The Second Part.
1. “Like sheep laid in hell, death is their shepherd” (ver. 14). Whose? Of those whose way is a stumbling-block to themselves. Whose? Of those who mind only things present, while they think not of things future: of those who think not of any life, but of that which must be called death. Not without cause, then, like sheep in hell, have they death to their shepherd. What meaneth, “they have death to their shepherd”? For is death either some thing or some power? Yea, death is either the separation of the
soul from the body, or a separation of the soul from God,1648
| 1648 Oxf. mss. add, “or a separation of the soul from God.”
|
and that indeed which men
fear is the separation of the
soul from the body: but the real
death, which men do not
fear, is the separation of the
soul from
God. And ofttimes when men
fear that which doth separate the
soul from the body, they fall into that wherein the
soul is separated from
God. This then is
death. But how is “
death their
shepherd”? If
Christ is
life, the
devil is
death. But we read in many places in Scripture, how that
Christ is
life. But
the
devil is
death, not because he is himself
death, but because through him is
death. For whether that (
death) wherein
Adam fell was given man to drink by the persuasion of him: or whether that wherein the
soul is separated from the body, still they have him for the
author thereof, who first falling through
pride envied him who stood, and overthrew him who stood with an
invisible death, in order that he might have to pay
1649
the visible
death. They who
belong to him have
death to their
shepherd: but we who think of future immortality, and not without reason do wear the sign of the
Cross of
Christ on the
forehead, have no
shepherd but
life. Of
unbelievers death is the
shepherd, of
believers life is the
shepherd. If then in
hell are the
sheep, whose
shepherd is
death, in
heaven are the
sheep, whose
shepherd is
life. What then? Are we now in
heaven? In
heaven we are by
faith. For if
not in
heaven, where is the “Lift up your
heart”? If not in
heaven, whence with the
Apostle Paul, “For our conversation is in
heaven”?
1650
In body we
walk on
earth, in
heart we dwell in
heaven. We dwell there, if thither we send anything which holdeth us there. For no one dwelleth in
heart,
save where thought is: but there his thought is, where his
treasure is. He hath treasured on
earth, his
heart doth not withdraw from
earth: he hath treasured in
heaven, his
heart from
heaven doth not come down: for the
Lord saith plainly, “Where thy
treasure is, there will thy
heart be also.”
1651
2. They, then, whose shepherd is death, seem to flourish for a time, and the righteous to labour: but why? Because it is yet night. What meaneth, it is night? The merits of the righteous appear not, and the felicity of the unrighteous hath, as it were, a name. So long as it is winter, grass appeareth more verdant than a tree. For grass flourisheth through the winter, a tree is as it were dry through the winter: when in summer time the sun hath come forth
with greater heat, the tree, which seemed dry through the winter, is bursting with leaves, and putteth forth fruits, but the grass withereth: thou wilt see the honour of the tree, the grass is dried. So also now the righteous labour, before that summer cometh. There is life in the root, it doth not yet appear in the branches. But our root is love. And what saith the Apostle? That we ought to have our root above, in order that life may be our shepherd, because our dwelling ought not
to quit heaven, because in this earth we ought to walk as if dead; so that living above, below we may be dead; not so as that being dead above, we may live below.…Our labour shall appear in the morning, and there shall be fruit in the morning: so that they that now labour shall hereafter reign, and they that now boast them and are proud, shall hereafter be brought under. For what followeth? “Like sheep laid in hell, death is their shepherd; and the righteous shall reign over them in
the morning.”
3. Endure thou the night, yearn for the morning. Think not because the night hath life, the morning too hath not life. Doth then he that sleepeth live, and he that riseth live not? Is not he that sleepeth more like death?1652
| 1652 Or, “a dead person.”
|
And who are they that
sleep? They whom the
Apostle Paul rouseth, if they choose but to
awake. For to certain he saith, “
Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and
Christ shall give thee
light.”
