Sermons to the People 333.1–335.2

“As far as the east is from the west, he has removed our iniquities far from us.” “As far as the east is from the west”: turn away from the west, turn to the east. See one man, Saul and Paul: Saul in the west, Paul in the east; persecutor in the west, preacher in the east. There sins set; from there righteousness rises. In the west the old man, in the east the new: in the west Saul, in the east Paul. From where did this come to Saul, from where to the cruel man, from where to the persecutor, from where to one who was not a shepherd? For he was a ravening wolf, of the tribe of Benjamin. He himself says so. And it had been said in prophecy: “Benjamin a ravening wolf; in the morning he will seize the prey, and in the evening he will divide the food.” First he devoured, later he fed. He was seizing, he was certainly seizing. Read, he was seizing: read the book of the Acts of the Apostles. He had received letters from the chief priests, to bring bound for punishment whomever he found following the way of Christ. He was going, he was raging, panting for slaughter and blood. See, he seizes: but it is still morning; it is vanity under the sun. Evening comes for him when he is struck with blindness. His eyes are closed to the vanity of this world; other, inner eyes are lit. A little before a vessel of perdition, he becomes a vessel of election: and see, it is fulfilled, “he will divide the food”: his divisions of food are read out everywhere. See how he divides the food. He knows what suits whom. He divides; he does not hand out at random, not confusedly. He divides, that is, he distributes, he distinguishes; he does not dispense at random or confusedly. He speaks wisdom among the perfect; but to some who cannot take solid food, dividing, he says, “I gave you milk to drink.”

So now let us hear the apostle Paul speaking, when he was approaching his passion, confident about the crown prepared for him. “I have fought the good fight,” he says, “I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: for the rest, there remains for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will render to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who love his appearing.” “The Lord,” he says, “the righteous judge, will render me the crown.” So he owes what he will render. So the righteous judge will render. For when he has looked at the work he cannot deny the wage. What work does he look at? “I have fought the good fight”: that is work. “I have finished the course”: that is work. “I have kept the faith”: that is work. “There remains for me the crown of righteousness”: that is wage. But in the wage you do nothing; in the work you do not act alone. The crown is from him to you; the work is from you, but not except with his help. But when the apostle Paul, formerly Saul, was a most cruel and savage persecutor, he deserved nothing good at all; rather he deserved very much evil: for he deserved to be condemned, not chosen. And see, suddenly, while he was doing evil and deserving evil, he is thrown down by one heavenly voice: the persecutor is cast down, the preacher is raised up. Hear him confessing this very thing: “I who was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and insolent; but I obtained mercy.” Did he say there, “The righteous judge will render to me”? “I obtained mercy,” he says: “I deserved evil, I received good.” “He has not dealt with us according to our sins.” “I obtained mercy.” What was owed me was not rendered to me. For if what was owed were rendered, punishment would be rendered. “I did not receive,” he says, “what was owed: but I obtained mercy.” “He has not dealt with us according to our sins.”

See, this is done by one who a little before was doing what? I do not want to remember; or rather, let me remember the man's wickedness, so as to show God's mercy. He at whose hands Christ was suffering suffers for Christ: Paul is made from Saul; a true witness is made from a false one. He who scattered gathers; he who attacked defends. From where did this come to Saul, as we say? Let us hear him. “You ask,” he says, “from where this came to me? It is not,” he says, “from me: I obtained mercy.” “This is not,” he says, “from myself: I obtained mercy.” “What shall I render to the Lord for all that he has rendered to me?” For he has rendered, but not evil for evil: he has rendered fully, but not evil for evil; he has rendered good for evil. “What then shall I render? I will take the cup of salvation.” Surely you were rendering? You take: you still take. But now, when the passion is clearly drawing near, I will render good for good, not good for evil. Before, then, the Lord owed evil for evil; but he would not render evil for evil, but rendered good for evil. By rendering good for evil, he found how he might render good for good.

