Beloved, the apostolic institution, which had known that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world for this purpose, that He might not destroy the law but fulfil it (Matt. 5:17), so distinguished the decrees of the Old Testament, that it plucked out certain of them, just as they had been established, as profitable to evangelical instruction, and that things which of old had been of Jewish custom should become of Christian observance. For although the varieties of victims, the differences of baptisms, and the rests of Sabbaths have ceased along with the very circumcision of the flesh, yet from those very volumes there remain even among us very many moral precepts. And since it is said thence: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart; and you shall love your neighbour as yourself (Matt. 22:37, 39):
we know from the Lord Christ's saying, that on these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets (ibid. 40); and so great, under the decree of this twofold charity, is the bond of both Testaments, that without the connection of these virtues neither the law is found to have justified anyone, nor grace. Those parts also of the legal commandments, by which certain things are enjoined to be done, and certain things forbidden that they be not done, retain the firmness of ancient authority. Nor for that reason is the evangelical perfection to be thought contrary to them, because both the pursuits of the virtues are stirred to voluntary increases, and the punishments of crimes are relaxed by the remedies of penance. For the Lord says:
NisiabundaveritjustitiavestraplusquamScribarumetPharisæorum, nonintrabitisinregnumcælorum (Matth. v, 20). Quomodoveroabundabitjustitia,nisisuperexattetmisericordia (fjudicium (Jacob. II, 13) ? Etquidtamaequum 359 quidquetamdignumestquamutcreaturaadimaginemetsimilitudinemDeiconditasuumimiteturauctorem, quireparationemsanctificationemquecredentiuminpeccatorumremissioneconstituit,utremotaseveritatevindictae, omniquecessantesupplicio,reusinnocentiaeredderetur,etfiniscriminumfieretorigovirtutum? CAP. II.
Unless your righteousness abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:20). But how shall righteousness abound, unless mercy exalt itself above judgment (Jas. 2:13)? And what is so equitable, and so worthy, as that the creature made to the image and likeness of God should imitate its Author, who established the reparation and sanctification of believers in the remission of sins, so that, the severity of vengeance being removed and all punishment ceasing, the guilty might be restored to innocence, and the end of crimes might become the origin of virtues?
Since therefore, beloved, from the preaching of the ancient teaching we take up the fast of the seventh month for the purification of our souls and bodies, we do not subject ourselves to legal burdens, but embrace the usefulness of self-restraint which serves the Gospel of Christ. Because in this too Christian righteousness can abound above the Scribes and Pharisees, not by emptying the law, but by refusing its carnal understanding. For our fastings ought not to be such as were theirs, to whom the prophet Isaiah, the Holy Spirit speaking in him, said: I will not endure your new moons and Sabbaths and the great day; my soul hates your fasting and your feasts and your holy days (Isa. 1:13-14).
Whence also the Lord, handing down to His disciples the form of fasting, says: When you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to be fasting. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward (Matt. 6:16). What reward, but of human praise? For the desire of which the appearance of righteousness is very often held forth, and where there is no care for the conscience, the falsehood of reputation is loved; so that iniquity, which is convicted by concealment, may rejoice in the opinion of a lie. Let therefore the reasonable and holy fast be defiled by no boastfulness of display, nor let any of the faithful wish his own good to hang upon human judgments. For one who loves God it is enough to please Him whom he loves:
because no greater recompense is to be sought than love itself: for charity is thus from God, that God Himself is charity. With which surely the devout and chaste soul so rejoices to be filled, that it desires to be delighted by nothing outside of Him. For most true is that which the Lord says: Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matt. 6:21). But what is a man's treasure, but a certain gathering of his fruits and collection of his labours? For what a man sows, that shall he also reap (Gal. 6:8), and of what kind each one's work is, of such kind is also his gain;
and where the delight of enjoyment is set, there the care of the heart is bound. But since there are many kinds of riches, and dissimilar materials of joys, each one's treasure is the affection of his own desire, which, if it is of the appetite for earthly things, makes those who partake of it not blessed, but wretched. But those who savour the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth (Col. 3:2), are intent not on things that perish, but on things eternal, and have their incorruptible resources laid up in Him of whom the prophet says: Our treasure and our salvation has come, wisdom and instruction and piety from the Lord: these are the treasures of righteousness (Isa. 33:6, according to the Septuagint):
through which, by the help of God's grace, even earthly goods are transferred into heavenly ones, while many use riches, whether justly left to them or otherwise acquired, as an instrument of piety. And when, for the sustenance of the poor, they distribute the things which can abound, they gather for themselves resources that cannot be lost: so that what they have hidden in alms can be subject to no losses; and they worthily have their heart there, where they have their treasure (Matt. 6:21): because it is most blessed so to employ their riches that they may increase, and not to fear that they may perish. Working therefore, beloved, that which is good toward all, but especially toward those who are of the household of faith (Gal. 6:10).
(vi, 10); accounting the seventh month, mystical from the beginning by reason of the sevenfold Spirit and consecrated by the very number of its own rank, unto the fruits of self-restraint, let us solemnly fast on the fourth and sixth day of the week; and on the Sabbath let us keep vigils at the shrine of blessed Peter, whose prayers and merits will avail on our behalf, so that to whatever measure a good will is granted to each of the faithful, in that same measure the power also may be given, by the help of Him who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.