Therefore it is the ninth vision, not the seventh or eighth, because Tyre keeps neither the law nor the grace of the Gospel; for under the lawful Sabbath it was forbidden to kindle the fires of lust, and in the sequence of the Gospel the eighth day of resurrection shines forth. Yet the same day is both first and eighth, because the Lord's day recurs upon itself. Luxury therefore has neither faith nor observance of discipline; luxury is the seed-plot and origin of vices. And do not think I have spoken against the Apostle, because he says that avarice is the root of all vices, since luxury is itself the mother of avarice. For when a man has exhausted his own resources by living luxuriously, he afterward seeks the gains of greed. You have heard what was read today.
'The merchants of the Phoenicians,' he says, 'crossing the sea; in much water the seed of the merchants is like a harvest that is gathered.' These cities are neighbors—Tyre of Phoenicia, Sidon—neighbors in place and so also in vices, merchants seeking petty gains from their trafficking by the perilous crossing of the sea. Anxious is the life of these men, restless their dealings, and forever in a kind of whirlwind, more mobile than the very winds by which they are rolled and often tossed this way and that. To be sure, you complain of frequent shipwrecks: who compels you to sail? As if it were not through greed of wealth that you make even the lands unsafe and rouse so many to brigandage! God did not make the sea for sailing, but for the beauty of the element.
He poured out the broad waters of the deep, surely, that he might enclose the lands with the strait, lest you should wander too far afield, a vagrant and an exile. But the sea is tossed by tempest: you ought therefore to fear it, not to usurp it. The innocent element has committed no fault; human rashness is itself its own peril. In short, he who does not sail does not know how to fear shipwreck. The Lord said: 'Have dominion over the fishes of the sea'; he did not say: 'Sail out upon the waves.' Indeed even the prophet Jonah, who was sent to Nineveh to preach repentance, because he wished to sail in order to flee from the face of God, was troubled by a tempest, chosen by lot, cast into the sea, and received by the whale. The prophet David too says, while recalling God's grace toward man:
'You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, moreover the beasts of the field, the birds of heaven and the fishes of the sea, which traverse the paths of the sea.' To the fishes, not to men, he gave to traverse the path of the sea. For food the sea was given to you, not for peril; use it for nourishment, not for trade. Why do you breed peril for yourself out of pleasure? Why do you probe the depths of an element set apart? Why do you disturb the higher secrets of the world? Why, finally, do you, an impatient sailor, strive again and again to furrow and plow the waves? Why do you repeatedly tempt the harmless seas, provoking the storms? O insatiable greed of merchants! Both the sea yields to you, and the deep cannot endure your restlessness.
In short, the sea, plowed so often by the merchants coming and going, said: 'Be ashamed, O Sidon.' This is, as it were, the voice of the wearied element, saying: 'Be ashamed, O Sidon'—that is, 'You, a trafficker, accuse my waves, when you are yourself more restless than the waves. Be ashamed at least for shame's sake, since you are not moved by danger. The winds are more modest than your cupidities. They have their seasons of rest; never do your zeal for gain take holiday. And when the tempest is at leisure, never are your ships at leisure. The wave hunts beneath the oarsman, when it is quiet from the blast. I have not travailed,' it says, 'nor borne nor reared up young men. Why do they who I know not, whom I do not recognize, disquiet me?' Go to Carthage, howl, you who inhabit the isles! Above he said:
'Howl, you ships of Carthage!' For the Tyrians founded Carthage, and therefore the Carthaginians follow the luxury of their founders, with the discolored succession of wickedness passed down into them, worse heirs of the worst vices. And well did he call the luxurious 'ships.' As those are tossed by the wind, so these by food and wine. They inhabit the isles with bodies filled with drink, they resound round about with shipwrecks, they are battered by the waves of drunkenness, and rest neither by day nor by night. The seed therefore of these merchants is in the water; in the water is the fruit of the harvest. For in the water they sow their labors, that they may reap perils; in the water their crop sprouts for them, in the water the harvest abounds, the fruit itself is in the water, never safe and solid. Whence rightly he says:
'He who sowed on land did not enter into trafficking—nay rather, he who sowed in heaven. But there is also a good land, in which whoever shall have sown, heavenly fruits will spring up for him.' 'Howl,' he says—again he says—'you ships of Carthage, because your fortress has perished. And it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be left,' and further on: 'And after seventy years Tyre shall be as the song of a harlot.' See with what words the prophet makes use, and does not shrink from the baseness of such words. We at times shrink from them, not because our tongue is more chaste than theirs, but because our authority is less. For there is greater force of things in the expression of such words, that those who do not blush at their faults may blush at least at the names of their faults. 'Tyre shall be,' he says, 'as the song of a harlot.'
