CAP. I. — Sublimitasquidem,dilectissimi, gratiaeDeihocquotidieoperaturincordibus 48 Christiania, utomnedesideriumnostrumaterrenisadcœlestiatransferatur. SedetiampraesensvitaperCreatorisopemducitur,etperipsiusprovidentiamsustinetur:
The sublimity of the grace of God, most beloved, works this daily in the hearts of Christians: that all our desire may be transferred from earthly things to heavenly. But the present life also is led by the aid of the Creator, and is sustained by His providence:
for the same is the bestower of temporal things who is the promiser of eternal. As therefore in the hope of future felicity, toward which we run through faith, we ought to give thanks to God that we are lifted up unto the receiving of so great a preparation, so also for those benefits which we obtain by the revolution of each year, God is to be honored and praised by us, who so gave the fertility of the earth from the beginning, and so ordained the laws of bearing fruit in each of the sprouts and seeds, that He might never abandon His own institutions, but that in things created the kindly administration of the Creator might abide. Whatever, therefore, the crops, the vines, and the olives have borne for the uses of men, all this the bounty of the divine goodness has produced: which, with the quality of the elements varied, has clemently aided the doubtful labors of the farmers, so that for our benefit the winds and rains, cold and heat, days and nights might serve. For human reasoning would not suffice for the effecting of its own works, unless God supplied the increases to the accustomed plantings and waterings. Whence it is full of piety and justice, that from those things which the heavenly Father has mercifully bestowed upon us, we too should aid others.
For there are very many who have no portion in fields, none in vineyards, none in olive groves, whose poverty must be provided for out of that abundance which the Lord has given; and let them too bless God with us for the fertility of the earth, and rejoice that things have been given to those who possess them which have also been made common to the poor and to strangers. Happy is that barn, and most worthy of the multiplication of all fruits, from which the hunger of the needy and the weak is satisfied, from which the necessity of the stranger is relieved, from which the longing of the sick is cherished. Whom the justice of God has therefore permitted to labor under various troubles, that He might crown both the wretched for their patience, and the merciful for their benevolence.
But for this work, most beloved, although all times are opportune, this present one is now especially fitting and suitable, in which our holy fathers, divinely inspired, decreed the fast of the tenth month, so that with the gathering of all the fruits concluded, a reasonable abstinence might be consecrated to God, and each one might remember so to use his abundance that he be both more abstinent regarding himself, and more lavish toward the poor. For most efficacious for sins is the entreaty made in alms and fasts, and swiftly does prayer, raised aloft by such supports, ascend to the divine ears. Since, as it is written, 'the merciful man does good to his own soul,' and nothing is so proper to each one as what he expends upon his neighbor.
For the portion of bodily goods which is ministered to the needy passes over into eternal riches, and those wealths are begotten out of this liberality, which can be diminished by no use, violated by no corruption. 'For blessed are the merciful, since God shall have mercy on them'; and He Himself shall be to them the sum of the reward, who is the pattern of the precept. But amid these works of piety, most beloved, which commend us more and more to God, there is no doubt that our enemy, desirous and skilled in doing harm, is incited by the sharper stings of envy:
so that those whom he is not permitted to assail with open and bloody persecutions, he may corrupt under a false profession of the Christian name, having heretics who serve this work of his, whom, wandering from the catholic faith and subjected to himself, he has made to soldier in his camps under diverse errors. And as, for deceiving the first men, he took to himself the ministry of the serpent, so he has armed the tongues of these men, for seducing the souls of the upright, with the venom of falsehood. But these snares, most beloved, with pastoral solicitude, in so far as the Lord aids us, we meet.
And that nothing of the holy flock may perish, taking precaution, we admonish you with fatherly warnings that you keep away from wicked lips and the deceitful tongue, from which the prophet asks that his soul be delivered (Ps. 120:2); for their speech, as the blessed Apostle says, spreads like a canker (2 Tim. 2:17). They creep in humbly, they charm with flattery, they bind softly, they slay in secret. For they come, as the Savior foretold, in sheep's clothing, but within they are ravening wolves (Matt. 7:15); for they could not deceive the true and simple sheep unless they cloaked their beastly rage under the name of Christ. And in all these things there works that one who, being in truth the enemy of true illumination, transforms himself into an angel of light.
