Sermons to the People 391.1–391.6

My words are for you, young men, the flower of life and the danger of the mind. Every time, indeed, and every age in which this corruptible flesh is carried, cannot be free of temptations. And every good man struggles in the contest so as not to be overcome by the adversary, and lives amid dangers, as long as he contends with him in this mortality as in a sandy arena. For as soon as a human being is born into the world and enters a life full of misery, announcing with a tearful voice, like a prophet, his own future toil, he can already be tempted and seized by the devil's snares, if not yet in his own mind, then in the mind of his parents or of whoever has his weakness in their hands to be nursed: either through the amulets of accursed remedies, or through the sacrilegious rites of the Gentiles, or, if death presses, through neglect of the renunciation in saving baptism. And, to sum it up briefly, that age is tempted when it is loved by its own in the world and neglected in Christ. For it drags with it the offspring of death and is rooted in that wound of sin which the serpent's poisonous tooth inflicted on the first man, from whom we have drawn the origin of corruption. Hence holy Job says that no one is clean, from the defilement of sin, that is, not even an infant whose life on earth is a single day. But why should I speak of one already born, when David cries out with a mournful voice and says, "In iniquities I was conceived, and in sins my mother conceived me"? For the baptism of newborn infants could seem superfluous, if all did not die in Adam, and original sin did not run through the parents' bodies to the fruit of their offspring along the path of mortality: since the almighty Lord forms a mortal creature by the law of his order, and the Father, supremely good, supplies the immortality of renewal by the grace of his mercy.

But if not even the infancy of mortal man is free from temptations because of the bond of corruption, what shall I say of the other ages? Is old age perhaps exempt? In flesh already close to a corpse, have the blood and limbs grown cold to unlawful desire, and has the material of temptation withered away from a body tired and almost dead? On the contrary, in bad old men the whirlpool of greed and the insatiable gulf of belly and gullet are commonly so great that, as much as good old men are made serene by wisdom, so much are these men buried in drink, as if their dried and sapless insides were bent over for this purpose, that they must be watered with a flood of drunkenness to restore their former vigor. And what of avarice, which is the root of all evils? Does it not burn all the more hotly in cold old men to acquire, the sooner it must leave behind what it acquires? An astonishing madness indeed: it hurries to load itself with heavier provisions when it has already arrived where it was heading.

If, then, neither childhood nor old age is free from temptations, though the one has scarcely entered this life and the other is already leaving it, the one did not exist a little while ago and the other will not exist a little while hence: what are we to think, what are we to say, of the burning heat of youth, which, set midway between them, has already left behind the weakness of childhood and has not yet reached the torpor of old age? Youth is shaken by more and greater storms of temptation; it is overwhelmed by the more frequent assaults of the waves of an overflowing world. It trusts in its strength, it boasts of the dignity of its beauty, it longs for, or delights in, shining with the pomp of temporal things. And so, to the youth of the wicked whatever the truth commands is poison and whatever the devil suggests is food; but the bitterness of justice is the medicine for the sore of that age, while the sweetness of injustice is the mousetrap of rashness. To this belongs what is written: "Sweeter are the wounds of a friend than the willing kisses of an enemy"; and what David says: "The righteous man will rebuke me in mercy and reprove me; but let the oil of the sinner not anoint my head." Let truth burn, and yet heal: for the oil of the sinner, the flattery of the yes-man, soothes but deceives. There pride is soothed, but life slips away. For the prophet speaks in the person of one who is already looking for a physician, who bears the hand of the surgeon even with sharp pain, who wants his sickness healed rather than praised. Dangerous indeed is the sore of youth, which burns with desires, swells with hope, wastes away with pleasures. But that hope is the hope of the desperate, the hope of perishing things, which does not release the soul from misery but puffs up its feeling and makes it unable to bear the touch of truth; so that, despairing even of its own immortality, it loves to say, and loves those who say to it, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die"; but it hates to say or to hear, "Be sober, you righteous, and do not sin." It loves the deadly gentleness of the enemy and hates the wholesome harshness of the physician. This perversity, this madness, is most to be feared in youth.

