講道與短論 第 1 章 第 36/37 段

Let no one, therefore, say in his heart, brothers, when you hear this lesson of the blessed Apostle, 'Redeeming the time, because the days are evil': let no one say in his heart, 'Our parents had good days, we have evil days.' Why our parents? were they not Christians? Was not this lesson recited in the very times of the Apostles? So many years ago, when it was recited, was it not groaned over, and was not what it said acknowledged? From the time when Adam fell and was cast out of paradise, there have never been days but evil. Let us ask these children who are born, why they begin with weeping, who are also able to laugh. One is born, and immediately weeps: after I know not how many days, it laughs.

When he wept as he was being born, he was a prophet of his own calamity: for tears are witnesses of misery. He does not yet speak, and already he prophesies that he shall be in toil and in fear: and if he should live well and be righteous, certainly, set in the midst of temptations, he shall always fear. For what, because he is righteous? Behold, he is righteous; what does the Apostle say? 'All who wish to live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution' (2 Tim. 3:12). Behold, because the days are evil, the righteous cannot live here without persecution. 4. The persecution of the godly in time of peace. Danger among false brethren. But you say to me: 'What is it?'

When there is peace, when the judges of the provinces honor the Church, when the Church suffers no hostile kings, when all the laws are on her side; how do those who live godly suffer persecution?' Those who live among the wicked suffer persecution. Why? Because all the wicked persecute the good, not with sword and stones, but by their life and manners. Did anyone persecute holy Lot among the men of Sodom? No one was troublesome to him: and yet he lived among the impious, among the impure, the unclean, the proud, the blasphemers; he suffered persecution, not by being beaten, but by living among the wicked.

For everyone who is just and devout, when he sees certain people living wickedly, being slaves to luxury, failing to hold fast to justice, pursuing pride, and despising charity — when the good behold such men, they grieve, they are troubled, and they are saddened. For they mourn, together with the Apostle, over those who have sinned and have not done penance (2 Cor. 12:21). Whoever you are who hear me and do not yet live devoutly in Christ, begin to live devoutly in Christ. And for whose sake do I say this? Was it only such persecutions that the Apostle Paul commemorates — he who lived at that time when the new faith was still spreading in the world, and when it was necessary that he should suffer many adversaries, because this was said of Christ: 'For a sign that shall be contradicted' (Luke 2:34)?

which he suffered either from the Jews or from the Gentiles? No, not only those; for he commemorates them thus: 'From the Jews five times I received forty stripes save one; I was stoned' (2 Cor. 11:24-25), and the rest that we know when we read. But there were also for them those persecutions without which no just man can live in this present age. 'Without were fightings, within were fears' (2 Cor. 7:5). Finally, when he was recounting his own dangers, he says: 'In perils in the sea, in perils in rivers, in perils in the wilderness, in perils from robbers, in perils from false brethren' (2 Cor. 11:26). The other perils can come to rest; but the perils from false brethren have never known rest until the end of the age. To redeem the time. Let us therefore redeem the time,

because the days are evil. Perhaps you await from me to know what it is to redeem the time, and in what manner we may redeem the time. I am about to say something that few hear, few endure, few attempt, few do; nevertheless, I will say it, since even those few who are going to hear me live among the wicked, because the days are evil. Redeeming the time — this is: when someone stirs up a lawsuit against you, lose something so that you may be free for God and not for lawsuits; from what you lose, that is the price of time. Surely, when for your necessities you go out to the marketplace, you give coins and buy for yourself bread, or wine, or oil, or wood, or a garment, or some piece of furniture, or whatever you have need of; you give and you receive, you lose something, you gain something;

this is to buy. For if you lose nothing and have what you did not have, then either you found it, or received it as a gift, or acquired it by inheritance; but when you lose something in order to have something, then you buy what you have — it has been bought; what you lose is the price. As therefore you lose coins to buy yourself bread, so lose coins to buy yourself peace. Behold, this is to redeem the time. A Punic proverb: to avoid lawsuits. There is a well-known Punic proverb, which I will tell you in Latin, since not all of you know Punic. It is an ancient Punic proverb: In order that you may have peace, lose something. Hear an ancient proverb, useful and necessary: pestilence has come before the door and seeks a coin; give it two, and let it take itself away.

