羅馬書講道集 第 18 章

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written.

Once more he takes away their excuse.

For since he had said, 'I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge;'

and, 'that being ignorant of the righteousness of God, they were not subject to it,' he now shows that for this very ignorance also they owe a penalty to God.

And he does not say so plainly, but establishes this point by advancing his discourse in the form of question, and making the reproof clearer by weaving this whole passage together with objection and solution.

From above, he says, the prophet declared, that 'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

But perhaps one might say:

And how could they call upon him in whom they had not believed? Then follows a question from him after the objection:

And why did they not believe? And again an objection:

And how could they have believed without having heard? And yet, he says, they did hear.

Then again another objection:

And how could they hear without a preacher? Then again the solution:

And yet men did preach, and were sent.

And whence is it plain that these are those very ones who were sent? Then at last he brings in the prophet, saying:

'How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring good tidings of good things!'

Do you see how from the manner of the preaching he points out the preachers? For these went about everywhere proclaiming nothing else than those unspeakable good things, and the peace which had come to pass from God towards men.

It is not us that you disbelieve, he says, but Isaiah, who many years before foretold that we should both be sent and should preach and should say the very things we have said.

If, then, being saved came of calling upon him, and calling upon him of believing, and believing of hearing, and hearing of preaching, and preaching of being sent; and they were both sent and preached, and along with them the prophet went about pointing them out and proclaiming them and saying, 'These are they whom long ago and from of old I made known, whose very feet I extolled because of the manner of their preaching;'

it is quite evident that the not believing was the fault of those men alone;

for all things on God's part have been fully accomplished.

'But they have not all obeyed the gospel.'

'Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.'

Since again they urged another objection, saying, 'And yet, if these were the ones sent and dispatched by God, all ought to have obeyed;'

consider the discernment of Paul, how this very thing which produced the disturbance he shows to be destructive of the disturbance and the confusion.

For what, he says, offends you, O Jew, after so great and so weighty a testimony and demonstration of facts, that not all obeyed the gospel? This very thing, indeed, along with the rest, is enough to assure you concerning what has been said, namely, that not all obeyed;

for this too the prophet foretold from of old.

And observe the unspeakable wisdom, how he shows more than those men expected and hoped to gainsay.

For what do you say? he says. That not all obeyed the gospel? But this too Isaiah foretold from of old:

or rather, not this only, but far more than this.

For you indeed complain why not all obeyed;

but Isaiah says more than this.

For what does he say? 'Lord, who hath believed our report?' Then, after having removed this disturbance by bringing in the prophet, he again takes up his former sequence.

For since he had said that one had to call upon him, and that those who call must believe, and that those believing must first hear, and that those who are to hear must have preachers, and that the preachers must be sent, and had shown that they were sent and that they preached;

being about to introduce yet another objection, he first takes his starting-point from another testimony of the prophet, by which he had solved the objection a little before this, and so he weaves it in and links it together with the former ones.

For since he had brought forward the prophet saying:

'Lord, who hath believed our report?' seasonably laying hold of the testimony, he says:

And this he set down not without purpose, but since on every occasion the Jews sought signs and the visible spectacle of the resurrection, and many were gaping open-mouthed after such things, he says that the prophet promised that we must believe by hearing.

Wherefore he first establishes this, and says:

Then, since this seemed to be a mean thing, see how he exalts it.

For I did not simply say to hear, he says, nor that one must hear human words and believe, but a great hearing I speak of;

for the hearing is by the word of God.

For they did not speak their own things, but learning the things from God they proclaimed them;

which is a thing loftier than signs.

For God, whether speaking or working wonders, we must alike believe and obey;

since even the works and the wonders proceed from his words;

for even the heaven and all the rest were thus established.

