講道集 第 7 章

A prudent helmsman, when he looses his ship from the shore, when about to cross the sea he enters the waves, lays aside the cares of home, of country, of wife, of children, and thus, wholly in mind, body, and sense, is occupied with the sailor's labors, that he may both overcome the perils of the waves and, victorious over danger, enter the station of a gainful harbor. So too, brethren, having entered upon the way of abstinence, the sea of fasting, the road of Lent, let us loose the ship of our body from the shore of the world; let us renounce the cares of our worldly country; upon the tree of the Cross let us spread the whole sails of our mind; with the ropes of the virtues, the oars of wisdom, and the rudders of discipline let us fortify the passage of our vessel. And drawn away from the lands, let us gaze upon heaven;

that by the guidance of the heavenly signs we may be able to hold an unhindered course amid the fluid pathways of the hidden way; and so, with Christ steering, with the Holy Spirit breathing, the foam of pleasures overcome, the waves of vices surmounted, the storms of crimes run through, the rocks of sins sailed past, and the shipwrecks of all offenses avoided, we may enter the harbor of Easter, the gain of life, the joys of the resurrection. But because we are to make our way through bare plains, through false eddies, through uncertain solitudes, let us impose upon ourselves an abundant store of provision, both food and drink, that will profit our journey; let us lay on the provisioning of our mercy that shall avail. Brethren, the fast is hungry, the fast is thirsty, which is not fed with the food of piety, which is not watered with the drink of mercy.

The fast is cold, the fast fails, which the fleece of almsgiving does not cover, which the garment of compassion does not clothe. Brethren, what spring is to the earth, this we know mercy to be to fasting. Just as the breezes of spring make all the seeds of the fields to blossom, so mercy brings forth all the seeds of fasting into flower, and makes all the power of fasting to bear fruit unto a heavenly harvest. What oil is to the lamp, this piety is to fasting: just as the richness of the oil kindles the light of the lamp, and by a measured feeding makes it shine through for the solace of the whole night, so piety makes the fast to shine, and to radiate unto the whole brightness of continence. What the sun is to the day, this almsgiving is known to be to fasting.

Just as the radiance of the sun makes the day brighter and scatters all the darkness of the clouds, so almsgiving sanctifies the holiness of fasting, and shuts out the whole night of cupidity with the light of piety. And not to dwell on many things: what the soul is to the body, this bounty is held to be to fasting. For just as the body is put to death, when the soul departs from the body, so the death of fasting is the withdrawal of bounty. Fasting is indeed the death of vices, the life of virtues. Fasting is peace to the body, the ornament of the members, the adornment of life. Fasting is the strength of minds, the vigor of souls. Fasting is the wall of chastity, the bulwark of purity, the citadel of holiness. Fasting is the school of merits, the mastery of mastery, the discipline of disciplines.

Fasting is the saving provision for the journey of the ecclesiastical way. Fasting is the leadership, unconquered, of the Christian warfare. But among these virtues the fast then flourishes, then conquers, then triumphs, when it fights with mercy as its leader. Mercy and piety are the wings of fasting, by which it is lifted up and borne to heaven; without them it lies and wallows on the earth. Fasting without mercy is the image of famine, no likeness of holiness; without piety fasting is an occasion of avarice, not a purpose of thrift; for that thrift, as much as it is dried up in the body, so much does it swell in the purse. Fasting without mercy is not truth but a figure; but where there is mercy, there is also truth, as the prophet attests, saying:

'Mercy and truth have met each other' (Ps. 84:11). Fasting without mercy is not a virtue but hypocrisy, as the Lord says: 'But you, when you fast, do not become as the hypocrites, sad; for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to be fasting' (Matt. 6:16). He who does not fast for the poor, feigns before God; he who while fasting does not give out his meal but stores it up, is proved to fast for cupidity, not for Christ. Therefore, brethren, as we fast, let us store up our meal in the hand of the poor, that the hand of the poor may keep for us what our belly was going to lose for us. The hand of the poor is the bosom of Abraham; where whatever the poor man receives, he at once lays up.

The hand of the poor is the treasury of heaven, for what it receives, that it may not perish on earth, it lays up in heaven. 'Lay up for yourselves,' He says, 'treasures in heaven' (Matt. 6:20). The hand of the poor is the treasure-chest of Christ, for whatever the poor man receives, Christ accepts. Give, then, O man, to the poor the earth, that you may receive heaven. Give a coin, that you may receive a kingdom. Give a crumb, that you may receive the whole. Give to the poor, that you may give to yourself: for whatever you give to the poor, you shall have; what you do not give to the poor, another shall have. God cries out, 'I desire mercy' (Hos. 6:6). He who denies to God what God wills, wills to be denied by God what he himself desires. 'I desire mercy.' O man, God asks; but for you, not for Himself. 'I desire mercy.'

He asks human mercy, that He may bestow the divine. Let mercy go up into the heavens, to which one comes by earthly mercies. 'Lord,' it says, 'Your mercy is in heaven' (Ps. 35:6). Being about to plead your cause in the judgment of God, take to yourself mercy as your advocate, through whom you may be able to be set free. He who is sure of the patronage of mercy, let him be secure of pardon, let him not doubt of acquittal.

Mercy not only forestalls the case and anticipates the judge, but even recalls the sentence and absolves the condemned. This the Ninevites prove (Jonah 3), whom, already made subject to sentence, delivered over to punishment, standing as it were for the victim, given over to death, mercy so snatched away, so held, so forestalled, that God preferred that the sentence should be withdrawn rather than deny anything to mercy. There stood then too on behalf of the cause the fast: it sprinkled ashes, it strewed sackcloth, it gave forth groans, it poured out tears; and what it could not excuse with words, it tempered with mournings, yet it could not change the sentence, unless pleading mercy had come to its aid. Mercy both frees sinners and restores the holy:

for unless mercy had been present, David too, when he committed adultery, would have lost prophecy (2 Sam. 11); and Peter, when he denied, would have lost the primacy of the apostolic order (Matt. 26); and Paul, when he blasphemed, would have remained a persecutor. Paul confesses this when he says: 'I who before was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy' (1 Tim. 1:13). Brethren, by the mercies shown to the poor let us procure mercy, that we may be able to be free from punishment, secure of salvation. 'Blessed,' He says, 'are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy' (Matt. 5:7). In vain does he hope for mercy there, who has not shown mercy here. He who shows mercy runs to the reward;

but he who does not show mercy, runs down to punishment.