Conference in Boston (February 1843) Reporting on the Growth of the Chruch in Salem and Other Areas in Massachusetts (cf. D&C 111)

 

In her article on D&C 111, “More Treasures than One,” Elizabeth Kuehn wrote that:

 

At a conference in Boston in February 1843, the Salem branch had 110 members. Erastus Snow had also been instrumental in organizing smaller branches in other areas of Massachusetts, including the Georgetown branch, which had 32 members at the 1843 conference.

 

The reference given is Journal History, February 9, 1843, p. 3. Here is the image from the Journal History:

Here is a transcription thereof:

 

Conference met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with singing and prayer, by E. P. Maginn. The President then called upon the presiding Elders to represent the different branches composing this Conference, which was done as follows:—

 

Boston branch represented by T Nickerson, 114 members, 3 Elders, 4 lesser officers.

Peterboro, N.H., represented by E. P. Maginn, 115 members, 3 Elders, 4 lesser officers.

 

Gilsum branch represented by "" "" "" 30 members, 1 Elder, 1 lesser officer.

 

Lowell, Mass., represented by "" "" "" 60 members, 1 Elder, 3 lesser officers.

 

New Salem, Mass. "" "" "" "" 45 members, 4 Elders, 4 lesser officers.

 

Wendell, Mass. represented by "" "" "" 50 members, 5 Elders, 4 lesser officers.

 

Northbridge, Mass. represented by E. P. Maginn 35 members, 2 Elders, 3 lesser officers.

 

Leverett, Mass. represented "" "" "" 35 members, 2 Elders, 3 lesser officers.

 

Salem, Mass. represented by Erastus Snow, 110 members, 4 Elders, 4 lesser officers.

 

Georgetown Mass. represented by "" 32 members, 4 Elders, 3 lesser officers.

 

New Bedford, Mass. represented by Hutchings, 96 members, 3 Elders, 8 lesser officers.

 

Millbury Mass. represented by Benson, 11 members.

 

Cape Cod, Barnstable Co. Mass. represented by T Nickerson, 35 members, 1 Elder,
2 lesser officers.

 

Not organized 25. Total members 793, 33 Elders, 43 lesser officers.

 

 

Further Reading:

 

Resources on Joseph Smith’s Prophecies

 

 

Excerpts from Erastus Snow, journal, 1841-1847 (cf. D&C 111)

The following is a transcription of Erastus Snow, journal, 1841-1847, p. 4, 10, 12, 16-17, 21, 27, 29-30, 35-37, 44. These are the page numbers referenced in Elizabeth Kuehn’s article, “More Treasures Than One.”

 

 

Our due time. and they thought the due time of the Lord had come. Though I felt anxious to go home in the fall and thought it would involve but little property I had in the west in a difficulty yet to stay I felt willing to do the will of the Lord. I prayed earnestly to know his will and his Spirit continually whispered to go to Salem I also thought of the Apostles who cast lots to see which should take the place of Judas I therefore after writing on one ballot Nauvoo and on the other Salem prayed earnes- ty that God would show by the ballot which way I should go. and I drewed the ballot that had Salem on it twice in succession and I then resolved as soon as I had filled the appointment, I should I would go to Salem.

 

. . .

 

Landed at Stonington Conn. at 2¼ A.M. we proceeded thence to Providence. 110 miles from N.Y. where we arrived at 5½ A.M. and that day the 19th went to Woonsocket— In that place and about a vast number are infidels among which was my Brother. They were nevertheless liberal minded and I tarried and preached several times. had good order and large and respectable assemblies and many were ast- onished at the doctrine and sold several books of different kinds and my Bro. seemed to take an interest in the work. The Lord grant that he may embrace it. During my stay there I went to Northbridge Mgs. 1½ miles and visited a small branch built up By Joseph Boll last Summer and I preached to them twice on Sunday 22ᵈ Aug. Tuesday August 31st. I left My wife and child

 

. . .

 

We arrived, Strangers and alone but trusted in God to direct our course. We took boarding at a respectable boarding house, for $3½ per week each, being cheapest we found. We ranged the city over hunted the hills, up and applied for several me Prayed that night earnestly that God would open the hearts of the people that we might obtain a hearing. Next mor- ning we succeeded to the Masonic Hall. We hired it by the month and advertised in the papers and held our first meeting on Sunday the 6. I went to Boston and preached twice but return- ed on the evening train of cars and preached in Salem where Bro Winchester did in the day-time. He had respectable congregations through the day

 

. . .