The pestilence is a wicked man who wishes to despoil you through false accusation; the pestilence is a wicked man, a slanderer, a betrayer. Such a one is like an evil sore in the body. For just as when a man contracts a boil, he desires that it may quickly come to a head, and wishes that without any delay the evil sore itself may carry off some little portion from the body and depart with it, lest its poison seize the whole body and attack the soul: so too, when an unjust, wicked man, who wishes for nothing but to be busy with lawsuits, brings some false accusation against you, consider him to be an evil sore, and consent to lose whatever little portion of your substance;

lest, while you occupy yourself too much in litigating, you should be unable to have a quiet heart and to be free for God. Does not the proverb quoted above seem to have been born from the Gospel? Did the Lord say anything other than 'Redeem the time' when He said, 'If any man will contend with you in judgment and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also' (Matt. 5:40)? He wishes to contend with you in judgment and to take away your coat? He is set on calling you away from your God through lawsuits; you will not have a quiet heart, you will not have a tranquil mind. Are you overturned by your own thoughts, provoked against your very adversary? Behold, you have lost the time. When would you better lose a coin and redeem the time? Surely what has been said has pleased everyone;

'I come to your affairs, and there I find you.' On lawsuits. And yet, my brothers, in your cases, in your affairs, when they come to us to be judged, if I tell a Christian man that for the sake of redeeming the time he should lose something of his own, with how much greater care and confidence ought I to tell him to restore what belongs to another? For I hear both parties as Christians. That slanderous man who wishes to make a case against another and to take from him, rejoices as if at a settlement at these words: 'The Apostle said, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil; I will bring a false accusation against a Christian; whether he will or not, he gives me something, so that he may redeem the time, because he heard the Apostle.'

See lest perhaps, while you think yourself shrewd, you find the man litigious, and he would rather pay out in order to defeat you than lose in order to be rid of you. Nevertheless, if I am to tell the one who is at leisure, 'Lose something, redeem the time, you hear the Apostle, because the days are evil'; if to the one who is good and just I say, 'Lose something, that you may be at peace' — shall I not say to you, O slanderer, O reprobate, O son of the devil: 'You have no case, and you scheme to carry off another's goods; you have no case, and yet you are full of false accusation'? You are a Christian; do I wish to enrich him and ruin you? If I tell him, 'Give him something that he may withdraw from his slander,' where will you be, you who will have money from slander?

The man who, for the sake of avoiding your slander, redeemed the time from you, has here endured evil days; but you who feed on slanders have evil days both here, and after these very days you are destined to have worse ones on the day of judgment. But perhaps you laugh, because you attend to the coin. Laugh, laugh, and despise; I pay out, but One will come who will exact payment. But we trust in the mercy of God that the merciful Lord Himself will deign to inspire thus in all — not only in the holy and God-fearing Christians, but even in those who disquiet both themselves and others with many lawsuits — that, with all contention and rivalry set aside, they may so pursue peace and charity that they do not, on account of discord, incur God's wrath, but rather, on account of love and peace, may be worthy to attain to eternal rewards:

through the bounty of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 112. On the words of the Apostle, 1 Timothy 1:5: 'The end of the commandment is charity, from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned.' 1. Charity: something brief and great. Charity is sweet. If, with Christ's help, we can present ourselves more frequently to your charity, dearest brothers, from the copious fountains of the holy Scriptures, then even if we cannot pour into your holy souls abundant streams, we shall at least be able to pour in droplets of whatever kind: so that the most fertile and fruitful soil of your heart, having received the rain of God's word, may sprout a plentiful harvest of good works;

so that when the Lord comes, He may rejoice to find in the field of your heart not only thirtyfold but sixtyfold and a hundredfold fruit, by which fruits He may prepare a granary in heaven, not a burning in hell. But because we are hindered by many occupations, if we can present our lowliness to you according to your desire, we wish, God granting it, to instill in you something brief in the sermon, yet great enough in the salvation of souls: in which brevity, if you attend diligently, you can find what is fitting for your souls. What then is this thing so brief and yet so great, that it can suffice for the human race? The Apostle says: 'The end of the commandment is charity, from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned.'

Consider, brothers, what could be found briefer in words, and what more magnificent in substance, than 'charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned.' This brevity is pleasant, that it may be held in memory; and it is sweet, that it may be faithfully kept. What is sweeter than charity, dearest brothers? Let him who does not know it taste and see. What then ought he to taste, who wishes the sweetness of charity to be savory to him? Hear, brothers, the Apostle saying: 'God is charity' (1 John 4:16). What is sweeter, brothers? Let him who does not know hear the Psalmist saying: 'Taste and see how sweet is the Lord' (Ps. 33:9). God therefore is charity. He who has charity, God abides in him and he in God. 2. It makes rich.