From this arises the talk of people who melt away into shameful deeds and from there grow savage in crimes: "For they said, reasoning wrongly among themselves: Short and tedious is the time of our life, and there is no relief at a man's end, and no one is known to have come back from the underworld." And a little later: "Come, then, let us enjoy the good things that are, and make use of creation eagerly, as in youth. Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes"; and the rest of the words of wanton luxury strung together in that passage, the words of men who despair of eternal life and set their hope, as on the sand of a torrent, in the temporal corruption of the flesh. But see into what crimes and into what monstrous wickedness one leaps from this unrestrained lust and the putrefying worms of shameful deeds. For, drained and overthrown by the corruptions of unbridled and shameful sins, hating the severity of the truth that contradicts them, they say: "Let us oppress the poor righteous man, and not spare the widow, nor respect the gray hairs of the aged. Let our strength be our law of justice; for what is weak proves useless. Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is useless to us and opposed to our works." Such things the ungodliness of the Jews devised against our Lord Jesus Christ. This is found more plainly in the words that follow; for a little later they say, "He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a son of God." Then again a little later they say: "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may know his reverence. Let us condemn him to a most shameful death; for there will be regard for him according to his words." But see what verdict the Holy Spirit passes on them, adding at once: "These things they thought, and they erred; for their malice blinded them." See, then, from what corruption arise all the horrible crimes we fear in wicked men. For what is softer than that luxury? What is harder than this cruelty? A while ago they were saying, "Let us enjoy the good things that are, and make use of creation eagerly, as in youth; let no flower of the season pass us by, and everywhere let us leave signs of our merriment"; now they say, "Let us oppress the poor man, let us not spare the widow nor respect the old man; let us lie in wait for the righteous man, test him with insult and torture, condemn him to a most shameful death." Fury follows wine, torments follow perfumes, blood follows roses, anger follows merriment. By such men the Lord was bound, beaten, and killed. Who would fear bloody chains from flowering garlands? Who would foresee most cruel pains from sweet cups? Who would foreknow so dread a wood of the cross from soft meadows? And yet in that luxury no age but youth is compared to the flower of the season. For so they said: "Let us make use of creation eagerly, as in youth."

You, then, young men, we especially admonish and exhort to be captivated by the beauty of true virtue. Let no earthly beauty, no gleam of metals, no charm of groves, no purple of flowers, no adornment of the flesh, natural or applied, no sound of any strings or pipes, no pleasantness of scents, no sweetness of tastes, no embraces, be compared with the beauty, the inspiration, the sweetness, the comforts of wisdom. For we forbid you not love itself, but the things that are loved shamefully. Do you want to love? Love wisdom; strive to come to her. So that her gaze may not recoil from you, adorn yourselves in the inner man. As wanton eyes look for the ornaments of the body, so she looks for those of the heart. And do not bring out these ornaments from your own riches; for she hates the proud, who want to boast as if of what is their own. "For what do you have that you did not receive?" She herself, then, gives you that by which you may please her. Only love her, and she will keep you; embrace her, and she will exalt you; honor her, and she will embrace you, to give your head a crown of graces. Wisdom is bright and never fades, and she is easily found by those who love her. Resolve to take her as your companion; sigh for her, burn for her, be lost in love for her. Deny yourself to yourself, lest you deny yourself to her by pleasing yourself. Life with her has no bitterness. If you are lovers, love her; if you are handsome, please God; if you are young, conquer the devil. Daniel was called by the angel a man of desires. What were those desires of his, but those by which he ardently longed for the beauty of wisdom? For in his youth he trampled on wantonness, as a captive he crushed the pride of kings, and shut in, he shut the mouths of lions.

Nor should you, young women, think this sermon foreign to you. For I say these things to you too, not to shame you, but to admonish you as my dearest daughters: flee youthful desires. Wives, think of Susanna; widows, of Anna; virgins, of Mary. And do not go out in public for this purpose, wanting to display the flower of your grass to men's eyes, and so seek death in the house of life. "For all flesh is grass, and the glory of man like the flower of grass." What will you do, then, when the grass has withered and the flower fallen? And the word of the Lord, which abides for ever, which you now despise in the proud greenness of your youth: do you think it will not easily find your ashes? See, I say it again and solemnly charge you: flee youthful desires. If you hear this, if you obey, if you receive it with honor and fear as the word of God, you will be not only beautiful in the eyes of God but also healthy. But if you even make amorous jokes out of this admonition of ours, you will inflict deadly wounds on yourselves with the physician's very instruments. Certainly the Jews who crucified the Lord (when we hear of them we shudder and pursue them with great execration) nevertheless, when they thought about their luxury, had in mind the solitude of delightful fields, saying: "Let there be no meadow that our luxury does not pass through." How, then, would such luxury spare Christ, if it found him on earth, when it chooses for stirring up its lusts not lonely meadows but the crowded churches of him who reigns in heaven? See, for the third time I solemnly charge you and say: flee youthful desires. Burn with the desires of Daniel. "Sons, from your youth choose instruction, and even to gray hairs you will find wisdom."