 

in private dwellings through the week in various parts of the city.— Mr Hatherway of Marblehead also opened his house and I preached twice, some opposed and others seemed to believe,— In Salem I found a bitter enemy to the truth in the person of the Rev. Mr A.G. Cornings editor of the “Genius of Christianity,” who called himself a Christian Baptist. He published many evil things in his paper about the cause and refused to insert my answers and it finally resulted in an Oral discussion in Mechanic Hall before an audience of 400, 500 people. The discussion lasted 6 evenings and the excitement increased as the debate advanced and the public feeling continued to turn against my opponent for his arguments were chiefly epithets and insults. The chief good which resulted from such that discussion was it caused many to investigate the doctrines who otherwise would have thought it un- worthy of notice. My meetings afterwards were much better attended than before.— The people in Salem were generally rigid sectarians and the majority of those that attended my meetings at first were those that stood aloof from all societies. On the 8ᵗʰ of Nov. I reaped the first fruits of my labours. Baptised five.— On the 9ᵗʰ myself and wife went to Broffol about 20 miles north There were a few saints in that place. I preached thrice and returned leaving my wife - On the 14 Elder E.P. Magin came to Salem & assisted me

 

. . .

 

Feby 26 I baptised eight and took the cars that evening (Saturday) for Boston where I preached that evening and twice the next day and returned and preached sunday evening in Salem. We preached every evening that week in Masonic hall and on Saturday March 5th held a conference and organized the branch, and ordained an elder and a Priest. Those of Lynn and Marblehead were included with the Salem branch which made it number 53. On Sunday afternoon Elder W. started again for Philadelphia. Monday the 7th I baptised 5 more and on Tuesday I started for Northbridge. called and preached in Boston and Chelsea

 

. . .

 

May 24th at which time a conference of elders (previously called) was held in Salem. We had a very interesting meeting, and many elders, Priests, Teachers & Deacons were ordained belonging in Salem and the Boston, N. Bedford, Lowell, Peterboro, and Georgetown branches. & much good was done in the name of the Lord. On Monday the 30th Conference adjourned to meet again the following 9th Sept. The Salem Branch then was represented as consisting of 79 members. I baptised more after conference, and in the course of the Month of June it increased to about 90 but several began to move away to Nauvoo & elsewhere one died and one was expelled from the church. About this time there were many sick that were healed of various diseases.

 

. . .

 

Sunday the 17th July I preached 3 times in Boylston Hall in Boston and confirmed some previously baptised, and Monday while we were in the North end of the city on Boston line being 2½ miles distant at the Southern sent for Bro. Nicherson and Myself to come and lay hands on him and about 5 Oclock P.M. we went and found him rocked with pain on a fever raging upon him. He told us he had heard the word and believed but had refused obedience until the hand of God had been laid heavily upon him and now He wished us to administer to him that he might be raised up and be able to obey the Gospel. The Spirit rested on us and I told him any time he would set to obey the ordinance he should be healed. He said he would go that evening. We laid our hands on him and anointed him with oil and rebuked his fever and he arose and put on his clo's and I took him by the hand and led him to a neighboring brother and his pains departed his fever left him and he returned home got his horse and wagon and clothes and himself & wife went 2½ miles to Northend and were baptised and confirmed and the Lord gave them the comfort and they went home rejoicing. I returned and preached in Chumpseut, Marblehead and Salem till Sat. 31st July I went to Lowell and preached Sunday and Tuesday the 2d August, and then went to Westford 9 miles from Lowell and preached Thursday evening and was attacked by a preacher and we after some talk agreed to discup the doctrine of "baptism for remission of Sins" the following evening, he opposing. We met accordingly and discuped it much to the satisfaction of the hearers and to his disappointment.

 

. . .