If you have charity, you have God; and so on. If you have God, what do you not have? A rich man, if he does not have charity, what does he have? A poor man, if he has charity, what does he not have? Perhaps you think that the man is rich whose chest is full of gold, and that the man is not rich whose conscience is full of God? It is not so, brothers: that man is seen to be truly rich, in whom God deigns to dwell. For what could you be ignorant of in the Scriptures, if charity — that is, God — has begun to possess you? What good work would you be unable to fulfill, if you have deserved to carry in your heart the fountain of good works? What adversary will you fear, if you have deserved to have God the King within you? Therefore hold fast and keep

the sweet and wholesome bond of charity, most beloved brothers. But above all hold to true charity — not that which is only promised with the mouth and not preserved in the heart, but that which is so brought forth from the mouth that nevertheless it is continually held in the heart: so that there may be fulfilled in you that which the Apostle says, 'Rooted and grounded in charity' (Eph. 3:17). For charity is the root of all good things, just as cupidity is the root of all evils: as in charity nothing evil can ever be found, so in cupidity nothing good can ever be found. Two roots planted in the hearts of men. From the one nothing evil, from the other nothing good comes forth.

These are the roots, most beloved brothers, planted in two fields by two farmers: the one Christ plants in the hearts of the good, the other the devil plants in the hearts of the wicked. Neither does anything evil spring from the root of charity, nor anything good from the root of cupidity. For the Truth does not lie, which, when it spoke of these two roots in the Gospel, defined the matter thus, saying: 'A good tree brings forth good fruits'; and again, 'A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruits.' This sentence is not mine, brothers, but the Lord's. Let there be then in us such an abundance of charity, that it may reach not only to friends, but even to our very enemies.

And therefore, since you have heard the praise of charity and the censure of cupidity, let each one attend and consider the field of his own heart: and he who sees charity in himself, let him rejoice, and with all the heart's vigilance guard the holy shoots within himself. But he who perceives in the field of his heart any kind of stalk of cupidity, let him, with Christ's help, root out cupidity and plant charity. For as long as he is unwilling to do this, he will not be able to bear good fruits. And when he has not borne good fruits, Christ the Lord of heaven and earth says of him: 'A tree that does not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire' (Matt. 7:17-19).

If it does not delight you to bring forth the sweet fruits of charity, ought you not at least to fear the fire for the thorns of your sins? 'Every tree,' He says, 'that does not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire.' As long as you do not change the root, you will not be able to bring forth lawful fruits; and in vain do you promise with your mouth what is good, because you cannot fulfill this so long as the root of goodness is not held in the heart. These two roots, therefore, as I said above, two farmers are accustomed to plant. The one Christ plants in the hearts of the faithful, the other the devil plants in the hearts of the proud: and thus the one is planted in heaven, the other in hell. 4. The hearts of the faithful are heaven; the hearts of the proud are earth. But someone says:

'If it is planted in the hearts of the faithful, surely the faithful still seem to be in the world; how then is that root planted in heaven?' Do you wish to know how? Because the hearts of the faithful are heaven, since they are daily lifted up to heaven. For when the priest says, 'Lift up your hearts,' they confidently answer, 'We have them lifted up to the Lord'; indeed, as the Apostle says, 'But our conversation is in heaven' (Phil. 3:20). If then the conversation of the faithful is in heaven, because true charity is in them, the root of charity has been planted in heaven. On the contrary, the root of cupidity, which is in the hearts of the proud — because they always desire earthly things, savor earthly things, love earthly things, and set all their hope on earth — has been planted in hell. 5.

The wicked must beware of despair, the just of presumption. Penance must not be deferred. And although these things are so, nevertheless neither ought the proud sinners to despair, nor the humble just to be proud in any way as if of their own merits: because even the just, if they presume upon themselves, quickly lose the root of charity; and sinners, if they turn to penance, with cupidity uprooted, quickly receive the plant of charity. And therefore let those who are good guard what they have received by God's gift; and let those who are wicked strive to repair what they have unhappily lost. Let no one reserve himself for that time to retain penance or the sweetness of charity only when he has begun to depart from this light.

