論集 第 1 章 第 14/14 段

And when they were cast into the furnace of burning fire, the fire received them devotedly and eagerly. The fawning flames lick the dew-laden ones. A marvelous thing! Within is shade, without is the conflagration; within a hymn is sung, without a howling is heard. O great power of God! The kindlers of the fire were consumed by the burning; and those who were burned, surviving their own burning, came forth from the furnace in triumph—by the favor of our Lord Jesus Christ. TRACTATE 75. On Daniel, VII. Rejoice, O Christian, and fear God mightily, if you wish not to fear the fires of the devil. Behold, the children, fortified by the sacrament, three in number but one in virtue, are unharmed amid the gasping flames and the roaring furnace. Burned, they sing a hymn:

by the steadfastness of their faith they confound the barbarian king. They are avenged upon those who burned them. They see God. Death passed over into life, fear into glory. Thus, who would not wish to burn? TRACTATE 76. On Daniel, VIII. The three venerable Hebrews, fortified by the sacrament of the number, tender in age but robust in the solidity of faith, glorious by the punishment that pleaded for them, out of love for the divine religion scorned to adore the king's image—seeing that they had scorned the very king himself. He, puffed up with anger, commanded the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual; and lest anything should seem lacking to the savagery of the raging tyrant, the burning was urged on, armed with pitch and tow: as the masses of flame seethe, the very sky too grows red with fires not its own.

Into that fire the innocent are flung headlong; and there, in that very place, they find Him on whose account they are flung in. Finally, they are received not by flame, but by dew; by God's gracious regard, not by penalty. O happy punishment, which a surviving safety is followed by immortality, and by a crown! TRACTATE 77. On Daniel, IX. Today my sermon to you, dearest brethren, is not of human deeds or merits; nor is Daniel brought forward, fearless amid the rabid jaws of roaring lions (Dan. ch. 14), filled with a heavenly meal; nor Jonah, amid the seething storms and the mad waves of the troubled sea, safer in the belly of the fish than in the hold of the ship (Jon. 1 and 2):

nor the three children, avenged upon their own burners in the very fire by which they were thought to burn—but my sermon is of our Lord, whom (alas, the sacrilege!) outsiders venerate (if it may even be said), while His own tear Him to pieces. Indeed, I am armed with no arguments such as those gladly employ who patch together falsehoods against the truth with contraries; but, unavenged, I rely on heavenly testimonies, manifest and pure, so that the learned may approve, the less instructed may confirm themselves, the untaught may learn, and those very ones who strive to blaspheme may, for the good of their own salvation, even if late—if it can be done—come to their senses again.