 

going to Nauvoo with my family about this time but the Presidency counsiling me to stay I concluded to do so - and the saints provided a house and other things needfull and we went to keep my house by ourselves in Salem. about this time J. Proctor elder of the Salem branch denied the faith and 2 or 3 others were added to the church and a few families started for Nauvoo - On the 18 Oct. 08 I was in Boston Bro. Hains came over from Chelsea after Bro. Nickerson & myself to go over and lay hands upon a Mrs. Spooner whom he had by the workings of the holy Spirit been led to visit & He told us that She was a saint was baptised somewhere in the country 7 years ago but was unknown to the saints here and her wicked husband and family had kept her ignorant of the existence of any saint in this part of the country. When we went to see her to my surprise I found She was baptised at my fathers in St Johnsbury Vermont in July 1835. She had been since by her husband been deprived of all privile= =ges with the saints and moved away from them and She had now been sick with the dropsy on the chest and heart so that for 7 months her heart had rolled in water with= out apparently heating and a council of physicians had pronounced her incurable and for 3 weeks before Bro. Hains visited her She had been unable to speak above her breath. She had great faith, had prayed much that God in would send by his spirit some elders to pray for and lay hands upon her though She knew of none in this country and She obtained a witness of the Spirit that her prayers were heard and that She should be healed and She told it to her husband and physi= =cians. And so it was me anointed her with holy oil laid our hands upon her and prayed and rebuked the disease & it departed. This being in the evening The arose next morning dressed herself washed the house and next day was out of doors, much to the surprise of her physicians and to the Joy of her family. I also married a couple in Boston after which I returned to Salem and continued preach= ing as usual. I continued my labours in Salem and Marblehead occasionally visiting & preaching in Boston

 

. . .

 

to Albany thence on the “Erie canal” to Rochester N.Y. and Stopped and visited about ten days with my wifes Brothers, sisters, and friends where She was born and spent her young days in Mendon, Avon & Livonia from 15 to 20 miles south of Rochester. According to previous arrangements I Joined at Rochester a company of saints numbering about 75 souls who left Boston and the eastern churches the first of Oct. and with them I Journeyed to Nauvoo via Buffalo, across Lake Erie to Cleveland O. by canal to Beaver on the Ohio river and per Steamers on the Ohio + Mississippi rivers to Nauvoo. We were detained 2 days in Buff. =alo, during which time myself and several others of the company went in a steam Boat to Chippeway and thence to Niagara falls.

 

Further Reading:

Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies

 

Excerpts from Newspapers Discussing Latter-day Saint Missionary Activities in Salem, Massachusetts (cf. D&C 111)

  

THE MORMONS IN SALEM. -- Mormonism is advancing with a perfect rush in this city just at present. Several of the Elders have made a descent upon us. Meetings have been holden now very frequently for several days past, and crowds flock to listen to the strange doctrines of the "Latter Day Saints." How many new converts they make, we have not learned, but understand that the whole number of those who have come over to the faith, is about eighty. -- Salem (Mass.) Register. (“The Mormons in Salem,” Salem Gazette [December 7, 1841], repr. Salem Register [June 2, 1842]; here, repr. New York Observer 20, no. 24 [June 11, 1842])

 

 

MORMONS. -- Two young women were baptized into the Mormon faith, on Sunday afternoon, in the South Mill Pond -- a hole, of a few yards square, where the water was about three feet deep, having been cut in the ice for that purpose. The administrator of the ordinance, in his common dress, of pantaloons, &c., but in his shirt sleeves, first appeared from the edge of the ice into the opening, and then the young women, one after the other, were assisted into the water, baptized, and lifted out again upon the ice. The administrator made a prefactory address to the audience; but if there were prayers, singing, &c., the services probably took place some where under cover. -- Salem (Mass.) Gazette. (“Mormons,” Salem Register, repr. New York Observer 22, no. 8 [Feb 24, 1844])

 

Further Reading:

Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies

Rabbis Raising the Dead in Jewish/Rabbinic Literature (cf. Matthew 10:28; John 11:44)

  

Raisings of the dead were attributed to some rabbis.

 