1653
They then that are lightened by
Christ watch now, but the fruit of their watchings appeareth not yet: in the morning it shall appear, that is, when doubtful things of this
world shall have passed away. For these are very
night: for do they not appear to thee like
darkness?…But they on whom men have
trampled, and who were ridiculed for believing, shall hear from
Life Itself, whom they have for
shepherd, “Come, ye
blessed of My
Father, receive the
kingdom which was
prepared for you from the
foundation of the
world.” Therefore the
righteous “shall
reign over them,” not now, but “in the morning.” Let no one say, Wherefore am I a
Christian? I rule no one,
1654
| 1654 Most mss. omit, “I rule no one.” See Ser. 72, ad. Fr. in Erem.
|
I would rule the
wicked. Be not in
haste, thou shalt
reign, but “in the morning.” “And the help of them shall grow old in
hell from their
glory.” Now they have
glory, in
hell they shall grow old. What is “the help of them”? Help from
money, help from
friends, help from their own might. But when a man shall be dead, “in that day shall
perish all his thoughts.”
1655
How great
glory he seemed to have among men, while he lived, so great oldness and
decay of punishments shall he have, when he shall be dead in
hell.
4. “Nevertheless, God shall redeem my soul” (ver. 15). Behold the voice of one hoping in the future: “Nevertheless, God shall redeem my soul.”1656
| 1656 [Compare ver. 7, p. 171, supra.—C.]
|
Perhaps it is the voice of one still wishing to be relieved from oppression. Some one is in
prison, he saith, “
God shall
redeem my
soul:” some one is in
bond, “
God shall
redeem my
soul:” some one is suffering
peril by
sea, is being tossed by waves and raging tempests, what saith he? “
God shall
redeem my
soul.” They would be
delivered for the sake of this
life. Not such is the voice of this man. Hear what followeth: “
God shall
redeem my
soul
from the
hand of
hell, when He shall have received me.” He is speaking of this redemption, which
Christ now showeth in Himself. For He hath descended into
hell, and hath ascended into
heaven. What we have seen in the Head we have found in the Body. For what we have believed in the Head, they that have seen, have themselves told us, and by themselves we have seen: “For we are” all “one body.”
1657
But are they better that hear, we worse to whom it hath been told? Not so saith The
Life Itself, Our
Shepherd Himself. For He rebuketh a certain
disciple of His, doubting and desiring to handle His scars, and when he had handled the scars and had
cried out, saying, “My
Lord and my
God,”
1658
seeing His
disciple doubting, and looking to the whole
world about to believe, “Because thou hast seen Me,” He saith, “thou hast believed:
blessed are they that see not, and believe.” “But
God shall
redeem my
soul from the
land of
hell, when He hath received me.” Here then what? Labour, oppression,
tribulation,
temptation: expect nothing else. Where
joy? In future
hope.…
5. …Perchance thy heart saith, Wretch that I am, I suppose to no purpose I have believed, God doth not regard things human. God therefore doth awaken us: and He saith what? “Fear not, though a man have become rich” (ver. 16). For why didst thou fear, because a man hath become rich? Thou didst fear that thou hadst believed to no purpose, that perchance thou shouldest have lost the labour for thy faith, and the
hope of thy conversion: because perchance there hath come in thy way gain with guilt, and thou couldest have been rich, if thou hadst seized upon that same gain with the guilt, and neededst not have laboured; and thou, remembering what God hath threatened, hast refrained from guilt, and hast contemned the gain: thou seest another man that hath made gain by guilt, and hath suffered no harm; and thou fearest to be good. “Fear not,” saith the Spirit of God to thee, “though a man shall
have become rich.” Wouldest thou not have eyes but for things present? Things future He hath promised, who hath risen again; peace in this world, and repose in this life, He hath not promised. Every man doth seek repose; a good thing he is seeking, but not in the proper region thereof he is seeking it. There is no peace in this life; in Heaven hath been promised that which on earth we are seeking: in the world to come hath been promised that which in this world we are seeking.