Having therefore shown that one must always believe the prophets when they speak the things of God, and seek nothing beyond the hearing, he thereupon brings on the

objection which I mentioned, and says:

'But I say, Did they not hear?' For what, he says, if the preachers were sent, and preached the things they were commanded, but these men did not hear? Then, with all superabundance, comes the solution of the objection:

'Yea verily, their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.'

What do you say? he says. Did they not hear? The whole world and the ends of the earth heard;

and you, among whom the preachers spent so long a time, and from whom they came, did you not hear? And how could this stand to reason? For if the ends of the world heard, much more should you.

Then again another objection:

'But I say, Did not Israel know?' For what, if they did hear, but did not understand the things spoken, nor perceive that these were the ones who had been sent? Are they not worthy of pardon on account of this ignorance? By no means.

For Isaiah too characterized them, saying:

'How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace;'

and before him again the Lawgiver himself:

'I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a nation void of understanding I will anger you.'

So that even from this they ought to have recognized the preachers—not only from the fact that these men disbelieved, nor from the fact that those preached peace, nor from the fact that they brought the good tidings of those good things, nor from the fact that everywhere in the world the word was being sown, but also from the fact that they saw those who were lower than themselves, those of the Gentiles, standing in greater honour.

For the things which these had never heard, nor their forefathers before them, those men suddenly took to reasoning about as philosophy;

which was a matter of heightened honour, one that stung them and stirred them to jealousy, and to the remembrance of the prophecy of Moses which says:

'I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people.'

For it was not the greatness of the honour alone that was enough to cast them into jealousy, but also that the nation which enjoyed these things was so mean as not even to be reckoned worthy to be counted a nation.

'For I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people,' he says, 'by a nation void of understanding I will anger you.'

For what was more void of understanding than the Greeks? and what more mean? See how through all things God gave them from of old clear marks and signs of these times, so as to open up their hardness of heart.

For what came to pass was not done in some small corner, but throughout land and sea, and everywhere in the whole inhabited world;

and they beheld those whom they had formerly despised now enjoying countless good things.

It behoved them, therefore, to consider that this is that very nation of which Moses speaks:

'I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a nation void of understanding will I anger you.'

Was it, then, Moses alone who said this? By no means, but Isaiah also after him,

showing that a second prophet would come saying the same things, and more plainly and more clearly.

And Isaiah makes bold and says:

And what he says is of this sort:

He forced himself and strove earnestly to say nothing veiled, but to set the matters bare before your eyes; nay rather, choosing to run into danger by speaking openly rather than, out of concern for his own safety, to leave you even a shadow of an excuse for your ingratitude;

and yet it was not the manner of prophecy to speak thus plainly.

But nevertheless, so as to stop your mouths out of superabundance, he foretells all things quite clearly and in express terms.

All things—of what kind? Both your falling away and the bringing in of those others, speaking thus:

'I was found by them that sought me not;

I became manifest to them that asked not after me.'

Who, then, are they that sought not? Who are they that asked not? It is plain that they are not the Jews, but those of the Gentiles, who had never known Him.

As, then, Moses characterized them, saying:

'Not a people,' and 'A nation void of understanding';

so here too, from the very same ground he designates them—their intensified ignorance;

which was the greatest accusation against the Jews, that they who sought not found, while they who sought lost.

But concerning Israel he says:

'All the day long I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.'

Do you see how that difficult question, sought after by many, is found lying above in the words of the prophets, and clearly

resolved? And what is this? You heard Paul saying before:

'What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness;

but Israel, following after the law of righteousness, did not arrive at the law of righteousness.'

This is what Isaiah too says here;

for the words, 'I was found by them that sought me not, I became manifest to them that asked not after me,' are the same as to say, 'The Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness.'

Then, showing that what came to pass was not solely of God's grace, but also of the will of those who drew near—just as the falling away of those others was of the contentiousness of them that disobeyed—hear what he adds:

But concerning Israel he says:

'All the day long I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people';

by 'day' here meaning all the time that went before;

and the stretching forth of the hands signifies the calling, the drawing on, and the exhorting.