Leviticus Rabbah 10 (111D): “Take Aaron and his sons with him” (Lev 8:2). This is also what “Save those who are carried away to death, and stop it when the people stumble to slaughter!” (Prov 24:11) means. Antoninus came to Rabbi; he met him as he sat there and his students were before him. Antoninus said to him, “Are they the ones you speak so boastfully about?” He answered, “Yes אִין! The smallest among them can raise the dead.” After a few days a servant of Antoninus became sick to death. Antoninus sent Rabbi word, “Send me one of your students so that he may make this dead man live again for me!” He sent him one of his students; some say that it was R. Simeon b. Halapta (ca. 190). The latter went and found the servant stretched out. He said to him, “Why do you lie stretched out while your master stands on his feet?” Immediately he moved and stood up. ‖ Babylonian Talmud ʿAbodah Zarah 10B: Antoninus had a subterranean pathway that led from his house to the house of Rabbi. Every day he took two servants; he killed the one at the door of Rabbi’s house, and the other he killed at the door of his own house; he said to Rabbi, “At the time when I come, no one should be found at your house (so that the meetings might remain secret).” One day he met R. Hanina b. Hama (ca. 225) at his house. Then Antoninus said, “Did I not tell you, ‘At the time when I come, no one should be found at your house?’ ” Rabbi answered, “This is no man בר אינש (literally: son of a man).” He said, “(Then) tell the servant who lies at your door to rise and come.” R. Hanina b. Hama went and found him dead. Then he said, “How should I do it? If I go and tell him that he is dead, one should not bring a message of misfortune; if I leave him and go away, we would disparage the government.” Then he pled for mercy for him and made him alive ואחייה and sent him in. Then Antoninus said, “I know well that the least who is in your midst makes the dead alive מחיה מתים; all the same, at the time when I come, no one should be found in your house.” ‖ Babylonian Talmud Megillah 7B: Raba († 352) said, “One is obligated to get intoxicated on Purim until he cannot differentiate between, ‘Cursed be Haman!’ and ‘Blessed be Mordecai!’ ” Rabbah († 330) and R. Zeira celebrated the Purim meal together. Rabbah became intoxicated and slaughtered R. Zeira. On the next day he pled for mercy and made him alive (again) ואחייה. One year later, he said to him, “May the Lord come so that we may celebrate the Purim meal together.” He answered him, “A miracle does not happen all the time!” (Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2022], 1:630)

 

 

11:44 A: The dead man came out.

 

On raising the dead by the rabbis, see § Matt 10:8 A. Here, we should mention b. B. Qam. 117A: R. Yohanan († 279) saw that Rab Kahana’s lips were locked apart. He thought he was laughing at him. His mind was weakened (by anger), and the soul (of Rab Kahana) was at rest (due of the punishing gaze of R. Yohanan). The next day, he said to the rabbis, “Did you see what the Babylonian (Rab Kahana) did?” They answered him, “This is his way (but he did not laugh).” So he went into the burial cave (of Rab Kahana). He saw that a serpent surrounded them. He said to it, “Serpent, serpent, open the door (according to the Munich manuscript), so that the teacher may enter to his pupil! It did not open (did not permit entry). He said, “So that his colleague may enter.” It did not open. “So that the student may enter to see the teacher!” Then it opened up for him. R. Yohanan prayed for mercy and resurrected him. He said to him, “If I had known that the lord was like this, my mind would not have been weakened. Now, may the lord come to us again!” He answered him, “If you can ask that I may not die, I will come. But if not, I will not come. The hour has passed, and so it is.” He awakened him, raised him up, questioned him about all the doubts he had, and he (Rab Kahana) explained them to him. (Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2022], 2:626)

 

Robert Alter on Jeremiah 29:10

  

When seventy years are fulfilled for Babylonia. This would take us to the 520s, about a decade after the destruction of the Babylonian empire by Persia. But the number of seventy is clearly formulaic, a way of indicating that the return to Zion will not occur for some three generations. In the Book of Daniel, this prophecy will be given a novel interpretation in which seventy is understood to be seventy units of seven years, thus bringing it more or less to the time when Daniel was written. (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 2:955)

 

Andrew W. Wilson on the Evidence for “New” (καινης) Being Origianl to Matthew 26:28

  

Matthew 26:28

της καινης διαθηκης: A C D W Maj

της . . . διαθηκης 𝔓³⁷ 𝔓^45vid א B L Z GK 0298 33; NA²⁸

 

Numerous commentators follow Metzger who writes, “The word καινης has apparently come from the parallel passage in Luke (22.20); if it had been present originally, there is no good reason why anyone would have deleted it. But this argument, as Royse and Gurry note, misses the obvious: homoioteleuton.

 

France argues that “it is most unlikely that the adjective would be dropped.” However, the transcriptional evidence we have seen in this study shows the opposite. Scribes tended to accidentally disharmonize in one-word variation units, as here. Adjectives were also among the most heavily omitted words by scribes. And an obvious reason for accidental omission presents itself too: homoioteleuton. Thus, on purely transcriptional grounds, the longer reading is more likely original.