6. “Fear not, though a man be made rich, and though the glory of his house be multiplied.” Wherefore “fear not”? “For when he shall die, he shall not receive anything” (ver. 17). Thou seest him living, consider him dying. Thou markest what he hath here, mark what he taketh with him. What doth he take with him? He hath store of gold, he hath store of silver, numerous estates, slaves: he dieth, these remain, he knoweth not for whom. For though he leaveth them for whom he will, he keepeth them not for whom he will. For many have gained even what was not left them, and many have lost what was left them. All
these things then remain, and he taketh with him what? Perhaps some one saith, He taketh that with him in which he is wound, and that which is expended upon him for a costly and marble tomb, to erect a monument, this he taketh with him. I say, not even this. For these things are presented to him without his feeling them. If thou deckest a man sleeping and not awake, he hath the decorations with him on the couch: perhaps the decorations are resting upon the body of him as he lieth, and
perhaps he seeth himself in tatters during sleep. What he feeleth is more to him than what he feeleth not. Though even this when he shall have awaked will not be: yet to him sleeping, that which he saw in sleep was more than that which he felt not. Why then, brethren, should1659
men say to themselves, Let
money be spent at my
death: why do I leave my heirs
rich? Many things will they have of mine, let me too have something of my own for my body. What shall a dead body have? what shall rotting
flesh have? what shall
flesh not feeling have? If that
rich man had anything, whose
tongue was dry, then man hath something of his own. My
brethren, do we read in the
Gospel, that this
rich man appeared in the
fire with all-silken and fine-linen
coverings? Was he of such sort in
hell as he was in feastings at
table? When he
thirsted and desired a drop, all those things were not there. Therefore man carrieth not with him anything, nor doth the dead take with him that which the
burial taketh. For where feeling is, there is the man; where is no feeling, the man is not. There lieth fallen the
vessel which contained the man, the
house which held the man. The body let us call the
house, the spirit let us call the
inhabitant of
the
house. The spirit is
tormented in
hell: what doth it
profit him, that the body lieth in
spices and perfumes,
wound in costly linens? just as if the master of the
house should be sent into banishment, and thou shouldest
garnish the walls of his
house. He in banishment is in need, and doth
faint with
hunger, he
scarce findeth to himself one hovel where he may
snatch a
sleep, and thou sayest, “
Happy is he, for his
house hath been
garnished.” Who would not
judge that thou wast
either
jesting or wast
mad? Thou dost
garnish the body, the spirit is
tormented. Give something to the spirit, and ye have given something to the dead man. But what wilt thou give him, when he desired one drop, and received not? For the man
scorned to send before him anything. Wherefore
scorned? “because this their way is a stumbling-block to them.”
1660
He
minded not any but the present
life, he thought not but how he might be buried,
wound in costly vestments. His
soul was taken from him, as the
Lord saith: “Thou
fool, this
night thy
soul shall be taken from thee, and whose shall those things be which thou hast
provided?”
1661
And that is fulfilled which this Psalm saith: “
Fear not, though a man be made
rich, and though the
glory of his
house be multiplied: for when he shall
die he shall not receive anything, nor shall his
glory descend together with him.”
7. Let your love observe: “For his soul shall be blessed in his life” (ver. 18). As long as he lived he did well for himself. This all men say, but say falsely. It is a blessing from the mind of the blesser, not from the truth itself. For what sayest thou? Because he ate and drank, because he did what he chose, because he feasted sumptuously, therefore he did well with himself. I say, he did ill for
himself. Not I say, but Christ. He did ill for himself. For that rich man, when he feasted sumptuously every day, was supposed to do well with himself: but when he began to burn in hell, then that which was supposed to be well was found to be ill. For what he had eaten with men above,1662
he digested in
hell beneath.
Unrighteousness I mean,
brethren, on which he used to
feast. He used to eat costly banquets with the mouth of
flesh, with his
heart’s mouth he used to eat
unrighteousness. What he ate with his
heart’s mouth with men above, this he digested amid those punishments in the places beneath. And verily he had eaten for a time, he digested
ill for
everlasting. Is then
unrighteousness eaten? perhaps some one saith: what is it that he
saith?
Unrighteousness eaten? It is not I that say: hear the Scripture: “As a sour
grape is vexation to the teeth, and
smoke to the
eyes, so is
unrighteousness to them that use it.”
1663
For he that shall have eaten
unrighteousness, that is, he that shall have had
unrighteousness wilfully, shall not be able to eat
righteousness. For
righteousness is
bread. Who is
bread? “I am the living
bread which came down from
heaven.”