Then, showing that the whole charge belongs to them, he says:

'Unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.'

Do you see how great is the accusation? For these were not persuaded even when He exhorted them, but also gainsaid Him, and that not once, nor twice, nor thrice, but throughout all the time, seeing Him doing these things.

But others, who had never known Him, had the power to draw Him to themselves.

Yet he does not say that they themselves had the power to draw Him, but, humbling the pride of those from the Gentiles as well, and showing that His grace wrought the whole, he says, 'I became manifest,' and 'I was found.'

'Are those others, then, empty of everything?' one might say. By no means;

but to take what was found and to recognize what was made manifest—this they contributed of themselves.

Then, lest these should say, 'Why then did You not become manifest to us also?' he sets down something yet greater than this: that 'I not only became manifest, but also continued stretching out My hands and exhorting, displaying the tender care of an affectionate father and a child-loving mother.'

See how he has brought in the clearest solution to all the difficulties raised before, showing that their destruction came from their own will, and that on every side they are unworthy of pardon.

For even when they had heard and understood the things spoken, not even so were they willing to draw near.

And what is far more, that He not only caused them to hear these things, nor only to understand, but also—that which has the greater force to rouse and to draw even the contentious and the gainsaying—this too He added.

And what is this? To sting them and to provoke them to jealousy.

For you know the tyranny of that passion, and how great a power jealousy by nature possesses to dissolve all contentiousness, and to raise up those who have sunk down.

And why need one speak of this in the case of men, when even in irrational creatures and in the tender age of little children it displays great power? For a child often, when exhorted, does not yield to its father, but persists in its contention;

but when another child is cared for, then, even without being called, it returns to its father's bosom; and what exhortation could not accomplish, this the provoking to jealousy accomplished.

This, then, is what God also did.

For He not only exhorted and stretched out His hands, but also stirred up in them the passion of jealousy, bringing in those far inferior to them (which most of all works jealousy)—not into those others' good things, but into what stirs the passion far more and more tyrannically: into things far greater than theirs and more necessary, and such as they themselves had never so much as imagined even in a dream.

Of what pardon, then, could they be worthy, who displayed their contentiousness with so excessive an obstinacy? Of none whatever.

But this he himself does not say; rather he leaves it, from the conclusion of what has been said, to the conscience of the hearers to infer for themselves, and again he establishes it through what follows with his customary wisdom.

For what he did in the preceding passages—introducing objections, both concerning the law and concerning the people, which carried a greater accusation than the reality, and then, in the resolution that overturned this, conceding as much as he wished and granting the facts, so as to make his argument unoffensive—

this he does here also, writing thus:

'I say then, Hath God cast away His people whom He foreknew? God forbid.'

And he brings in the figure of one raising a difficulty, taking his starting point, as it were, from what has been said; and having set down this fearful supposition, by the doing away of it he renders what comes after it readily acceptable—that which through all the foregoing he had been zealous to show, this he here also establishes.

And what is this? That even if those who are saved be few, the things of the promise stand firm.

For this reason he did not simply say, 'the people,' but added:

Then, bringing forward a proof that the people had not been cast away, he says:

'For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.'

'I,' he says, 'the teacher, the herald.'

Since, then, this seemed to be contrary to the things said before, namely to those which say:

'Who hath believed our report?' and, 'All the day long I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people';

and, 'I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people';

he was not content with the denial, nor with saying, 'God forbid,' but establishes it, taking it up again and saying:

'God hath not cast away His people.'

'But this is not a proof,' one might say, 'but merely an assertion.'

Observe, then, the proof, both the former one and the one after it.

For the former consists in showing that he himself was from that people;

and He would not, if He were about to cast them off, have chosen from among them the very one to whom He entrusted the whole preaching and the affairs of the inhabited world, and all the mysteries, and the entire dispensation.