Let him not reserve himself for this, that in old age he might flee to the remedies of penance: because he does not know what a coming day may bring forth. With what face does he neglect his own salvation in the time of old age, when he cannot be certain even of the space of a single day? And therefore, if we do not wish to fear death, we ought always to be ready, so that when the Lord bids us be called from this world, we may come before the sight of the eternal Judge with a secure conscience, and not with despair but with joy, that there we may happily be able to hear: 'Well done, good servant; I will set you over much: enter into the joy of your Lord' (Matt. 25:21). To which joy may the Lord bring us in His mercy, who lives and reigns through all ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 113.

On the words of the Apostle, to the Hebrews 1:3: 'For He is the brightness of the eternal light, and the image of the invisible God.' 1. Concerning God, of what sort or how great He is, is not to be judged. What God is. You have heard the reading of the Apostle together with me, most beloved. For he says of the Lord Jesus Christ: 'For He is the brightness of the eternal light, and the image of the invisible God,' inasmuch as even the image of the sun is its own light, which proceeds from the same sun. Since indeed it is established that that light of the divinity can neither be estimated nor comprehended nor defined, I therefore forewarn you to believe spiritually only in the unity of substance, and to acknowledge the true Son from the true Father. But concerning the quality of the matter you ought not to inquire: He who willed Himself to be believed as God, not to be judged nor examined;

because of what sort or how great He is, cannot be known. For this the Prophets, this the Apostles have proclaimed. Finally, according to our capacity, according to our strength, according to our faith, let us gaze upon what God is: and let us see whether anything can be compared to Him. Surely this is God: that which even when it is spoken cannot be spoken, when it is estimated cannot be estimated, when it is compared cannot be compared, when it is defined grows by the very definition; who covers heaven with His hand, encloses the whole compass of the world in His fist; whom all things do not fully know, yet know Him in fearing; at whose name and power this globe trembles, and the very momentary succession of the alternating elements testifies that it must serve Him. 2. The various names of the Son. The reasons for each.

See therefore whether there can be anything to which the Father and the Son can be compared, since the Son is such as the Father is. For He would not say Himself to be one with the Father, unless He knew Himself to be from the Father such as the Father is. There is a certain Reason, which among the Greeks is called Logos, which distinguishes between the Father and the Son as persons or as names, which Son is Himself also called Reason: which Reason nevertheless is called by many names — now Word, now Power, now Wisdom, now Right Hand, now Arm, now Pearl, now Treasure, now Net, now Plough, now Fountain, now Rock, now Cornerstone, now Man, now Lamb, now Calf, now Eagle, now Lion, now Way, Truth and Life, since He is God all in all:

so that through these names the mysteries of the divine dispensations may be known, not that the very majesty of the Son of God may be shown as properly defined. For the Son of God is this which the Father is, not another, that is, He through whom all things were made. For He is called the Word, because He is always in the Father, and from the Father, and the Father commanded or made nothing without Him. He is called Power, because He is properly of God, and all authority consists in Him. He is called Wisdom, because coming from nowhere else than from the Father, He unlocked the heavenly secrets to those who believe. He is called the Right Hand, because through Him all the divine works were perfected. He is called the Arm, by whom all things are held together. He is called the Pearl, that nothing may be held more precious than He.

He is called the Treasure, because in Him all the riches and wealth of the heavenly kingdoms are known to be stored up. He is called the Net, because through Him and in Him the multitude of diverse nations, after the manner of fish, is gathered from the sea of the world through Baptism into the Church, where the distinction between the good and the wicked is recognized. He is called the Plough, because by the sign of His cross hard breasts are subdued, that they may of necessity be prepared for the seed. He is called the Fountain of living water, because from Him thirsting hearts are watered by the grace of the heavenly water. He is called the Rock, because to those who believe He furnishes strength, to the unbelieving hardness. He is called the Cornerstone, because, one and the same Mediator, He has held together in Himself and joined the two walls of the New and Old Testament.

He is called the Lamb, that the innocence and passion of Christ may be shown. He is called Man, because according to the flesh He deigned to be born for us men. He is called the Calf, because for our salvation He submitted to be immolated. He is called the Eagle, because after the venerable resurrection He flew back to the seat of His Father. He is called the Lion, He who is Himself the King of kings, because by the power of His might He crushed death and the devil. He is the Way, because through Him is the access to the Father. He is the Truth, because He knows no falsehood. He is the Life, because He gives life. He Himself signifies all things. 3. The equality of the Son with the Father. The Father therefore is God — immense, eternal, incomprehensible, inestimable. The Son also is God and our Lord, as great as the Father is;

but from nowhere else than from the Father: because, He says, 'I came forth from God the Father' (John 16:27-28), that is, light from light. But lest from this a heretic seize any occasion, when I set down two names or two persons, that is, of the Father and of the Son, as though I were fabricating two gods out of the diversity: we, however, so name the Father and the Son that we assign one God in these persons and in all things. Furthermore, the Father and the Son, although they are believed to be two persons, are nevertheless in reason and substance one: because the fellowship of unequals is an offense to the better one, and it is an injury to Him who is the true God, if another who is not true be compared to Him. For whoever unjustly compares God, does violence to Him.