For see, in Paul, formerly Saul, he found nothing good. Since he had found nothing good in him, he forgave the evils and rendered goods. So since he first rendered goods to him, he went before; but by giving goods to which he might render goods, see, he renders a wage to these good works. To one fighting the good fight, finishing the course, keeping the faith, he renders goods; but for which goods? Those which he himself gave. Did he not himself give you to fight the good fight? If he did not give it, what is it that you say in another place, “I laboured more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God with me”? See, again you say, “I have finished the course.” Did he not give you to finish the course? If he did not give it, what is it that you say in another place, “It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy”? “I have kept the faith.” You kept it: I acknowledge it, I approve it; I confess, you kept it. But “unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” So with his help and by his gift you both fought the good contest, and finished the course, and kept the faith. Forgive me, Apostle: I know nothing of your own except evils. Forgive me, Apostle; we say it because you taught it: I hear you confessing, I do not find you ungrateful. We know absolutely nothing that you prepared for yourself from yourself except evils. So when God crowns your merits, he crowns nothing but his own gifts. Let no arguments tear this faith and true piety from your hearts, so that no one may be lifted up by free choice in good works (whoever receives them, let him so receive them as to know the giver, so that no one is ungrateful to the giver or proud towards the physician, being either still sick or not healthy of himself): this faith, I say, and true piety, let no arguments tear from your hearts. Keep what you have received. “For what do you have that you did not receive?” This is to confess to God: to say what the apostle Paul says, “But we have not received the spirit of this world.” The spirit of this world makes people proud, the spirit of this world makes people puffed up, the spirit of this world makes each think himself to be something when he is nothing. But against the spirit of this world, what does the apostle say? Against the spirit of this world, puffed up, proud, swollen, exalted, not solid, what does he say? “We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God.” How do you prove it? “That we may know the things that have been given us by God.” [Let us hear, then, the Lord saying, “Without me you can do nothing.” And this: “No one has anything unless it has been given him from above.” And: “No one comes to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” And this: “I am the vine, you are the branches. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.” And what the apostle James testifies, saying: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” And what the apostle Paul, to check the presumption of those who boast of free choice, cries out and says: “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” And this: “By grace we have been saved through faith, and this not of ourselves. For it is the gift of God, so that no one may be lifted up.” And this: “It has been given to you for Christ, not only that you believe in him, but also that you suffer for him.” And this: “God who has begun a good work in you will complete it.” So, considering these and similar things carefully and faithfully, let us not agree with those who, exalting free choice into pride, try to cast it down rather than raise it up. But let us humbly consider what the apostle says: “It is God who works in you both to will and to accomplish.”

Let us give thanks to our Lord and Saviour, who, with no merits of ours going before, healed us when wounded, reconciled us when enemies, redeemed us from captivity, led us back from darkness to light, called us back from death to life; and, humbly confessing our frailty, let us beseech his mercy that, since, as the Psalmist says, his mercy has gone before us, he may deign not only to keep but also to increase in us his gifts or benefits, which he himself has deigned to give; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, for ever and ever. Amen.]

This is indeed the voice of all good faithful Christians, but most of all of the glorious martyrs: “If God is for us, who is against us?” The world raged against them, the peoples devised vain things, the rulers gathered together: new tortures were thought up, and ingenious cruelty invented incredible punishments. They were overwhelmed with insults, accused of false crimes, shut up in unbearable prisons, ploughed with hooks, killed with the sword, thrown to the beasts, burned in fires; and the martyrs of Christ said: “If God is for us, who is against us?” The whole world is against you, and you say, “Who is against us?” They answer you: “And what is the whole world, when we die for him by whom the world was made?” Let them say it, let them say it, let us listen, let us say it together: “If God is for us, who is against us?” They can rage, they can curse, they can slander, they can harass with false insults; finally they can not only kill the body but also tear it apart; and what will they do? “For see, God is my helper, and the Lord is the upholder of my soul.” Tell me, blessed martyr: your body is torn apart, and you say, “It is nothing to me”? “Yes, I said so.” Why? Tell us why. “Because the Lord is the upholder of my soul. My body is restored through my soul. My hair does not perish, and will my head perish? Not a hair of mine perishes.” But your body is torn by dogs. “And what is that to me? Even if my body is torn by dogs, yet it is raised by the Lord. The world is the killer of my body, but the Lord is the upholder of my soul. And what harm is it to me, when the Lord is the upholder of my soul, that the world is the killer of my body? What have I lost? What have I given up? When the Lord is the upholder of my soul, he will also be the restorer of my body. What will I lack if the enemy tears my limbs apart, when God counts my hairs?” Christ, exhorting his martyrs not to fear anything from their persecuting enemies, said, “All the hairs of your head are numbered.” Shall I then fear the loss of limbs when I have received assurance about the number of my hairs? So let us say, let us say from faith, let us say in hope, let us say with most burning love: “If God is for us, who is against us?”

