We have professed in the preface that we owe very much to the most learned man, Giovanni Battista Branca, deputy prefect of the Ambrosian Library, who first furnished us with a copy of this homily. He also informed us that he had transcribed it from an eleventh-century codex, once belonging to the church of the provostry of the place of Biasca in the diocese of Milan, recently acquired by the Ambrosian Library, and that he found it nowhere printed except in a very ancient Breviary for the use of the Church of Milan, of the year 1490.
But while at Florence, among the Laurentian codices, and here at Rome, in the most celebrated manuscripts of Holy Cross in Jerusalem, we searched out the hidden riches of St. Maximus, we obtained the testimony of two most excellent codices, by which the trustworthiness of the Ambrosian codex is increased and illuminated. These are: Codex 172, page 69 on the reverse side, formerly of the aedile of the metropolitan church of Florence, now in the Laurentian Library, and Codex 9, page 31, of Holy Cross in Jerusalem. But as many codices, so many titles, wholly diverse, for the homily. For the Ambrosian codex reads thus: 'On the Sabbath, at the delivery of the Creed, a homily of Maximus. Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.' The same is the title in the Milanese Breviary. But the codex of the metropolitan church of Florence,
having prefixed the passage of Luke's Gospel, chapter 6: 'Jesus said to His disciples: Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful,' and the rest—'A sermon of St. Maximus the bishop, from the source above.' Finally, the codex of Holy Cross in Jerusalem inscribes it thus: 'A sermon of St. Maximus the bishop, on the fear of God and the correction of tongues.' We do not judge the first nor the second title worthy of approval, because nothing at all of what they announce is contained in the homily. But since the third title indicates the argument which the orator pursues throughout the whole discourse, we have prefixed this to the homily, and have judged that it should be called 'On the fear of God and the correction of tongues.'
Concerning the delivery of the Creed, which on the Sabbath before Palm Sunday was delivered to the catechumens who were to be baptized on the coming Holy Saturday, we have already spoken sufficiently in the first homily of this class; wherefore nothing remains for us to add here, except that the very phrasing of the discourse plainly shows it to be Maximus's. The most glorious of the prophets, and likewise the king of the Lord's people, the blessed David, who by a general exhortation urges all men to run together to hear the institutes of a purer life, saying: 'Come, ye children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord' (Psalm 33). Truly a most skilled teacher, a venerable patriarch, who, that he may instil into human minds the fear of God by the precepts of prophetic authority, first sends before them the blandishments of fatherly affection.
For he calls the sons subject to his dominion 'children,' that he may recall them from sins not so much by the terror of royal power as, by the affection of one who loves, implant in the minds of all a ready will to live well. For frequently those whom the harshness of a sterner rebuke does not correct, the fullness of a gentler word amends: 'The fear of the Lord,' he says, 'I will teach you.' The holy man teaches us a religious fear, that we may set aside the love of earthly judgement. He teaches the fear of the Lord, which is always salutary, because often the fear of man nourishes offence against God. So now let us see what steps of divine fear the excellent teacher establishes, what rule of a holier discipline he institutes: 'Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile.'
A perfect master of the religious life should curb the tongue above all things from fault—the tongue which from the beginning of the world, in Paradise of God, sinned first in the serpent. For it was the ministry of a malicious tongue that Adam was persuaded, to the destruction of his race, to pluck the fruits of the forbidden tree. Nor indeed would envy have driven him to eternal downfall, if by wiser counsel Eve had been willing to restrain her tongue from evil. The evil tongue, therefore, is the handmaid of the devil, and the servant of all depravity. The evil tongue, sharper than a sword, wounds not only the body but the innocent soul. The evil and rash tongue strikes a brotherly heart with insults, and among hearts at peace with one another sows a pernicious quarrel.
The evil tongue applies the image of truth and discolours truth with lies. The evil tongue, entrusted to hostile ears, betrays the secrets of friends committed to it. The evil tongue strives to defile by hidden detraction those whom it fears to address with open speech. The tongue by deception weaves snares for the simple, seeks the blood of good men, inflames the minds of the powerful, and disturbs the hearts of the humble; and as though it did not suffice to confound human things, it batters heaven itself with blasphemies and most unworthy insults, as the prophetic word attests concerning the impious, saying: 'They have set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue hath passed through the earth' (Psalm 72).
And after all these things, most beloved, whereas for all of them sin has a remedy, by an evil and unbridled tongue that sin is committed which is not remitted to a man even in this present world, as the Lord says: 'But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that to come' (Luke 12). And what more, brethren? Whatever iniquity the devil has enticed into the human breast is accomplished by the ministering evil tongue. But for its destruction and judgement the Lord is invoked, as the prophet cries: 'May the Lord scatter all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things' (Psalm 11). And elsewhere indeed: 'Thou shalt destroy them that speak a lie.'
On account of these evils to be avoided and fled from, the blessed David forewarns each one of us, saying: 'Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile' (Psalm 33). And a little after he adds: 'Seek peace, and pursue it.' For when your tongue is amended, and cleansed from all filth of evil-speaking, you will both find and pursue true and eternal peace, that is, Christ the Lord. Let no one deceive himself: unless a man restrains his wandering and wanton tongue with the reins of a disciplined heart, he will be able to find neither the peace of men nor that of Christ.
Therefore the venerable prophet, knowing on what slippery ground the tongue of man is set, and how much peril the incontinence of the tongue can work to our soul and life, prayed to his God, saying: 'Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth' (Psalm 140:5); and elsewhere: 'O Lord, thou wilt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy praise' (Psalm 50:17). The most faithful man desires that his mouth be guarded by the Lord and his lips be opened, lest that master of lies and craftsman of all deceit, the devil, should ever sow within him the falsehoods of his impiety. Truly he will be able to restrain his tongue from all malice, who under the dispensation of God both desires to speak and to be silent.
Therefore, brethren, beholding how vehement a sentence awaits deceitful lips, and how great a grace follows a guileless tongue, let us too together with the prophet pray to the Lord and Almighty God that He may guard our mouth, and Himself always deign to open our lips to words pleasing to Him.