 

Although the manuscript support for the shorter reading here is strong, it is largely restricted to Alexandrian manuscripts (apart from 𝔓⁴⁵ and Θ, which have a textually different genetic strain), and its versional support is also virtually nonexistent—even the main Coptic versions include the word “new.”

 

Reading the verse without the word “new,” the saying harks back to Exod 24:8 where Moses sprinkled blood on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you.” This would mean that Jesus was here reminding his disciples of the continuing validity of the Mosaic covenant be reechoing its words. This makes little sense, for Jesus’s presentation in Matthew’s Gospel as the new Moses means he would not be merely reinforcing or repeating what Moses did but instead surpassing him. By contrast, the inclusion of the word “new” means that Jesus, in his typically iconoclastic way, was instead inaugurating a covenant to supersede the old Mosaic covenant.

 

Thus, whether implicitly or explicitly, the saying here either suggests (or requires) a new covenant. Jeremah’s prophecy heralding the coming of just such a “new covenant” is therefore the more likely allusion, and this is confirmed by the additional words here in Matthew “for the forgiveness of sins” (also in Jer 31:34). Seeing that Jesus is referring to Jeremiah’s prophecy, why would he not use Jeremiah’s word and explicitly state that this is a new covenant? What purpose would it serve to confuse matters by omitting it, as if appearing to be content with continuing under Moses’s old covenant? Thus, intrinsically, it is likely that Jesus himself used this word and that Matthew’s Gospel originally contained it. (Andrew W. Wilson, Scribal Habits in Greek New Testament Manuscripts [Text-Critical Studies 17; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2026], 252-54, emphasis in original)

 

John Chrysostom Teaching Being Transformative in Homily 1 on Chapter 1 of the Epistle to the Ephesians

  

γʹ. Οὐκοῦν εἰς τοῦτο ἐχάρισεν, εἰς ἔπαινον δόξης [6] τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἵνα δείξῃ τὴν χάριν αὐτοῦ, μένωμεν ἐν αὐτῇ. Εἰς ἔπαινον δόξης. Τί ἐστι τοῦτο; ἵνα τις αὐτὸν ἐπαινέσῃ; ἵνα τις δοξάσῃ; ἡμεῖς, ἄγγελοι, ἀρχάγγελοι, ἀλλὰ πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις; Καὶ τί τοῦτο; Οὐδέν· ἀνενδεὲς γὰρ τὸ θεῖον. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν βούλεται ἐπαινεῖσθαι καὶ δοξάζεσθαι παρ’ ἡμῶν; Ὥστε τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀγάπην θερμοτέραν ἡμῖν ἐγγενέσθαι. Οὐδενὸς γὰρ ἐφίεται τῶν παρ’ ἡμῶν, ἀλλ’ ἡ τῆς σωτηρίας μόνης, οὐ διακονίας, οὐ δόξης, οὐκ ἄλλου οὐδενός, καὶ πάντα διὰ τοῦτο ποιεῖ. Ὁ γὰρ ἐπαινῶν καὶ θαυμάζων τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν χάριν γεγενημένην, προσεκτικώτερος ἔσται καὶ σπουδαιότερος.

 

Ἥς ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς, φησί. Οὐχ εἶπεν, Ἥς ἐχαρίσατο, ἀλλ’, Ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς· τουτέστιν οὐ μόνον ἁμαρτημάτων ἀπήλλαξε, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπεράστους ἐποίησε. Καθάπερ ἂν εἴ τις λαβὼν ψωραλέον τινά, καὶ λιμῷ καὶ νόσῳ διεφθαρμένον, καὶ γήρᾳ καὶ πενίᾳ καὶ λιμῷ, εὐθὺς εὔμορφον νεώτερον ἐργάσαστο, πάντας ἀνθρώπους νικῶντα τῷ κάλλει, σφοδρὰν μὲν τὴν αὐγὴν ἀφίεντα ἀπὸ τῶν παρειῶν, καὶ τὰς μαρμαρυγὰς τοῦ ἡλίου ἀποκρύπτοντα ταῖς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν βολαῖς, εἶτα ἐν αὐτῷ καταστήσειε τῷ τῆς ἡλικίας ἄνθει, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο ἀλουργίδα περιβάλλοι καὶ διάδημα καὶ πάντα τὸν κόσμον τὸν βασιλικόν· οὕτως ἐξήσκησε τὴν ψυχήν ἡμῶν, καὶ κακὴν καὶ ποθεινὴν καὶ ἐπέραστον ἐποίησεν. Ἐπιθυμήσουσι γὰρ ἄγγελοι παρακύψαι πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην ψυχήν, ἀρχάγγελοι, πᾶσαι αἱ ἄλλαι δυνάμεις. Οὕτως ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐπιχάριτας ἐποίησε, καὶ αὐτῷ ποθεινούς. Ἐπιθυμήσει γάρ, φησί, ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους σου.

