩︎
Original "fornicators"; modernized as "the sexually immoral," per the settled rendering of this vocabulary.↩︎
Original: "improve" (= to disprove or discredit, not the modern "make better").↩︎