This, then, is one proof;

And the second, after that one, is his saying:

that is, the one whom He knew clearly to be fit and ready to receive the faith;

for indeed there were three thousand, and five thousand, and ten thousand of those who had believed.

For that no one might say, 'Are you then the people? And because you were called, was the nation called?', he added:

'God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.'

'I have with me three thousand, I have five thousand, I have ten thousand.'

What then? Has the people been reduced to three thousand and five thousand and ten thousand—that seed which in multitude imitated the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea? And so do you deceive us and beguile us, setting yourself up as the whole people, together with the few who are with you? And have you puffed us up with empty hopes, saying that the promise has been fulfilled, when all are perishing and salvation has come round to a mere handful? These are but boasting and vanity, and we will not put up with such sophistries.

In order, then, that they might not say these things, observe how through what follows he brings in the solution—not stating the objection, but before the objection establishing its solution from ancient history.

What then is the solution? 'Do you not know,' he says, 'what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel: Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars;'

'and I alone am left, and they seek my life.'

But what does the divine answer say to him? 'I have kept for Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.'

'So too then, at the present time also, there has come to be a remnant according to the election of grace.'

And what he means is this:

God has not cast away the people;

for if He had cast them away, He would have received none of them;

but if He received some, then He did not cast them away.

'And yet,' one says, 'if He did not cast them away, He would have received all.'

For indeed in Elijah's time salvation came round to seven thousand, and now too it is likely that many are those who have believed.

And if you yourselves are ignorant of it, that is nothing to wonder at, since even that prophet, so great and so mighty a man, was ignorant of it;

but God was administering His own affairs, even while the prophet was in ignorance.

But mark his sagacity, how, in establishing the point before him, he imperceptibly heightens the charge against them.

For it was on this account that he recalled the whole of the testimony: that he might parade their ingratitude, and show that they had been of this sort from of old.

For if he had not wished this, but had been eager to show one thing only—that the people consists in the few—he would have said that even in Elijah's time seven thousand were left;

but as it is, he reads out the whole testimony from the beginning.

For everywhere he has been eager to show that they did nothing strange in the case of Christ and of the apostles, but the very same things.

For that they might not say, 'We slew Christ as a deceiver, and persecute the apostles as impostors,' he adduces the testimony which says:

Lord, they have killed Your prophets, and torn down Your altars.

Then, so as not to make the discourse offensive, he attaches another reason to the introduction of the testimony.

For he does not adduce it as though primarily wishing to accuse them, but as one eager to demonstrate certain other things;

and he strips them of all excuse, even on the basis of what had happened before.

For observe how intensified the accusation is, and how it proceeds from the very person.

For it is not Paul who is the accuser, nor Peter and James and John, but he who among them all was most admired, the chief of the prophets, the friend of God, he who was so zealous on their behalf that he was even given over to famine, he who to this very day has not yet died.

What then does he say? 'Lord, they have killed Your prophets, and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.'

What could be more savage than this brutishness? For whereas they ought to have been interceding on behalf of the sins already committed, they were even minded to slay him;

which things wholly deprived them of all excuse.

For it was not while the famine held sway, but when the season of plenty had come, and the shame had been dispelled, and the demons put to shame, and the power of God displayed, and the king had bowed down, that those men dared to do these things—passing from murders to murders, and slaying their teachers, those who were setting right their disposition.

For what could they say? Were those men too deceivers? Did they not know those men either, whence they were? But did they grieve you? Nay, they even spoke kindly things.

And what of the altars? Did the altars too grieve them? Did these too provoke them? See how many proofs of contentiousness, of how much insolence, they ever gave.

For this reason too Paul says elsewhere, writing to the Thessalonians:

'You also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord and their own prophets, and drove us out, and please not God, and are contrary to all men.'

Which very thing he says here too—that they both tore down the altars and slew the prophets.

But what does the divine answer say to him? 'I have kept for Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.'