 

Ὅρα γὰρ οἷα πρὸ τούτου ἐπιβλαβῆ φθεγγόμενοι, οἷα κεχαριτωμένα ῥήματα φθεγγόμεθα νῦν. Οὐκέτι πλοῦτον θαυμάζομεν, οὐκέτι τὰ ἐνταῦθα, ἀλλὰ τὰ οὐράνια καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Οὐχὶ χαρίεν ἐκεῖνο τὸ παιδίον εἶναί φαμεν; ὅπερ ἂν μετὰ τῆς τοῦ σώματος ὥρας καὶ πολλὴν ἔχει τὴν ἐν τοῖς ῥήμασι χάριν; Τοιοῦτοί εἰσιν οἱ πιστοί. Ὅρα οἷα φθέγγονται οἱ μεμνημένοι. Τί γὰρ χαριέστερον ἐκείνου τοῦ στόματος γένοιτ’ ἄν, τοῦ τὰ θεωμαστὰ ῥήματα ἀφιέντος, καὶ καθαρᾷ καρδίᾳ καὶ καθαροῖς χείλεσι μεταλαμβάνοντος τραπέζης μυστικῆς τοιαύτης μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἐμπρότητος καὶ τῆς παρρησίας; τί χαριέστερον τῶν ῥημάτων, δι’ ὧν ἀποτασσόμεθα τῷ διαβόλῳ; δι’ ὧν συντασσόμεθα τῷ Χριστῷ; τῆς ὁμολογίας ἐκείνης τῆς πρὸ τοῦ λουτροῦ; τῆς μετὰ τὸ λουτρόν; Ἐννοήσωμεν ὅσοι διεφθείραμεν τὸ βάπτισμα, καὶ στενάξωμεν, ἵνα δυνηθῶμεν αὐτὸ πάλιν ἀναλαβεῖν. Διὰ τοῦ ἠγαπημένου, φησί, ἐν ᾧ ἔχομεν τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ. Πῶς; Οὐ μόνον ὅτι τὸν Υἱὸν ἔδωκε θαυμαστόν, ἀλλ’ ὅτι καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ, ὥστε σφαγῆναι αὐτὸν τὸν ἀγαπώμενον. Πολλὴ ἡ ὑπερβολή· τὸν ἀγαπώμενον ὑπὲρ τῶν μισουμένων ἔδωκεν. Ὅρα πόσου ἡμᾶς τιμᾷ. Εἰ, ὅτε αὐτὸν ἐμισοῦμεν καὶ ἐχθροὶ ἦμεν, καὶ ἀγαπώμενον [7] ἔδωκε· τί οὖν ποιήσει λοιπὸν, ὅταν τούτῳ καταλλαγῶμεν διὰ τῆς χάριτος; Τὴν ἄφεσιν, φησί, τῶν παραπτωμάτων. Ἄνωθεν κάτω κάτεισι· πρότερον υἱοθεσίαν εἰπὼν καὶ ἁγιασμὸν καὶ ἀμώμους, καὶ τότε τὸ πάθος, οὐ μετρίων, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τῶν μεγάλων ἐπὶ τὰ μικρὰ κατήγων τὸν λόγον, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τῶν μικρῶν ἐπὶ τὰ μεγάλα ἀνιών. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτω μέγα, ὡς τὸ αἷμα ἐκχυθῆναι τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν· καὶ τῆς υἱοθεσίας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων δωρεῶν τοῦτο μεῖζον, τὸ μηδὲ τοῦ Υἱοῦ φείσασθαι. Μέγα γὰρ τὸ ἀφεθῆναι τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ἀλλὰ τὸ μεῖζον, τὸ διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ Δεσποτικοῦ. Ὅτι γὰρ τοῦτο πολλῷ μεῖζον ἁπάντων, ὅρα πῶς καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἀνεβόησε λέγων· Κατὰ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ, ἧς ἐπερίσσευσεν εἰς ἡμᾶς. Πλοῦτος μὲν γὰρ κἀκεῖνος, πολλῷ δὲ πλείων οὗτος. Ἥς ἐπερίσσευσε, φησίν, εἰς ἡμᾶς. Καὶ πλοῦτος, καὶ, Ἐπερίσσευσε, τουτέστιν, ἀφάτως ἐξεχύθη. Οὐκ ἔνεστι λόγῳ παραστῆσαι, ὧν διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἐπειράθημεν. Πλοῦτός γάρ ἐστι, πλοῦτος περισσεύων, πλοῦτος οὐκ ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ, ὥστε πανταχόθεν ἀμήχανον αὐτὸν λεχθῆναι. Δεικνὺς δὲ πῶς εἰς περισσείαν ἔδωκεν, Ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ καὶ φρονήσει, φησὶ, γνωρίσας ἡμῖν τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ· τουτέστι, σοφοὺς καὶ φρονίμους ποιήσας τὴν ὄντως σοφίαν, τὴν ὄντως φρόνησιν. (John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on the Epistle to the Ephesians [Migne, PG 62:13-14])