See, the king is against you, and you say, “Who is against us?” See, the whole people is against you, and you say, “Who is against us?” From where do you prove it, O glorious martyr; from where do you prove to me what you say, “If God is for us, who is against us?” For it is plain that if God is for you, who is against you? But prove that God is for you. Do I not prove it, then? See, I teach it: “He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all.” What follows you heard when the apostle was read. For when he had said, “If God is for us, who is against us?”, as if it were said to him, “Prove that God is for you,” he at once brought forward a great proof, he at once brought in the Martyr of martyrs, the Witness of witnesses: namely him whom, his own Son, the Father did not spare, but handed him over for us all. From this the apostle proved that he had spoken truly: “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare even his own Son, but handed him over for us all, how will he not also with him give us all things?” When with him he gave us all things, he also gave us himself. Does the raging of the world terrify me, to whom the maker of the world has been given? Let us rejoice that Christ has been given to us, and fear no enemies of Christ in this world. For see who has been given to us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He is Christ, he is the only-begotten Son of God, he is co-eternal with the one who begets him. “All things were made through him.” How are the things made through him not given to us, when he has been given to us, through whom all things were made? And that you may know that it is he: “The Word was made flesh and dwelt in us.” Desire and seek the life of Christ given to you; and until you arrive, hold the death of Christ as a pledge. For, promising us that he would live with us, he could give us no greater pledge than to die for us. “I bore your evils,” he says; “shall I not give you my goods?” He promised, he gave a written bond, he gave a pledge; and do you hesitate to believe? He promised when he walked here among men; he gave a written bond when the gospel was written. To his pledge you say “Amen” every day. You have received the pledge; it is paid out to you every day. Do not despair, you who live from the pledge.

Or perhaps an injury is done to the only-begotten Son when it is said that he has been given to us, as though he were to be our possession? Clearly he is to be. For what if someone today gave you a pleasant and fertile estate, where you would delight to live always because of its pleasantness, from which you could easily support yourself because of its fertility: would you not embrace the gift and give thanks to the giver? We are going to dwell in Christ. How will he not be our possession, in whom we shall dwell, and from whom we shall live? Let Scripture say this too, lest by our own conjectures we seem to have claimed something against the teaching of God's word. Hear what one says to him who knew that if God is for us, who is against us? “The Lord,” he says, “is the portion of my inheritance.” He did not say, “O Lord, what inheritance are you giving me?” Whatever you give me is cheap. Be my inheritance yourself; I love you, I love you wholly, with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind I love you. What will anything be to me that you give me apart from you? This is to love God freely, to hope for God from God, to hasten to be filled from God, to be satisfied with him. For he suffices for you; apart from him nothing suffices for you. Philip knew this when he said, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” When then will be what the apostle says at the end, “that God may be all in all”: that he himself may be to us whatever we desire here without him, and for desire of which we often sin against him? In place of all things he will be to us, when God will be all in all. You sin against God to eat, you sin against God to be clothed, you sin against God to live, you sin against God to be honoured. And when shall I count them all? Do not sin against God for these things. Do you sin against God for food? God will be your eternal food. Do you sin against God for clothing? God will clothe you with immortality. Do you sin against God for honour? God will be your honour. Do you sin against God for love of temporal life? God will be your eternal life. Do not sin against him for anything. For you ought to love him freely, who himself will be able to satisfy you in place of all things.

