We have read this sermon in the codices of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, no. 90 num. 8, and no. 99 num. 77, and also in the Laurentian codex, Plut. XIV pag. 520, with the name of Saint Maximus noted. In this last codex, however, we have seen that after that sermon there exists the same one whose beginning is: The festival of Saint Cyprian (which, following the editors, we have numbered among the homilies), with an inscription of this sort: Likewise what follows, a continuation by Maximus. Wherefore we do not agree with Gillot, who ascribes this very sermon to Saint Ambrose, in the Paris edition of 1569 of the works of St. Ambrose, num. 73. Some days ago, when we were celebrating the birthday of the most blessed martyr Cyprian, we rejoiced most sweetly in his festival;
for because he suffered at this season of the vintage, we too, as it were, have gathered from his passion the sweet and varied fruits of the vintage. For he has enriched us and refreshed us with the new wine of his martyrdom. There is indeed a new wine that refreshes and inebriates the Christian, but that inebriation rather makes one sober: for whoever is inebriated by heavenly grace is made sober from the burden of his sins. Filled with this new wine, the holy apostles, as Scripture says (Acts 2), spoke the mighty works of God in foreign tongues. In which deed they seemed at once to be both drunk and sober; for they were thought to be drunk, because the speech resounded loftily in them beyond nature; yet they were sober, because after the manner of a devout mind they praised God with devotion.
And indeed it came about not through any pride or shamelessness that these holy men spoke in a foreign speech, but it was done by the providence of the Godhead; so that, because one language does not suffice to magnify God, the devotion of the mind might be released through many tongues. For we rejoiced, because from the vineyard of the Lord of hosts we received the fruit of refreshment: For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 5), as the prophet says, is the house of Israel; which house is ourselves. For according to faith we are Israelites; whence the Apostle says: They who are of faith, these are the sons of Abraham (Galatians 3). Therefore, since we are Israel, we are the vineyard of the Lord: let us see diligently that from the branch of our work there be born not the grape of sweetness, but of gall;
lest there be said to us what was said to the Jews: I waited that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth thorns; not justice, but a cry (Isaiah 5). How harsh a condition, that a possession which ought to have brought forth the fruit of sweetness to its own lord should have pricked him with the harshness of thorns—that is, they crowned him who came to receive them with the suffering of thorns. Which crown indeed, so far as it lay in the Jews, was a crown of virtues. Whence the holy Scripture says: They shall look on him whom they pierced (John 19). Therefore, brethren, see that it be not said also to you: I waited that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth thorns; which thorns the Jews placed upon the Lord with bloody hands, let us not apply with wicked thoughts, and let us not prick him with the sharpness of thorns, but with the depravity of our works.
For there are thorns of the heart, which have been wont even to wound the word of God, of which the Savior makes mention in the Gospel (Matthew 13), saying that the seed of the sower fell among thorns, and that they grew up and choked what was sown. And what these thorns are, he himself goes on to explain, saying that they are assuredly the cares of the world, which, when they grow up in the heart of a man, choke in him the commandments of the Savior. For who, being anxious about the world, could ever be anxious about Christ? Who, while he provides for the gains of his own house, could provide for the interests of the Church? Whence the Apostle says: He who is without a wife is anxious for the things of the Lord, how he may please God;
but he who has a wife is anxious for the things of the world, how he may please his wife (1 Corinthians 7). Therefore, brethren, see that your vineyard bring forth not grapes but thorns, that your vintage yield not wine but vinegar. For whoever gathers the vintage and does not give freely to the poor, he collects vinegar, not wine. Whoever stores up the harvest and does not minister to the needy, he has laid up not the fruit of nourishment, but has gathered the briers of avarice; for on this account Scripture says of our earth: Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee (Genesis 3).