 

 

So, then, it was for this that he bestowed grace, “unto the praise of the glory” [6] of his grace, and in order that he might show his grace, let us remain in it. “Unto the praise of glory”—what does this mean? Is it that someone may praise him? That someone may glorify him? We, angels, archangels, or rather the whole creation? And what of that? Nothing; for the divine nature lacks nothing. Why then does he desire to be praised and glorified by us? So that the love we have for him may become warmer in us. For he seeks nothing from us, except our salvation alone—not service, not glory, not anything else—and for this reason he does everything. For the one who praises and marvels at the grace shown toward him will be more attentive and more earnest.

 

“By which he graced us,” he says. He did not say, “by which he bestowed grace upon us,” but “he graced us”; that is, he not only freed us from sins, but also made us lovable. Just as if someone took a person covered with scabies, corrupted by famine and disease, worn down by old age, poverty, and hunger, and immediately made him into a handsome young man, one who surpasses all men in beauty, sending forth a strong radiance from his cheeks and hiding the sun’s glare with the rays of his eyes, then setting him in the bloom of youth and afterward clothing him with purple and a diadem and all the royal splendor—so he fashioned our soul, and made it both evil and desirable and lovable. For angels long to bend down and look upon such a soul, archangels, and all the other powers. So he made us charming and desirable to himself. “For the king,” he says, “will desire your beauty.”

 

See, then, what sort of words we spoke before, and what words full of grace we speak now. We no longer admire wealth, no longer the things here below, but the things in heaven and in the heavens. Do we not say that even that child is lovely, one who, together with the bloom of the body, also has much grace in speech? Such are the faithful. See what those who remember say. For what could be more lovely than that mouth, which utters the marvelous words and receives with a pure heart and pure lips the table of that mystic feast with such boldness and freedom? What words are more gracious than those by which we renounce the devil? By which we enlist under Christ? That confession before baptism? That after baptism? Let all of us who have corrupted baptism consider it, and let us groan, so that we may be able to take it up again. “Through the Beloved,” he says, “in whom we have redemption through his blood.” How? Not only because he gave his Son—an astonishing thing—but because he gave him in this very way, so that the beloved one should be slain. Great is the excess of it: he gave the beloved one for those who were hated. See how much he honors us. If, when we hated him and were enemies, he gave his Beloved [7], what then will he do once we are reconciled to him through grace? “The forgiveness,” he says, “of transgressions.” He moves from above to below: first speaking of adoption, holiness, and blamelessness, and then of the Passion; not descending from the greater to the lesser, but ascending from the lesser to the greater. For nothing is so great as the blood of God being poured out for us; and among the gifts of adoption and the rest, this is greater still—that he did not spare even his Son. Great indeed is the forgiveness of sins, but greater still is what comes through the blood of the Master. That this is much greater than everything else, see how he also cries out here, saying, “According to the riches of his grace, which he has abounded toward us.” For that was riches too, but this is far more. “Which he has abounded,” he says, “toward us.” Both “riches” and “he abounded” mean that it has been poured out beyond measure. It cannot be set forth in words, though we have experienced it through the works themselves. For this is riches—abounding riches—riches not of men but of God, so that it is impossible to describe it from every side. And showing how he gave it in abundance, he says, “In all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will”; that is, by making us wise and prudent, he made us possess true wisdom, true prudence.