1664
Himself is the
bread of our
heart.…Is then even
righteousness eaten? If it were not eaten, the
Lord would not have said, “
Blessed are they which do
hunger and
thirst after
righteousness.”
1665
Therefore “since his
soul shall be
blessed in
life,” in
life it “shall” be
blessed, in
death it shall be
tormented.…
8. “He shall confess to Thee, when Thou shalt have done him good.” Be not of such sort, brethren: see ye how that to this end we say these words, to this end we sing, to this end we treat, to this end toil—do not these things. Your business doth prove you: sometimes in your business ye hear the truth, and ye blaspheme. The Church ye blaspheme. Wherefore? Because ye are Christians. “If so it be, I betake myself to Donatus’s
party: I will be a heathen.”1666
| 1666 Those who became Donatists declared themselves not yet Christians, in order to be rebaptized.
|
Wherefore? Because thou hast eaten
bread, and the teeth are in
pain. When thou sawest the
bread itself, thou didst
praise; thou beginnest to eat, and the teeth are in
pain; that is, when thou wast hearing the Word of
God thou didst
praise: when it is said to thee, “Do this,” thou blasphemest: do not so
ill: say this, “The
bread is good, but I cannot eat it.” But now if thou seest with the
eyes, thou praisest: when thou beginnest to close the teeth
thou sayest, “Bad is this
bread, and like him that made it.” So it cometh to pass that thou confessest to
God, when
God doeth thee good and thou liest when thou singest, “I will alway
bless God, His
praise is ever in my mouth.”
1667
How alway? If alway
gain, alway He is
blessed: if sometime there is loss, He is not
blessed, but
blasphemed. Forsooth thou blessest alway, forsooth His
praise is ever in thy mouth! Thou wilt be such as just now he describeth: “He will confess to Thee, when Thou shalt have done him good.”
9. “He shall enter even unto the generations of his fathers” (ver. 19): that is, he shall imitate his fathers. For the unrighteous, that now are, have brothers, have fathers. Unrighteous men of old, are the fathers of the present; and they that are now unrighteous, are the fathers of unrighteous posterity: just as the fathers of the righteous, the righteous of old, are the fathers of the righteous that now are; and they that now are, are the fathers of them that are to be. The Holy Spirit hath willed to show that
righteousness is not evil when men murmur against her: but these men have their father from the beginning, even to the generation of their fathers. Two men Adam begat, and in one was unrighteousness, in one was righteousness: unrighteousness in Cain, righteousness in Abel.1668
Unrighteousness seemed to
prevail over
righteousness, because
Cain unrighteous slew
Abel righteous1669
in the
night. Is it so in the morning? Nay, “but the
righteous shall
reign over them in the morning.”
1670
The morning shall come, and it shall be seen where
Abel is, and where
Cain. So all men who are after
Cain, and so all who are after
Abel, even unto the end of the
world. “He shall enter even unto the generations of his fathers: even to
eternity he shall not see
light.” Because even when he was here, he was in
darkness, taking
pleasure in false goods, and not
loving real goods: even so he shall go hence into
hell: from the
darkness of his
dreams the
darkness
of
torments shall receive him. Therefore, “even to
eternity he shall not see
light.”
But wherefore this? What he hath written in the middle of the Psalm,1671
the same also he hath writ at the end: “Man, though he was in honour, understood not, was compared to the
beasts without sense, and was made like to them” (
ver. 20). But ye,
brethren, consider that ye be men made after the image and likeness of
God. The image
1672
of
God is within, is not in the body; is not in these
ears which ye see, and
eyes, and nostrils, and palate, and
hands, and
feet; but is made nevertheless:
1673
| 1673 Most mss. “made a mind.”
|
wherein is the intellect, wherein is the
mind, wherein the
power of discovering
truth, wherein is
faith, wherein is your
hope, wherein your
charity, there
God hath His Image: there at least ye perceive and see that these things pass away; for so he hath said in another Psalm, “Though man walketh in an image, yet he is disquieted in
vain: he heapeth up treasures, and knoweth not for whom he shall gather them.”
1674
Be not disquieted, for of whatsoever kind these things be, they are transitory, if ye are men who being in honour understand. For if being men in honour ye understand not, ye are compared to the beasts without sense, and are made like to them.
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