By his craft Basilides is skilled, by his cunning Marcion is clever; with him as leader Sabellius is carried along, with him as guide Photinus is hurled headlong; to his power Arius does servile duty, to his spirit Eunomius is a slave; in short, the whole cohort of such beasts has departed from the unity of the Church under his presidency, and has fallen away from the truth under his mastery. CHAPTER IV. — But although he holds a manifold primacy in all forms of perversity, yet he built himself a citadel in the madness of the Manichaeans, and found in them a most spacious court, in which he might vaunt himself the more exultantly, where he might possess in general not the aspect of a single depravity, but a mixture of all errors and impieties at once.
For whatever is profane among the pagans, whatever is blind in carnal Jews, whatever is unlawful in the secret arts of magic, whatever, finally, is sacrilegious and blasphemous in all the heresies—all this has flowed together into these people as into a kind of bilge, with a concretion of every filth. Hence it would be far too long to recount all their impieties and shameful deeds; for the multitude of their crimes surpasses the abundance of words. Of these, a few suffice for illustration, so that from what you have heard you may also estimate those things which out of modesty we pass over. Yet concerning their rites, which among
these are as obscene as they are abominable—since the Lord willed to make it manifest to our inquiry, we do not keep silent, lest anyone suppose that we have given credit in this matter to doubtful rumor and uncertain opinions. And so, with bishops and presbyters sitting with me, and with Christian and noble men gathered into the same assembly, we ordered their Elect men and Elect women to be brought forward. When these had disclosed much about the perversity of their doctrine and about the custom of their festivals, they also betrayed that other crime, which it is shameful to speak of, which was investigated with such diligence that nothing was left doubtful to those disposed to believe, nothing to detractors.
For there were present all the persons by whom that unspeakable deed had been perpetrated: namely a girl of about ten years, and two women who had reared her and had prepared her for this crime. Present too was the young man who had violated the girl, and their bishop, the contriver of this detestable crime. The confession of all these was alike and one, and there was laid bare an execrable thing which our ears could scarcely bear. Lest by speaking of it more openly we offend chaste ears, the records of the proceedings suffice, by which it is most fully shown that in this sect no chastity, no honor, no purity whatsoever can be found; a sect in which lying is law, the devil is religion, and shamefulness is sacrifice. CHAPTER V.
These men, therefore, dearly beloved, in all things execrable and pestilent, whom the upheaval of other regions has driven upon us in ever greater numbers, cast off utterly from your friendship; and you especially, women, abstain from acquaintance and conversation with such people, lest, while your incautious hearing is delighted by fabulous tales, you fall into the snares of the devil. For he, knowing that he first seduced the man through the mouth of the woman, and through feminine credulity cast down all mankind from the happiness of paradise, now with more assured cunning lies in wait for your sex, that those women whom he can allure to himself through the ministers of his falsehood he may strip of both faith and modesty.
This too, dearly beloved, I beseech and admonish you: that if it become known to any of you where they dwell, where they teach, whom they frequent, and in whose company they take their rest, you should faithfully report it to our solicitude; for it profits each one little that, protected by the Holy Spirit, he himself is not caught by them, if he is unmoved when he perceives others being caught. Against the common foes, for the common salvation, there ought to be one vigilance on the part of all, lest by the wound of one member the other members too be corrupted; and let those who think such men need not be exposed be found guilty in the judgment of Christ on account of their silence, even if they are not contaminated by consent. CHAPTER
VI. — Take up, therefore, the devout zeal of religious solicitude, and let the care of all the faithful rise up against the most savage enemies of souls. For to this end the merciful God has disclosed to us a certain portion of these harmful men, so that, the danger being made manifest, the diligence of caution might be aroused. Let it not be enough that this has been done, but let the same inquiry persevere; which, with God's help, will attain this end: that not only may those who are upright continue safe, but also that many who have been deceived by diabolical seduction may be recalled from their error. And your prayers and almsgivings and fastings will be offered more sacredly to the merciful God through this very devotion, when this work of faith too has been added to all the offices of piety.
Let us therefore fast on the fourth and sixth days of the week; and on the Sabbath let us keep vigil at the tomb of the most blessed Apostle Peter, who, as we experience and believe, unceasingly extends his pastoral watch for the sheep entrusted to him by the Lord, and will intercede by his prayers that the Church of God, which was founded by his preaching, may be free from all error. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. CHAPTER I. — To the evangelical ordinances, dearly beloved, the teaching of the Law lends much authority, since certain things are transferred from the Old commandment to the new observance, and from this very ecclesiastical devotion it is shown that the Lord Jesus Christ came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17).
