Let others go to excess; you, look ever to the end. THE DAILY WARFARE. You long to wage war, O fool, as though wars were at rest! From the first-formed man down to the end, war is waged against us. Lust hurls you down: it is war, fight against it. Luxury persuades: 'misuse,' and you have conquered the war. Spare abundant wine, lest through it you go astray; restrain your tongue from cursing, by which you adore the Lord; check your fury, render yourself peaceable to all; beware of pressing down the lesser ones oppressed by miseries; only bring terror, but do no harm; lead yourselves by a straight and sincere path through this age; in your riches, make yourself common with the little ones; from your own labor give, clothe the naked: thus you conquer. Lay no snares, you who serve God: look to the beginning, whence the foe perishes through his envyings.
I am no teacher, but the law itself teaches by crying aloud. You utter words so many and vain, who in a single moment, idle, seek to win martyrdom for Christ. While you covet, thereby you perish, while you burn with envy of your neighbor; you extinguish your very self when, driven on, you set yourself ablaze. You envy another, O grudging one, who profits from evil, and you long to be made equal to such great wealth. Thus the law does not regard it; while you seek to lie heavy upon that wealth, you live wholly in suspense, in the burning of gains; and while you are guilty before yourself, condemning yourself as your own judge, the eyes' edge of the greedy is never satisfied. Now therefore, if you would believe and consider: vain is the desire to heap up too much riches while life lingers on so fragile a thread. Whence God cries out: O fool, this night you are summoned! Afterward ruin comes crashing down: whose then shall these treasures be?
The Lord supplies to each his daily portion conquered. Let another heap up: you, seek to live well, and God, weighing the heart, you act above all as conqueror. For I do not say that you should cast yourself into fear, when for your own day you keep watch, living without deceit. The bird perishes by the bait, or unwarily sticks fast to the lime. Judge for yourself that you must take very simple and great care. Let others go to excess; you, look ever to the end. THOSE WHO GIVE FROM ILL-GOTTEN GAINS. Why do you feign yourself good at another's wound, O wicked one? From what you bestow, another daily weeps. This you disbelieve, that the Lord sees: you are taught. 'The gifts of the unjust the Most High does not approve,' He says. You break in upon the wretched, once you have gained your positions.
One gives gifts in order to leave another destitute, or, if you have lent money at double interest of a hundred per cent, you wish to bestow from it, so as to cleanse yourself, as it were, of evil: the Almighty utterly refuses such works. You give from tears, in white array, while that other, blackened, oppressed by usuries, laments, made a beggar. Moreover, having gained the opportunity, the foe lays hold upon the prayers; for the present, you, the unjust, plunder the holy ones for a price. And again, if you wish to expiate yourself from the gain of merchandise, you strike against yourself, not another, I say, O unjust one. ON DECEITFUL PEACE. The appointed time has come for our people, peace in the city, and ruin together, while the age fawns upon the leaders. You hurl down the people, whom you yourselves have driven into schism: either make the law of the city, or depart from it.
You behold the straw clinging in our eyes, and in your own eyes you will not see the beam. A deceitful peace has come to you; persecution blazes. The wounds do not appear, and so you have fallen without slaughter, ********** Of you all, scarcely one has borne himself with caution. O to be nourished in evil unto the slaughter foretold! You praise a peace that is deceitful and unjust to you. Made soldiers of another, not of Christ, you have perished. TO THE READERS. I admonish certain readers only to learn, and to give material to the rest by the example of their living: to flee strife and to shun just as many quarrels, to press down terror, and never to be proud. Render also due obedience to your elders; make yourselves like to Christ, little sons, your Master; among the rustic plants, be as lilies in your good deeds.
Blessed have you been made, when you fulfill the edicts. You are flowers among the people, you are the lamps of Christ; keep what you are, and bear in mind that you have the power. TO THE MINISTERS. Exercise the ministry of Christ, you chaste deacons; therefore, as ministers, fulfill the precepts of your Master. Do not flee the person of the upright judge; fulfill your office in all things, being instructed. Looking upward, ever devoted to God Most High, render all things to God whole and unprofaned, you holy ministers. In diverse matters give an example, being ready; bow your own head to the shepherds themselves: so it shall come to pass that you may be approved before Christ. TO THE SHEPHERDS OF GOD. If a shepherd has made confession, he has doubled his contest. The Apostle, moreover, bids such men to be teachers: let the ruler be patient, let him know where to slacken the reins;
Let him first inspire fear, and afterward anoint with honey; and let him first take heed that he himself do what he says. The shepherd who keeps to worldly things is given back in his own fault, into whose face you may dare to say anything. The very Gehenna seethes in hell with rumblings: woe to the wretched people, which perchance wavers in doubt! If such a shepherd be present, the flock stands almost lost; but a devoted one holds it together, ruling rightly; for the Church is gladdened in soul by fitting rulers. In such men is the hope, and the whole Church lives. TO THE GREAT ONES BY BIRTH I SPEAK. The time alone demands of me to speak the truth to you. From one man always is set in motion that which many detract. Upon myself alone I wish to turn your hatreds, that the hearts of all may rest from so great an outcry. Consider the saying, that the truth removes hatreds.
Already have I foretold how great is the matter of the deceitful peace! By fawning upon you, the seducer of Eve has crept in. Because you know it not, you have fallen as into a snare; you wholly drink in the very breath of this age. No one for whom you intercede will act for nothing in return; he who flees from the fire acts in your whirlpool. Then the wretched man, stripped bare by you, seeks aid again: even the judges themselves now shudder at your peculations. For under a shorter title I would, as it were, plow in upon you. You regard those who speak, to whom you offer yourselves of your own accord; with these very men you take banquets and feed them. For these things you now prepare almost the foundations of the earth.