Most beloved brethren, let us call back to memory the things which through the sacred pages are heard in your hearts. Yet we ought to know and understand this: that before the coming of the Lord and Savior the devil reigned in the world, and all peoples, sinners and just, going out of the body, descended into hell, on account of the original sins which we drew from Adam; because the first man Adam in paradise transgressed the commandment of God. But because God saw that the whole world was perishing, having compassion on the human race, he sent his Son, born of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law. The Son of God deigned to descend from the seat of the Father, that is, the Word into the womb of the holy Mary ever-virgin.
He came in such great humiliation that through humility he might overcome the devil, the author of death, and deliver the human race through the cross of his passion. In heaven he shone with the Father; on earth, wrapped in swaddling-clothes, he lay in a manger. He was made to flee into Egypt, he was circumcised in the body, he was baptized by John, he fasted forty days and nights, then he came to the passion. He bore reproaches for us, he mockings, he the spittings, he the scourges, he the blows, he the crown of thorns; he was hung upon the cross, he was given vinegar to drink, he was pierced through with a lance, and with head bowed he gave up the spirit, and there flowed from his side blood and water. What by the blood, but our redemption?
What by the water, but the sacrament of baptism is signified? Whence John the apostle said: There are three who give testimony, the blood and the water and the Spirit (I John V). By the blood, the redemption of sins; by the water, the sacrament of baptism; by the Spirit, our sanctification. See, brethren, how dear the Lord held us: not with gold, not with silver, nor with precious things, but with his own holy blood he redeemed us: sinners, that they may descend with the flesh into hell; the just, that they may receive with the flesh the kingdom. For the judgment of God will be just, that that flesh which here sinned and did not do penance should itself be tormented together with the soul in the fire.
Likewise also that flesh which here is tormented for Christ's sake, that very flesh together with the soul shall rejoice with Christ and with all the saints in paradise. And the Lord shall separate at the judgment the just to the right, the sinners to the left, and he is about to say to the sinners: Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. XXV). O how terrible and to be feared a voice! After that voice has been heard, no remedy of penance will avail. Ever dread that voice, brethren, ever set that voice before your eyes: whence the Lord says in the Gospel: Pray that your flight be not in winter or on the sabbath (Matt. XXIV). As if he openly says:
See to it that you do not then seek to flee your sins when it is no longer permitted to walk. And elsewhere Truth itself says: 'Bind the bundles of tares to be burned' (cf. Matt. 13:30). The tares will be sinful men. Hell has sinners to devour. Sinners will be the firewood of hell. 'Bind the bundles to be burned' — that is, murderers with murderers, adulterers with adulterers, robbers with robbers; and those who here were alike in guilt will there likewise be bound together in torments; and the greater the crimes they have committed, the more fiercely will the eternal fire rage against them. Let no one deceive himself, brethren:
every man who after baptism has committed mortal crimes — that is, murder, adultery, theft, false witness, or has perpetrated the remaining crimes for which under the law of the world he could be put to death — if he does not do penance and give just almsgiving, he will never have eternal life, but will descend with the devil into torments. Therefore blessed Isidore says: God will never spare those who offend, for the reason he does not chastise sinners with temporal scourging is that he may leave them to be punished in the eternal judgment; and this is why the Lord will not spare those who offend. And blessed Augustine says: God leaves no sins unpunished — that is, unavenged.
Either we ourselves judge our sins by penance, or God will surely avenge them by the severity of his judgment, in which he is to say: 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire' (Matt. 25:41). And believe this most certainly, brethren: that every man, however great a sinner, however criminal he may be, whatever evils he has perpetrated, if he does penance and gives just almsgiving, will never descend into hell, but will be lifted up by the angels into heaven. Whence the Lord says: 'A man is not judged twice for the same thing.' The Apostle says: 'For if we judged ourselves, we should not be judged by the Lord' (cf. 1 Cor. 11:31) — that is, he who in the present life judges himself by penance is not judged again at the judgment, because here in the present life it is brought to an end.
Dearest brethren, we ought always to consider our end, and whatever we have done against God's precepts, let us repair by weeping and lamentation. Whence the Lord called Adam after his sins, [renewing him,] saying: 'Adam, where are you?' (Gen. 3:9). Here the almighty God gives a sign, that he may call us all back to penance after sin; and from where the father was cast out through sin, may the sons be called back through penance. And blessed Gregory says: that if we do perfect penance, God not only forgives our faults, but after the faults promises eternal rewards. And blessed Augustine says: Dearest brethren, whatever we have done against God's precepts, let us repair this by penance and lamentation: