講道與書信 第 45 章

Chapter I. — Always indeed, dearly beloved, it befits the minds of the faithful to be occupied in the admiration of the divine works, and for rational souls to cleave especially to those meditations by which they may obtain increase of faith. For while the intent of a devout heart is directed either to the general benefits or to the special gifts of grace itself, it drives many vanities from itself, and withdraws from bodily cares into a certain spiritual seclusion. But at this time of the Lord's passion this must be done far more eagerly and excellently, so that the things recounted in the sacred readings may be received with the hearing of a sound understanding, and that the things which are great in words may appear greater in their mysteries.

For the first reason for raising up our heart on high is that the things which even the gospel truth has narrated, the prophetic voices sang not as things to be done, but as things already done; and what human ears had not yet learned was to be accomplished, the Holy Spirit was already proclaiming as fulfilled. For king David, whose seed according to the flesh is Christ, preceded the day of the Lord's cross by an age of more than eleven hundred years, and suffered none of those torments which he records as inflicted upon himself. But because he spoke through the mouth of Him who was to take passible flesh from his own stock, deservedly under his person the history of the cross is set forth beforehand, since he bore in himself the bodily origin of the Saviour.

For truly David suffered in Christ, because truly Jesus was crucified in David's flesh. Chapter II. — Since therefore all the things which Jewish impiety committed against the Lord of majesty were so long before foretold, and the prophetic discourse was woven not so much concerning things future as concerning things past, what else is unlocked to us but the immutable order of God's eternal dispositions, with whom both the things to be discerned are already adjudged, and the things future are already done? For since the divine knowledge anticipates both the qualities of our actions and the effects of all wills, how much more are His own works known to God? And rightly it pleased Him that things be recalled as though done, which could by no means not come to pass.

Whence the apostles too, full of the Spirit of God, when they were suffering the threats and cruelty of Christ's enemies, said with one accord to God: 'For of a truth there assembled together in this city against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do what thy hand and thy counsel decreed to be done' (Acts 4:27-28). Did the iniquity of those persecuting Christ arise from God's counsel, and did the hand of divine preparation arm that crime which is greater than every offence? This plainly must not be thought concerning the highest justice; far different and far contrary is that which was foreknown in the malignity of the Jews, and that which was disposed in the passion of Christ.

The will to kill did not proceed from the same source as the will to die; nor did the atrocity of the crime and the endurance of the Redeemer arise from one spirit. The Lord did not send the impious hands of the raging upon Himself, but admitted them; nor did He, by foreknowing what was to be done, compel that it should be done, since nevertheless He had taken flesh for this end, that it might be done. Chapter III. — In short, between Him crucified and those crucifying, the causes are so unequal that what was undertaken by Christ cannot be undone; what was committed by them can be abolished. For He who came to make sinners safe (Matthew 9:13) did not deny mercy even to His own slayers, but changed the evil of the impious into the good of believers:

so that the grace of God might become more wonderful, prepared in mercy not according to the merits of men, but according to the multitude of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, when the wave of baptism might receive even those very ones who had shed the blood of the Saviour. For, as the Scripture which contains the Acts of the apostles says, when the preaching of the blessed apostle Peter pricked the hearts of the Jews, and, recognizing the impiety of their crime, they said, 'What shall we do, men and brethren?' the Apostle said: 'Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, whomsoever the Lord our God shall call' (Acts 2:37-39); and presently the Scripture added and said: 'They therefore who received his word were baptized, and there were added in that day about three thousand souls' (Acts 2:41). Therefore that the Lord Jesus Christ willed to suffer the fury of the raging, in no respect was He the author of their crimes; nor did He bring it about that they should will these things, but yielded that they might be able;

and so He made use of the madness of the blinded populace, just as also of the treachery of the traitor, whom, from the monstrousness of the crime he had conceived, He deigned to recall both by benefits and by words, taking him for a disciple, advancing him to be an apostle, admonishing him by signs, consecrating him by mysteries, so that to him who lacked nothing of goodwill for his correction, no occasion might remain for the crime. Chapter IV. — But thou, most impious man, seed of Canaan and not of Judah (Daniel 13:56), no longer now a vessel of election, but a son of perdition and of death, didst believe the devil's incitements more useful to thee: so that, inflamed with the torches of avarice, thou wast set ablaze for the gain of thirty pieces of silver, and didst not see what riches thou wast losing.

For even if thou didst think the promises were not to be believed, what reason was there that so paltry a sum of money should be preferred to the things received? Thou didst command demons, thou didst heal the sick, thou wast honoured with the apostles, and to satisfy the hunger of thy greed, thefts from the money-bags lay open to thee. But it was the mind greedy of forbidden things that the less that was permitted the more incited; nor did the quantity of the price please so much as the greatness of the sin. Whence the crime of thy bargain is not to be detested for this reason, that thou didst esteem the Lord cheaply, but because thou didst sell even thy Redeemer, that thou mightest not spare thyself. And deservedly was thy penalty entrusted to thee, because in thy punishment no one crueller than thyself could be found. Chapter

V. — Therefore that at the appointed time, according to the purpose of His will, Jesus Christ was crucified and died and was buried, was not the necessity of His own condition, but the redemption of our captivity. For the Word was made flesh for this reason, that from the Virgin's womb a passible nature might be taken, and that what could not be perpetrated in the Son of God might be admitted in the son of man. For although in His very birth the signs of the Godhead flashed forth in Him, and all the increases of His bodily advancements were full of divine miracles, yet He had taken the truth of our infirmities, and, apart from the fellowship of sin, had excluded from Himself nothing of human infirmity, that He might both bring His own to us, and heal our things in Himself.

For by the almighty physician a twofold remedy has been prepared for us wretched ones, of which one is in the sacrament, the other in the example; that through the one divine things may be conferred, through the other human things exacted. For as God is the author of justification, so man is the debtor of devotion. Chapter VI. — Through this ineffable restoration of our salvation, therefore, dearly beloved, no place is left us either for pride or for sloth: because we have nothing except what we have received, and we are continually admonished not to hold the gifts of God's grace negligently (1 Timothy 4:14).

For He justly presses upon us with precept who has run before us with aid, and kindly incites to obedience the One who leads to glory. Whence deservedly the Lord Himself became for us the way (John 14:6), because one does not go to Christ except through Christ. But through Him one reaches unto Him who walks by the path of His patience and humility: on which journey plainly there is no lack of the heat of toil, nor the cloud of sadness, nor the storm of dread. There are the ambushes of the wicked, the persecutions of the unbelieving, the threats of the powerful, the insults of the proud: which the Lord of hosts and King of glory (Psalm 24:10) therefore ran through all in the form of our infirmity, and in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans

8:3) ran through, so that amid the perils of the present life it should not be so much to be wished for us that we escape these by declining them, as that we overcome them by enduring them. Chapter VII. — Hence it is that our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, transforming into Himself all the members of His body, uttered in the punishment of the cross, under the voice of His redeemed, that which He had of old poured forth in the psalm: 'God, my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?' (Psalm 22:1).

This voice, dearly beloved, is teaching, not complaint. For since in Christ there is one person of God and of man, and He could not be forsaken by Him from whom He could not be separated, He asks on behalf of us who are fearful and weak, why the flesh dreading to suffer was not heard. For with the passion pressing upon Him, in order to heal and correct the dread of our frailty, He had said: 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt'; and again: 'Father, if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done' (Matthew 26:39, 42).

He, therefore, who, the trembling of the flesh being conquered, had already passed over into the paternal will, and, all the terror of death being trodden underfoot, was accomplishing the work of His own appointment, why, in the very triumph of so great a victory, does He inquire the cause and reason by which He was forsaken, that is, not heard, except to show that that affection is one which He took up for the excuse of human dread, and another that which He chose beforehand from the eternal good pleasure of the Father for the reconciliation of the world? Whence that very voice of the unheard is the exposition of a great mystery, that the power of the Redeemer would confer nothing on the human race, if our infirmity obtained what it sought. These things today, dearly beloved, lest we burden you with the length of the sermon, let what has been said suffice:

Let us defer the rest to the fourth day of the week. The Lord will be present to you as you pray, that what we promise to expound we may render by His bounty, who lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen.