羅馬書講道集 第 18 章 第 2/2 段

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.