See, lest when anyone sees those dances led and shameful words sung, he say: 'Behold, Tyre has become as the song of a harlot. The oracle of the prophetic announcement is fulfilled.' And he added: 'Take a harp, go about, O city, a harlot forgotten; play well upon the harp, sing much, that there may be remembrance of you. And after seventy years it shall come to pass that Tyre shall be as the song of a harlot, and God shall visit Tyre.' Whence we can take also in a good sense the song of that harlot Rahab, who received the spies of Joshua with a faithful mind. For the Lord too says: 'We have sung to you, and you did not dance,' and David says:
'Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth'—this is the song of the harlot, which she, formerly a harlot in Adam and Eve, as 'earth' sang, a harlot among the people of the nations. This harlot made many harlots good, of whom it was said by the Lord Jesus to that chosen and elder people of God: 'The publicans and harlots go before you into the kingdom of God.' Therefore, since we have so merciful a Lord, who pardons even grievous error, let us turn from our vices, let us not depart from the law, let us carry out the Lord's command like diligent servants with eager zeal. What have we to do with impurities and shamelessnesses, what with the works of the devil? You have heard today, as the lesson was read through, what the legion said: 'What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of God?'
And you too, if perchance you see the devil's temptations warring against you, say: 'What have I to do with you, Belial? I am the servant of Christ, redeemed by his blood, to him I have given over my whole self. What have I to do with you? I do not know your works, I seek nothing of yours, I possess nothing of yours, I desire nothing of yours.' How much more ought we to be separated from the devil, if he sets himself apart from Christ? And if we have been bound to him in anything, now we are not. We flee to the physician. He has healed our former wounds, and if any bitterness remains, the remedy will not be lacking. And if we have done any wrong, he who has once forgiven will not remember it. And if we have grievously offended, we have found a great physician, we have received the great medicine of his grace;
for great medicine takes away great sins. We have also many things laid at hand, by which we may redeem our sins. You have money: redeem your sin. The Lord is not for sale, but you yourself are for sale. You have been sold for your sins: redeem yourself by your works, redeem yourself by your money. Cheap is the money, but precious is mercy. For almsgiving frees from sin, and elsewhere: 'The ransom of a man's soul is his riches,' and in the Gospel: 'Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity.' And poison too is frequently tempered by an antidote—that is, by poison is poison shut out, by poison death is repelled, life is preserved. Do you also, like a good steward, make out of the instrument of avarice a help of mercy, the grace of sincerity out of the enticement of corruption.
You have heard what was read today: 'Behold, the Lord comes to destroy the world of the earth.' As though the holy prophet were pointing with his hand, as though he beheld with his eyes the day of judgment coming, so he says: 'Behold, the Lord comes to destroy the world of the earth.' Nay rather, because in the Spirit things even that are to come are revealed to the prophets as though present, therefore he desired to show to us also the things he saw, that he might call us back to conversion from error. Yet let no one be broken when he hears that the Lord will destroy the world of the earth, lest perchance he say: 'Granted, we have committed grievous sins: what has heaven done amiss, what the earth, what the sea, that he should destroy these too? Why does so fair an adornment perish?' Such an opinion belongs to a narrow mind.
But if you look more deeply, you will find that this which you think to be against us is for us; you will judge that this which you reckon against the world is for the world. Not always is the arena filled with spectators, not always disturbed by contests, not always thick with dust; but when the contests are on, then there is a crowd at the spectacle, a wrestler in the ring, dust in the arena. When the contests have run their course, the assembly is dissolved, each one departs—either the victor to favor, or the vanquished to reproach. The crown lifts up the victor, shame weighs down the vanquished, the wrong torments him.
If therefore anyone should afterward enter the arena and see it empty of throng, and ask the master of the games why the arena is empty, why the contests are silent, why the solemnity keeps holiday, the one who presides over the games will answer: 'The athletes must rest, the spectators must rest.' For what is the fruit of toil but rest after toil? In like manner the world of the earth too must at some time be dissolved, that there may be rest for the weary. We are athletes; in a kind of spiritual arena we contend. So the good athlete said: 'We have been made a spectacle to this world,' and elsewhere: 'So I run, not as into the uncertain; so I strive, not as one beating the air, but I chastise my body,' and elsewhere:
'Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forth to the things that are before, I press toward the mark, to the prize.' We are therefore athletes; we must contend lawfully. There are many struggles, and he who is conquered today recovers himself tomorrow. First one contends for the prize, afterward for the crown. Does the athlete have leisure for idleness, once he has given his name to the contest? He is exercised daily, anointed daily. The very food given him is the athlete's diet, discipline is required, chastity is kept. And you have given your name to the contest of Christ, you have signed up for the competition of the crown: meditate, exercise, anoint yourself with the oil of gladness, with the ointment that was poured out.