Since it is the day of the holy martyrs, what should we rather be pleased to speak of than their glory? May the Lord of the martyrs help us, for he is their crown. With the voice of the martyrs we heard the blessed apostle Paul proclaiming a little while ago: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” This is the voice of the martyrs: “Tribulation? or distress? or persecution? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or the sword? As it is written, For your sake we are put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep for slaughter. But in all these things we overcome through him who loved us.” This is the voice of the martyrs: to endure everything, and to presume nothing of themselves, to love him who is glorified in his own: so that “whoever boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” They knew also what we sang a little while ago: “Rejoice in the Lord, and exult, you righteous.” If the righteous rejoice in the Lord, the unrighteous know how to rejoice only in the world. But that is the first battle line to be fought down: first delights must be overcome, and afterwards pains. How can he overcome the world when it rages, who cannot overcome it when it flatters? This world flatters, promising honours, riches, pleasures; this world threatens, holding out pains, want, humiliations. Whoever does not despise what it promises, how can he overcome what it threatens? Riches have their delight: who does not know it? But righteousness has more delight. Take delight in riches together with righteousness; but when such a crisis of temptation comes that these two come into the test, riches and righteousness, and you cannot have both, but if you put your hand to riches you must lose righteousness, and if you put your hand to righteousness, riches perish: now choose, now fight; now let us see whether you sang without reason, “Rejoice in the Lord, and exult, you righteous”; now let us see whether you heard without reason, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” And indeed he passed over all the things with which the world flatters, and wanted to mention those with which the world terrifies. Why? Because he was foretelling the contests of the martyrs, those very contests in which they conquered persecution, hunger, thirst, want, disgrace, and finally the fear of death and the most savage enemy.

But see, brothers, that Christ's cause makes the whole difference. The apostle admonishes us to prefer the love of Christ to the world. How much distress do those suffer who want to seize other people's goods? “Or persecution?” he says. That does not break them either. Avarice is frightened; the greedy man seizes and fears punishment, and burns for plunder. Many even suffer hunger while they acquire and make gains, men whom, when we command them to fast, excuse themselves on account of their stomach. They have leisure all day to count their gold coins, and they go to sleep fasting. “Or nakedness?” he says. What shall I say about nakedness? Every day merchants escape naked from shipwreck and sail again into danger. Why are people in danger every day, except to acquire riches? Nor does the sword hold them back. Forgery is a capital crime, and yet inheritances are falsified. If, then, temporal greed deserves this, why should the inheritance of Christ not deserve it? The greedy man says in his heart, though perhaps he does not say it with his tongue: “Who will separate us from the desire for gold? Tribulation? or distress? or persecution?” The greedy too can say to gold: “For your sake we are killed all day long.” Very well, then, do the holy martyrs say in the Psalm: “Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an unholy nation.” Distinguish, he says, my tribulation: the greedy too suffer tribulation. Distinguish my distresses: the greedy too suffer distresses. Distinguish my persecutions: the greedy too suffer them. Distinguish my hunger: the greedy too go hungry to acquire gold. Distinguish my nakedness: the greedy too are stripped for gold. Distinguish my death: the greedy too die for gold. What is “Distinguish my cause”? “For your sake we are put to death all day long.” They for gold, we for you. Similar punishment, but a distinguished cause. Where the cause is distinguished, there victory is certain. If, then, we look at the cause, we love the feasts of the martyrs. Let us love in them not the sufferings, but the causes of the sufferings. For if we love only the sufferings, we shall find many who suffer worse things in bad causes. But let us attend to the cause; attend to the cross of Christ: there was Christ, there too were the robbers. Similar punishment, but dissimilar cause. One robber believed, the other blasphemed. The Lord, as from a tribunal, judged between both: the one who blasphemed he condemned to hell; the other he took with him into paradise. Why this? Because the punishment was equal, but the cause unequal. Choose, then, the causes of the martyrs, if you want to come to the martyrs' palms.