Sermons & Tracts 1 part 2/37

He sets out, he journeys on, with belief as his companion, his wife as his fellow-traveler; he goes secure, he goes trusting, ready to exact by his labors the thing promised him, hoping more from the uncertain than he had been secure of in his own. He goes, then, through desert solitudes, through pathless dwelling-places, through the secret recesses of nature, where the still-untamed earth had not yet known the footprint of man: and amid all those things which at God's command he had abandoned, no hut, no cottage, but amid the very fearsome secret places of the silent plains, a guest only of heaven and earth, he found no refuge to which he might turn aside. Abraham receives three Angels into his hospitality. Yet a humane oak-tree took in Abraham the wanderer;

which refreshed Abraham as he came, scorched by the summer sun, with the shade of its pleasantness: whose leafy luxuriance of forest foliage, by the thickness of its branches, held off in the summer season the daylight and the vapor-bearing rays of the burning sun; so that whatever the harshness of the season inflicted, the density of both branches and leaves took it all away. Abraham therefore enters the grove of the tree, beneath which is constructed some kind of refuge; narrow indeed for a man, but sufficient for majesty. Yet a devout faith painted a palace worthy of God, in which the supernal Majesty might dine. When, therefore, placed there, he gazed at heaven with curious eyes, behold, suddenly in the person of three men the incorporeal Majesty descended.

He runs to meet them, he hastens, he stretches out suppliant hands, and kisses the knees of the passers-by: Lord, he says, if I have found grace before You, do not pass by Your servant (Gen. 18:3). You see, Abraham runs to meet three, and adores one. A Triune Unity, and one Trinity. Let water be taken, let your feet be washed, and refresh yourselves beneath this tree, and I will bring bread, and you shall eat; and afterward you shall pass on into your way. And they said to him, Do as you have said (Gen. 18:5). Perfect righteousness ever keeps its course in good things; he who has no roof offers hospitality to strangers; and though he was bereft of every dwelling, he displayed to the passers-by such a dwelling as necessity provided.

And although the things that were offered were lesser, faith gave greatness to the narrowness of the place—a faith which did not deserve to be despised by God. They turn aside to the hospitality of the tree, which Abraham had already made worthy of God. Meanwhile fine flour is sprinkled, cakes baked in the ashes are made, and a calf is slaughtered. Although the Divinity had no need of these, yet righteousness bestowed what it desired. Behold, heavenly sublimity reclined at a human table, food is taken, a meal is had, and in comradely conversation between man and God familiar words are exchanged. Hospitality is not without reward. And because with God hospitality could not be fruitless, at once he received the price of his reward:

a son is given to the old man, posterity is given to the despairing, old age received what youth was least able to have. At this time, He says, I will come, and Sarah shall have a son (Gen. 18:10). And when the aged years and Sarah's dead womb denied that this could be done, yet belief gave faith to the divine promise. I have made you, He says, the father of many nations (Gen. 17:5). He was filled with good things, because what He promised him, He fulfilled. Behold, on the very brink of old age, before laws were yet brought forth and recited, we assert that Abraham was religious; and he who had been more just in worship, proved more approved in belief. For behold, that aged husband, who as yet had not even one son, God nevertheless promised innumerable descendants in that one.

Behold, when his loins were exhausted, God said to Abraham: Look up to heaven, and number the stars: so shall your seed be. And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him unto righteousness (Gen. 15:5-6). It had ceased with Sarah after the manner of women, because her weary members had already failed. The whole body is furrowed with wrinkles, the brow becomes deeply plowed, and old age spent. As the blood fails in the veins, sad old age is worn out; but by the divine judgment the ardor of that age is kindled. The divine promise makes her a better mother than age had made her capable of bearing. The mother received an offspring which the barrenness of the season had taken from her. When her members were far spent, Isaac is conceived:

suddenly the empty and withering veins boiled again with revived blood, and the old man's dead loins, vaporized with warmed blood, were animated with indwelling heats even unto childbearing. Youthful vigor grew warm, and vaporized with blood made warm. The old woman becomes fruitful, the old man becomes pregnant with offspring; the womb grows day by day, and, as the birth gathers strength, the capacious hollow of the swelling belly is stretched out. It becomes a burden, and the longed-for affection out of weary loins, the too-great load of a desired posterity. Such a mother, who empty could scarcely walk, carried the heavy womb. But because the things she had received were of belief, a stronger faith gave life to her spent loins.