Let your food be the food of sobriety, having nothing of intemperance, nothing of luxury; let your drink be more sparing, lest any drunkenness steal upon you; keep the chastity of your body, that you may be fit for the crown, lest your reputation offend the affection of the spectator, lest your supporters see you negligent and forsake you. The archangels watch you, and the powers and dominions, and that ten thousand times ten thousand of angels. Consider how disgraceful it is to blush under the gaze of so great a throng. Having entered the arena, rouse the vigor of your soul, shake out your arms. Having advanced into the ring, you must take up the dust, you must endure the blazing of the summer sun. Heavy is the heat, but sweet the victory; troublesome the cloud of dust, but glorious the endurance.
No one enters the arena already dust-covered, but the contests make him dust-covered: there the dust is gathered, where the palm is set forth. Again, no one is crowned while sleek and clean; victory befits the dust-covered. Come therefore, Lord Jesus, let your crown go forth, dismiss the victors into rest, the vanquished to compunction. Even if you destroy the world of the earth, your invisible works are more than those we have seen. He who is of a narrower mind does not discern them; he grieves that you should destroy the world of the earth, but he who knows how to behold the things that are invisible rejoices that you should come and set all free. The athletes rejoice, who can say: 'Your kingdom come, your will be done, as in heaven so on earth.'
The creation of the world will rejoice to be freed from the vanity of this world, the creation which now groans together and travails, because that creation also was made subject to vanity, until the adoption of the sons be multiplied and the redemption of the whole body be completed. In a good sense, therefore, he will destroy the world of the earth. For there shall be a new heaven, and night shall be no more. Finally, he will reveal, he says, his face, that with face unveiled we may behold the glory of Christ. We perceive therefore, set in the arena, to how great a delight or sorrow we shall be to those who are now our supporters, lest they begin to blush for us. For as there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance, so shall there be sadness over him who, without having obtained pardon entreated, has finished the course of this life.
Let us therefore chastise our body with fastings, let us flee unseemly revelries. Let us beware lest it be said to us: 'Howl from wine,' lest Moses come and summon the Levites. Whoever is prepared, let him bear an armed right hand to the Lord, let him separate himself from those who by eating and drinking have contracted grievous sins. And today Moses comes, when the law is reviewed; Moses calls, when the law commands. The Apostle teaches that we should separate ourselves from every brother who walks disorderly. Let us strike him with the spiritual sword, which is the word of God. Let us take account neither of brother nor of kinsman, but let us set apart every unclean one from the altars of Christ, that he may cleanse and correct his lapses, whereby he may be counted worthy to return to the sacraments of Christ.
But if anyone is not baptized, let him with greater security be converted, receiving the remission of sins. ...... As a kind of fire it consumes sins, because Christ baptizes in fire and the Spirit. Indeed you read this type in the books of Kingdoms, where Elijah laid wood upon the altar and bade them pour water upon it from the pitchers. And he said: 'Do it again,' and they did it again. And he said: 'Do it a third time,' and they did it again even a third time; and when the water flowed, Elijah prayed, and fire came down from heaven. You are the man upon the altar, who are washed with water, whose fault is burned away that life may be renewed; for the fire consumes wood and stubble. Do not fear the fire by which you are enlightened. Therefore it is said to you: 'Draw near to him and be enlightened.'
Take up the yoke of Christ. Do not fear because it is a yoke: hasten, because it is light. It does not crush the neck, but adorns it. Why do you doubt, why do you put off until tomorrow? It does not bind the neck with chains, but grace couples the mind to it; it does not constrain by necessity ...... Why do you say there is still time? Every time is opportune for indulgence. If I were to offer you gold, you do not say to me: 'I will come tomorrow,' but you demand it at once. No one defers, no one makes excuse: the redemption of the soul is promised, and no one hastens. John baptized unto repentance, and all Judaea came together; Christ baptizes in the Spirit, Christ dispenses grace, and men come together with disdain.
Elijah showed a type of baptism and opened heaven, which had been shut for three years and six months. How much greater are the gifts of truth! He opened heaven, indeed, not by rain descending, but by grace ascending; for no one ascends into the kingdom of heaven except through water and the Spirit. Faithlessness had shut heaven to men, but faith opened it. Heaven lay open to men even before this. For Enoch was caught up into heaven. Again it was shut, but Elijah opened it, who was caught up in a chariot. And you too can ascend, if you obtain the grace of the sacrament. How long the delights, how long the revelries? The day of judgment presses on: while you defer grace, death draws near. Who shall say:
'I have no leisure now, I am busy, do not show me the light, I do not wish you to redeem me so soon, I have no need yet of the heavenly kingdom'? Does not he say this who excuses himself from baptism? And with how great grace you are renewed, O man! You are cleansed and not burned, you are healed and feel no pain, you are reshaped and not dissolved, you do not receive the stroke of death and you rise again. And do you still dissemble, do you still wait to live for the world, and afterward reserve yourself for God? Do you not know that Cain's sacrifice was displeasing for this reason, that he offered not the first-fruits, but, having himself enjoyed the first-fruits, attempted to offer to God a gift from what came after; whereas Abel, preferred for the offering of the first-fruits, earned the mark of piety?