'What then,' one says, 'have those things to do with the present?' Indeed, very much to do with the present.

For from this he shows that God is ever wont to save those who are worthy, even though the promise lies before the whole nation.

And this he showed from the outset by what he said:

'Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved;'

and, 'Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become as Sodom.'

And he shows it from this passage too:

'So too at the present time there has come to be a remnant according to the election of grace.'

Observe how each word preserves its own proper nobility, and sets forth both the grace of God and the good disposition of those who are being saved.

For by saying 'election,' he showed their approvedness;

and by saying 'of grace,' he showed the free gift of God.

'And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.'

'But if it be of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.'

Again he assails the contentiousness of the Jews after what has been said, and here too sets himself against them, and from this too strips them of excuse.

'For neither can you say,' he says, 'that the prophets indeed called, and God exhorted, and the events cried aloud, and the provocation to jealousy was sufficient to draw us on;'

'but that the commands laid upon us were burdensome, and for this reason we were unable to come, seeing that a display of works was demanded of us, and toilsome achievements;'

for neither is this possible to say.

For how could God have demanded these things of you, when this very thing was going to overshadow His grace? And these things he said, wishing to make clear that He very greatly desired them to be saved.

For not only did salvation come to them easily, but it was also the greatest glory to God, that His love toward mankind should be displayed.

Why then were you afraid to come, when works were not demanded of you? Why do you rebel and contend, when grace is set before you, and why do you cast the law at me in vain and to no purpose? For neither will you be saved from that quarter, and you will ruin this gift.

For if you contend to be saved from that quarter, you do away with this grace of God.

Then, that they might not think this a strange thing, he had said beforehand that even those seven thousand were saved by grace.

For when he says that so too at the present time there has come to be a remnant according to the election of grace, he shows that those too were saved by grace.

And not this only, but also by saying, 'I have kept for Myself';

for this is the utterance of one making clear that He Himself contributed the greater part.

'And if by grace,' one says, 'why are we not all saved?' Because you are not willing;

for grace, even though it be grace, saves those who are willing, not those who are unwilling and who turn away from it, and who war against it unceasingly and set themselves in opposition to it.

Do you see how throughout he establishes that point, 'Not as though the word of God had come to nought'—showing that the promise came to those who were worthy, and that these, even if they are few, can be the people of God?

And yet at the beginning of the Epistle he had set this down with even greater emphasis, saying:

For what if some disbelieved? And not even stopping at this point, but he goes on to add:

Let God be true, but every man a liar.

And now again he establishes the same point in another manner, and displays the might of grace, and that some are ever being saved while others are perishing.

Let us then give thanks that we have become of the number of those who are saved, and that, unable to be saved by works, we were saved by the gift of God.

But in giving thanks, let us do so not with words only, but with works and deeds as well.

For this is the exact and true thanksgiving, when we practise those things whereby God is to be glorified;

when we flee those things from which we have been delivered.

For if, having insulted a king, instead of paying the penalty we were honoured, and then insulted him again, we should justly, as being convicted of the utmost ingratitude, pay the utmost penalty, and one far greater than the former.

For our former insult did not so mark us out as ungrateful as does the one committed after such honour and such great tending.

Let us then flee those things from which we have been delivered, and let us not give thanks with the mouth only, lest it be said also concerning us:

This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

For how is it not absurd that, while the heavens declare the glory of God, you, for whose sake the heavens which glorify Him were made, should do such things that God who made you is blasphemed on your account? For this reason it is not only that blasphemer, but you too henceforth, who are liable to punishment.

For the heavens too do not glorify God by uttering a voice, but by moving others thereto through the sight of them; and yet they are said to declare the glory of God.

So too they who furnish a wondrous life, even if they be silent, glorify God, when others through them glorify Him.

For He is not so much admired from the heaven as from a pure life.