But when I set down the Father and the Son, I assign a unity of kind: and if I divide that unity into persons, yet the distinction of persons in turn seals those same names into a unity of themselves, by the law of a natural covenant. SERMON 114. On the words of the Apostle, to the Hebrews 12:1: 'Having therefore so great a cloud of witnesses over us,' etc. 1. In the contest there is great struggle for the ears. The apostolic reading, my brothers, recently sounded in our ears; and how much it was desired to be instilled into our sordid selves! For it was exhorting us to run with patience toward the prize of the contest promised to us: in which part, I confess, it greatly stirred the spirit of my faintheartedness. For who can run with patience? In a contest there is usually a great struggle;

each one strives not to be defeated by another. How then will he be patient, who strives to overcome? If he is slow, he is defeated; if he runs, ungodliness contends, sweats, fights: what patience does he keep? Unless perhaps, brothers, this contest of ours is not of the body but of the soul; our running is not of place but of the mind. 2. The saints are the cloud. To the saints there is now rest and patience. Above, the blessed Apostle showed to what kind of contest he has summoned us. For he enumerates by name the contests of all the saints, and when he had enumerated the throng of saints, he says: 'Having therefore so great a cloud of witnesses over us.' If they are witnesses, they are not obscure. How then are they a cloud? Not by obscurity, but by loftiness.

For he was speaking of those who were already resting with God, and were concealed above us on the earth; and yet he says: 'After they had contended, they wait, lest without us, being perfected, they should be made perfect' (Heb. 11:39-40). They ran, they arrived; and yet they have not yet received, because they await us. And so for them too there is patience, until the Lord comes and enlightens the hidden things of darkness and makes manifest the counsels of the heart; and then shall each one have praise from God (1 Cor. 4:5). Praise will be then. What now? Rest and patience. Having therefore so great a cloud of witnesses — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Joseph, Elijah, Elisha, Paul, James. And can one count so great a cloud of witnesses? 3. The patience of Stephen.

Of that number of holy men, the most blessed Stephen was one, who first ran with patience in the stadium of this age, who, while he was struck rather frequently by the unbelievers with a hail of stones, did not lose patience from his sacred heart. Then against him is stirred up the unhappy, countless multitude of the Jews, and raging, it hurls hard stones at his tender limbs. Why, insane Judea, do you rage? Why do you fix your hard eyes upon the Martyr? He whom you think to die by your stones has already begun to gaze upon the secret places of heaven; nor does he now dread your stone-bearing hands to rage upon his body, because Christ has already opened heaven to him. 4. We must run, and therefore the burden of sin must be laid down. Sin is nimble.

And let us also, brothers, run with patience to the contest of faith set before us. How do we run, who are burdened? Weights weigh us down. For no one runs laden while, scarcely with sweat, the unencumbered man arrives. We are called, let us come: and lest we do not arrive, let us run. What counsel is there for the burdened? 'Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened' (Matt. 11:28). We are willing, O Lord, we are willing; and we cannot: or perhaps we are not even willing, weighed down by the burden that goes before us, and we are unwilling. Help us and have mercy on us. You said, 'Without me you can do nothing' (John 15:5). On account of this burden, let us implore God's help, and let us hear Paul's counsel. For see what he added, following on.

While he was showing us so great a cloud of witnesses, as if to us pondering and saying, 'Who rises up there? Who reaches to them?', he saw our burden and our pressure; he furnished counsel to the weak and infirm and burdened, and he said, 'Laying aside every weight.' And to show what the weight is, he added, following on, 'And the sin which so easily besets.' The slow burden of sin perhaps anyone can avoid. What is it to avoid the nimble sin? It rises up suddenly in thought, it produces delight; presently it drags the mind along. O certain nimbleness! Run against it, cast forth iniquity, the suggestion, the delight. But that you may be able to do this, implore Him without whom you can do nothing. Make sin ineffectual, offer the remedy. 5. Patience is a thing of God.