For now that those signs by which the coming of our Savior was announced have ceased, and the figures which the very presence of the Truth abolished have passed away, those things which the principle of piety established either for the rules of morals or for the simple worship of God remain among us in the same form in which they were founded; and the things which were suited to both Testaments have been altered by no change. Among these is also the solemn fast of the tenth month, which we are now to celebrate by yearly custom; for it is full of righteousness and of piety to give thanks to the divine bounty for the fruits which, according to the ordering of the supreme providence, the earth has produced for the uses of men.
That we may show that we do this with a ready mind, we must undertake not only abstinence in fasting but also care for almsgiving, so that from the soil of our heart too the seed of righteousness and the fruit of charity may spring forth, and that by pitying His poor we may merit the mercy of God. For most effective in imploring God is that petition which is supported by works of piety, since he who does not turn away his heart from the needy quickly turns the Lord's hearing toward himself, the Lord saying: Be merciful, as your Father also is merciful; forgive, and it shall be forgiven you (Luke 6:36-37). What is more benevolent than this righteousness? What more clement than this recompense, where the sentence of the one about to judge is placed in the power of the one to be judged?
Give, He says, and it shall be given unto you (Luke 6:38). How quickly is the anxiety of distrust and the hesitation of avarice cut away, so that what the Truth promises to repay, humanity may lay out without care! CHAPTER II. — Be constant, O Christian giver: give what you may receive, sow what you may reap, scatter what you may gather. Do not fear loss, do not sigh over an uncertain return. When your substance is well disbursed, it is increased. Covet the just gain of mercy, and pursue the commerce of eternal profit. Your Rewarder wills you to be bountiful, and He who gives that you may have, commands that you bestow, saying: Give, and it shall be given unto you.
You must embrace the joyous condition of this promise. For although you have nothing except what you have received, yet you cannot fail to have what you have given. He, therefore, who loves money and desires to multiply his wealth with immoderate increase, let him rather practice this holy usury and grow rich by this art of interest, so that he may not seek to entrap the necessities of struggling men, nor by deceitful favors cast the nooses of debts that cannot be discharged, but let him be the creditor of Him, the lender to Him, who says: Give, and it shall be given unto you; and with what measure you have measured, the same shall be measured back to you. But he is faithless and unjust even to himself, who is unwilling to keep forever what he judges worthy of being loved.
However much he may add, however much he may store up and heap together, he will depart from this world poor and needy, as David the prophet says: For when he dies he shall carry nothing away, neither shall his glory descend with him (Ps. 48:18). If he were kind to his own soul, he would entrust his goods to Him who is both a fit surety for the poor and a most bountiful repayer of interest. But unjust and shameless avarice, which claims to bestow a benefit while it deceives, does not believe God who promises truly, yet believes a man bargaining fearfully; and while it esteems present things more certain than future, it deservedly falls often into this, that the greed for unjust gain becomes for it the cause of an unjust loss.
CHAPTER III. — Whatever the outcome may be, therefore, the reckoning of the money-lender is always evil, for whom both to have lost money and to have increased it is sin; so that either he is wretched in losing what he gave, or more wretched in receiving what he did not give. The iniquity of usury is altogether to be fled; and gain that lacks all humanity is to be shunned. The estate of the unjust is indeed multiplied by grievous increases, but the substance of the mind wastes away, since usury of money is the death of the soul. For what God thinks of such men, the most holy prophet David makes plain, when he said: Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle, or who shall rest on your holy mountain (Ps. 15:1)?
He is instructed by the divine response to his prayers, and learns that he belongs to eternal rest who, among other rules of a devout way of life, has not given his money out at usury; while he is shown to be a stranger to the tabernacle of God, and an alien from His holy mountain, who seeks deceitful gain from the interest of his money; and while he desires to be enriched through the losses of others, he is judged worthy to be punished with eternal want. CHAPTER IV. — You therefore, dearly beloved, who with your whole heart have believed the promises of the Lord, fleeing the most unclean leprosy of avarice, use the gifts of God piously and wisely. And since you justly rejoice in His bounty, take care that you may be able to have partners of your joys.
For many things are lacking to others which are at hand for you, and in the neediness of certain people material is given you for imitating the divine goodness: that through you the divine benefits may pass on to others also, and that by rightly dispensing temporal things you may acquire eternal ones. Let us therefore fast on the fourth and sixth days of the week; and on the Sabbath let us keep vigil at the tomb of the most blessed Apostle Peter, by whose prayers may divine protection be obtained for us in all things, through Christ our Lord. Amen.