The withered breasts, which the loss of a sap drawn off into empty bags had slackened, are now stretched taut with the abundance of a milky spring. She becomes a mother at the breast, a mother in childbirth; a mother, I say, who by reason of her age had been a grandmother. Faith gave new fires to aged flesh. Thus Isaac is born of belief, that their faith might be told among their offspring unto the ages. Amen. SERMON IV. On the heifer, the ram and the goat of three years, and also the turtledove and the pigeon (Genesis 15:9-17). 1. The carnal and the spiritual signified in Abraham's sacrifice. We have heard, dearly beloved brethren, the Scripture saying: 'The Lord spoke to Abram, saying, Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years, a turtledove also and a pigeon.'

'And he took all these and divided them in the midst, and laid each of the two parts one against the other on either side; but the birds he did not divide. And the fowls came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and a great and dark horror seized him. And when the sun had gone down, there arose a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace, and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions.' What, then, these things may signify, brethren, briefly, so far as the Lord shall grant, we desire to convey to the ears of your Charity. That Abraham was called by the Lord the father of many nations.

For all the nations which believe and shall believe in Christ are the sons of Abraham, by imitating his faith, not by being born through the flesh. For just as the Jews, made degenerate through unbelief, are in the Gospel called from sons of Abraham the sons of the devil and a brood of vipers; so on the contrary all the nations which faithfully believe in Christ have deserved to be made the sons of Abraham. The heifer of three years, therefore, and the ram of three years, and the goat of three years, and the turtledove and the pigeon, bore the figure of all the nations. And they are said to be of three years, because all the nations were to believe in the mystery of the Trinity. And because the whole Catholic Church has not only spiritual men, but also carnal ones:

although some say that they believe in the Trinity, yet they are carnal, because they neglect to shun crimes and sins; and because together with the carnal there are also the spiritual, therefore the turtledove and the pigeon are added. In the turtledove and the pigeon the spiritual can be signified, as in those three animals the carnal can be understood. 2. In the Catholic Church the carnal are set against one another, not the spiritual. Attend diligently, then, for those three animals Abraham is said to have divided into two parts and to have set against one another. The birds, says Scripture, he did not divide. Why is this, brethren? Because in the Catholic Church the carnal are divided; the spiritual are by no means divided, and, as Scripture says, they are prepared against one another.

Why are the carnal both divided and set against one another? Because all the lustful and lovers of the world do not cease to have divisions and scandals against one another. These, then, are divided, because they are adversaries to one another; but the birds, that is, the spiritual, are not divided. Why are the spiritual not divided? Because in them there is one heart and one soul toward God, in them there is one and the same willing and refusing. For they are like those birds we spoke of above, namely the turtledove and the pigeon. In the turtledove chastity is designated, in the pigeon simplicity.

For all in the Catholic Church who fear God are marked as chaste and simple, and can say with the Psalmist: 'Who will give me wings like a dove's, that I may fly away and be at rest?' (Psalm 55:6). And again: 'The turtledove has found herself a nest, where she may lay her young' (Psalm 84:3). And while the carnal, who can be divided, are pressed down in the world by the heavy fetters of vices, the spiritual are lifted on high by the wings of diverse virtues, and by two wings as it were, that is, by the two commandments, of loving God and neighbour, are raised up to heaven, and can say with the Apostle: 'But our citizenship is in heaven' (Philippians 3:20);

and as often as the priest says 'Lift up your hearts,' they answer securely and faithfully that they hold them toward God; which very few and rare in the Church can say with confidence and in truth. For this reason, then, Abraham did not divide the birds, because the spiritual, in whom, as I said, there is one heart and one soul, cannot be divided nor separated from the love of God or of neighbour; but with the Apostle they cry out: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution?' And the rest that follows, up to what was said: 'Nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord' (Romans 8:35-39). The spiritual, therefore, are not separated from Christ even by torments;

but the carnal are sometimes separated even by idle chatter. Those the cruel sword does not separate; these carnal affection does separate. The spiritual are not broken by hardships; the carnal are corrupted even by flatteries. Abraham, therefore, divided those animals into two parts; but the birds he did not divide. 3. A figure of the Last Judgment. And when the sun had gone down, a deep sleep, he says, fell upon Abraham, and a great and exceedingly dark horror; and there appeared a burning and smoking furnace, and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions. See, brethren, that this fire is said to pass between those divisions, but it is not read to have touched the turtledove and the pigeon. That evening signified the end of the world;