At all events, when we dispute with the Greeks, we do not bring the heaven into the midst, but the men whom, though disposed worse than beasts, He persuaded to become rivals of the angels.

And by telling of this transformation we stop their mouths.

For man is far better than the heaven, and is able to possess a soul more resplendent than its beauty.

For the heaven, though seen for so long a time, did not greatly persuade;

but Paul, having preached for a short time, drew after him the whole inhabited world.

For he possessed a soul not inferior to the heaven, able to draw all men to itself.

For ours is not even worthy of the earth, but his was of equal worth even with the heavens.

For the heaven stands, keeping its own bound and rule;

but the height of his soul overpassed all the heavens, and holds converse with Christ Himself.

And its beauty was of such a kind that God Himself proclaimed it.

For the stars the angels admired when they came into being;

but this man He Himself admired, saying:

This man is a chosen vessel unto me.

And this heaven a cloud has often covered;

but Paul's soul no trial ever covered, but in the storms he shone more brightly than a steady noonday, and shone alike, even as before the clouds came.

For the sun that shone in him did not send forth such rays as to be overshadowed by the onset of trials, but even then they blazed forth the more.

For my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Let us then emulate him, and this heaven will be nothing even to us, if we so will, nor the sun, nor the whole world;

for these are for our sake, not we for their sake.

Let us show that we are worthy of these things having been made for our sake.

For if we appear unworthy of these, how shall we be worthy of the kingdom? And if all those who live for the blaspheming of God are unworthy to behold the sun;

unworthy to enjoy the creatures that glorify Him are they who blaspheme Him;

since a son also who insults his father is unworthy to enjoy the service of well-esteemed household servants.

For this reason these creatures shall enjoy much glory;

but we shall undergo punishment and vengeance.

How great a wretchedness then were it, that the creation which was made for your sake should be fashioned into the liberty of the glory of the children of God, while we who have become children of God should, through our great slothfulness, be sent into perdition and hell — we for whose sake the creation is to enjoy that great felicity! That this may not come to pass, therefore, let those of us who possess a pure soul keep it such;

nay rather, let us even increase its brightness;

while those who have a defiled one, let us not despair.

For though your sins be as scarlet, He says, I will make them white as snow;

and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as wool.

But when God promises, do not doubt, but do those things whereby you will be able to draw to yourself these promises.

Have countless dreadful things been wrought by you, and offences committed? And what of that? For you have not yet departed to Hades, where none shall make confession;

your theatre is not yet dissolved, but you still stand within the arena, and can, even by a last wrestling-bout, reverse all your defeats.

You have not yet come to be where the rich man was, so as to hear that: There is a great gulf betwixt us and you;

for the bridegroom has not yet arrived, so that one should fear to impart of the oil;

you can still buy and lay up.

And there is not yet one who says:

Lest there be not enough for us and for you;

but there are many who sell — the naked, the hungry, the sick, those who dwell in prison.

Feed these, clothe those, visit them that lie sick, and the oil shall come in surpassing the fountains.

The day of the reckoning is not yet come upon you.

Use the season for your need, and make remissions of debts, and say to him that owes the hundred measures of oil:

Take your bill, and make it fifty.

And in the matter of money, and of words, and of all other things alike do the same, imitating that steward;

and these things counsel both to yourself and to your kinsfolk.

For you are still master to say these things;

you have not yet been reduced to the necessity of entreating another on their behalf, but have authority to counsel both yourself and others;

but when you have departed thither, you will be able to do neither of these to any good purpose.

For he who has received so long a term of grace, and has profited neither himself nor another, how, then, when he has come under the hands of the Judge, shall he be able to obtain this grace? Gathering up therefore all these things, let us lay firm hold on our own salvation, and let us not betray the opportunity of the present life.

For it is possible, yea it is possible, even at the last breath to be well-pleasing to God;

it is possible also to gain approval by a testament, though not so much as while living.

How, and in what manner? If you enrol him among your heirs, and assign to Him also a portion of your whole estate.