those animals, as we have already said, bore the type of all the nations believing in Christ. Yet these nations, as has already been said, because they have in themselves not only the carnal but also the spiritual, that is, not only the wicked but also the good; therefore those animals were divided, and the fire passed through them, according to that which the Apostle says: 'For the day of the Lord shall declare it; because it shall be revealed in fire' (1 Corinthians 3:13). That burning and smoking furnace and the lamp of fire figured the day of judgment. And therefore fear and a dark horror lay upon blessed Abraham. Whence we understand, that if in the day of judgment the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and the impious appear? (1 Peter 4:18)

The burning and smoking furnace, therefore, signified the day of judgment: the day, I say, of judgment, in which there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, in which there shall be wailing and lamentation and too-late repentance; when the foundations of the mountains shall be moved, and the earth shall burn down to hell beneath; when, as blessed Peter says, 'The burning heavens shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the heat of fire' (2 Peter 3:12); when, as the Lord himself says in the Gospel, 'even the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; when the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven' (Matthew 24:29). Where then shall the impious see themselves? Where shall the adulterers, where the drunkards, where the slanderers recognize themselves?

Where shall the lovers of luxury, where the robbers, where the proud and the envious appear? What shall the wretches say in their own defence, whom, though so often admonished, yet unprepared, that day shall find? When at that trumpet of the Archangel, clearer than every clarion, the whole world at once shall begin to bellow; when, as the prophet says, the Lord shall come 'to make the earth desolate' (Isaiah 13:9), and to destroy the sinners out of it; when, as Scripture says, 'the sinners and the impious shall be cast into the pool of fire, and the smoke of their torments shall ascend for ever and ever' (Revelation 19:20; 14:11). What trembling then, what gloom, what darkness shall seize upon the guilty, the negligent, and the lukewarm?

Lest, therefore, we too come into that torment of soul, let us awake while there is time to be corrected, and let us seek the will of our Lord as good and useful servants: so that when that day of judgment, which that burning and smoking furnace signified, dreadful and greatly to be feared even by the good, shall have come, we may not be tormented in avenging flames in hell together with the mortals whom those animals figured, who can be divided by the various contentions of pleasures; but rather, bearing the simplicity of the pigeon

and the chastity of the turtledove, may be lifted up to heaven on the spiritual wings of the virtues, according to that which the Apostle says: 'We shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord' (1 Thessalonians 4:17). By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honour and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON V. On the three men who appeared to blessed Abraham (Genesis 18). 1. In the reading of Scripture not only the letter is to be attended to.

I have frequently admonished your Charity, most beloved brethren, that in these readings which in these days are recited in the Church, we ought not only to attend to what we recognize as sounding from the letter, but, the veil of the letter being removed, we should faithfully seek the life-giving Spirit. For thus says the Apostle: 'The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life' (2 Corinthians 3:6). Indeed the unhappy Jews, and the more unhappy heretics, while they look only at the sound of the letter, like a body without a soul, so without the life-giving Spirit have remained dead. But let us hear the Apostle saying, that all these things happened to them in figure; and they were written for our sake (1 Corinthians 10:11).

Let us see, then, what it is that we have just heard, when the divine reading was read. 2. Lot far inferior to Abraham. 'God appeared,' it says, 'to Abraham, as he sat at the door of his tent by the oak of Mamre. Behold,' it says, 'three men stood over him, and he went out to meet them.' Attend, brethren, and see in what manner God appeared to Abraham, and in what manner he appeared to Lot. To Abraham three come, and they stand over him; to Lot two come, and they sit in the street (Genesis 19:1-2). See, brethren, whether things are not done according to merits by the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. For indeed Lot was far inferior to Abraham. For unless he had been inferior, he would not have deserved to be separated from blessed Abraham, nor would the dwelling of the Sodomites have pleased him.

So then three men come to Abraham at midday; two came to Lot, and they come in the evening: for Lot could not bear the greatness of the midday light; but Abraham was able to receive the full splendour of the light. 3. Commendation of hospitality. Now let us see in what manner Abraham, and in what manner Lot, received those who came. Abraham took the initiative, and ran to meet them. And when he had met them, he hastens to the tent, and says to his wife: 'Hasten,' he says, 'and knead three measures of fine flour, and make hearth-cakes' -- which in Greek is said, indicating, that is, hidden and concealed loaves. But Abraham himself ran to the herd, and took a calf. What kind of calf? Perhaps one that happened to be first to run up?

It is not so; but a good and tender calf. He took, therefore, the calf, and gave it to a servant: 'Boy,' he says, 'hasten to prepare it.' See, brethren, attend with what fervent spirit you ought to receive guests. Behold, Abraham himself runs, his wife hastens, the servant makes speed. There is no sluggard in the household of the wise man. Behold, the offices of hospitality of Abraham and of Sarah are equal. But Lot indeed received them, but only two, and not the whole Trinity, nor at midday, but at evening. And what did he set before them? 'He baked,' it says, 'unleavened bread, and they ate.' And because Abraham was much inferior in merits, he neither had a fatted calf, nor did he recognize the mystery of the Trinity in three measures of fine flour:

yet because he offered with a kindly spirit even that which he could, he merited to be delivered from the destruction of the Sodomites. Attend, brethren, that even Lot, while he did not turn away guests, deserved to receive angels. Behold, the angels enter the hospitable house; the houses closed to guests are burned up with sulphurous flames. 4. Abraham recognized the mystery of the Trinity. The washing of feet. Three men, therefore, came to Abraham, and stood over him. See what this itself is, that they come over him, not against him. He had subjected himself to the will of God; and therefore God is said to stand over him. 'They stood,' it says, 'over him'; not against him to repel, but over him to protect. He received three men, he sets loaves from three measures before them.

Why is this, brethren, unless because he understands the mystery of the Trinity? He also sets before them a calf, a calf which is not tough, but good and tender. And what is so tender, what is so good, as he who humbled himself for us even unto death? He himself is that fatted calf, which the father slays for the penitent son received back. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son (John 3:16). To three, therefore, Abraham ran forth, and one he adores. But in that he saw three, as has already been said, he understood the mystery of the Trinity; and in that he adored as it were one, he recognized that in three persons there is one God. To one he speaks, saying, 'Turn aside to your servant.'

He also adds, as though speaking to men: 'I will take,' he says, 'water, and let your feet be washed.' Learn, brethren, from blessed Abraham to receive guests gladly, to wash their feet with humility and piety. Wash, I say, the feet of the holy pilgrims, lest perchance there remain on them the dust which they might shake off from their feet unto your judgment. For thus he said in the Gospel: 'Whoever does not receive you, going forth shake off the dust from your feet. Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of the Sodomites in the day of judgment than for that city' (Matthew 10:14-15). This, then, Abraham foresaw in the spirit;

and therefore he wished to anticipate and to wash their feet, lest perchance any dust should remain, which, being shaken off as a testimony of unbelief, might be reserved unto the day of judgment. Therefore wise Abraham says: 'I will take water, and let your feet be washed.' Hear these things diligently, brethren, you who do not wish to practise hospitality, who receive a guest as an enemy. Behold, blessed Abraham, while he fervently received men, deserved by his regard for hospitality to receive God himself. Christ also confirmed this in the Gospel, saying: 'I was a stranger, and you took me in' (Matthew 25:35). Do not, therefore, neglect strangers, lest perchance he whom you did not receive be Christ himself. 5. It continues on the same subject.

Where, however, was this done? By the oak of Mamre, which in the Latin tongue is interpreted 'vision,' or 'clear-sightedness.' You see what kind of place it is in which the Lord can have his banquet? For the vision and clear-sightedness of Abraham delighted him. For he was pure in heart, so that he could see God. In such a place, therefore, and in such a heart the Lord can have his banquet. Of this vision the Lord spoke in the Gospel to the Jews, saying: 'Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad' (John 8:56). 'My day,' he says, 'he saw'; because he recognized the mystery of the Trinity. He saw the Father a day, the Son a day, the Holy Spirit a day, and in these three one day:

just as the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and these three are one God. For each several person is singly full God, and all three together are one God. For also by those three measures of fine flour, on account of the unity of substance, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are not incongruously understood. Yet this can also be taken in another way, so that we understand Sarah as the Church, and the three measures of fine flour as faith, hope, and charity. For in these three virtues are contained all the fruits of the Church. Whoever deserves to have these three in himself can securely receive the whole Trinity to the banquet of his heart. 6. How God's descending is to be understood. After these things the Lord said

to Abraham: 'The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has ascended to me; I have descended, therefore, to see whether the report which has come to me is fulfilled in deed; or whether it is not so, that I may know.' These are the words of Scripture; let us see what in them is worthy to be understood. 'I have descended,' he says, 'to see.' When responses are given to Abraham, God is not said to descend, but to stand over him; but now, because the cause of sinners is being dealt with, God is said to descend. See that you do not conceive of ascent and descent as local. It is unworthy to conceive this of the incorporeal substance, wholly present everywhere. But God is said to descend, when he deigns to have care of human frailty.