Did you not feed Him while living? At least when you are departing, when you are no longer master, impart to Him of your goods;

He is loving to man, He does not deal strictly with you.

For of greater longing and of more abundant reward is it that you should feed Him while living;

But if you have not done this very thing, come at least to the second course:

leave Him as a joint-heir together with your own children.

But if you shrink even from this, then consider that His Father

made you a joint-heir with Him; so put an end to your inhumanity.

For what defense will you have, when you refuse to make Him even a sharer with your own children—Him who made you a sharer of the heavens, and who was slain for your sake? And yet all that He did, He did not as paying a debt, but as displaying grace;

but you, after so many benefits, have even become His debtor.

Yet nevertheless, though matters stand thus, as one receiving a favor, not as one demanding a debt, He so crowns you—and this too, when He is about to receive what is His own.

Give Him therefore the money that is henceforth useless to you, and over which you are not lord, and He will give you a kingdom that will be forever profitable to you; and along with that kingdom He will graciously bestow upon you the things here below as well.

For if He becomes joint-heir with your children, He lightens their orphanhood, dissolves the wrongs done them, repels the plots against them, and stops the mouths of slanderers;

and even if they themselves are unable to defend the testaments, He Himself will stand up for them, and will not allow them to be torn asunder.

But if He should even permit this to happen, He fills up from His own resources all that was written in the will, with even greater munificence, since He was honored by being once inscribed in it.

Leave Him, therefore, as heir;

for it is to Him that you are about to depart;

it is He who judges you the sentence for all that has been done here.

But indeed there are some so wretched and miserable that, even having no children, they cannot bear to do this, but... 'There is a chasm between us and you;'

for the bridegroom has not yet arrived, that anyone should be afraid to impart of his oil;

you are still able to buy and to lay it up.

And there is as yet no one to say:

'Lest there be not enough for us and for you;'

but there are many who sell: the naked, the hungry, the sick, those who dwell in prison.

Feed these, clothe those, visit the bedridden, and your oil will come to exceed the very fountains.

The day of the reckoning has not yet stood over you.

Make use of the season also for what is needful, and effect a remission of debts, and say to him who owes the hundred baths of oil:

'Take your bill, and make it fifty.'

And with money, and with words, and with all other things alike, do likewise, imitating that steward;

and exhort both yourself and your kinsfolk to these things.

For you are still lord to say these things;

you have not yet come into the necessity of entreating another on behalf of these matters, but you have authority to counsel both yourself and others;

but when you have departed thither, you will be able to do neither of these things as is needful.

For if you, who received so long a term, have benefited neither yourself nor another, how then, once you have come under the hands of the Judge, will you be able to obtain this grace? Gathering up all these things, then, let us cling vigorously to our own salvation, and not betray the opportunity of the present life.

For it is possible—it is possible—even in the last breaths to be well-pleasing to God;

it is possible also to gain good repute even by a testament, though not in the same way as one living.

How, and in what manner? If you inscribe Him among your heirs, and assign to Him too a portion of the whole inheritance.

Did you not feed Him while living? Then at least when you have departed, when you are no longer lord, impart to Him of what is yours;

He is loving toward mankind; He does not deal exactingly with you.

For it belongs indeed to greater longing and to more abundant reward, that you should feed Him while living;

but if you have not done this very thing, come at least to the second course:

leave Him as a joint-heir together with your own children.

But if you shrink even from this, then consider that His Father made you a joint-heir with Him; so put an end to your inhumanity.

For what defense will you have, when you refuse to make Him even a sharer with your own children—Him who made you a sharer of the heavens, and who was slain for your sake? And yet all that He did, He did not as paying a debt, but as displaying grace;

but you, after so many benefits, have even become His debtor.

Yet nevertheless, though matters stand thus, as one receiving a favor, not as one demanding a debt, He so crowns you—and this too, when He is about to receive what is His own.