This we ought to understand more especially of our Lord and Saviour, who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7). 7. How God does not know sinners. But let us see what it is that he says: 'I have descended to see, whether the report that has come to me is fulfilled in deed; or whether it is not so, that I may know.' For the pagans are wont to attack us on this point, and most of all the most filthy Manichaeans, saying: 'Behold, the God of the Law did not know what was being done in Sodom.' But we with sound understanding answer and say, that God is said to know the just in one way, and to know sinners in another. For of the just, what is said? 'The Lord knows those who are his' (2 Timothy 2:19). Of sinners, what is said?

'Depart from me, all you who work iniquity, for I never knew you' (Matthew 7:23). And again the Apostle Paul: 'If any man be the Lord's, he will understand the things I say; but he who is ignorant shall be ignored' (1 Corinthians 14:37-38). What, then, is 'I know not'? 'I never knew you' -- I do not acknowledge you in my rule, I do not recognize in you my image. In you my justice has recognized what it may punish, and my mercy does not recognize what it may crown; as though those whose deeds are unworthy of God are said to be unworthy also of God's knowledge. 'I have descended, therefore, to see' -- not that I myself may know what they do, but that I may make them themselves worthy of my knowledge, if I find any of them just, if I find any penitent, if I find any such as I ought to know.

In short, because no one who repented, no one who was converted, was found except Lot, he alone is acknowledged, he alone is delivered from the fire. But let us, brethren, give our diligence, and let us labour with God's help to be such, that we may be held worthy of the knowledge of God; that he may deign both to acknowledge us and to know us, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc. SERMON VI. On the offering of Isaac, I. 1. Introduction. That reading, dearly beloved brethren, in which blessed Abraham is recorded to have offered his son Isaac as a burnt offering, is for this reason not recited in its own order during the days of Lent, because, as you yourselves know, it is reserved for the vigils of Easter on account of the sacrament of the Lord's Passion.

And because at that time there is no space to say anything about it, now, if it seems good, let us briefly convey to the ears of your Charity, so far as we can, its exposition according to what our fathers, by the inspiration of the Lord, have expounded. 2. The mystery of the Trinity. The Lord, then, said to Abraham: 'Take your son Isaac whom you love, and offer him to me as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I shall show you.' And he, rising, saddled his ass, and took with him two servants, and Isaac his son, and came to the place which the Lord had shown him, on the third day (Genesis 22:2ff.). For Abraham, when he offered his son Isaac, held the type of God the Father;

but Isaac the figure of the Lord and Saviour. And in that they came to the place of immolation on the third day, the mystery of the Trinity is shown. For that the third day ought to be taken in the sacrament or mystery of the Trinity is frequently found in the sacred volumes, as in Exodus: 'We will go,' it says, 'a journey of three days into the wilderness' (Exodus 5:3). And again, when they came to Mount Sinai, it was said to the people: 'Sanctify yourselves, and be ready on the third day' (Exodus 19:15). And Joshua, about to cross the Jordan, admonished that the people should be ready on the third day (Joshua 1:11). And our Lord rose again on the third day (Matthew 28).

This we have said, because blessed Abraham came on the third day to the place which the Lord had shown him. 3. The ram and Isaac a figure of Christ. The two servants whom he ordered to remain with the ass held the type of the Jewish people, who, because they were not to believe in Christ, therefore could not ascend or come to the place where he was to be immolated. That ass signified the Synagogue. But the ram which was held by its horns among the thorns, it too is seen to have held the type of the Lord. For Christ also, as it were, clung by his horns among the thorns, when he hung upon the horns of the cross, fastened by the fixing of the nails. And in that Isaac himself carried the wood for his own immolation, in this too he figured Christ, who carried his own cross to the place of the Passion.