Give Him therefore the money that is henceforth useless to you, and over which you are not lord, and He will give you a kingdom that will be forever profitable to you; and along with that kingdom, the things here too.

For if He becomes joint-heir with your children, He lightens their orphanhood, dissolves the wrongs done them, repels the plots against them, and stops the mouths of slanderers;

and even if they themselves are unable to defend the testaments, He Himself will stand up for them, and will not allow them to be torn asunder.

But if He should even permit this to happen, He fills up from His own resources all that was written in the will, with even greater munificence, since He was honored by being once inscribed in it.

Leave Him, therefore, as heir;

for it is to Him that you are about to depart;

it is He who judges you the sentence for all that has been done here.

But indeed there are some so wretched and miserable that, even having no children, they cannot bear to do this, but choose rather to distribute their goods to parasites and flatterers, and to this one and that one, than to Christ, who has bestowed on them so many benefits;

than whom what could be more irrational? For as for such people, even if one should compare them to asses, even to stones, he would still say nothing worthy of their folly and their insensibility; nor could anyone find an image capable of representing their madness and their derangement.

For what pardon will these obtain for not feeding Him while they lived, when, even as they are about to depart to Him, they are unwilling to bestow on Him any small thing even out of those goods over which they are no longer lord—but are so hostilely and inimically disposed that they will not impart to Him even of the things that have become useless to themselves? Do you not see how many of mankind were not even deemed worthy of this end, but were snatched away and departed? But you God made lord even to charge your relations, and to speak concerning your possessions, and to dispose of all that pertains to your household.

What defense, then, will you have, when, having received even this grace from Him, you betray the benefit, and stand, as it were, diametrically opposed to the forefathers of your faith? For they, even while living, sold all things, and brought the price to the feet of the apostles;

but you, not even when dying, impart any portion whatever to those in need.

Now the better course, and that which affords much boldness, is to remedy poverty while living;

but if you are unwilling to do that, at least when dying do something noble.

For this indeed is a mark of no great love toward Christ;

for even if you shall not have the first place along with the lambs, still it is no small thing at least to come after them, and not to stand with the goats, nor on the left hand.

But if you do not do even this, what argument will deliver you, when neither the fear of death, nor the fact that your money has henceforth become useless to you, nor the leaving of security for your children, nor the laying up beforehand of much pardon for yourself there, makes you loving toward mankind? Wherefore I exhort you, most of all, while living to give forth to those in need the larger portion out of your goods.

But if there be some so small-souled as not to endure this, at least let these be made loving toward mankind by necessity.

For when you were living, you clung to your goods as though immortal;

but now, since you have learned that you have become mortal, at least now dissolve that dogma, and take counsel concerning your own affairs as a mortal;

or rather, as one destined to enjoy immortal life perpetually.

For though what is about to be said is burdensome and full of horror, yet nevertheless it is necessary to say it:

number the Master together with your slaves.

Do you set your slaves free? Set Christ free from hunger, and need, and prisons, and nakedness.

Did you shudder on hearing this? Then it is more shuddersome still, when you do not even do this very thing.

And here the mere word made you grow numb; but when you have departed thither, and hear things far more grievous than these, and behold the irremediable torments, what will you say? To whom will you flee? Whom will you call as ally and helper? Abraham? But he will not hear.

But those virgins? But neither will these impart to you any of their oil.

But your father, or your grandfather? But not one of these either will have power—even should he be exceedingly holy—to reverse that verdict.

Weighing, then, all these things, entreat Him who alone is Lord to blot out that handwriting which is against you, and to quench that flame; supplicate Him, exhort Him, and render Him gracious, even now feeding and clothing Him without ceasing;

feeding and clothing Him without ceasing;

that from hence also you may depart with good hope, and being there may enjoy the eternal good things;

which good things may it come to pass that we all attain, by the grace and love toward mankind, and so forth.